Why is Christianity so divided? Why are there so many factions? Paul chastises the Corinthians (1 Corinthians chapters 1–4) for creating factions—some following Apollos, some Peter, some Paul. He refocuses them, saying that we are to be followers only of Christ.

I have heard many calling for Christian unity, ecumenism, and a doing away of factions. And the call for unity in Christ is exactly right; we are to be one as Jesus prayed for us to be one body of believers united in Him—but how? How is unity achieved?

The answer to that depends completely upon one’s understanding of how God’s law, kingdom, methods, and principles function.

If one regards God’s law as imposed, like human law, a made-up system of rules enforced through punishment, then unity is pursued through clearly defined doctrines, creeds, a list of fundamental beliefs, clear and defined orthodoxy, and then by establishing a system of membership that requires attestation to the creed before they can be baptized into Christ; then, by the creation of study guides and other official religious materials that consistently indoctrinate and reinforce them; and finally, by protecting the old landmarks, the historical beliefs of the founders.

However, such a system actively resists unfolding truth, and Jesus came and taught unfolding truth:

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching” (Mark 1:27 NIV84).

What Jesus taught was eternal truth, but because the people’s minds had been infected with doctrinal distortions, when Jesus spoke the truth, they thought it was new. And how did the religious leaders receive Jesus’ revelations of truth?

The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” (John 8:48 NIV84).

This reveals another reality: Truth is unfolding, and because the Holy Spirit is working on sensitive hearts, new and advancing insights into God’s kingdom will necessarily be discovered over time. Just as in medicine, science, information technology, and every other field of study, truth unfolds.

So if we want the unity of unfolding truth as it is in Jesus, what kind of organizational structure would we create for our “church”? And if we wanted a system that opposed advancing truth, what structure would we create?

That requires us to understand reality and how truth on any subject advances through humanity.

Does new truth become accepted by people in this way:

• Every person in the world awakens one day with the new truth understood and accepted?

Or does it happen this way:

• A few individuals have an epiphany, an insight, an idea that they share with others and test against Scripture, its application in reality, against reliable standards and the design laws of life; initially, the new truth is resisted, but as the evidence supports the new position, more people are convinced, and they change their views and share the new truth with others, who are likewise persuaded by the evidence, and the truth gradually spreads through the human family?

Consider germ theory. When first proposed by Pasteur and Lister, the idea that invisible organisms were causing disease was ridiculed and rejected by the medical authorities. Doctors refused simple hygiene recommendations, such as handwashing and sterilization of instruments. However, when the idea was tested in practice, in reality, patient outcomes showed marked reductions in infections and deaths after surgery. The Mayo brothers (founders of the Mayo Clinic) were lovers of truth and accepted germ theory; they began applying Lister’s sterilization techniques in their hospital, resulting in drastically improved outcomes. Further investigation and experiments were conducted, instruments to examine microbes were developed, and more evidence was compiled. As more evidence came in to support this new perspective, others accepted the truth, and germ theory slowly spread around the world. Today, it is accepted in all cultures.

This is how all truth advances in society, whether scientific or biblical truth. Why is this the case? Because of how reality works! God created human beings with genuine freedom. Every person must be fully persuaded in their own mind in order for saving truth to have any benefit for them—why? Because only when we choose truth is it encoded within our brains and becomes operational within us. Internal healing of hearts and minds cannot be externally applied.

A mother can forcibly wash the dirty hands of her toddler before dinner without the toddler understanding anything about germ theory—and the toddler will benefit from having reduced risk of sickness. Why? Because of how reality works; the germs have been objectively removed.

But sin is not an external germ on the body; it is an internal corruption of heart and mind, an infection of fear, lies, distrust of God, and selfishness. And salvation, which is the healing and restoring of the heart, mind, and character of the sinner back into harmony with God, washing away fear, lies, selfishness, and cleansing the inner being, is only accomplished by the individual understanding, experiencing, and choosing to say yes to the truth. Thus, truth must advance!

With this in mind—the methods of God (truth, love, freedom) versus the methods of Satan (lies, fear, coercion, control)—we can examine the systems and structures that maximize the advancement of truth and those that obstruct it.

