Unity in Diversity

One of Paul's most liberating teachings is that we are to lay off and mind our own business. We are to accept weaker believers and not pester them with debates and unasked for advice.  Don't tell a parent, for example, how to cut the sugar out of her children's diets unless she has asked you how you did it. Another example: don't make comments to your friends about other girls' makeup, hoping that your comments will find some roundabout way of reaching their ears.

There is an example in the gospels about this. Jesus says that he came both eating and drinking and they called him a glutton and a winebibber, but John the baptist did neither and they said that he had a demon.  Jesus said nothing, however, against John; he didn't quote a passage from Paul and say, "You know, John, you're a weaker brother."  Likewise, Paul says to accept vegans as vegans. Don't try to convert them; lay off, he says.

Now, this applies only to secondary issues, to debatable things. On primary issues we are to be unbending. One should rebuke a believer that says his conscience forbids him to obey the first commandment. But what are the primary issues? The ten commandments should be taken as starters. They are laws which do not pass away, which must always be obeyed.  I'm sure there's more to say, but I can build on this foundation.

Imagine that a father, who is a faithful Christian, decides to have his infants baptized and to teach them that their baptism is legitimate, and next that when the infants grow up, a well-meaning but misguided brother-in-the-faith tries to teach the children that their father is wrong and is in fact disobeying God.  If he succeeds in teaching them this, what will he accomplish? Not the edification of the children, as he hopes.  Most likely, he will teach them one thing: to break the fourth commandment; to dishonour their father.  In this case it might be difficult, but the father, because he has been forgiven, must also forgive this brother, who caused his children to stumble. So, the father should promptly get his hands on a millstone, search out the deepest waters, and he and the brother should go out on a boat to perform the act of mercy.