Quote:
Originally Posted by James Griffin
A place to start would be realization that the OFFICIAL Articles of Faith contain the following "unity clause" with the Fundamental Doctrine statement:
. We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body. "
Without this Fundamental Doctrine (lifted directly from the Articles of Faith,) the two organizations which merged to form the UNITED Pentecostal Church would not have done so.
In 1992, resolutions were passed which attacked this foundational premise, the fruit of which will continue to be harvested until brethren realize that there are different views in the Apostolic movement, and neither view should be contended to the point of disunity of the body.
IF a DS were to try to superimpose his belief system over that of the majority vote of the national organization, it would merely be a perpetuation of what was birthed then.
To stop this further fragmentation would require nothing less than a groundswell movement to embrace this unity clause concept with something more than lipservice.
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I wholeheartedly agree with your conclusion here. While arguing the intent of the Fundamental Doctrine statement as it concerns "full" salvation, they seem to overlook or downplay the weight of the statement on unity. I also find it interesting that those who were strongest in pushing through the AS resolution, now find themselves in the position of having to decide whether they should stay or not. IMHO, it would have been better for the UPCI had they been the ones who left in the 90's, since everyone knew it was inevitable that they would ultimately find the org. too liberal for them anyway and end up leaving.
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