Two Kinds of Church Systems

If you were to design a church organizational system to maximize the ability for truth to advance, unfold, and spread throughout the membership at the fastest possible rate, what would that organizational structure be like?

It’d be one in which authority is decentralized. In such a system, the local church body has authority over its own local group, and they organize together with collective authority in their local conferences, which, in turn, organize with local authority in their unions, divisions, and ultimately worldwide.

In such a system, because new truth is initially questioned and often resisted, the advancement of truth is slow and, at times, even contentious. But with local control, the members know each other and create love and trust relationships in which new ideas can be heard, discussed, studied, and as truth unfolds, just like it did with germ theory, some groups will accept and practice the new truth, while others will stick with tradition and the old landmarks.

But in time, because truth is reality-based it will be demonstrated to be healthier, and more evidence supporting the unfolding truth will be identified, resulting in greater acceptance, spreading to other local churches, then conferences, unions, divisions, and eventually, the world church accepts the unfolding truth.

This is how truth would unfold naturally—unless some obstacle is inserted into the system that functions to prevent truth from its normal and natural advancement. What is that obstacle?

It’d be a system in which “truth” is enforced by a central hierarchy, with a top-down authoritarian structure that defines the orthodoxy, the rules, doctrines, and systems of belief. In that system, when new truth is presented, it is not studied and examined among friends in loving and trusting relationships, friends who are seeking truth together; it is not applied, tested, and accepted—because it is true. Instead, it is viewed as a threat to hierarchy, to orthodoxy, to power, as an indictment that the system is “wrong” and, therefore, procedures must be established to protect the system, the structure, the orthodoxy—and unfolding truth is obstructed.

Now, what if a church organization was initially designed with local control—what method could Satan introduce (if he could) that, if accepted, would corrupt that system from within and functionally establish a hierarchy of central orthodoxy while pretending to give local control?

First and foremost, it would reject God’s law as design law and accept and promote the lie that God’s law functions like human law—a system of imposed rules that require policing and enforcement through imposed punishment.

Once that lie is accepted, the system, the minds and hearts that believe it, function on fear, threat assessment, and survival drives and will seek safety and security through right rules, doctrines, ceremonies, beliefs, and ever more power and control to enforce their way.

This is a direct and predictable outcome because of how reality works. All false systems are, by definition, false and are, therefore, inherently unstable. They are based on ideas, beliefs, and practices that are out of harmony with how reality works and will slowly deteriorate and decay, and thus, will require ever-increasing application of external authority, rules, pressure, structure, and control to enforce ongoing adherence and compliance.

The system will devolve into a system of fear and threat with prescribed actions for people to take to resolve the threat. Such a system induces the fear while simultaneously offering various behaviors, dogmas, and doctrines that the followers are told will resolve their fear and remove the threat. Such systems keep the central hierarchy in power at the expense of a fearful and exploited membership.

By contrast, God’s kingdom is the kingdom of reality, of truth, and truth loses nothing by investigation, by examination, by testing, but will instead be confirmed and expanded. And when truth is applied, the system becomes healthier and more coherent, and the need for external rules, oversight, compliance, pressure, and threat decreases; therefore, fear evaporates.

Consider children who brush their teeth based on a rule and fear of getting in trouble. As they mature, as truth, reality, is understood and applied, they internalize tooth brushing, solidifying it into their hearts, and continue to brush because of truth, reality, and a change in their understanding and motivation of the heart so that when the legal rule goes away, the fear of getting in trouble evaporates and greater love and trust in the parent is established.

This is how reality works! Truth, winning us to trust, that we apply and experience in our lives and are transformed and experience ever more freedom.

But when the system is motivated by fear, rules, and rule enforcement, it continues to decay, with ever-increasing problems and escalating fear, with more central authority and attempts to control behavior through compliance and the purging of the voices of truth from membership.

So the first step to corrupt a system maximized for the advancement of truth is to get it to accept the lie that God’s law functions like human law. In part 2 of this series we will walk through a step-by-step process that when implemented in a church actively suppresses truth.