Don't "quarrel over opinions"

The sermon at church last Sunday focussed on Romans 14-15:13.  The passage talks about having differing opinions within the church; not to judge each other, but "be fully convinced in his own mind".  We should build each other up and not to "put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother".

On Wednesday evening, at growth group, we discussed this further and talked about how we should approach topics that we have differing opinions on, whether it matters if we have differing interpretations, and how, in turn, we could talk to non-believers.  I found this discussion particularly interesting because I know I have different opinions to most of the people in my church.

My position is that there are core beliefs within Christianity, and many peripherals.  Core beliefs for me, include the belief in the Triune God, the belief in an afterlife, God speaks to us through the Bible, sin is anything that takes us away from a relationship with God, and can be summarised by the three commandments: Love God, Love your neighbours, Love your enemies.
Peripherals, otoh, are things that do not affect your faith, but are different interpretations or understandings of different parts of faith.  For me, these are many of the controversial topics, such as evolution/creation, as well as things like Adult/Child Baptism or even how a person will experience Heaven/Hell.

I was brave on Wednesday, and I mentioned the fact that I think evolution is true, and that it agrees with the Bible: In the Beginning there was nothing [observable, there was God], then Something, there was light and dark, then waters and land, then plants, then fish, then animals, then people.  2 Peter 3:8 says "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day", so though I do believe

that "with God, all things are possible" (Matt 19:26) I don't think it actually happened within 6 days.  I could be wrong, of course, and most of the people in my church do believe in 6-day Creationism.  I could get up to Heaven and God say to me "what a numpty, I told you!", but I honestly don't think it matters.  In my mind, the Bible contains the Truth of God; it is the story of God's People (the Jews) and God's Love for us as He sent us His son. The Bible is God-breathed or God-inspired, but isn't intended (imo) to be a historic-scientific record.  Some of it is recorded as happened, some of it is poetry, some of it is prophesy, some of it is metaphor etc.

So, though I do have differing opinions on parts of Christianity (and some are very non-traditional such as my personal belief that Heaven and Hell are the same physical place, and it's our acceptance/non-acceptance of God that differs our experience) I don't go around my church telling them I think they are wrong, unless it comes up in conversation.  I could be wrong, and I would not want to cause someone to stumble away from the Lord, rather I want to draw people to be in a relationship with Him.