And so the list goes:
“I don’t want to fight the Gilbert Tennent/New Brunswick thing again…” (1740’s)
“I don’t want to fight the ordination of freedmen thing again…” (early 1800’s)
“I don’t want to fight the New School/Old School thing again…” (1830’s)
“I don’t want to fight the abolitionist thing again…” (1840’s +)
“I don’t want to fight the women elders’ thing again…” (1930’s)
“I don’t want to fight the ordination of Native Americans’ thing again…” (1930’s)
“I don’t want to fight the women ministers’ thing again…” (1950’s & 60’s)
“I don’t want to fight the Confession of 1967 thing again…”
“I don’t want to fight the divestment from South Africa thing again…” (1980’s)
Funny how we can look back and for the most part agree that by the grace of God we managed to do the right thing.
How soon will it be before we say: “I don’t want to fight the LGBT thing again…”?  I hope we can someday say: “I don’t want to fight the Israel/Palestine thing again…”
What new one will we come up with 50, 75, 100 years from now? Every new one presupposes an old one over which we beat ourselves to death.
We’re so darn sure of God’s mind about every issue in every generation.  Maybe 270 years later we can finally admit it never really is about the issue at hand and moreso about us. But maybe not. At least we can be grateful that God has known about this all along and still loves us.
Jeffrey DeYoe is pastor of Worthington Church, Worthington, Ohio.
