Paul's Accommodating Christianity

In Romans 14 Paul the Apostle appealed to an accommodating and tolerant Christianity in regard to non-essentials like the days we worship on or the foods we consume. He was not encouraging the approval of unhealthy heresies, but what most Christians believe was the acceptance of personal choice in worship days and dietary differences. A great success of Nicea was a compromise document, the Nicene Creed, which unified very diverse factions of the ancient Christian Church. A great failure of Nicea was the total reversal of Paul's tolerance for differences of opinion on lesser matters to a more authoritarian, heavy-handed approach. Sadly, rather than return to Paul's accommodating Christianity, many Protestant churches have adopted Nicene intolerance on this and other non-essential issues. Perhaps it is time that we consider a return to a Pauline model that was more gracious and accepting of diversity in non-essential areas of our common faith.