Jacobus Arminius: Unity Over Division

[00:00:00] Revived Thoughts is a production of Revive Studios.

[00:00:08] This is Troy and Joel, and you are listening to Revived Thoughts.

[00:00:21] Nothing, therefore, can be more agreeable or desirable than unity.

[00:00:26] And nothing can be more noxious and detestable than dissension.

[00:00:31] Every episode we bring you a different voice from history in a sermon that they delivered

[00:00:36] today.

[00:00:36] We're going back to the Dutch Republic in 1606 to hear...

[00:00:40] You said going back.

[00:00:41] I don't know that we've ever... have we ever gone to the Dutch Republic before?

[00:00:45] It's true.

[00:00:46] Maybe we haven't.

[00:00:47] It's a new pin on our map.

[00:00:48] It's a new pin on our map.

[00:00:49] Here we go.

[00:00:50] We're going to the Dutch Republic, 1606 to hear from Jacobus Arminius, which Troy, when

[00:00:59] I saw the file get scooched across the table with the heading that said Jacobus Arminius,

[00:01:06] I thought, Troy, what are you doing here?

[00:01:08] Are you trying to pick a fight?

[00:01:10] Are you trying to get us in trouble?

[00:01:12] That's right.

[00:01:13] What are you thinking?

[00:01:14] You know me.

[00:01:15] At Revived Thoughts, we are ready to have that fight.

[00:01:20] And we're making a symbol here.

[00:01:22] No, of course, we pick everybody.

[00:01:24] We try to pick people from all over.

[00:01:25] And to be honest, I've been trying to find a good sermon by Arminius for a very long

[00:01:29] time, but all of the sermons were super long.

[00:01:32] And there was just no way.

[00:01:33] You guys, when you're listening to the show, you may listen sometimes and go, man, it's

[00:01:36] kind of a long sermon.

[00:01:38] I promise you, there are sermons that are hundreds of pages long.

[00:01:42] I don't know how they got preached.

[00:01:43] I mean, that service must have been four hours for them to go as long as they did.

[00:01:46] They probably were.

[00:01:47] Especially from that era.

[00:01:49] And I've been looking for one from Arminius for a long time where I was like, what can

[00:01:52] I, you know, he's a big, important person in church history, affected the world.

[00:01:56] And I wanted to know more about him.

[00:01:58] And I finally found one that I was like, ah, this can work.

[00:02:00] And what's ironic, maybe, to me, it's a little ironic because it's on unity, which

[00:02:04] is not kind of what him and, you know, John Calvin don't exactly go down in history for

[00:02:08] being unitors.

[00:02:09] But it's funny to me that that's what he was.

[00:02:11] I did want to mention too, if you're listening to this episode and you heard about a map,

[00:02:15] there is actually a map.

[00:02:16] If you go to Revive Thoughts and click map, you can actually see all of the episodes that

[00:02:21] Revive Thoughts, Martyrs and Missionaries, every single Revive Studio episode is linked

[00:02:25] up there.

[00:02:26] And I just pulled it up real quick because I was like, you know, we do actually have

[00:02:28] an episode from the Netherlands.

[00:02:30] I was trying to remember who it was.

[00:02:31] It was Boniface, the once a long time ago apostle to the Germans there.

[00:02:39] So this is our first time going back to the Netherlands.

[00:02:42] Well, the problem with Boniface is that he only had one sermon that I could find.

[00:02:46] And it was, if you go back and listen, you're going to go, wow, that sermon is very different

[00:02:50] than sermons today.

[00:02:51] That's probably all I'll say about.

[00:02:52] It's a great episode.

[00:02:53] Go listen.

[00:02:54] But this is our first time getting on Netherlands, like from a time period after the Reformation.

[00:03:00] And of course, it's kind of funny because of all of the great, you know, there are lots

[00:03:03] of really hardcore Reformed people we could have picked and we ended up going with Arminius.

[00:03:07] I will say though, we have another episode coming out that's actually from the Netherlands

[00:03:12] here soon with a person who is actually from the Netherlands.

[00:03:16] So it's going to have the appropriate accent when that episode comes out, which will be

[00:03:19] great.

[00:03:19] And I've already got another episode lined up after that.

[00:03:21] So I'm getting, we're getting the Netherlands on the map now.

[00:03:24] Okay.

[00:03:24] We've got a lot of episodes from people from London.

[00:03:26] We're getting some of these other places put on the map better too.

[00:03:29] Troy, would you, would you say, and I'm just brainstorming here.

[00:03:33] I'm trying to get the big picture.

[00:03:37] Would you imagine that maybe the majority of the audience that listens to Revive Thoughts

[00:03:43] maybe holds Arminius in, or looks down at their nose upon Arminius, maybe is the charitable

[00:03:51] way of saying it.

[00:03:52] Would you, would you, would you think that that is a semi-accurate stereotype of what we

[00:03:58] imagine our demographic?

[00:03:59] No.

[00:04:00] No.

[00:04:01] Okay.

[00:04:01] So I have, here's why I have been negative on the past.

[00:04:04] If you listen to a lot of our episodes, you'll sometimes hear me put a person up and be like,

[00:04:07] Hey guys, don't be mad.

[00:04:08] But I think this guy has something to say.

[00:04:09] And you'll hear that I'm a little bit nervous.

[00:04:10] And that was the past me.

[00:04:13] I, we've done this so many times and we've never received pushback.

[00:04:16] We do get pushback, but never received pushback on the episodes.

[00:04:19] I expect this are the people who listen to the show understand that church history has a

[00:04:23] lot of people from different perspectives.

[00:04:25] They understand that not all of them would agree if we got them in a room theologically,

[00:04:28] but that they're still worth listening to.

[00:04:30] And that even people from different camps have something to offer.

[00:04:33] So I think our audience, like you who are listening right now, you are unique in probably the theology,

[00:04:39] Christian world of Christian podcasts.

[00:04:42] Honestly, you are probably in a very unique situation where you are listening to a show

[00:04:46] that really heavily focuses on theologians.

[00:04:49] But yet they're different theologians from different camps because of their sermons.

[00:04:54] And yet you're also, you're like the other people listening to the show.

[00:04:56] I guarantee you there are people listening to the show right now that come from very different

[00:05:00] sides of the spectrum than you, because we, I can say like, we really do have a lot of

[00:05:04] people from all sides.

[00:05:05] And so for that reason, because we've done this now for five years and I have always been very

[00:05:12] surprised at how incredibly, how just people get it.

[00:05:15] They really do.

[00:05:15] They get what we're doing here that I don't think they would look down on them.

[00:05:18] But your, but to your point, Joel, do people look down on Arminius?

[00:05:21] Yes.

[00:05:22] And I felt kind of bad for him looking through this episode because when I did the research

[00:05:26] on him, he seemed like he himself certainly seemed like a pretty genuinely decent guy.

[00:05:32] And it really seemed like he got a lot of slander thrown at him through history.

[00:05:37] And he kind of had to live through that for a while where his reputation was kind of mud

[00:05:40] for a while because of just the theological controversies of that era.

[00:05:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:46] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:47] All right.

[00:05:47] Well, I'm going to direct all hate mail to your inbox there just so.

[00:05:51] Please do.

[00:05:52] No, no.

[00:05:53] I don't think we'll have any either.

[00:05:54] But it is an interesting dynamic.

[00:05:58] I feel like we talk a lot about Calvin and Calvinism gets a lot of, I was going to say

[00:06:03] it gets a lot of the praise in our circles.

[00:06:06] But I don't know.

[00:06:07] That's only half of the conversation there.

[00:06:09] There's this other part here that is also important and very interesting.

[00:06:13] I try, I really do think that we, I don't know how to say this, but I think that studying

[00:06:18] both sides, even if you're a hardcore Calvinist, learn, read and understand the Arminians.

[00:06:23] And if you're a hardcore Arminian, learn and understand the Calvinists really well too.

[00:06:27] Because A, back in the day, in these guys' days, they always read and understood their opponents.

[00:06:33] Like they could name their opponents' positions better than anybody else could because they

[00:06:36] wanted to be able to, you know, combat them properly in their theology debate.

[00:06:39] So they were really, really well read.

[00:06:42] And the other side of it too is I just think you learn to appreciate.

[00:06:45] It's honestly one thing I really like about our show is you can sit here and we have all

[00:06:48] these theological opinions about people, but then when you go and listen to their sermons

[00:06:52] and you go and read and hear about how they described Jesus Christ and who he was as their

[00:06:56] savior, for me, it softens my heart.

[00:06:58] And I go, you know, my preconceived notions compared to the way that person just described

[00:07:02] Christ, I see my brothers in Christ and so many of these people whom maybe I would not

[00:07:08] have originally, I might not have gone to their church if they were in my, you know, in my

[00:07:12] community, but I can see them as brothers in Christ that I'm going to look forward to

[00:07:16] seeing someday, I think.

[00:07:18] And I do hope, I hope that that is the message that we will have today as we go through this

[00:07:22] episode as well.

[00:07:24] You always know how to frame it just right.

[00:07:25] You know, set it up.

[00:07:27] Set it up and get us excited about it.

[00:07:29] We're not actually talking about Arminianism today.

[00:07:31] We're just talking about Arminius, the person himself.

[00:07:34] So we let other podcasts deal with those kind of theological stuff.

[00:07:39] We are the church history guys.

[00:07:40] So we do not, we don't define Arminianism and Calvinism.

[00:07:43] And the reason for that is because I guarantee you if we did, we would, somebody would be

[00:07:46] like, that's not exactly how you're supposed to frame it.

[00:07:48] So we'll just tell you his life story that I feel confident we can do.

[00:07:51] But before we do, I did want to read a couple comments we got in, Joel, just a couple of them

[00:07:55] real quick.

[00:07:56] We like to try to give people appreciation when they send us some stuff on the show.

[00:08:00] We had one from Spotify.

[00:08:02] This comes to us from Elang18.

[00:08:04] I don't think that's their given birth name.

[00:08:07] 40 years ago, when I was a young child, I read a biography about George Mueller and

[00:08:10] he has been a hero of the faith for me since then.

[00:08:12] This sermon is both convicting and encouraging.

[00:08:15] I'd encourage everyone to listen to it and read more about Mueller's life.

[00:08:18] It will be a blessing and encouragement to all.

[00:08:20] That was on an episode that we did with George Mueller about a year and a half ago.

[00:08:23] Very good episode.

[00:08:24] And I'm really glad that person enjoyed it so much.

[00:08:27] And then this one came in to us from Podcast Addict, which is a podcasting channel where

[00:08:31] anyway, a little app you can use.

[00:08:33] And on the reviews, T. Crothers said, again, I don't think that was their given birth name,

[00:08:39] wonderful podcast with a huge variety of preachers.

[00:08:41] Always interesting and amazing that sermons so old can still be so encouraging.

[00:08:45] And so we are grateful.

[00:08:46] Thank you for leaving these reviews, comments.

[00:08:48] When you put stuff online and help us get seen by other people, it's very much appreciated.

