I can’t think of any split within the Christian body that has not had something to do with trying to establish the purity of the faith. There is nothing wrong and a lot right with wanting people to experience the essential teachings of the faith and to not be confused with leaders within the Body of Christ offering conflicting opinions as to our core faith. At the same time, few would dispute that a fractured Body of Christ is superior to a united Body of Christ. The desire for a right understanding of the faith is a natural urge that is good, but it can also lead to the demonic destruction of the witness to the Prince of Peace. This has been true since the beginning. You can hear some agony in Paul’s voice in 1 Corinthians 1:13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So here is a particularly poignant example of a natural urge — the urge to have a pure church — that became demonic in the sense that it has resulted in that which no one would say is desirable.
In the previous blog, I listed some normal urges or desires for a presbytery. You also made your own list. It would be healthy to develop a process to engage the whole presbytery in making their own list. But at some point, it is important to reflect on how the daimons or natural desires of the body can also become demonic. That is to begin to dominate the body in such a way that the result is — not to be too dramatic — a recrucifixion of the Body of Christ.
You begin by taking each of the natural urges that you have listed and exaggerate them until they become the dominant force in the body to the expense of all else. When can the importance of the gate-keeping task of a presbytery become destructive to the relationships of those Christ loves, etc. As Jesus said, the core of our faith is relationships, love of God and love of neighbor.
