In the last message, we saw that there is a big eater within us eating the nourishment we receive from the Lord and hindering our growth in life. That big eater is our opinion.
According to church history, the divisions and the confusion among Christians throughout the past nineteen centuries have come mostly from this one source—opinion. Satan, the enemy of God, surely knows how to frustrate God’s intention. God’s intention is not only to save us, but also to build us up. Through the years the Lord has opened our eyes, and we all have seen that God’s eternal purpose, God’s ultimate intention, is to get a Body. There is also the need of the building up of all the saved ones. Through the years, however, this has been missed. The purpose of the Lord has been lowered from the building up of the Body just to individual salvation, or at the most, to individual spirituality. Individual salvation or individual spirituality has become the goal of many Christians, but in the Bible God’s standard is not that low. God’s standard is to have a building. Satan knows that nothing hinders, damages, and frustrates this building so seriously as opinion. Opinion may be considered the number one damager and killer of the building up of the Body. This has been fully proved by church history. Even during the time of the Reformation, those servants of God who were the reformers were not one; every reformer held his own opinion. Martin Luther scolded Caspar Schwenkfeld and even called him the Devil. Although Schwenkfeld was not as famous as Luther, he did see something along the line of the Spirit and life.
Do you realize what the denominations are? They are just the issues of different opinions. Every denomination is the expression of certain opinions. It is the same with all the free groups; every free group represents a certain opinion. In fact, nearly every piece of Christian work is an expression of a certain opinion. This is why Christians have been divided and confused through the centuries. All the confusions and divisions have come from this one source—opinion.
We have to admit that even in the Lord’s recovery we are slow in the growth of life, and we are not that prevailing in function. Furthermore, compared to the amount of light and revelation we have received, we are short of the proper building up. Why is this? Apparently, by the Lord’s mercy and under His enlightenment, we don’t have much fighting. Actually, something hidden and secret still remains. What is this secret, hidden, and remaining thing? It is our opinion!
You may be a very good brother or a very nice sister, yet you are somewhat individualistic. This means you are separated from others. And to some extent, at least some among us are isolated. These dear ones love the Lord, and they love the recovery. They know the church, and they would never go away. Yet, they are so isolated. By what?—by opinion.
We need four brothers to explain to us what is the real source, the real origin of opinion. Even the unbelievers know that to be opinionated is not a positive thing.
I would say that when man was created, he wasn’t created with any opinions, so opinion must have come in with the fall of man when man took in the tree of knowledge. So I would say that opinions have their source in the tree of knowledge. It seems to me that opinion is just the expression of the self. The fact that we are so opinionated reflects the self.
You may say this, but still this answer does not hit the mark.
Man did partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but actually even before he partook of that tree he had to have an opinion, because he had to make a decision concerning what God had told him about the tree. He had to decide that it was better to listen to another’s word about the tree. So actually it was the mind. A thought was put into the mind. The mind began to consider, and then eventually the mind developed an opinion. We learned in the past that the self is the source of opinion, but the mind is the leading part of the self that directs the operation. So I would consider the opinion has much to do with the mind. For example, the reformers during the time of Luther were divided over many points. All these things had their root in the mind or in the consideration of the mind.
Doctrinally speaking you may say this is right, but still it is not so practical. I did say in the past that opinions come from self and that the mind is just the expression of the self. But now we need something more practical than this. We Christians understand many things in a shallow way. We take many things for granted. Actually, we should pray much concerning opinion.
I would say that in my experience opinion is just what I feel and how I see things. Opinion is just me.
This answer is not bad, but still you haven’t touched the crucial source. What is the source of opinion?
Culture.