[00:08:53] And I try to find them all and read them all.

[00:08:56] And so I am also, I personally am always encouraged when I see these come through as well.

[00:08:59] We also had a new Patreon added recently, Michael F.

[00:09:03] So thank you, Michael, for joining us on Patreon.

[00:09:05] And we're always happy when people join us on Patreon too, because it helps us do what we do.

[00:09:10] Okay, let's jump into it.

[00:09:12] Jacob, Jacobus Arminius.

[00:09:15] He was born with a different name.

[00:09:16] He was born called Jacob.

[00:09:18] Oh boy, Troy, you're going to have to tell me.

[00:09:19] Go ahead and pronounce that for us.

[00:09:21] Go ahead and just, if you could do it in the proper Dutch, please.

[00:09:28] Harmanazun.

[00:09:32] Hermanzun.

[00:09:33] For the people at home or wherever you are, I'm just going to spell this for you to give

[00:09:38] you an idea of just how difficult this word would have been for any human that's not,

[00:09:42] you know, from the Netherlands probably.

[00:09:44] H-E-R-M-A-N-S-Z-O-O-N.

[00:09:48] And being where I live in Indonesia, I actually do know quite a few people from the Netherlands

[00:09:52] now.

[00:09:52] I did not used to.

[00:09:53] I've never known them before coming to Indonesia.

[00:09:56] And I can honestly tell you, I listen to them talk.

[00:09:59] And when they pronounce names like this one, they'll sometimes be like, oh, you know, do

[00:10:03] you want to, here's a name from my country.

[00:10:04] And I always try to pronounce it for them.

[00:10:06] They're like, you know, and then they always laugh pretty hard at whatever I say.

[00:10:09] So I can guarantee you that whatever Joel and I say here would not be the correct pronunciation.

[00:10:14] But it looks like Harmanazun.

[00:10:17] Yeah, Harmanazun.

[00:10:18] Born in the year 1559 or 1560.

[00:10:23] One of the two.

[00:10:24] Either 59 or 60 in the 1500s in the Spanish Netherlands.

[00:10:30] He grew up in the middle of a war.

[00:10:32] And a lot of people might not be aware, but Spain and the Netherlands had a great big war

[00:10:37] throughout the 1500s.

[00:10:40] It started in 1560 and it went all the way to 1648.

[00:10:45] So there was an 80 year war.

[00:10:47] And this would have been Arminius's childhood.

[00:10:50] He would have been growing up in the middle of this war.

[00:10:52] And he was actually near the border.

[00:10:55] The town he was in.

[00:10:57] I have it written down here.

[00:10:59] I'm not going to try to say it because I can't pronounce it.

[00:11:02] But it was between.

[00:11:03] It looks like Oodwater.

[00:11:04] And I know that that's wrong.

[00:11:06] And I actually have two friends of mine that listen to this show who are from the Netherlands.

[00:11:11] And they will definitely look at me and go, you thought that was Oodwater?

[00:11:15] Come on, man.

[00:11:16] And I was actually talking to them about the Netherlands history, this era.

[00:11:20] Not for this episode, just unrelated.

[00:11:22] And I was like, yeah, there was a war in there at that time.

[00:11:25] And I was mentioning this war.

[00:11:26] And I didn't even get the years right of what years it were.

[00:11:28] And they were kind of like, yeah, it's kind of like our independence war.

[00:11:31] Like, it's kind of a really big deal to us.

[00:11:33] And I was like, oh, man, I feel bad that I had never heard of this war until very recently.

[00:11:37] Yeah, it's an amateur move, Troy.

[00:11:40] Rookie mistake.

[00:11:42] I would do what waters was the city was born or that he lived in on the border between Belgium

[00:11:48] and the Netherlands.

[00:11:49] So kind of on the front lines of the war.

[00:11:51] His father was actually a knife maker.

[00:11:53] And kind of it seems like part of this war effort supplying weapons.

[00:11:57] But his father died when he was very young.

[00:12:00] And his family was kind of guideless for a little bit when a Catholic priest came along.

[00:12:07] And this Catholic priest just kind of happened to be interested in this Protestant movement.

[00:12:14] These new Protestant ideas that were kind of hidden, saturating throughout Europe.

[00:12:20] And so he was curious about what was going on in this Protestant movement.

[00:12:26] And he befriended Arminius' family and helped educate Arminius.

[00:12:32] The priest would end up passing away not too long after, but not before he was able to

[00:12:38] kind of secure a place for Arminius in a university there.

[00:12:42] But not long at the university, other things developed, unfortunate things.

[00:12:49] Yeah, this is a pretty sad part of the story.

[00:12:52] And I got to say, I did not know any of this before doing the research.

[00:12:55] This is not a story I was familiar with.

[00:12:57] But Arminius, when he gets to the university not long after getting there, I mean, it sounded

[00:13:01] like he'd been there for maybe a month, maybe.

[00:13:04] Arminius learned that his hometown had been sieged and massacred.

[00:13:08] And it was really bad.

[00:13:09] Again, they're in this war going on.

[00:13:11] Here, the worst kind of things that you could imagine were happening back in his hometown.

[00:13:15] Brutal tortures, killings, all the things that happened in war that are really, really bad.

[00:13:19] And his university was saying it was 125 miles away from his hometown.

[00:13:23] But he didn't see any other choice.

[00:13:25] Nobody was going that way by carriage.

[00:13:27] So he began walking.

[00:13:28] And he walked that 125 miles as fast as he could.

[00:13:33] And when he got there, his worst fears, I mean, came true.

[00:13:37] He found that his mother, his sisters, and his brothers had all been killed in what is

[00:13:42] called the Massacre of Oodwater.

[00:13:44] Which is, I mean, that is incredibly sad.

[00:13:47] You can't even imagine the effect that would have on your life, on your just outlook on things.

[00:13:54] I imagine that that definitely just had an effect on him for the rest of his life.

[00:13:59] How could it not?

[00:14:01] And it's easy to hear about historical events like the Massacre of Oodwater.

[00:14:04] You know, when we do history stuff, especially like a deep dive, there'll be these, you know,

[00:14:07] and that's when, you know, the whole city died or something like that.

[00:14:10] But every time we say something like that, we have to remember that it's not just a historical

[00:14:15] moment for the people living through it.

[00:14:16] They're not going to go, oh, this will be something for the textbook someday.

[00:14:19] For them, they're losing their loved ones.

[00:14:21] They, you know, in this case, he lost everyone he loved dearly.

[00:14:24] And not just his family, but to make it even Saturday, I'm sure he had many friends in the

[00:14:29] village.

[00:14:29] I'm sure he knew lots of people that also probably lost their lives in that.

[00:14:33] And so on the one hand, you can kind of see how even though his life was very tragic,

[00:14:38] God kind of moved him away from that and protected him from it by having him at university when

[00:14:43] it was happening.

[00:14:44] But on the other hand, I doubt that that was a very good reconciliation in that moment.

[00:14:49] Around the same time too, the Netherlands had a terrible tragedy that struck where the

[00:14:54] Netherlands is basically under, you know, is below sea level.

[00:14:57] And they had these flood dikes that kind of hold the sea back, but they broke during this

[00:15:02] time very badly and overflowed and flooded the country.

[00:15:06] And entire towns were just swept away by this flood.

[00:15:09] It was extremely damaging.

[00:15:10] And I read one website that said 100,000 people died.

[00:15:14] And again, this is in the middle of their giant 80 years war that they're also going through.

[00:15:18] So this is just a massively hard time to be there.

[00:15:21] Yeah, Arminius doesn't talk about this stuff very much.

[00:15:26] He doesn't.

[00:15:27] I mean, we don't have great records in general of people during this time normally.

[00:15:32] But in general, he didn't really document a lot of his feelings about life.

[00:15:37] He didn't have a personal journal or anything that we can look back on to.

[00:15:40] And so we can only really speculate a lot of the times how this affected his worldview and

[00:15:47] trajectory in life.

[00:15:49] You can't imagine it being anything short of, you know, life changing and what a horrifying

[00:15:54] thing to live through.

[00:15:56] So he ended up moving to Rotterdam, which was a bigger city that he lived in previously

[00:16:02] and lived with a pastor of a reformed church there just to kind of get back on his feet,

[00:16:09] presumably.

[00:16:10] And that pastor of this reformed church was starting up a university.

[00:16:14] Again, the Reformation movement is new.

[00:16:15] It's taking off.

[00:16:17] We need to start educating and training people in the ways.

[00:16:21] And so they're starting university.

[00:16:23] And he was excited to sign up and become one of the first students to it and one of the

[00:16:29] best students to it.

[00:16:30] Now, granted, he was the 12th student to enroll.

[00:16:33] So that wasn't a super high bar.

[00:16:36] But nonetheless, he counted it quite the privilege to be a part of one of the first people of this

[00:16:42] school that was teaching the reformed way.

[00:16:44] Anyway, he's getting his footing.

[00:16:46] He's having his life shaped by these historical events, by these life events, kind of forming

[00:16:52] into the person that he is.

[00:16:53] He's an interesting person to look at historically because there is a lot of controversies around

[00:16:59] him.

[00:16:59] And he himself is also discovering who he is and what he believes and learning throughout

[00:17:04] this whole process.

[00:17:05] So it's not really until later in his life that his views solidify into something that

[00:17:13] he's known for now.

[00:17:14] It's not like other pastors where we can look at their seminary times and get a good sense

[00:17:21] of it.

[00:17:21] There's a lot of fog to kind of look through.

[00:17:26] And I get the sense that he felt the same way.

[00:17:29] Like, I feel I get the sense that he is still trying to learn and discover his views on life

[00:17:35] throughout the majority of his life.

[00:17:47] From there, he ends up going to Geneva.

[00:17:50] And if you are expecting this is where Arminius has this big clash with the Calvinists in Geneva,

[00:17:59] the city of Calvin, you would be incorrect.

[00:18:02] He actually got along really well with everybody in Geneva.

[00:18:04] And after kind of studying and getting mentored there by some of the famous people, including

[00:18:09] Theodore Beza, which while we were recording this episode, Joel and I realized we need to

[00:18:14] do a sermon by him at some point.

[00:18:17] He moves on to another place, now Basil.

[00:18:19] He ends up working at a school there.

[00:18:21] And they love him.

[00:18:22] They offer him a doctorate at a university there.

[00:18:25] So you can tell you like somebody when they're trying to get you a doctorate.

[00:18:29] And really, they're a big fan of his work.

[00:18:31] And he's only 24, though.

[00:18:33] So he says, guys, I am too young to get a doctorate.

[00:18:35] I have too much to learn.

[00:18:36] I really appreciate the offer.

[00:18:38] But thank you.

[00:18:39] But I mean, you're 24 and they're trying to give you a doctorate and they love you that

[00:18:42] much so that you're making a big impact.

[00:18:43] This is not a dumb guy.

[00:18:45] He's definitely having a big splash here.

