1 Therefore, laying aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have TASTED THE KINDNESS OF THE LORD. 1 Peter 2:1-3 (LSB)
When the Manhattan Declaration controversy came about back in 2010, it was truly amazing how God used that to clarify the dividing line between true Christianity born from above and that which is a manmade facsimile, which is, of course, not genuine. That dividing line was very precise….
On one side were those who took a stand against signing the declaration because it stated that all who signed it were in agreement based on a fellowship of common beliefs. It inferred that within those common beliefs was that all practiced the sharing of the Gospel. The refusal to sign the document was because they would have by signing it, in essence, been showing an agreement with some who call themselves Christians, but who do not hold to the same concept of what the Gospel is in accordance to that held by Orthodox Evangelicals. In other words, this declaration was a means to make the Gospel an unimportant side issue.