Don't split the baby

Ron Wood Columnist
Ron Wood Columnist

An ancient Bible story illustrates Solomon's wisdom. Two women delivered newborn infants. One baby suddenly died. That night, the dead baby's mother secretly swapped its lifeless body for her neighbor's living baby. You can imagine the screams and anger that erupted the next morning. The dispute came up before Solomon's court. To resolve the issue the King said, "Split the baby in two and give half to each of the mothers."

The lying mother said, "Cut it in half! If I can't have it, no one can!" The real mother cried out, "No! Give it to her but let my baby live!" Solomon wisely awarded the baby to that woman, the one with a mother's heart, the one who couldn't bear to see it die.

The first mother, motivated by anguish, lied and stole. God says liars and thieves bring a curse on their house. The second mother, motivated by love, was willing to suffer personal loss for the sake of the object of her love. Love, especially God's kind of loving kindness (agape), is the highest principle that anyone can live by.

"Don't split the baby!" is a good thing to recall whenever something vulnerable is being fought over. A strong fight can be so forceful that the baby gets killed and no one wins.

Such a fight can derail the unity of an emerging nation, hinder a developing company or kill a fledgling church. Even new marriages can be fractured by pointless arguments.

I've seen immature Christians argue their preferences against solid Bible doctrines. There have been church splits over the color of new carpeting! Perhaps the youth minister's hairstyle offended someone. Maybe folks resented it that songs were projected on a screen and not sung from a hymnbook.

Please, don't instigate schisms inside your church! Be willing to yield. Respect one another. Lay down your rights to an opinion if upholding it in public creates disunity. The cost is too steep. Whenever a church splits the damage is always huge.

The minds of opinionated people can be like concrete -- thoroughly mixed up and firmly set. I have my own opinions and I think everyone is entitled to hear them! Seriously ... not all issues are worth debating. There is plenty of room for private viewpoints versus basic essential values.

When a dispute occurs, the first question to ask is, "Do I have authority to decide this?" Or, "Is this my fight?" The second area is, "How important is this issue?" Or, "Is this the right time to take a stand?" The final consideration: "Is this a minor issue that's clouding the major things I (we) ought to focus on?" Or, "Is it vital to our success?"

Make room for other people to have different beliefs than yours. At the same time cherish your sincerely held viewpoints. Be aware, there's a difference between a conviction and an opinion. Convictions are worth dying for (the Bible is true; Jesus is God's Son; everyone needs to be saved). But preferences are fickle, subject to change (worship styles, the best Bible, a favorite preacher, hair color/length).

If the baby at risk is a work that's genuinely born of the Spirit, be very careful how you handle it. If it's contraption conceived by clever people, that's another matter.

In the Bible, a heretic is a person causing discord or factions; having a party spirit. People sow strife when they put their need to be right above accomplishing a worthy goal -- a goal that can only be reached when we pull together as a team under God.

-- Ron Wood is a writer and minister. He and Lana live in Northwest Arkansas with their retired Jack Russell Terrier near their six lovely grandchildren. Ron works at EMT in Prairie Grove as a driver. Contact him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Religion on 07/22/2015