[00:18:48] He ends up kind of going back and forth across different places before he ends up being a professor

[00:18:52] back in the Netherlands.

[00:18:53] And in 1587, they offer him the chance to be a pastor in Amsterdam.

[00:18:58] He takes it.

[00:18:59] He gets ordained in 1588.

[00:19:00] And then he will get married, by the way, in 1590.

[00:19:03] So around the age of 30 years old, him and his wife will end up having 12 children together.

[00:19:08] And nine of them will survive past infancy.

[00:19:12] One thing that stands out to me is that there's a lot of slander and mudslinging that will happen

[00:19:16] over the years, especially about his reputation and legacy and who he ends up being, which

[00:19:21] makes some of the details of his life difficult to be clear about.

[00:19:24] But most people really did think he was a very good, pious man.

[00:19:27] You can tell both by how he is, you know, getting all these great professorship appointments

[00:19:33] in these big, important places and, you know, offer doctorates.

[00:19:35] But you can also just tell by this next story.

[00:19:38] There's a little anecdote I think really tells you a lot about his perspective on life.

[00:19:42] He marries, by the way, this very wealthy merchant's daughter, this person he'll end up

[00:19:46] marrying and having these kids with.

[00:19:47] And this opened up a bunch of opportunities, businesses and connections to him that if

[00:19:52] he wanted to personally enrich himself in town, he definitely could have.

[00:19:56] But he did not.

[00:19:58] And in 1602, the plague came to Amsterdam.

[00:20:01] And as you know, plague is very bad.

[00:20:03] It's not a good thing to get involved with.

[00:20:05] And everyone, as usual, kind of flees, gets away from it, but not Arminius.

[00:20:10] He instead goes into the houses with plague victims to take care of them, making sure they're

[00:20:16] getting food and water and actually, you know, being in their presence.

[00:20:20] Something that is, you definitely don't want to do when the plague comes to town.

[00:20:23] If you aren't sure, go listen to our episode on the London fire of 1666, which yes, does

[00:20:27] involve the plague coming to town.

[00:20:29] And just refresh yourself on how bad the plague is with that episode.

[00:20:33] And interestingly, the Christians got in trouble for doing the same thing again in that episode

[00:20:37] as well, where they would go into the places and take care of the plague victims.

[00:20:40] We have a good reputation of that in history of taking care of those who are sick and dying

[00:20:44] because we do not fear death.

[00:20:46] As a 42-year-old, very successful professor and pastor, he could have gotten out of doing

[00:20:51] this job easily, but he chose to go and take care of the sick.

[00:20:54] And everyone in town really thought highly of someone who had doing that.

[00:20:57] You know, it's very easy to go up on Sundays and preach that you're not afraid of death and

[00:21:01] you love Jesus.

[00:21:02] It's a very different thing to walk into a house with someone who's, you know, dying a

[00:21:06] plague and take care of them, knowing that you're exposing yourself and your family

[00:21:10] to that risk as well.

[00:21:12] That sends a message to everyone else about how serious you are about your faith.

[00:21:16] As he was doing this, though, it was around the same time when he begins to get embroiled

[00:21:21] in these theological controversies that will kind of mark the end of his life.

[00:21:25] And a lot of times we usually cover what some of those theological controversies are and

[00:21:31] try to give you a summary of them.

[00:21:32] But to be honest, these were not super easy to define controversies.

[00:21:37] And they were there were so many of them that the rest of the episode would have just been

[00:21:42] spent trying to explain all of these very intricate and detailed controversies that I

[00:21:47] not only don't think are extremely helpful to rehash, they're not also that interesting

[00:21:52] if you ask me personally.

[00:21:53] So if you would like to, you can go Google those and have a very good time with them.

[00:21:57] But I personally think it's safe to say Arminius kind of gets famous for being known as

[00:22:01] the founder of Arminianism because he starts to kind of question and go to the other side of

[00:22:06] things where Calvinism was kind of on one side and Arminianism will end up, you know, being on the

[00:22:11] other.

[00:22:13] So this sermon that we're about to listen to was given just a few years before his death,

[00:22:17] and it was in the middle of all these controversies.

[00:22:20] And you could tell he didn't really like the dissension that it brought upon people.

[00:22:26] He really called for unity.

[00:22:28] And this sermon is a sermon of unity calling for people to unite under their commonality

[00:22:36] that they have in their faith in Christ.

[00:22:39] And this is in a realm of controversies, in a realm of conflict between the country being

[00:22:45] at war to little controversies in the faculty lounge that, you know, they would debate against.

[00:22:52] He wanted whatever the scale to be for there to be better unity.

[00:22:56] And so despite the fact that Arminianism and Calvinism today are known for the contentiousness

[00:23:03] between the two camps, listen to this sermon.

[00:23:05] I think it's interesting to see that the unity that Arminius calls for is still applicable

[00:23:12] today.

[00:23:27] Since the first entrance of sin into the world, there has never been any age so peaceful that

[00:23:33] was not interrupted by the occurrence of some evil or another.

[00:23:36] But on the other hand, there has also never been an age so deeply troubled with disasters

[00:23:41] that it does not have a sweet mixture of some good by the presence of God's goodness towards

[00:23:46] mankind.

[00:23:47] The experience of all history shows us this is true.

[00:23:50] To demonstrate this, I do not deem it necessary to recount all the evils which have rushed like

[00:23:55] an overwhelming flood upon the century which has just been completed, for it feels infinite

[00:24:00] and would exhaust us to make such an attempt.

[00:24:02] Nor do I plan to mention, in some specific way, the blessings which lessened the evils.

[00:24:08] To confirm this truth, I will focus on one remarkable blessing, and one evil of great magnitude that

[00:24:14] is directly opposed to that blessing.

[00:24:17] This blessing is that the divine mercy of God illuminates our part of the world with the

[00:24:22] glorious light of his sacred truth and enlightens it with the knowledge of the true religion

[00:24:27] which is Christianity.

[00:24:29] But the evil opposed to it is that the truth is being clouded with the darkest errors.

[00:24:34] There has become separation and division among those who have devoted themselves exclusively

[00:24:38] to the service of Christ.

[00:24:40] The truth's corruption has cut them into warring factions, and even into shreds of parties,

[00:24:46] in direct contradiction to the nature and genius of Christianity.

[00:24:50] The very foundation of it is an act of peace concluded between God and men, which is ratified

[00:24:56] by the blood of the Prince of Peace.

[00:24:58] The words on each of its pages speak of peace and harmony, and its fruits are righteousness,

[00:25:04] peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, and its end is peace and eternal tranquility.

[00:25:09] And although a vision of that clearer light which shines among the churches that profess to have

[00:25:14] been reformed from Catholicism is exhilarating to the soul, but yet I cannot explain the intense

[00:25:20] grief which I feel in my heart on account of that religious discord which has been festering

[00:25:25] like a gangrene and infecting the whole of Christianity.

[00:25:29] In this feeling of deep regret, I think all those who love Christ and his church will join with me.

[00:25:35] You'd have to have a heart of marble not to be moved.

[00:25:38] All of this discord has moved me to speak on dissensions in the church today.

[00:25:44] For according to that common proverb, whenever a man feels any pain, his hand is almost spontaneously

[00:25:49] moved to the place that was hurt.

[00:25:51] This, therefore, is the subject which I wish to speak about on this honorable day, in which

[00:25:56] the province has given me the privilege of delivering a speech at this academic festival.

[00:26:01] I humbly pray and ask the God of peace that he will, by his spirit of truth and peace,

[00:26:06] be present with me while engaged in speaking, and that he will govern my mind and direct my

[00:26:11] tongue, that I may utter only things that are pleasing to him and worthy of the church

[00:26:15] of Christ for the glory of his name.

[00:26:17] To begin, unity is a great good.

[00:26:21] This truth is so certain that even the blessedness of God consists in that union by which he is

[00:26:26] one and always present with himself.

[00:26:29] Nothing, therefore, can be more agreeable or desirable than unity, and nothing can be

[00:26:34] more noxious and detestable than dissension, by which all things begin at first to decline

[00:26:40] from their own condition, and are afterwards diminished by steps until at last they perish.

[00:26:45] Good things that are ruined by evil things are often the most shocking and terrible.

[00:26:51] So, disunity in the church is one of the greatest evils facing the church, for Christianity contains

[00:26:57] the true knowledge of the true God and of Christ.

[00:27:00] It tells of the right way in which God may be worshipped, and when viewed with regard to

[00:27:05] its goal, it is the only means by which we can be bound and united to God and Christ.

[00:27:10] No one is permitted to profess neutrality.

[00:27:14] No, it is impossible for any man to remain neutral in the midst of religious disputes.

[00:27:18] And this discord has continued a long time and is almost incapable of reconciliation.

[00:27:24] One cause is that the parties individually think, if they concede even the smallest particle

[00:27:29] of the matter, such a concession is connected with the peril of their own salvation.

[00:27:34] Another reason consists of the opinion that each party believes life and eternal salvation is

[00:27:39] denied to them by their opponents.

[00:27:41] From this situation, their opponents disapprove of their religion, and when it is compared with

[00:27:46] their own, they treat it with the utmost contempt.

[00:27:49] This injury appears to be the most grievous and aggravating.

[00:27:53] But every act of peace has its beginning in the forgiveness of all injuries, and its foundation

[00:27:58] in the forgetting of those injuries.

[00:28:00] When a controversy becomes big enough, then-worldly-minded rulers have often used it, or at least parts

[00:28:06] of it, for the purpose of involving their subjects in battles, dissensions, and wars.

[00:28:11] In reality, they often wanted these wars for other reasons, but they used the dispute for themselves.

[00:28:16] In this way, the prince has gathered armies and property for his pleasure.

[00:28:21] These were readily sacrificed by the people in the defense of the ancient religion, but they

[00:28:25] were perverted by their rulers to obtain the fulfillment of their own wishes.

[00:28:30] Which they would never have gotten had they been deprived of such popular assistance.

[00:28:35] But the size of the dissension induces the people to tearfully make contributions of their own

[00:28:40] property to their prince.

[00:28:41] And the stubborn spirit which is created within all dissension causes the people never to grow

[00:28:46] tired of giving while they still can.

[00:28:49] Now let us study what has been, and what still is, the effects of this great evil in this part

[00:28:55] of the Christian world.

[00:28:56] We may, I think, organize the infinite effects mainly into two main types.

[00:29:02] The first kind is derived from the force of the dissension on the minds of men.

[00:29:06] And the second kind works in the operation of the same dissension on their hearts and affections.

[00:29:13] First, the force of this dissension on the minds of men creates a degree of doubtful uncertainty

[00:29:19] respecting religion itself.

[00:29:21] Think of the effect when people learn that there is scarcely any article of Christian doctrine

[00:29:25] which there are not different and even contradictory opinions, but each group calls the other horrid

[00:29:31] blasphemers.

[00:29:32] And then those points which some Christians consider the perfection of piety receive from

[00:29:37] others as cursed idolatry.

