Last year I spoke on the topic of “Love That Endears All Things” at a retreat. One thing I presented was about different kinds of beliefs that can cause conflict. I divided them into these four categories:

• Core Beliefs
• Personal Convictions
• Biblical Opinions
• Preferences

Core beliefs are the central items to our faith: the existence of God; the belief that Jesus came in the flesh; salvation through Jesus; belief in the death, burial, and resurrection. These are things that we can legitimately expect anyone who calls themselves a Christian to believe. While I know that some people expand this category to include just about everything, most of us recognize that there are central tenets that are basic to Christianity.

Personal convictions are things that are not clearly stated in the Bible, but that we hold to be true. When I presented this, I focused on convictions that affect us personally: the use of alcohol; choices about education; pacifism. If I were presenting this again, I’d include convictions that affect our churches as a whole, like the role of women in the church or a cappella vs instrumental music.

Biblical opinions are opinions about the interpretation of certain texts that, for the most part, don’t directly affect what we do: the identity of the Antichrist; beliefs about the millennium; baptism for the dead.

Preferences are just that, things that merely align with our likes: what Bible version to use, singing during the Lord’s Supper, what to do with children during worship, raising hands while praising or praying.

It’s my belief that we need to know how to differentiate core beliefs from the other things in the list. That should be obvious, yet it’s not. Some of the other things may make it difficult for us to worship together on a regular basis; they should not make it difficult for us to recognize one another as Christians.