Sunday Evening Triage

The evening began with tacos and ended with a triage.  Everyone was scattered everywhere for the evening meal.  Some were at the table, others in the living room, all were enjoying the Diana’s homemade taco salad.  After clean up, some creative seating arrangement and brewing the coffee, we were ready for the discussion part of our evening. 

During the morning communion service I had talked about our commonness in Christ, and now I hoped to linger over the idea.  We came at it from a number of angles.  One of my last questions was, “Our commonness is not in the nuances of our beliefs.  What do you think about that statement?” 

“I think we need to view beliefs through a theological triage,” Nate commented.  That intrigued me.  I had never heard of such a thing.

I learned that a triage is the protocol an emergency room uses to determine priority of care.  As Josh, who is a nurse, pointed out, “It assures that the person who has a broken leg doesn’t get treated before the person who had a heart attack.” 

Theological triage is the idea that just like an emergency room there are there are levels of priority in biblical doctrines. 

Nate went on to explain along these lines, “The first level is doctrines that are most central and essential to the Christian faith.  Without them the gospel would be compromised.  Second level is doctrines that create significant disagreement among believing Christians and that cause them to set up boundaries between themselves.  When believers organize themselves in congregations and denominations, these doctrines became distinguishing factors.  And third level is doctrines in which Christians may disagree but feel comfortable remaining in the same fellowship.” 

His comments gave me pause to consider and wonder which doctrines fit into which levels.  They also brought some clarity to a statement I have heard from Augustine.  He said just about four hundred years after Christ, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Photos taken at the Beckley Art Center where the group met one Sunday evening to enjoy art and a concert