[00:29:40] And that controversies like this are fiery debates between men of learning, respectability,

[00:29:45] experience, and great renown.

[00:29:47] When all these things are perceived by the people, and when they do not observe any discrepancy

[00:29:53] in the life and manners of the opposite sides, which shows that God's spirit of his truth

[00:29:57] is on one of these parties by account of any superior sanctity, then people begin to think

[00:30:03] in their imagination that they may esteem the principles of religion as similarly obscure

[00:30:08] and uncertain.

[00:30:09] For what simple person can hope to discover the truth when he understands that a dispute exists

[00:30:15] about its very foundation?

[00:30:17] What hope can he entertain when he sees that questions often arise concerning the translation

[00:30:22] of some passage of scripture, and can be solved only by a knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek

[00:30:27] languages?

[00:30:28] How can he hope to find out the truth, he'll say, when the opinions of learned men, who have

[00:30:34] written on religious subjects, are not unfrequently quoted in the place of evidence?

[00:30:39] But the simple person is ignorant of all languages except that of the country in which he was

[00:30:44] born, and he is deprived of all other books, and maybe he possesses a single copy of the scriptures

[00:30:51] translated into his language.

[00:30:53] How can such a person be prevented from forming the opinion that there is nothing certain among

[00:30:58] the chief doctrines of religion that can be known to anyone?

[00:31:01] For unless that man is skilled in the two sacred languages, has a perfect knowledge of all traditions,

[00:31:07] and has perused with the closest attention the writings of all the great doctors of the

[00:31:11] church, and has thoroughly instructed himself in the sentiments which they held respecting

[00:31:16] each single principle of religion.

[00:31:18] Now what follows this despair?

[00:31:21] Either a most perverse opinion concerning all religion, an entire rejection of every part

[00:31:26] of it, and then acceptance of atheism.

[00:31:28] These controversies end up producing hedonistic people.

[00:31:32] For when the mind of man is in despair about discovering the truth, then it is compelled to

[00:31:37] devise a cunning charm for appeasing his own conscience with endless distractions.

[00:31:41] The people in such a state may also decide that it is unnecessary for common people to understand

[00:31:47] the truths of religion, and to be well assured of what they believe.

[00:31:50] That the attainment of these truths is a duty for the clergy alone, to the faith of whom,

[00:31:55] as of them that must give account to God for the salvation of souls, as says Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17.

[00:32:01] But for the commoner, it is quite sufficient for the people to signify their assent by a blind agreement

[00:32:07] with it.

[00:32:07] The clergy also themselves, with a view to their own advantages, will frequently discourage all

[00:32:13] attempts on the part of the people to gain knowledge of religion and find an assurance of their beliefs.

[00:32:19] Or maybe the mind in such circumstances will persuade itself that all worship paid to God,

[00:32:25] with good intentions, is pleasing to him.

[00:32:28] In that case, in every form of religion, provided such good intentions are conscientiously present,

[00:32:34] a man may be saved.

[00:32:35] So despite all the divisions, all of these beliefs are equal.

[00:32:39] The men who have believed such notions as these, which are there to pacify the conscience,

[00:32:44] these men not only desert all study of divine things themselves, but lay sin on the person

[00:32:50] who attempts a diligent search for that which they have imagined can never be discovered.

[00:32:55] This path is no less steep and dangerous than the road to atheism.

[00:33:01] For since these persons despair of offering to the deity the adoration of true religion,

[00:33:06] they think they may abstain from all acts of worship to him, without incurring any greater harm or punishment.

[00:33:12] For we see how the pacified conscience becomes so dangerous in a community racked with religious discord.

[00:33:19] From atheism, as the seed, hedonism buds, which dissolves all the ties of morality.

[00:33:25] For hedonism breaks down the barriers of the fear of God,

[00:33:29] which alone restrains men within the bounds of their duties.

[00:33:32] All these evils come from religious dissension when its operation is on the mind.

[00:33:37] I wish that it would remain there and would not attack the feelings in the heart.

[00:33:41] But I wish in vain, when religious discord makes its appearance,

[00:33:44] even among renowned men, once bound together and united by a thousand tender ties of nature and affection,

[00:33:51] they will then instantly renounce one another and all tokens of friendship.

[00:33:56] This is signified by Christ when he says,

[00:33:59] I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword.

[00:34:02] For I have come to set a man at variance against his father,

[00:34:05] and the daughter against her mother,

[00:34:07] and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,

[00:34:09] and a man's foes will be of his own household.

[00:34:12] See Matthew chapter 10 verses 31 through 36.

[00:34:15] These words do not indicate the purpose of the coming of Christ,

[00:34:19] but an event which would follow his coming.

[00:34:22] Because he was then about to introduce into the world

[00:34:25] a religion which differed greatly from that which was publicly established.

[00:34:28] A religion which from it many dissensions would arise

[00:34:32] through the vicious corruptions of mankind.

[00:34:36] 2. Hatred and dissensions of the heart and affections branch out and become schisms.

[00:34:41] For as love is a feeling of union, so is hatred a feeling of separation.

[00:34:46] So denominations are erected, consecrated, and thronged with people,

[00:34:51] in opposition to other denominations.

[00:34:54] Churches against churches, and altars against altars,

[00:34:57] when neither party wishes to have interaction with the other.

[00:35:00] This also is the reason why we frequently hear expressions

[00:35:03] entirely similar to those which were clamorously echoed

[00:35:06] through the assembled multitude of the children of Israel

[00:35:09] when they were separating into parties.

[00:35:11] To your tents, O Israel!

[00:35:13] For our adversaries have no portion in God,

[00:35:16] nor any inheritance in his Son Christ Jesus.

[00:35:19] For both factions equally appropriate to themselves

[00:35:23] the renowned name of the true Israel,

[00:35:26] which they deny to their adversaries.

[00:35:28] They do it as if the name of Israel,

[00:35:31] by which God graciously names the whole of his church,

[00:35:34] cannot encompass and embrace those who differ in any point

[00:35:37] from the rest of their brethren.

[00:35:40] 3.

[00:35:40] But the frustration of angered hearts does not stop with schisms alone.

[00:35:45] For if one party considers itself powerful,

[00:35:48] it will not be afraid of instituting persecutions against the party opposed to it,

[00:35:52] and of attempting to exterminate it.

[00:35:54] It spares nothing,

[00:35:55] and will unleash the most striking fury it can work.

[00:35:59] Cruelty is practiced against the reputation,

[00:36:02] the property,

[00:36:03] and the people themselves.

[00:36:04] Against the work,

[00:36:06] the churches,

[00:36:07] and even the memory of their dead,

[00:36:08] They are attacked with cruel mocking,

[00:36:11] trials,

[00:36:12] vile words,

[00:36:13] curses,

[00:36:14] excommunications,

[00:36:15] anathemas,

[00:36:16] degrading and scandalous slander,

[00:36:19] prisons,

[00:36:19] and even torture.

[00:36:21] They are banished to distant or uninhabited islands,

[00:36:24] condemned to the minds,

[00:36:26] restricted from having any communication with their fellow man by land or sea.

[00:36:30] They are banished from the sight of either heaven or earth.

[00:36:33] They are tormented by water,

[00:36:35] fire,

[00:36:35] and the sword,

[00:36:36] on crosses and stakes,

[00:36:37] on wheels of torture,

[00:36:39] and by claws of wild beasts,

[00:36:41] without any limit or end,

[00:36:43] until the oppressed group is destroyed,

[00:36:45] or has submitted themselves to the pleasure of the more powerful.

[00:36:49] They do so by rejecting the different sentiments which they formerly held,

[00:36:53] and by embracing with outward devotion those beliefs which they had previously disapproved.

[00:36:58] They destroy themselves by hypocritically claiming to believe what they were forced to say by violence.

[00:37:04] Remember how the heathens persecuted the Christians,

[00:37:08] and the persecuting conduct of the Aryans against the Orthodox,

[00:37:11] of the worshippers of images against the destroyers of images,

[00:37:15] and vice versa.

[00:37:16] Or, without history,

[00:37:17] let us look at what has occurred within the period of our own memory,

[00:37:20] and that of our fathers in Spain,

[00:37:22] Portugal,

[00:37:23] France,

[00:37:24] England,

[00:37:24] and the Low Countries,

[00:37:25] and we will confess with tears that what I have described is true.

[00:37:31] 4.

[00:37:32] But if it happens that the contending parties are nearly equal in power,

[00:37:36] or that one of them has been long oppressed,

[00:37:39] wearied out by persecutions,

[00:37:41] and inflamed with a desire for freedom,

[00:37:43] the oppressed party gets courage,

[00:37:45] and summon all its strength and collects its armies,

[00:37:47] then horrible wars will arise,

[00:37:50] grievances are declared,

[00:37:51] and after the trumpets the war is proclaimed.

[00:37:54] The opposing armies charge each other,

[00:37:56] and the conflict is decided in a most bloody and barbarous manner.

[00:38:00] Both sides are notably silent about entering into negotiations for peace,

[00:38:06] for fear that the party which first suggests this course

[00:38:08] will make themselves appear the weaker of the two.

[00:38:11] No, the battle is carried on with such willful stubbornness

[00:38:15] that both sides hate the man who even for a second mentions the word peace.

[00:38:20] For such a man who loves peace would be stigmatized as a deserter from the truth,

[00:38:25] and considered guilty of heresy,

[00:38:27] a friend of heretics,

[00:38:28] an apostate,

[00:38:29] and a traitor.

[00:38:31] All these hostilities,

[00:38:33] divisions,

[00:38:33] persecutions,

[00:38:34] and wars

[00:38:35] are fueled and driven by even greater hatred

[00:38:38] because each person sees their opponent

[00:38:40] as the most dangerous and corrupt individual

[00:38:43] in the entire Christian world.

[00:38:45] He is certainly a public troublemaker,

[00:38:47] a destroyer of souls,

[00:38:48] an enemy of God,

[00:38:50] and a servant of the devil.

[00:38:52] They see this person as someone who deserves to be struck down

[00:38:55] and consumed by fire from heaven.

[00:38:58] And even more,

[00:38:59] they believe it is not only permissible

[00:39:01] to hate,

[00:39:02] curse,

[00:39:02] and even kill this person without feeling any guilt,

[00:39:05] but they also consider it highly acceptable to do so,

[00:39:08] and believe they should be praised for such actions.

[00:39:11] To them,

[00:39:12] no other act seems more pleasing to God

[00:39:14] and more beneficial for the salvation of others.

[00:39:17] Such a bloodthirsty zealot

[00:39:19] claims to be called,

[00:39:21] driven,

[00:39:21] and compelled to commit these acts

[00:39:23] by a fervor for the house of God,

[00:39:26] for the salvation of souls,

[00:39:27] and for the glory of the divine.

[00:39:30] This behavior among violent partisans

[00:39:32] was foretold by the judge and master of our faith.

[00:39:36] When they persecute you

[00:39:38] and kill you for my sake,

[00:39:39] they will think they are offering a service to God.

