Community: A Union in Faith
15 Mar 2024
Seeking a profundity of common understanding
What do you mean when you say you believe in fairness? Do you mean everyone is entitled to be how they feel and we are not to judge because God loves everyone equally? Or do you mean that everyone should have equal opportunities? Or do you mean that regardless of what people make of their lives, everyone should be equally remunerated? Or are you asserting that there is no God and therefore that what we make of our lives is only to be subjected to the laws we contrive? Are you covering up your envy? Or are you affirming your trust in God’s equity?
Lack of common ground
How can you know that what you really mean is understood by another person? Some people already balk at questions like the ones raised above. People misconstrue the meaning of a question. Resistance develops. What you mean usually needs further explanation, but how will you know whether your words are eventually understood the way that you understand them?
how will you know whether your words are eventually understood the way that you understand them?
Unless you are sure that those you speak with are of the same mind as you, the probability of being well understood will be reduced (Heb 4:2b). There is no common ground for truth amongst human beings because circumstances, whether we like it or not, seduce us into becoming subject to diverse spiritual influences which affect how our reasoning works.
Spiritual influence
Spirits influence our minds, and some spiritual influences are stronger than others. If you are full of fear, for example, it will affect not only how you think but also what you believe. Just look at the effect of fear on large swathes of the population during the Covid-19 epidemic. Furthermore, the nature of fear cannot be fully explained in terms of physiology. Fear is a spirit. And it is infectious. Many other spirits are much more powerful than fear, and we may or may not be conscious of them.
Some spirits achieve the status of deities named by proper nouns such as Satan, which is why Paul tells us, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12.) And it is why the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel told people to “have no other gods besides me.” (Deut 5:7.) We can also be sure that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, spoke truth when He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32.)
The use of the suffix ‘-phobia’, is more likely to have been introduced deliberately.
Words
The gradual development of commonly understood language is studied and recorded by etymologists and philologists. But recently the meanings of some words have changed surprisingly rapidly, mostly due to the excitement of popular media users, although some such change might actually come from intentional political manipulation.
For example, until fairly recently, the word ‘gay’ used to mean ‘carefree and happy’, but now it commonly refers to lustful attraction to other people of the same sex as oneself. The use of the suffix ‘-phobia’, is more likely to have been introduced deliberately. Due to a greater preponderance of diverse spiritual influences introduced through multiculturalism and the worldwide web, understanding what a person really means has become more challenging.
Communion of saints
The word ‘community’ derives from 2000-year-old Latin. Thus ‘com-’ comes from ‘cum,’ which meant ‘with,’ and ‘-munity’ comes from ‘munus,’ which meant ‘something done as part of common exchange, or duty.’ ‘Munus’ thus also came to be the source of the verb ‘to mean.’ Meaning derives from commonly understood exchanges between people. And ‘communion’ is of the same derivation, implying union in faith, in which there is a profundity of common understanding.
... meaning cannot be expected to be uniformly understood in associations of people with diverse spiritual convictions.
It follows that meaning cannot be expected to be uniformly understood in associations of people with diverse spiritual convictions. This is probably the reason for intentional promulgation of politically correct speech, or ‘wokeism,’ which can be seen as an attempt in multi-faith society artificially to create a common understanding by denying all spiritual influence. However, in view of the ubiquitous melee of spiritual influences, and of emotional human reactions (which are always spiritual in essence), wokeism cannot survive long. Such suppression of human nature can be expected to erupt in trouble someday soon. Chaos is undoubtedly part of the enemy’s plan.
It also follows that the body of Christ in this world is made up of the communion of saints, including those who have gone to be with the Lord. Inevitably this body is made up of communities of individuals with diverse gifts who come together with the same spiritual focus. Our faith is vested in the only begotten Son of God, Messiah Jesus, who overcame all other spiritual powers on a cross of crucifixion, whose blood was shed, who passed into death and rose from the dead, whom death could not hold, and to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given by Almighty God (Matt 28:18).
What leads to abundant life, nurture, maturity, peace and healing is the spiritual authority vested in communities who enthrone and worship the person of Jesus Christ in spirit and truth.
His shed blood paid the price to redeem our lives from our fallen nature. He saves. He speaks truth and can be absolutely trusted to reveal the way to eternal LIFE to those who listen to Him and follow Him through receiving His Spirit. But since we are nevertheless prone to many failings in this world, it is hard to maintain order unless we have respected leaders who humbly listen to the quiet voice of God and are able to keep folk together.
Enthroning Jesus
In the ‘70s my family and I lived in a community which endeavoured through every conceivable system of thinking to contain diverse people seeking healing for their minds and souls; but the community fell apart after leaders refused to recognise who Jesus Christ really is. Later I spent several years leading a ‘therapeutic’ community in the National Health Service which eventually failed because drugs and ‘care in the community’ were said to be cheaper. Later still, I led one in a secure prison, which failed with the rise of progressive secular behavioural science.
However, my family and I have always remembered once belonging in a fellowship led by Holy Spirit through anointed leaders. All the parts of the body described in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 were active there, with joy, healing and deliverance. We conclude that what leads to abundant life, nurture, maturity, peace and healing is the spiritual authority vested in communities who enthrone and worship the person of Jesus Christ in spirit and truth. He really is King of kings and Lord of lords.
John Gordon was formerly a GP, a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst. He is now a licensed minister in The Order of Jacob’s Well.
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Author:
Dr John Gordon