Wow even Paul had to deal with this issue in his day! 1 Corinthians 1[SUP]1"2 [/SUP]Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” [SUP]13 [/SUP]Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" and again in chapter 3
"1.And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. [SUP]2 [/SUP]I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; [SUP]3 [/SUP]for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? [SUP]4 [/SUP]For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?[h=3]Watering, Working, Warning[/h][SUP]5 [/SUP]Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? [SUP]6 [/SUP]I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. [SUP]7 [/SUP]So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. [SUP]8 [/SUP]Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor....[SUP]21 [/SUP]Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: [SUP]22 [/SUP]whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. [SUP]23 [/SUP]And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s." Shall we forget the debate on Gentiles being accepted in the church in Acts or Paul's call against "the butcher's of the Flesh" in Galatians. The truth is since our faith is based on our faith in Christ as a creed not on a set of works. Therefore, the things we believe become more important than the thing we do. A person may live a very humble and virtuous life, but if he has the wrong doctrine he is a heretic condemned to hell. All the controversies over the right doctrine of the definition of Christ, the right ideas about salvation, or the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is enough to make ones head spin. We have fought wars against our brothers over the right doctrines of salvation "The Thirty Years War." The truth is it should not be only about what we believe but also how we live. In James it says faith without works is dead. Let us always seek to living letters to be read by all men. Or we can be Rivers of living water instead of bitter dead sea full of backbiting and poisonous rancor.