[00:39:43] John chapter 16, verse 2

[00:39:44] When even a person's conscience stirs up,

[00:39:48] supports,

[00:39:48] and justifies their passions,

[00:39:50] there is little that can stand in the way

[00:39:52] of their relentless fervor.

[00:39:54] From all this,

[00:39:55] we can see that the faith itself,

[00:39:58] due to the sinful nature of humanity,

[00:40:00] has been twisted into a source of division.

[00:40:03] It has become a battleground

[00:40:04] where people continually engage

[00:40:06] in cruel and violent conflicts.

[00:40:08] And when someone claims for themselves,

[00:40:11] and with the support of a large following,

[00:40:13] the authority to dictate laws concerning faith,

[00:40:16] or to excommunicate anyone at will,

[00:40:18] or to depose kings,

[00:40:19] or to incite rebellion against lawful rulers,

[00:40:22] or to transfer a prince's dominion to others

[00:40:25] who may be their allies

[00:40:26] or those ready to seize it,

[00:40:28] or to forgive sins regardless of their severity

[00:40:31] and whether committed in the past or future,

[00:40:34] and to elevate murderers and criminals to sainthood,

[00:40:36] Well then,

[00:40:38] such a person's mere command

[00:40:40] must be followed with unquestioning obedience

[00:40:42] as though it were the very will of God.

[00:40:45] Oh, blessed God,

[00:40:46] what a series of disasters

[00:40:48] has been unleashed upon the Christian world!

[00:40:51] It is no wonder that one might cry out in disbelief,

[00:40:54] Could it really be

[00:40:55] that Christianity has driven people

[00:40:57] to bring about such a vast array of evils?

[00:41:00] But the tragedies we have described

[00:41:02] don't just stem from genuine disagreements,

[00:41:05] where fundamental truths are at the heart of the debate.

[00:41:08] They also arise from imagined conflicts,

[00:41:11] those where the mind perceives things

[00:41:13] not as they truly are,

[00:41:14] but as they think them to be.

[00:41:16] These I refer to as imaginary dissensions.

[00:41:20] Some have these imaginary dissensions

[00:41:23] because they exist among parties

[00:41:25] that have only an imaginary religion,

[00:41:27] which is a great distance from the true one.

[00:41:29] It is as distant from heaven as the earth.

[00:41:32] Differences of this description

[00:41:34] are found among the Muslims

[00:41:35] who disagree with one another.

[00:41:37] For example,

[00:41:38] the Turks follow the interpretation of Omar,

[00:41:40] but others, like the Persians,

[00:41:42] are proselytes to the commentaries of Ali.

[00:41:45] Another reason for imaginary conflicts

[00:41:48] is because the arguing parties

[00:41:49] believe these imaginary differences

[00:41:51] to be of equal substance

[00:41:53] to the true doctrine when they aren't.

[00:41:56] An example of this kind of difference

[00:41:57] is in Victor, the Bishop of Rome,

[00:42:00] when he wished to excommunicate

[00:42:01] all the Eastern churches

[00:42:03] because they dissented from him

[00:42:05] on the proper time

[00:42:06] to celebrate the Christian festival of Easter.

[00:42:08] But to bring this portion

[00:42:10] of my message to a close,

[00:42:11] the ultimate and most tragic outcome

[00:42:14] of religious discord

[00:42:15] is that it leads to the very destruction

[00:42:17] of the faith

[00:42:18] that all these arguments

[00:42:19] were supposedly meant to defend.

[00:42:22] Religion in this sense

[00:42:23] suffers a fate much like that

[00:42:25] of the young lady described by Plutarch,

[00:42:27] who was courted by many suitors.

[00:42:29] When each realized

[00:42:30] they could not have her

[00:42:31] entirely to themselves,

[00:42:32] they divided her body into parts,

[00:42:35] leaving no one with her whole person.

[00:42:37] This is the true nature of division,

[00:42:39] to scatter and annihilate

[00:42:41] the very things

[00:42:42] that are the most important.

[00:42:43] We see a sorrowful example of this

[00:42:46] in vast territories

[00:42:47] and large kingdoms,

[00:42:48] whose people were once among

[00:42:50] the most thriving adherents

[00:42:51] of the Christian faith.

[00:42:52] Today, however,

[00:42:53] the inhabitants of these lands

[00:42:55] have abandoned Christianity,

[00:42:57] having embraced Islam,

[00:42:58] a system that originated

[00:43:00] and grew primarily

[00:43:01] out of the bitter divisions

[00:43:03] between Jews and Christians,

[00:43:05] as well as the theological disputes

[00:43:06] that erupted among the Orthodox,

[00:43:08] Sabellians, Arians,

[00:43:10] Nestorians, and others.

[00:43:12] So now let us contemplate

[00:43:13] the causes of these dissensions.

[00:43:16] First,

[00:43:17] the accidental cause

[00:43:18] of this dissension

[00:43:19] is found in the very nature

[00:43:21] of the Christian religion,

[00:43:22] which not only transcends

[00:43:24] the human mind

[00:43:25] and its heart and passions,

[00:43:26] but appears to be

[00:43:27] altogether against both of them.

[00:43:29] For the Christian religion

[00:43:31] has its foundation

[00:43:32] in the cross of Christ,

[00:43:33] and it holds out

[00:43:34] this humbling truth,

[00:43:36] Jesus, the crucified,

[00:43:38] is the Savior of the world,

[00:43:40] as an axiom

[00:43:41] worthy of complete acceptance.

[00:43:43] But what can appear

[00:43:44] to the mind

[00:43:45] more absurd

[00:43:46] or foolish

[00:43:47] than for a crucified

[00:43:48] and dead person

[00:43:49] to be accounted

[00:43:50] as the Savior of the world,

[00:43:52] and for men to believe

[00:43:53] that salvation

[00:43:54] centers in that cross?

[00:43:56] On this account,

[00:43:57] the apostle declares

[00:43:58] in the same passage

[00:43:59] that the doctrine

[00:44:00] of the cross

[00:44:01] is to the Jews

[00:44:02] a stumbling block

[00:44:03] and to the Greeks

[00:44:04] foolishness.

[00:44:05] And also,

[00:44:06] what is more opposed

[00:44:07] to human nature

[00:44:08] than

[00:44:08] for a man

[00:44:09] to hate

[00:44:10] and deny himself,

[00:44:11] to hate the world

[00:44:12] and the things

[00:44:13] that are in the world,

[00:44:14] and to hate the flesh

[00:44:15] with its affections

[00:44:16] and lusts?

[00:44:17] Yet this

[00:44:18] is another axiom

[00:44:19] of the Christian religion,

[00:44:20] to which he

[00:44:21] who does not give

[00:44:22] a cheerful yes

[00:44:23] in his mind

[00:44:24] as well as in action

[00:44:25] is excluded

[00:44:26] from the discipleship

[00:44:27] of Christ Jesus.

[00:44:29] This essential requirement

[00:44:30] is the reason

[00:44:31] why someone

[00:44:31] who is not a part

[00:44:32] of the Christian faith

[00:44:33] does not readily

[00:44:34] submit to its demands.

[00:44:35] It is also

[00:44:36] why someone

[00:44:37] who claims

[00:44:37] to follow Christ,

[00:44:38] yet is too weak

[00:44:39] and fearful

[00:44:40] to fully commit

[00:44:41] to the challenges

[00:44:42] it presents,

[00:44:43] creates various

[00:44:44] excuses

[00:44:44] to ease

[00:44:45] the severity

[00:44:46] of a command

[00:44:47] that terrifies

[00:44:48] him in its full meaning.

[00:44:50] As a result

[00:44:51] of these tendencies,

[00:44:52] conflicts arise

[00:44:53] from those trying

[00:44:54] to follow the faith.

[00:44:55] There are also

[00:44:56] the Holy Scriptures

[00:44:57] as the only true

[00:44:58] and authoritative document

[00:44:59] which serves

[00:45:00] as the foundation

[00:45:01] for the Christian faith.

[00:45:03] Yet,

[00:45:04] even these

[00:45:04] sacred texts

[00:45:05] can become

[00:45:07] vision when,

[00:45:08] as the Apostle Peter warns,

[00:45:10] the unlearned

[00:45:11] and unstable

[00:45:12] twist them

[00:45:13] to their own destruction,

[00:45:15] for they contain

[00:45:16] some things

[00:45:17] hard to understand.

[00:45:18] 2 Peter 3,

[00:45:20] verse 16

[00:45:20] The figurative language

[00:45:22] and ambiguous phrases

[00:45:24] found in certain passages

[00:45:25] are often

[00:45:26] unintentionally

[00:45:27] misused,

[00:45:28] leading to the

[00:45:29] distortion of truth

[00:45:30] by those who

[00:45:31] have not yet matured

[00:45:32] in their understanding.

[00:45:33] But,

[00:45:34] setting aside

[00:45:35] these initial points,

[00:45:37] let us now focus

[00:45:38] on the primary

[00:45:39] causes of dissension.

[00:45:40] The main reason

[00:45:42] for these dissensions

[00:45:42] is ultimately

[00:45:43] Satan,

[00:45:44] that bitter enemy

[00:45:45] of truth and peace

[00:45:47] and the cunning

[00:45:48] spreader of falsehood

[00:45:49] and discord.

[00:45:50] He acts as the leader

[00:45:52] of this hostile force.

[00:45:53] Driven by envy

[00:45:54] towards God

[00:45:55] and the salvation

[00:45:56] of humanity,

[00:45:57] Satan is always

[00:45:57] watching,

[00:45:58] seizing every opportunity

[00:46:00] to cause disruption.

[00:46:01] During the time

[00:46:02] when the Lord

[00:46:03] is planting

[00:46:03] the seeds of truth,

[00:46:05] Satan works in secret,

[00:46:06] sowing the tears

[00:46:07] of heresies

[00:46:08] and divisions

[00:46:09] among the wheat.

[00:46:10] Next in this

[00:46:11] destructive sequence

[00:46:12] is man himself,

[00:46:14] who, sadly,

[00:46:15] is often all too

[00:46:16] willing to act

[00:46:17] as an instrument

[00:46:18] for Satan,

[00:46:19] even when it leads

[00:46:19] to his own ruin.

[00:46:21] The serpent,

[00:46:22] cunning and deceitful,

[00:46:24] finds in humanity

[00:46:25] various methods

[00:46:26] perfectly suited

[00:46:26] to accomplish

[00:46:27] his nefarious purposes.

[00:46:29] Whether through pride,

[00:46:30] ignorance,

[00:46:31] or a desire for power,

[00:46:32] people are easily swayed

[00:46:34] to carry out actions

[00:46:35] that further

[00:46:36] Satan's destructive agenda,

[00:46:38] often without fully grasping

[00:46:39] the devastating consequences

[00:46:41] for themselves and others.

[00:46:43] Man's mind

[00:46:44] is trapped in slavery

[00:46:46] to Satan,

[00:46:46] and so he is blind

[00:46:47] to the truth.

