A Call for Unity
Working together on not being gratuitously divisive
Perhaps we don’t need another blog or video about the Josh Buice situation. In my opinion, far too many people jumped at making a video the moment this came out. So please understand, my concern in this post is not necessarily about what Buice himself did, but what Buice caused: gratuitous division.
I watched a video from Todd Friel recently over the news of Buice’s sin, and I was greatly encouraged by it. Through the smoke and pain we can make a call for unity; we can bring brothers and sisters back together whom were torn apart. We can be intentional about not being unnecessarily divisive in our online interactions.
Is that not what X has become? I left that platform awhile ago, but from what I can see, nothing has changed. As Friel pointed out in this video, there are unfortunately many other Josh Buices. There are far too many professing Christians who have an axe to grind, a brother to bash, a sister to overly criticize. What are we doing, friends? What’s the end game?
Should we stick up for the gospel? Should we plant our feet firmly in the essential truths of Christianity? Absolutely. However, the majority of the division we’ve seen over the past five years, in my opinion, is not division over gospel truths, but gratuitous division over secondary and even tertiary issues. Have there been people who have gone woke? Certainly. Are there professing Christian who have demonstrated through their teachings and actions that they’ve departed from the faith once and for all delivered to the saints? For sure. But how many faithful brothers and sisters in the Lord have been maligned, mistreated, condemned, and ostracized because they don’t see completely eye-to-eye with another on a non-gospel issue, like the topic of social justice?1
“To be sure, there are today some men with whom we should have divided over CRT; that is certain. But, [Buice] led the charge to divide with brothers who, for the sake of their own ministries, for the sake of their own consciences, refused to sign the statement, or they refused to be as publicly outraged about CRT as [Buice] determined we should be,” Friel explained. “Not all the brothers who refused to sign the Dallas statement are woke. And I know that because, well, I called them. And I asked them. And they’re not woke.”
The issue of wokeness is alive and well. You can make the case it’s alive not merely on the Left side of the political and theological aisle, but the Right as well. This is not a blog defending wokeness; this is a blog pleading for us to not label a brother and sister in Christ woke simply because he or she may not agree to every jot and tittle we do. The bigger picture, of course, is not wokeness, although that’s a large part of it. The issue is the consistent bickering, the constant badgering, the perpetual name-calling from professing Christians. Jesus is not pleased with that.
Again, Buice is not alone in his sin. There are countless anonymous social media accounts, labelled as Christian, that constantly criticize and incessantly divide with others. To be sure, there are non-anonymous accounts, in my opinion, which do the very same thing. I don’t pretend to be immune to all of this, but these are mere observations. All of the division we see in the evangelical world—and specifically the Reformed, Calvinistic world—could’ve been avoided. And as you may have heard in Friel’s video, we can use Buice’s sin has a precursor for renewed calls to unity. It’s time to stop pointing unnecessary fingers; it’s time to stop assuming the worst; it’s time to stop slandering.
Perhaps you won’t agree with every sentence I’ve typed up until now. That’s okay; that’s the point! We don’t have to agree with each other on every single issue. We don’t need to divide when it isn’t necessary. I promise it’s okay to be in unity with fellow Christians who don’t see eye-to-eye with you on important-but-non-essential topics. It’s okay to be unified with Christians who don’t look at everything the same way you do. George Whitefield and John Wesley, two believers who held opposite views regarding different doctrines, were friends.2 John MacArthur and the late RC Sproul were dear friends despite their differing views on baptism and eschatology, among other things.
These are just a few biblical examples of what it’s like to display unity even amid theological differences. There’s a time for division; there’s a place for separation. But as it pertains to faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, division is not only gratuitous, but sinful. The Lord Jesus called us to be unified, and that’s what we must be. May we strive to pursue biblical unity even amid disagreement; may we be intentional about unity even if others don’t see eye-to-eye with you. If the disagreement is deep and over gospel essentials, then yes, division must take place. But if it’s not over something essential? Charity, brothers and sisters, must rule the day and lead to unity.
Please understand I know that many professing believers made social justice a gospel issue from the "woke” side. That’s not the point, here, though.
https://www.amazon.com/Wesley-Christian-Life-Renewed-Theologians/dp/1433515644/?tag=thegospcoal-20
You’re right in saying that wokeness is a nebulous concept. I think much of the disunity stems from people have different definitions.
Here’s what I think: wokeness is everything pertaining to identity politics, the re-definition of racism, LGBTQ+ propaganda, and the like. There’s far more to it, but that’s a general consensus in my mind, or examples not necessarily a definition.
Hi, Thank you for this helpful challenge to unity which I completely agree with.
I would be interested to know what you mean when you talk about being woke or wokeness, it is such a nebulous concept for me and I'd like to know what it is that is so contrary to being a sound christian. I am not being difficult, I have just never completely understood what this concept really means.