Do You Know Your “Non-Negotiables”?
Do you know what your theological non-negotiables are? What you will not budge on, no matter what?
If not, you need to. If you don’t define them prayerfully and discerningly, someone else will do it for you. And if you ask any freshman in college who has had her faith rocked by an atheist humanities professor, letting someone else define your faith is a bad thing.
Here’s a simple way to determine what a “non-negotiable” is for you: Ask the question, “Will my faith crumble if this is proven to be false?” If so, you need to know why. If not, you need to be okay if that cherished belief goes away.
Here’s what my partial list looks like:
Negotiables
- Evolution. My faith has grown to accommodate the reality that evolution of certain species can be, and is, possible. The end, of it.
- Jesus as Anglo-American. The reality is that Jesus looked a lot more like Osama bin Laden than he does a white man with long hair, wearing a bathrobe and clutching a lamb. I had previously held this as a non-negotiable unintentionally. When I ask, “What does Jesus look like?” and you think of a white man, it’s an unintentional non-negotiable for you too!
- Inerrancy of Scripture. The modern notion of inerrancy is poisonous. There, I said it. To suggest that we (English speakers) have somehow “nailed” the intricacies of both the Greek and Hebrew language is dangerous. As any bi-lingual person knows, when you translate between two languages, something gets “lost in translation.” I believe that God accurately conveyed the meaning that he intended to in the pages of Scripture. To suggest that somehow there are no flaws in our translations is false. (Why do you think the New Living Translation has a ‘second edition’?) Unless you can read Greek and Hebrew (and even those translations are built on the efforts of human beings), you are missing something in translation. Simply put, the Bible did not drop out of heaven with a leather-bound spine and footnotes.
Non-Negotiables
- The life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. As far as I can tell from the entirety of Scripture, this is one of the only non-negotiables the writers of Scripture put forth. As St. Paul put it, “if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.” Paul is “all-in” regarding Jesus’ death and resurrection. So am I. And that’s about it.
What about you? Do you have anything to add to the list? Subtract? Have you had an experience where a non-negotiable turned into a negotiable? What was that like?
I'm with you on the non-negotiable.
Everything else falls into the negotiable areas as far as I'm concerned. Which tends to make people very suspicious of your salvation.
meh.
I think growing up almost all my non-negotiables turned into negotiables as I started to read, thinking, conversate, etc…
Now that I have moved into my own faith, understanding, etc…I have formed my Negotiables and non-Negotiables.
I would add to your list….
Negotiables:
-Was Christ Real (just kidding, that was not serious, just seeing if you were paying attention)
-Calvinism vs Arminianism-use to be a big one for me, have let the grip go a little bit.
Non-Negotiables:
-Scripture
-Absolute Truth
I have found myself that many things that weren't negotiables in my youth are totally up for grabs now. Not because of a lessening in faith but because, as others have pointed out, I was challenged more in my adult life. It just kind of occurred to me one day: “What difference does it make whether evolution is fact or fiction? It doesn't affect my faith or relationship. Is it not possible to be the product of evolution in a world God created?”
The more difficult issue, and one I've long held as non-negotiable is abortion. I don't want to start a big flame war or anything, but I definitely see areas (or particular scenarios) where that's negotiable. If I didn't, then I would have to cease use of birth control completely. Something I'm not willing to do.
At Bloom…inspired by how The Orchard put together their beliefs…we look at it this way:
In essential beliefs – we have unity.
For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. –Ephesians 4:4-6 (NLT)
In nonessential beliefs – we have liberty.
Welcome all the Lord's followers, even those whose faith is weak. Don't criticize them for having beliefs that are different
from yours. What right do you have to criticize someone else's servants? Only their Lord can decide if they are doing right,
and the Lord will make sure that they do right. And so, each of us must give an account to God for what we do. – Romans
14:1, 4, 12 (CEV)
In all our beliefs – we show charity.
What if I could prophesy and understand all secrets and all knowledge? And what if I had faith that moved mountains? I
would be nothing, unless I loved others. – I Corinthians 13:2 (CEV)
It doesn't say anywhere that we cannot have questions about God or what we believe in the Bible. After all, if everything were plain, what would we have to talk to God about? I think the “liberty” and “charity” areas of our faith help us develop deeper personal relationships with God…
All to the point of…remember what is most important. The Gospel is simple…it's Good News. Period.