[00:46:49] This blindness

[00:46:50] has so fascinated

[00:46:51] our eyes

[00:46:51] as to make us appear

[00:46:52] like owls

[00:46:53] that become nearsighted

[00:46:55] when the light of truth

[00:46:55] is seen.

[00:46:56] Yet,

[00:46:57] the truth is not hidden

[00:46:58] in a deep well,

[00:46:59] for it is placed

[00:47:00] in the skies above.

[00:47:01] But we cannot perceive it,

[00:47:03] even when its beams

[00:47:04] are clearly shining down

[00:47:05] on us from above.

[00:47:07] The God of this world

[00:47:08] has blinded the minds

[00:47:09] of them which do not believe.

[00:47:11] Otherwise,

[00:47:12] the light of the glorious

[00:47:13] gospel of Christ

[00:47:14] should shine for them.

[00:47:15] 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4

[00:47:17] God himself,

[00:47:20] the just punisher

[00:47:21] of those who hate

[00:47:22] the truth,

[00:47:22] has inflicted on them

[00:47:24] this blindness.

[00:47:25] This is the reason

[00:47:26] why the veil

[00:47:27] that remains upon the mind

[00:47:28] operates as a preventive

[00:47:30] and obstructs

[00:47:31] the view of the gospel.

[00:47:32] See 2 Corinthians 3.

[00:47:34] And why he on whom

[00:47:36] the truth has shown in vain

[00:47:38] believes a lie.

[00:47:39] See 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11.

[00:47:42] But assent to falsehoods

[00:47:45] becomes dissension

[00:47:46] and separation

[00:47:47] from those who are

[00:47:47] speakers of the truth.

[00:47:49] Another cause is pride,

[00:47:51] that prolific mother

[00:47:52] of dissensions in religion,

[00:47:54] which produces its evil

[00:47:55] offspring in three

[00:47:56] different ways.

[00:47:57] First,

[00:47:58] it will exalt itself

[00:47:59] against the knowledge

[00:48:01] of God,

[00:48:02] 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5,

[00:48:04] and does not allow itself

[00:48:06] to be brought into captivity

[00:48:07] by the truth

[00:48:08] to obey God.

[00:48:09] Pride says in reality,

[00:48:11] let us break their chains

[00:48:13] and cast away

[00:48:13] their cords from us.

[00:48:15] Psalm 2, verse 3.

[00:48:17] From this baneful source

[00:48:18] arose the treason of Korah,

[00:48:20] Dathan, and Abiram,

[00:48:21] who arrogantly claimed

[00:48:23] for themselves

[00:48:23] a share in the priesthood,

[00:48:25] which God had given

[00:48:25] exclusively to Aaron

[00:48:26] in Numbers chapter 16.

[00:48:29] Or secondly,

[00:48:30] it loves to have

[00:48:31] the preeminence

[00:48:32] in the church of God

[00:48:33] and to have dominion

[00:48:34] over another's faith.

[00:48:36] The crime of which

[00:48:37] St. John accuses

[00:48:38] diatrophies

[00:48:39] when he complains that

[00:48:40] neither does he

[00:48:41] himself receive

[00:48:42] the brethren

[00:48:42] and forbids them

[00:48:43] that would

[00:48:44] and casts them

[00:48:44] out of the church.

[00:48:45] But envy,

[00:48:47] anger,

[00:48:47] and an eager desire

[00:48:48] to know all things

[00:48:49] are three other darts

[00:48:51] which pride hurls

[00:48:52] against unity

[00:48:53] in religion.

[00:48:54] For if anyone

[00:48:54] excels his peers

[00:48:55] in knowledge

[00:48:56] of divine things

[00:48:57] and in holiness

[00:48:58] of life,

[00:48:58] and he advances

[00:48:59] in favor with the people,

[00:49:01] pride immediately

[00:49:02] injects envy

[00:49:03] into the minds

[00:49:04] of some fellow shepherd.

[00:49:06] Envy then contaminates

[00:49:07] all that is fair

[00:49:08] and lovely.

[00:49:09] It will obscure

[00:49:10] with vile words

[00:49:12] either his ministry

[00:49:13] or the doctrines

[00:49:14] which he teaches.

[00:49:15] The third weapon

[00:49:16] which pride uses

[00:49:17] in war

[00:49:17] is a passionate

[00:49:19] curiosity

[00:49:20] to explore

[00:49:21] and know

[00:49:21] all things.

[00:49:22] This passion

[00:49:23] leaves no subject

[00:49:24] untouched

[00:49:25] and it harms others

[00:49:26] by describing things

[00:49:27] as necessary

[00:49:28] and important,

[00:49:29] however,

[00:49:30] these things

[00:49:30] are not necessary.

[00:49:32] From this attitude,

[00:49:33] offenses

[00:49:33] and schisms

[00:49:34] arise.

[00:49:35] Greed

[00:49:36] or the love

[00:49:36] of money

[00:49:37] which is termed

[00:49:38] by the apostle

[00:49:39] the root of all evil

[00:49:39] in 1 Timothy

[00:49:40] chapter 6

[00:49:41] verse 10

[00:49:42] also shows up

[00:49:43] on this battlefield.

[00:49:44] For the doctrine

[00:49:45] of truth

[00:49:45] is not a source

[00:49:46] of profit.

[00:49:47] When those

[00:49:48] who have faithfully

[00:49:48] taught it

[00:49:49] are then replaced

[00:49:49] by unbelieving teachers

[00:49:51] who are ravening wolves

[00:49:53] and suppose gain

[00:49:54] to be godliness,

[00:49:55] these teachers

[00:49:56] change it

[00:49:57] with different methods.

[00:49:58] One way

[00:49:59] is by binding

[00:50:00] heavy burdens

[00:50:01] and grievous

[00:50:02] to be born

[00:50:03] and laying them

[00:50:04] on the shoulders

[00:50:04] of the disciples

[00:50:05] as in Matthew

[00:50:06] chapter 13

[00:50:07] verse 4

[00:50:07] or also

[00:50:09] by inventing

[00:50:10] profitable plans

[00:50:11] for forgiving sins

[00:50:13] or lastly

[00:50:14] by preaching

[00:50:15] in soft

[00:50:16] and complimentary

[00:50:17] language

[00:50:18] such things

[00:50:19] as are agreeable

[00:50:20] to the ears

[00:50:20] of the people

[00:50:21] for the purpose

[00:50:22] of gaining their favor

[00:50:23] which according

[00:50:24] to the apostle

[00:50:24] is a corruption

[00:50:26] of the word of God

[00:50:27] to profit from it.

[00:50:29] 2 Corinthians

[00:50:29] chapter 2

[00:50:30] verse 17

[00:50:32] From greed

[00:50:33] dissensions

[00:50:34] have often arisen.

[00:50:35] It causes division

[00:50:36] when the faithful teachers

[00:50:37] that are in the church

[00:50:38] instead rally themselves

[00:50:40] in opposition

[00:50:40] to the truth

[00:50:41] for the sake of profit

[00:50:42] or when the people

[00:50:44] themselves

[00:50:44] growing weary

[00:50:45] of God's word

[00:50:46] rebel against

[00:50:47] these pastors.

[00:50:49] This was the

[00:50:50] dissension

[00:50:50] between the Pharisees

[00:50:51] and Christ

[00:50:52] for he opposed

[00:50:53] their greed

[00:50:53] and came to loosen

[00:50:54] all their burdens.

[00:50:56] This was also

[00:50:56] the primary cause

[00:50:57] by which Luther

[00:50:58] was excited

[00:50:59] to end the sale

[00:50:59] of indulgences

[00:51:00] and from that

[00:51:02] small beginning

[00:51:03] he gradually

[00:51:04] proceeded

[00:51:04] to greater reforms.

[00:51:06] There are teachers

[00:51:07] who have a love

[00:51:08] of pleasure

[00:51:09] in this life.

[00:51:10] They teach

[00:51:10] that you can live

[00:51:11] as you want

[00:51:12] in this life

[00:51:12] with as much

[00:51:13] sin as possible

[00:51:14] but still attain heaven.

[00:51:16] With two such

[00:51:18] opposite ideas

[00:51:18] these teachers

[00:51:19] place under the

[00:51:20] armholes

[00:51:20] of their disciples

[00:51:21] pillows sewed

[00:51:22] and filled

[00:51:23] with soft feathers

[00:51:24] as in Ezekiel

[00:51:25] chapter 13

[00:51:26] verse 18

[00:51:26] on which

[00:51:27] they may recline

[00:51:28] themselves

[00:51:29] and take

[00:51:29] sweet naps

[00:51:30] although their

[00:51:31] sins

[00:51:31] like sharply

[00:51:32] pointed thorns

[00:51:33] continue to sting

[00:51:35] them in every

[00:51:35] direction.

[00:51:36] They flatter

[00:51:37] them with the

[00:51:38] idea of an

[00:51:38] easy pardon

[00:51:39] as long as

[00:51:40] they purchase

[00:51:41] the favor

[00:51:41] of God.

[00:51:42] And through

[00:51:43] these sermons

[00:51:44] this pastor's

[00:51:45] sanctuary is

[00:51:45] filled with

[00:51:46] great donations.

[00:51:47] This is the

[00:51:48] complaint of the

[00:51:49] apostle who

[00:51:49] when writing

[00:51:50] to Timothy

[00:51:50] says

[00:51:51] for the time

[00:51:52] will come

[00:51:52] when they will

[00:51:53] not endure

[00:51:54] sound doctrine

[00:51:55] but after their

[00:51:55] own lusts

[00:51:56] they will heap

[00:51:57] to themselves

[00:51:57] teachers

[00:51:58] having itching

[00:51:59] ears

[00:51:59] and they will

[00:52:00] turn away

[00:52:00] their ears

[00:52:01] from the

[00:52:01] truth

[00:52:01] and will be

[00:52:02] turned to

[00:52:03] fables.

[00:52:04] To this

[00:52:05] is added

[00:52:05] an admonition

[00:52:06] that Timothy

[00:52:07] should watch

[00:52:08] and discharge

[00:52:08] with faithfulness

[00:52:09] the duties

[00:52:10] of his ministry.

[00:52:11] But these

[00:52:12] sins

[00:52:12] pride

[00:52:13] and greed

[00:52:13] and anger

[00:52:14] work for

[00:52:15] Satan in

[00:52:15] another way

[00:52:16] for they

[00:52:16] also work

[00:52:17] under his

[00:52:17] guidance

[00:52:18] to introduce

[00:52:18] changes

[00:52:19] in the

[00:52:19] faith

[00:52:19] and

[00:52:20] consequently

[00:52:21] to create

[00:52:22] disunity

[00:52:22] among Christians.

