middle ground

[Snooky]

Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keepthe unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Jude :3 it was needful for me to write unto you, and exort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delievered unto the saints.

Where is that much mention "middle ground"? Where is the middle of the road? Both scriptures are God's words, spoken by the mouth of Gods holy men of old. Isn't the latter equally as important as the first? Isn't all scripture given that we might know the mind of The Spirit? There is a barrow pit on both sides of the road! An extreme turn to the right, or to the left will result in disaster, and missing of the mark. Where is the middle ground? Lets take a quick peek at the scripture again.
Endeavouring to keep the unity of what??? The Spirit!!! Not the unity of the flesh. Not the unity of the carnal mind. Not the unity of man made organizations, groups, fellowships, churches, cligues or clans, BUT of The Spirit. What grieves the Spirit any greater than false doctrine? Would the answer possibly be the exceptance, tolorance, and promotion of false doctrine by those who have tasted of the good word of God and the worlds to come. What is worse than being luke-warm? Gods word declares that he would prefer that we be cold than just lukewarm. There was no division whatsoever in the early church, (1st 5 chapters of Acts)!! Why?? They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. False doctrine wasn't tolerated. Love didn't overlook, cover-up, condone, or encourage sin, deception, or false doctrine.
Where is the middle ground??
Who is the sower of discord today, as labeled by most religious leaders? Even on this forum, is it the one who commits, sin? Is it the one who promoted ideas contrary to the scripture, or doctrine of the Apostles? ect.?? Or is it the one who raises a voice of protest and asks for scriptural evidence to justify the action or teaching set forth? Who is it that lacks the Spirit of unity, The one who commits the error, or the one who cries repent ye?? What breaks the unity of the Spirit?? Is it the sin commited? Or is it the call to return from whence ye are fallen??
Isaiah 35:8-10 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; butit shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9: No lionshall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10: And the ransoned of The Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

WHERE IS THE MIDDLE GROUND?

[IL_ray_phillips]

Where is the middle ground? Not sure what you are asking snooky! There is only 1 path we take. That is the straight and narrow. There is only 1 gate we enter through. The straight path is obeying the Word of God. That is not only hearing the Word but being a doer! The gate is Christ. Only way to get in is through him by obeying! Who sows discord today? Those who say you are stuck in sin until he returns! Those who say they are saved by the Grace of God and have no idea what Grace is! The darkest places are reserved for them.

[Leafrivermac]

What we are is a people of extremes. The natural man today knows no middle ground in many matters. . . .Likewise, Christians also tend to be all accepting to the ends of kneeling before buddha or blasting the head off a doctor who performs abortion. IMO both extremes are in error.
Going a little closer toward the middle of the road (but not quite there), we have folks that will allow a homosexual to preach in the pulpit and on the other end of the spectrum we have folk that won't even let one get in the door far enough to hear the Word.
Closer still to the middle ground (still not quite there), we have folk that will dispute to the point of leaving the church over " What should we do for the Pastors birthday, if anything, but keep quiet when a brother is taken in by false doctrine.
Lots of things Christians can argue about are really useless. A lot of things that we should dispute about are really quite important. Some folk view disputing as wrong as they see it as quarrelsome. . . .So what should we do? Should we allow the first person that jumps on with an opinion prevail in order to avoid disputation? Maybe we could have an inner clique who determines truth and anyone questioning that is blackballed without discussion.
A group of people who refuse to dispute anything will have a very poor chance of coming to an area of one accord. Disputations do not have to become divisive. Mature folk should be able to feel strongly about something and discuss it without resorting to insulting or otherwise rude behavior that is directed at a person rather than discussion of the issue.
Some folk feel that if we have a difference of opinion then we can't express it , we can't challenge a false teaching and feel strongly about it because that's divisive and we don't want folks fighting. This is actually a dangerous attitude in the church. We ought to teach ourselves to "fight" fairly and reasonably and graciously rather than abandoning the contest alltogether. Once we abandon the contest then it's really easy for bad teaching to rule.

Jud 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Snooky]

Very good answers brethern. I was thinking along these lines as I was writing the post. We have so many within the rank and file of modern, so called churches, professing the Love, Grace, and salvation of God, who spend more time attacking a brother over his convictions, that he does trying to show the wayward sinner the error of his ways.
For the sake of unity, sin is covered up with our lukewarn attitude toward the transgression of Gods Holy Word. One who dares warn the sinner and transgressor of the doctrines of God, is whipped in public for his wicked , cruel, hard, unmerciful Spirit that causes division among brethern. He is rebuked for his lack of love and concern for others, which is so against the Spirit of Christ. He is accused of persecuting the righteous by mentioning "The Sin among you".
The act of mentioning sin is beyond excuse, maybe even falling into the "unpardonable" classification.
On the other extreme is the one who cast all into hell fire, if the smallest error in their actions is detected. One with a blemish is sent immediately unto the horrible coloney of the sinful leprous. Excluded from fellowship, banned, blocked, and cast out of our self-righteous circles.
That strait and narrow way, still has room for who so ever will. The one door is still open unto all who will enter in.
Surely there is a common ground, where the rich and the poor meet together.
I fear we have become guilty of standing in the door and hindering those who would enter in there at. Passing our standard as the quilifications for exceptance into His Kingdom. Requiring that they pass our little bible quiz or else being turned away.
Where is the middle Ground? What is the middle ground? Where does our theories come into play? Do we at all influence God and his doctrine? Does our interpretation in any way, bring something to bear upon those on whom God will have mercy?
Where is the middle ground?