Sorry for the rant…just passionate about this one
I'll not call myself a fundy, conservative, liberal, x, y, or z, but I seem to have a slightly different take…
Negotiables:
- That God still does miracles today
- That denominations can work together for the common cause of spreading the Great Commission
- The existence and debate of primary and secondary doctrines without division (I don't care what you say or I say, let's find out what God says about it together…)
- Living who you say you are.
Non-Negotioables
- Inerrancy of Scripture
- The theory of evolution is precisely that (and well-named)…
- Wrestling with your faith (in fear and trembling…) to apply God's truth to your life. I don't want your Grandma's Faith!
- Absolute Truth
- A real Heaven, Hell, and a real Savior that Died on the real Cross and really rose from the dead!
- A disdain for smorgasbord Christianity.
Good stuff, Justin. Agree with you on the negotiables – I like the idea of moving away from black vs. white kind of statements towards being comfortable and secure in Christ enough to explore the grey bits.
Spot on about the inerrancy issue – particularly when we're talking about ancient languages, not just contemporary versions of the same languages.
Non-negotiables – the trinity and all it means about who God is, and what he's up to in the world, and how we're part of it.
I suppose that means I hold the mission of God thing as a non-negotiable. In other words we can't sit on our butts waiting for heaven, but have to live out the kingdom of God stuff here and now.
Great post … will have to ponder what my negotiables are.
Like your thoughts on the Inerrancy of Scripture – it's something I've been wrestling with.
I have posted a more in depth response at:
http://ministryplace.net/2010/02/open-response-…
Discuss on….
I'm an apostle's creed kind of girl – i think there is wisdom in the ancient creeds… other than that, i don't really care that much about doctrine unless it is an artificial thing meant to exclude people from the Kingdom… that's kind of a non-negotiable for me, too, but not in the same way you mean…:-)
Let me first say that I kind of agree with your negotiables and non-negotiables. For a long time, I held on to the inerrancy of Scripture because it seemed better than the alternative — “The Bible is Errant,”a view that could quickly devolve into picking and choosing whatever doctrines suit my fancy. I'm quite sure that's the exact wrong position to take, and the inerrancy thing was a guard against it. Now, I see the Scriptures as God expressing love to human beings through human beings, with the main focus being faith in Jesus as savior. I don't honestly know if it contains errors, or even what that means.
And this is probably outside the scope of a blog comment, but your point on our inability to translate between languages is on the right track, but (IMO, of course) wrong. The problem isn't translating the words and the context; we pretty much can figure out exactly what the original writings said, and have studied the history to the point where we know the context of everything, too. There may be nuances we've missed here and there, but for the most part we can discern the original meaning. However, we have cultural problems understanding meaning (especially with the O.T.) that not even context can help with. So you're wrong in letter, but right in spirit.
Now ending this before its length causes nobody to read it.
The irony, of course, is that I'm probably more focused on Jesus than ever before!
It's always interesting to see what happens when our theology “comes home to roost.” Good thoughts, Kyle.
Oooh. You have some good non-negotiables. Maybe I need a third category? “Mid-negotiables”?
Of course, theology is rarely black and white!
Funny what happens when you remove sideways focuses.
The irony, of course, is that I'm probably more focused on Jesus than ever before!
It's always interesting to see what happens when our theology “comes home to roost.” Good thoughts, Kyle.
Thanks Janet. Truth is, not enough people wrestle with this stuff! It's a little scary, but God is big. And he's even bigger than our misunderstandings of him!
Thanks Janet. Truth is, not enough people wrestle with this stuff! It's a little scary, but God is big. And he's even bigger than our misunderstandings of him!
I think perhaps the best aspect of this exercise is the test of your beliefs. I've known several people whose faith was hung on some lesser beliefs that when challenged fell apart – they hadn't necessarily assessed what had become the “core” of their Christian faith.
At the same time, one of my non-negotiables that is more a point of logic than belief, is that faith is a persistent belief that may contradict contrary evidence.
Ok I am really going out on a limb here…
Non Negotiable
God was, is, and ever shall be.
God loves us all unconditionally.
God’s sole requirement of us is that we should love back. In this loving we are changed. Our actions in the world spring from that change.
Negotiable
Everything else