[00:52:24] In both

[00:52:24] sacred

[00:52:25] and profane

[00:52:26] history

[00:52:26] terrible

[00:52:27] examples

[00:52:27] are noted

[00:52:28] of princes

[00:52:28] and private

[00:52:29] men

[00:52:29] who are

[00:52:30] motivated

[00:52:30] by a desire

[00:52:31] for power

[00:52:32] and have

[00:52:32] invented

[00:52:33] new ideas

[00:52:34] of religion

[00:52:34] and then

[00:52:35] accommodated

[00:52:36] them to

[00:52:36] their needs

[00:52:37] and the

[00:52:37] wishes

[00:52:38] and the

[00:52:38] opinions

[00:52:38] of their

[00:52:39] own people.

[00:52:40] With

[00:52:40] these

[00:52:41] intentions

[00:52:41] and under

[00:52:42] the impulse

[00:52:42] of these

[00:52:43] views

[00:52:43] Jeroboam

[00:52:44] was the

[00:52:45] first author

[00:52:45] of a

[00:52:46] change

[00:52:46] of religion

[00:52:46] in the

[00:52:47] days

[00:52:47] of Israel.

[00:52:48] He built

[00:52:48] altars

[00:52:48] in Dan

[00:52:49] and Bethel

[00:52:50] and made

[00:52:50] golden calves

[00:52:51] that would

[00:52:51] prevent

[00:53:03] the

[00:53:05] things

[00:53:05] which

[00:53:05] were

[00:53:06] most

[00:53:06] agreeable

[00:53:07] to them

[00:53:07] and he

[00:53:08] then adopted

[00:53:09] the very

[00:53:09] crafty

[00:53:10] council

[00:53:10] of

[00:53:10] Sergius

[00:53:11] the

[00:53:11] monk

[00:53:11] and

[00:53:12] devised

[00:53:13] a new

[00:53:13] model

[00:53:13] of religion

[00:53:14] which was

[00:53:15] gratifying

[00:53:15] to the

[00:53:16] human

[00:53:16] senses

[00:53:16] and he

[00:53:17] persuaded

[00:53:18] many

[00:53:18] people

[00:53:18] to

[00:53:18] embrace

[00:53:19] it

[00:53:19] and

[00:53:20] those

[00:53:20] individuals

[00:53:20] he

[00:53:21] convinced

[00:53:21] were

[00:53:22] the

[00:53:22] foundation

[00:53:22] of

[00:53:22] the

[00:53:23] immense

[00:53:23] Ottoman

[00:53:23] empire.

[00:53:25] Now

[00:53:25] another

[00:53:26] place

[00:53:26] dissension

[00:53:26] stems

[00:53:27] from

[00:53:27] is

[00:53:27] hatred.

[00:53:28] First

[00:53:29] is

[00:53:29] a

[00:53:29] hatred

[00:53:30] of

[00:53:30] truth

[00:53:30] and

[00:53:31] of

[00:53:31] true

[00:53:31] doctrines.

[00:53:32] This

[00:53:32] type

[00:53:32] of hatred

[00:53:33] is

[00:53:35] accused

[00:53:35] of

[00:53:36] man's

[00:53:36] conscience.

[00:53:37] It

[00:53:37] forbids

[00:53:38] those

[00:53:38] things

[00:53:38] which

[00:53:38] are

[00:53:39] the

[00:53:39] objects

[00:53:39] of

[00:53:39] his

[00:53:39] desires

[00:53:40] and

[00:53:41] commands

[00:53:41] him

[00:53:41] to

[00:53:41] do

[00:53:41] those

[00:53:42] things

[00:53:42] which

[00:53:42] he

[00:53:42] is

[00:53:43] reluctant

[00:53:43] to

[00:53:43] do.

[00:53:44] The

[00:53:44] truth

[00:53:44] is

[00:53:45] so

[00:53:45] urgent

[00:53:45] that

[00:53:46] everyone

[00:53:46] who

[00:53:46] does

[00:53:47] not

[00:53:47] give

[00:53:47] their

[00:53:47] life

[00:53:47] to

[00:53:48] it

[00:53:48] is

[00:53:48] excluded

[00:53:49] from

[00:53:49] God's

[00:53:49] hope.

[00:53:50] The

[00:53:51] next

[00:53:51] disunity

[00:53:51] caused

[00:53:52] by

[00:53:52] hatred

[00:53:52] is

[00:53:53] the

[00:53:53] man

[00:53:53] who

[00:53:53] loves

[00:53:54] to

[00:53:54] fight

[00:53:54] for

[00:53:55] there

[00:53:55] are

[00:53:55] certain

[00:53:55] men

[00:53:56] who

[00:53:56] cannot

[00:53:56] exist

[00:53:56] without

[00:53:57] having

[00:53:57] an

[00:53:57] enemy.

[00:53:58] To

[00:53:58] such

[00:53:59] people

[00:53:59] unity

[00:53:59] is

[00:54:00] offensive

[00:54:00] that

[00:54:01] out

[00:54:01] of

[00:54:01] pure

[00:54:02] hatred

[00:54:02] to

[00:54:02] it

[00:54:02] they

[00:54:03] willingly

[00:54:03] clamor

[00:54:04] for

[00:54:04] fights.

[00:54:05] If

[00:54:05] such

[00:54:05] characters

[00:54:06] happen

[00:54:06] to

[00:54:06] obtain

[00:54:07] a

[00:54:07] station

[00:54:07] of

[00:54:07] some

[00:54:08] honor

[00:54:08] in

[00:54:08] the

[00:54:08] church

[00:54:08] it

[00:54:27] hatred

[00:54:27] comes

[00:54:28] and

[00:54:28] it

[00:54:28] is

[00:54:28] hatred

[00:54:28] against

[00:54:29] the

[00:54:29] speakers

[00:54:29] of

[00:54:29] the

[00:54:30] truth

[00:54:30] for

[00:54:31] it

[00:54:31] is

[00:54:31] the

[00:54:31] anxious

[00:54:31] work

[00:54:32] of

[00:54:32] everyone

[00:54:32] that

[00:54:33] hates

[00:54:33] somebody

[00:54:33] not

[00:54:34] to

[00:54:34] have

[00:54:34] anything

[00:54:35] in

[00:54:35] common

[00:54:35] with

[00:54:36] his

[00:54:36] adversary.

