on the other hand

The man goes into a doctor’s office for an examination. Afterwards, the doctor tells him that he is terminally ill and doesn’t have long to live. The man says he wants a second opinion. The doctor says, alright, you are ugly and dress badly.

My life has been lived by me giving myself a second opinion. I have always been able to see the other hand. It didn’t seem to matter how much it differed for what I thought, I could still see it. It made it easy for me in what little debating I did.

However, it made it hard on me when I was talking to others and in dealing with my church.

When I would bring up the other hand, people would often become angry. In general, people, especially church people do not want to look at another side from the one they believe.

This was especially hard on me in the churches in which I ministered.

The Church of Christ was a very inflexible organization which relied on a lot of corporate interpretation to exist. They believed their way on baptismal regeneration, on acappella music as the only means of worship, and on their organizational structure and denominational name as the only true ones. They felt that they were the sole sphere of influence God had in this world.

This made it hard to hold different ideas because they were not welcome in the corporate structure. It also caused a siege mentality. If they were the only ones who were faithful and true, all others were wrong, and probably out to get them. They defended the faith.

In the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, there was much of the same feeling, only modified. Since they used instruments like everyone else, that exclusivity was removed. They still held the baptism and organizational structure, so that tended to set them somewhat apart.

But both were aggressively anti-charismatic.

I was baptized in the Spirit on the pulpit of my own church on a weekday afternoon not long after I had left the Church of Christ. This automatically set me apart from most of what my churches believed.

After a few years, I decided to come into the Assembly of God, but soon found that they were as exclusive as the others.

I am currently in the Foursquare Church and, except for occasional congregations, have much of the same idea of the universality of the church that I do.

However, on occasion, I still have trouble. I see the other hand, the other side.

It is annoying to me. I have always wanted to be a good company man and toe the corporate structure. But I can’t.

This manuscript is to try and see what it is about me that makes me see the other side, in spite of the fact that I have seldom been with people who could also see it.

Before I begin, I want to stress that I love the church in spite of the people in it. I have been a pastor for 36 years and plan to continue until I die.

But I wish I could find someone who saw the other hand as I do.