Dinosaur Disagreements

Scripture: Romans 14:1-19
 
I still remember my first theological “debate”: I’m eight years old, spending the night at a friend’s house from church. It’s my first time sleeping over, and after checking out his remote-control cars and admiring his new pellet gun, I begin to peruse his bookshelf.  Suddenly, one book catches my eye. It’s a book about dinosaurs in the Bible.  “Wow!” I think to myself, “That’s so cool!” And as my friend tinkers with his erector set, I plop down onto his bed and quickly flip through the pages.
            
As the minutes tick by, my frenzied page-turning in the expectation of discovery slows to a stop. For one of the first times in my life, I think I disagree with an author! Yes, the “behemoth” and “leviathan” of Job 40 and 41 sound incredible, but I’m just not sure that they’re actually dinosaurs. “I don’t know about this book,” I say. “I’m not sure if the Bible is actually talking about dinosaurs.”
            
“Well, I think it does,” my friend replies.
            
And in that moment, all my childhood notions that Christians all believe the same things were irrevocably shattered. I was flabbergasted. We were friends! We both got good grades! We went to the same church! We read the same Bible! How could we possibly disagree? And where do we go from here?
 
I have found that last question—where do we go from here?—to be absolutely essential in my life as a pastor and as a Christian. We disagree: where do we go from here? Do we split up, going our separate ways and avoiding the uncomfortable reality that we are not in agreement? Do we give in, letting go of our own convictions for the sake of maintaining the appearance of agreement? Do we dig in, demanding the other submit to our understanding of the truth? Where do we go from here?
            
Paul addresses a body of believers in Romans 14 who are divided on topics such as the appropriateness of eating certain foods and the importance of treating certain days as holy. Though those questions might sound less than fundamental to many of us today, at heart they ask the question that often still fills our souls: “How can I live a life that pleases God?” And, just as we sometimes do today, the Roman believers offered contradictory answers. Paul wades into their argument, but instead of offering a definitive solution, he offers them a few key principles for loving each other in the midst of disagreement.
            
The first is not to condemn each other. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” (Romans 14:3-4). We may understand things differently, yet God has not given us the duty to condemn each other, but to love each other even in the midst of disagreement.
            
The second piece of advice is to refrain from creating conflict unnecessarily. “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister… If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:13, 15). Is the exercise of my freedom in Christ actively harming my brother or sister, pushing them to act contrary to their conscience? If so, regardless of my intentions, I may be inadvertently hurting them.
            
But lest we think the possibility of conflict precludes honest discussion about areas of disagreement, Paul offers a third piece of advice. “Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:16-19). God has given us the duty to share what we know to be good with our brothers and sisters, the things that lead to righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, whatever leads to a mutual building up of our faith in the One who loves us and unites us, in spite of our different understandings.
 
Back to dinosaurs. In spite of my feeble eight-year-old protestations (“But dinosaurs couldn’t have lived with people, they would have eaten them!”), my friend didn’t change his mind. But he still remained my friend. We still went to church together, still prayed together, and have supported and cared for each other throughout the years. I don’t think the topic of dinosaurs has come up again, but I kind of wish it would. To be able to share together why each of our respective understandings of scripture brought us peace, to be able to ask questions of each other without fear of rejection or humiliation, to be able to laugh together at our own weaknesses and apply our strengths with a grateful humility, this is the kind of theological debate that I hope to take part in. With or without the dinosaurs.
 
Jeff Lampen currently serves as co-pastor (alongside his wife, Chelsea) of Fairview Reformed Church in Fairview, Illinois.  Accompanied by their three children, Jeff and Chelsea will be transitioning over the next year into pastoral and staff support roles with the World Communion of Reformed Churches in Hannover, Germany