[00:54:37] Of

[00:54:37] this

[00:54:37] the

[00:54:37] Arabians

[00:54:38] give

[00:54:38] us

[00:54:38] an

[00:54:39] example

[00:54:39] and

[00:54:40] of

[00:54:40] hatred

[00:54:40] to

[00:54:40] Caesar

[00:54:41] and

[00:54:41] to

[00:54:42] the

[00:54:42] Greek

[00:54:42] and

[00:54:42] Latin

[00:54:42] troops

[00:54:43] who

[00:54:56] served

[00:54:56] of

[00:54:56] men

[00:54:57] now

[00:54:57] sometimes

[00:54:58] they

[00:54:58] gain

[00:54:58] this

[00:54:58] hatred

[00:54:59] by

[00:54:59] their

[00:54:59] own

[00:54:59] faults

[00:55:00] if

[00:55:00] they

[00:55:00] do

[00:55:00] not

[00:55:00] share

[00:55:01] the

[00:55:01] doctrine

[00:55:01] of

[00:55:01] the

[00:55:01] truth

[00:55:02] with

[00:55:02] prudence

[00:55:02] and

[00:55:03] gentleness

[00:55:03] if

[00:55:04] they

[00:55:04] appear

[00:55:04] to

[00:55:04] have

[00:55:05] a

[00:55:05] greater

[00:55:05] regard

[00:55:05] for

[00:55:06] their

[00:55:06] own

[00:55:06] profits

[00:55:06] than

[00:55:07] for

[00:55:07] the

[00:55:07] advancement

[00:55:08] of

[00:55:08] religion

[00:55:08] and

[00:55:09] if

[00:55:09] their

[00:55:09] actions

[00:55:10] in

[00:55:10] life

[00:55:10] do

[00:55:10] not

[00:55:10] match

[00:55:11] up

[00:55:11] with

[00:55:11] the

[00:55:11] doctrines

[00:55:12] from

[00:55:13] all

[00:55:13] these

[00:55:13] circumstances

[00:55:14] a bad

[00:55:14] opinion

[00:55:15] is

[00:55:15] made

[00:55:15] about

[00:55:15] them

[00:55:15] as

[00:55:16] if

[00:55:16] they

[00:55:16] didn't

[00:55:17] believe

[00:55:26] their

[00:55:26] ulcers

[00:55:27] sprinkled

[00:55:27] and

[00:55:28] purified

[00:55:28] by

[00:55:29] the

[00:55:29] sharp

[00:55:29] salt

[00:55:29] of

[00:55:30] truth

[00:55:30] and

[00:55:31] they

[00:55:31] do

[00:55:31] not

[00:55:31] wish

[00:55:31] to

[00:55:31] change

[00:55:32] how

[00:55:32] they

[00:55:32] behave

[00:55:33] which

[00:55:33] is

[00:55:34] why

[00:55:34] the

[00:55:34] apostle

[00:55:34] asks

[00:55:35] am

[00:55:35] I

[00:55:36] therefore

[00:55:36] becoming

[00:55:36] your

[00:55:37] enemy

[00:55:37] because

[00:55:38] I

[00:55:38] tell

[00:55:38] you

[00:55:38] the

[00:55:38] truth

[00:55:39] truth

[00:55:42] almost

[00:55:43] always

[00:55:43] creates

[00:55:44] hate

[00:55:44] but

[00:55:45] complacency

[00:55:46] gains

[00:55:46] friends

[00:55:47] as

[00:55:47] its

[00:55:47] reward

[00:55:48] 3

[00:55:49] these

[00:55:50] things

[00:55:50] show us

[00:55:51] the

[00:55:51] cause

[00:55:52] of

[00:55:52] religious

[00:55:52] dissension

[00:55:53] but

[00:55:53] there

[00:55:54] are

[00:55:54] some

[00:55:54] other

[00:55:54] causes

[00:55:55] that

[00:55:55] can

[00:55:55] prolong

[00:55:56] conflict

[00:55:56] once

[00:55:57] started

[00:55:57] for

[00:55:58] starters

[00:55:59] there's

[00:55:59] the

[00:55:59] prejudices

[00:56:00] the

[00:56:00] dissidents

[00:56:01] have

[00:56:01] of

[00:56:01] the

[00:56:01] other

[00:56:02] side

[00:56:02] there

[00:56:03] is

[00:56:03] prejudice

[00:56:03] against

[00:56:04] our

[00:56:04] adversaries

[00:56:05] not

[00:56:05] that

[00:56:06] we

[00:56:06] think

[00:56:06] of

[00:56:06] them

[00:56:06] as

[00:56:07] just

[00:56:07] under

[00:56:07] the

[00:56:07] influence

[00:56:07] of

[00:56:08] error

[00:56:08] but

[00:56:09] coming

[00:56:09] from

[00:56:09] a

[00:56:10] place

[00:56:10] of

[00:56:10] pure

[00:56:10] malice

[00:56:11] our

[00:56:12] bias

[00:56:12] against

[00:56:12] the

[00:56:13] views

[00:56:13] of

[00:56:13] our

[00:56:13] opponents

[00:56:14] often

[00:56:14] leads

[00:56:14] us

[00:56:14] to

[00:56:14] dismiss

[00:56:15] them

[00:56:15] outright

[00:56:15] not only

[00:56:16] because

[00:56:16] we

[00:56:17] believe

[00:56:17] them

[00:56:17] to be

[00:56:17] false

[00:56:18] but

[00:56:18] also

[00:56:19] because

[00:56:19] they

[00:56:19] have

[00:56:19] already

[00:56:20] been

[00:56:20] condemned

[00:56:21] by

[00:56:21] the

[00:56:30] collective

[00:56:31] judged

[00:56:31] completely

[00:56:33] furthermore

[00:56:33] the

[00:56:34] grandeur

[00:56:34] and

[00:56:34] authority

[00:56:35] of

[00:56:35] the

[00:56:35] church

[00:56:35] to

[00:56:36] which

[00:56:36] we

[00:56:36] have

[00:56:36] pledged

[00:56:36] our

[00:56:37] loyalty

[00:56:37] often

[00:56:38] blinds

[00:56:38] us

[00:56:38] this

[00:56:39] commitment

[00:56:40] makes

[00:56:40] it

[00:56:40] incredibly

[00:56:41] difficult

[00:56:41] for us

[00:56:41] to

[00:56:41] entertain

[00:56:42] the

[00:56:42] notion

[00:56:42] that

[00:56:43] the

[00:56:43] church

[00:56:43] whether

[00:56:44] in

[00:56:44] the

[00:56:44] past

[00:56:44] or

[00:56:44] in

[00:56:45] the

[00:56:45] present

[00:56:45] could

[00:56:46] have

[00:56:46] strayed

[00:56:46] even

[00:56:46] slightly

[00:56:47] from

[00:56:47] the

[00:56:47] correct

[00:56:47] path

[00:56:48] the

[00:56:49] reverence

[00:56:49] we

[00:56:49] hold

[00:56:50] for

[00:56:50] its

[00:56:50] traditions

[00:56:51] and

[00:56:51] teachings

[00:56:51] can

[00:56:52] prevent

[00:56:52] us

[00:56:52] from

[00:56:53] considering

[00:56:53] it

[00:56:54] made

[00:56:54] an

[00:56:54] error

[00:56:55] finally

[00:56:55] the

[00:56:56] esteem

[00:56:56] we

[00:56:56] hold

[00:56:56] for

[00:56:57] our

[00:56:57] teachers

[00:56:57] is

[00:56:58] often

[00:56:58] so

[00:56:58] elevated

[00:56:59] that

[00:56:59] we

[00:56:59] find

[00:57:00] it

[00:57:00] nearly

[00:57:00] impossible

[00:57:00] to

[00:57:01] believe

[00:57:01] that

[00:57:01] they

[00:57:01] could

[00:57:01] have

[00:57:02] been

[00:57:02] mistaken

[00:57:02] or

[00:57:03] lacked

[00:57:03] enough

[00:57:03] understanding

[00:57:04] we

[00:57:05] also

[00:57:05] struggle

[00:57:05] to

[00:57:06] imagine

[00:57:06] that

[00:57:06] we

[00:57:07] ourselves

[00:57:07] could

[00:57:07] be

[00:57:07] in

[00:57:08] error

[00:57:08] when

[00:57:08] we

[00:57:08] agree

[00:57:09] with

[00:57:09] their

[00:57:09] views

[00:57:10] the

[00:57:10] human

[00:57:11] mind

[00:57:11] is

[00:57:11] naturally

[00:57:11] inclined

[00:57:12] to

[00:57:12] shield

[00:57:13] both

[00:57:13] itself

[00:57:14] and

[00:57:14] those

[00:57:14] it

[00:57:14] holds

[00:57:15] in

[00:57:15] high

[00:57:15] regard

[00:57:15] from

[00:57:16] any

[00:57:16] suspicion

[00:57:17] of

[00:57:17] being

[00:57:17] wrong

[00:57:17] it

[00:57:18] is

[00:57:19] no

[00:57:19] surprise

[00:57:19] that

[00:57:19] these

[00:57:19] prejudices

[00:57:20] produce

[00:57:21] a

[00:57:21] passion

[00:57:21] in

[00:57:22] eagerly

[00:57:23] defending

[00:57:23] a

[00:57:23] position

[00:57:24] once

[00:57:24] it

[00:57:24] is

[00:57:24] held

[00:57:25] then

[00:57:25] there

[00:57:26] is

[00:57:26] also

[00:57:26] the

[00:57:26] fear

[00:57:26] of

[00:57:27] that

[00:57:27] disgrace

[00:57:28] and

[00:57:28] embarrassment

[00:57:29] which

[00:57:29] we

[00:57:30] foolishly

[00:57:30] think

[00:57:30] will

[00:57:31] be

[00:57:31] felt

[00:57:31] if

[00:57:31] we

[00:57:32] acknowledge

[00:57:32] ourselves

[00:57:32] to

[00:57:32] have

[00:57:33] been

[00:57:33] in

[00:57:33] error

[00:57:34] and

[00:57:34] we

[00:57:34] also

[00:57:35] fear

[00:57:35] the

[00:57:35] whole

[00:57:35] truth

[00:57:35] is

[00:57:36] in

[00:57:36] peril

[00:57:36] if

[00:57:37] we

[00:57:37] find

[00:57:37] it

[00:57:37] even

[00:57:37] in

[00:57:37] one

[00:57:38] point

[00:57:38] to

[00:57:38] be

[00:57:38] false

[00:57:39] another

[00:57:40] problem

[00:57:40] is

[00:57:41] that

[00:57:41] the

[00:57:41] approach

[00:57:41] we

[00:57:42] typically

[00:57:42] take

[00:57:42] when

[00:57:49] foster

[00:57:49] peace

[00:57:50] such

[00:57:51] as

[00:57:51] when

[00:57:51] an

[00:57:51] adversary

[00:57:51] is

[00:57:52] treated

[00:57:52] in

[00:57:52] an

[00:57:52] unfair

[00:57:53] manner

[00:57:53] bombarded

[00:57:54] with

[00:57:55] curses

[00:57:55] and

[00:57:55] insults

[00:57:56] attacked

[00:57:56] with

[00:57:57] slander

[00:57:57] and

[00:57:57] false

[00:57:58] accusations

[00:57:58] and

[00:57:59] threatened

[00:57:59] with

[00:57:59] violence

[00:58:00] the

[00:58:01] results

[00:58:01] are

[00:58:02] often

[00:58:02] counterproductive

[00:58:03] if

[00:58:04] the

[00:58:04] adversary

[00:58:05] brushes

[00:58:05] off

[00:58:06] these

[00:58:06] attacks

[00:58:06] which

[00:58:07] is

[00:58:07] common

[00:58:07] when

[00:58:08] the

[00:58:08] testimony

[00:58:08] of

[00:58:08] his

[00:58:08] conscience

[00:58:09] stands

[00:58:09] strong

[00:58:10] against

[00:58:10] them

[00:58:11] see

[00:58:11] 2nd

[00:58:11] Corinthians

[00:58:12] chapter

[00:58:12] 1

[00:58:12] verse

[00:58:13] 19

[00:58:13] then

[00:58:14] the

[00:58:14] attacks

[00:58:14] have

[00:58:15] no

[00:58:15] effect

[00:58:15] but

[00:58:16] if

[00:58:16] he

[00:58:16] internalizes

[00:58:17] these

[00:58:18] assaults

[00:58:18] his

[00:58:19] mind

[00:58:19] becomes

[00:58:19] agitated

[00:58:20] and

[00:58:21] he

[00:58:21] may

[00:58:21] be

[00:58:21] driven

[00:58:22] to

[00:58:22] rage

[00:58:22] making

[00:58:23] him

[00:58:23] even

[00:58:23] less

[00:58:24] likely

[00:58:24] to

[00:58:24] recognize

[00:58:25] his

[00:58:25] errors

[00:58:25] in

[00:58:26] either

[00:58:26] case

[00:58:27] his

[00:58:27] original

[00:58:27] stance

[00:58:28] is

[00:58:28] only

[00:58:28] reinforced

[00:58:29] he

[00:58:30] either

[00:58:30] sees

[00:58:30] that

[00:58:31] those

[00:58:31] who

[00:58:31] resort

[00:58:31] to

[00:58:31] such

[00:58:32] tactics

[00:58:32] are

[00:58:32] revealing

[00:58:33] the

[00:58:33] weakness

[00:58:33] of

[00:58:33] their

[00:58:33] own

[00:58:34] positions

[00:58:34] or

[00:58:35] he

[00:58:35] concludes

[00:58:36] that

[00:58:36] it's

[00:58:36] unlikely

[00:58:37] that

[00:58:37] those

[00:58:37] who

[00:58:37] behave

[00:58:38] in

[00:58:38] such

[00:58:38] a

[00:58:38] way

[00:58:38] are

[00:58:39] truly

[00:58:39] guided

[00:58:39] by

[00:58:39] the

[00:58:40] spirit

[00:58:40] of

[00:58:40] truth

[00:58:41] another

[00:58:42] thing

[00:58:42] that

[00:58:49] second

[00:58:52] when

[00:58:52] the

[00:58:52] discussion

[00:58:53] is

[00:58:53] pushed

[00:58:53] far

[00:58:54] beyond

[00:58:54] reasonable

[00:58:54] limits

[00:58:55] with

[00:58:56] the

[00:58:56] flaws

[00:58:56] of

[00:58:56] the

[00:58:56] opinion

[00:58:57] being

[00:58:57] exaggerated

[00:58:58] inappropriately

[00:58:59] lastly

[00:59:00] when

[00:59:00] those

[00:59:01] refuting

[00:59:01] attempt

[00:59:01] to

[00:59:02] do

[00:59:02] so

[00:59:02] with

[00:59:02] arguments

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[00:59:09] than

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[00:59:12] do

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[00:59:30] thing

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[00:59:35] dissension

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[01:00:00] should

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[01:00:03] has

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[01:00:14] called

[01:00:14] upon

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[01:00:16] of

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[01:00:18] object

[01:00:18] of

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[01:00:19] within

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[01:00:21] the

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[01:00:41] absurdity

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[01:00:50] dissension

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[01:00:52] itself

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[01:00:54] if

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[01:00:54] has

[01:00:54] no

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[01:00:57] 2

[01:00:58] the

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[01:00:59] falsehood

[01:00:59] is

[01:01:00] similar

[01:01:00] to

[01:01:00] this

[01:01:00] one

[01:01:00] it

[01:01:01] concludes

[01:01:01] that

[01:01:02] everyone

[01:01:02] may

[01:01:02] be

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[01:01:03] in

[01:01:03] his

[01:01:03] own

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[01:01:04] but

[01:01:05] while

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[01:01:05] remedy

[01:01:06] professes

[01:01:06] to

[01:01:07] cure

[01:01:07] one

[01:01:07] evil

[01:01:07] it

[01:01:08] produces

[01:01:08] another