Recently, I was asked why it is that there can be so much disagreement between Christians if the Holy Spirit illuminates us to the truth of the Scriptures—understanding illumination as that enabling of the Holy Spirit to understand the truth of the Scriptures.
I responded by saying that my answer to that will probably not be well received, but I believe the illumination of the Holy Spirit is bound up in the Scriptures themselves. Our understanding involves comparing Scripture with Scripture: “...the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 2:13 The problem may be that we don't understand the immediate context or our understanding is in contradiction with something else Scripture says that we are ignorant about.
Ignorance of Scripture is a major factor, but not the only problem. Yet, we need to understand that Scripture is the word of God, and it is a product of the Holy Spirit. God's word is truth and light in itself. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63 Jesus said this to his disciples. They heard things from Jesus that they didn't understand and found hard to accept. We read that because of this, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” John 6:66
Those disciples were not able to accept what he said or endure it, because they could not make sense of it. It appears that they had not responded to other teachings of God that would have enabled them to accept what Jesus said, as Jesus said concerning them, “It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” John 6:45 Understanding is a process of here a little and there a little: “But the word of the LORD was to them, 'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.'" Isaiah 28:13 The problem was they did not respond to what revelation they had positively, so they did not understand further revelation. What Jesus said about the use of parables relates to this: "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed.'” Matthew 13:11-15
The other reasons for such differences among Christians have to do with past influences and fear of ostracism. Probably many do not know why they believe what they believe, but it is what they always believed. A friend of mine once questioned his church's view on water baptism in a Bible Study class. An older member asked him how he could question what they always believed. A better response would be to demonstrate from Scripture why you believe what you do, not that it is what your denomination has always believed. Most if not all begin their Christian life accepting as a package deal the things believed by the Christian denomination, they are a part of. If later you begin to question some of those things, you will risk being ostracized by the group. That's not a comfortable thing to experience. You may be advised to leave it alone or risk being cut off from the group. Fear of the consequences of being at odds with family and friends is a great motivator in what you believe. But it depends on what the differences are and how they are handled. People generally don't like conflict, and they avoid trying to work through the differences. I know in the past when someone asked me as to why I believed something the way I do, and I would begin to explain it from Scripture, they would change the topic on me. I took that to mean they didn't want to discuss it.
So, why do we disagree so much if illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit? I believe it's because illumination is bound up in the word of God (Scripture), and the Scripture is a product and tool of the Holy Spirit. The Illumination is comparing Scripture with Scripture, and therefore ignorance of Scripture is a major problem. But it's not just that. There are the influences of the past from our upbringing, from family and friends, and church denomination—what makes them distinctive. And then there is the fear of being ostracized, if we go against them. For most of Church history, those who went against the established religious beliefs were at risk of torture or being put to death. It's obviously not that bad today, but there is still the threat of being ostracized or limited in some way. It's safer to go with, to trust the beliefs of, those you know and trust.
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