The Rules of Christianity

I have come to realize that there are certain things that Christians tend to do and say, mostly for the purposes of having other people know that they are Christians. There is a whole big expectation of things that Christians are "supposed" to do. I grew up in the Conservative Baptist church of the USA, so for years I was taught that you couldn't drink, smoke, dance, or listen to secular music (heaven forbid it be rock'n'roll!) and be a Christian. Had to have a "daily quiet time," and it had to be first thing in the morning. Had to have a ready answer to the Christian school principal's question of "How's your walk with God lately?" and God forbid it be anything except a verbatim quotation of the scripture that you'd read that very morning.

Christians are supposed to be involved with politics, but nothing as messy as giving a home to an unwed mother, adopting a child, or donating one's time or money to the Crisis Pregnancy Centers. No, it's much easier to simply picket outside the abortion clinic, and say ugly things to and about women who wear "I Had an Abortion" t-shirts. One of my closest childhood friends had an abortion, and she tells me it was the hardest thing she'd ever done -- not least because of the stigma and ostracism she knew she would face if she ever returned to the Christian community (which, to date, she has not done). She did tell me that my reaction of heartfelt sympathy went a long way towards helping her to heal from the wounding she experienced from other Christians about it.

Christians are supposed to show gay people the love of Christ, but at the same time make sure they know at all times what abominable sinners they are. Sure, put a huge weight of guilt, shame, and condemnation on 'em -- that'll lead 'em to Jesus for sure!

Lately there have been things added to the list of rules: Christians don't read Harry Potter. This reminds me of a very funny story about when my pastor and his wife came over to dinner once, and she was talking a mile a minute while he was perusing our bookshelves (don't ask me why). He noticed our boxed set of the Chronicles of Narnia, and drew her attention to it.

"Oh, what a great series that is!" she exclaimed, beaming. "Ever so much better than that nasty Harry Potter series--those books are nothing but occultic! Christians ought to have NO truck with the devil!" she told me with a wide smile and a decisive and self-righteous nod.

With a sweet smile, I pointed to our entire set of Harry Potter books. "Those are one shelf up," I told her. She changed the subject rather gracelessly, and I tried not to laugh. I doubt she has ever read any of them.

(I can assure you that my obsession and admiration for Professor Snape does not negatively impact my faith at all; in fact, with my great fondness for redemption stories, I think he illustrates the concepts very nicely.)

So it's apparently part of the rules that Christians have to have other people do their thinking for them. They aren't allowed to read books that other Christians say are bad; they aren't allowed to watch movies with any sex, swears, or nudity (although violence seems to be universally accepted; I wonder why the double standard?); they aren't allowed to do, say, think, or experience anything for themselves that they've heard other Christians say are bad for any reason.

The upshot of this is that Christians seem to have their own little sub-culture wherein they can stay happy and comfortable -- and be perfectly worthless and useless to the outside world around them. And woe to any Christians who break the "rules" -- they get castigated by all the rule-followers and accused of not even being Christians. It's as if, to be a Christian, you're supposed to just ignore all the ugly and gritty aspects of living in the world, in favor of keeping up appearances and pretending everything is fine. And if you don't pretend everything is fine, then you ARE the problem.

Might as well move to Pleasantville.

Legalism and Freedom

Legalism is all about rule-following, especially in a religious sense. The undertone of the idea is, the more rules you can follow, and the harder it is to follow them, the better "Christian" you are, and the more "religious" you are (well, I can't argue that last one, actually, but just being "religious" is never a good thing).

But think about this: Christianity as a whole, the entire concept of being a Jesus-follower, is based on the Bible.

Here's a direct quote from the Bible, from the Man we all claim to follow religiously: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."

Now, although a lot of people (including Christians) seem to think that Christians aren't supposed to use their brains, I assure you I've thought a lot about this. I've turned that statement on its head, inside out, and run it backwards... and you know what I've figured out?

That the converse of it is also true: If a certain belief or opinion isn't setting you free, then guess what?

It ain't the truth!

Jesus wants His people to enjoy the freedoms that He died to give us: freedom from sin, freedom from bondage to anything or anyone but Him (and he has even told us that the "burden" of following Him is easy, and the "yoke" he puts on us is light), freedom from being bound by the letter of the law. He even tells us not to allow ourselves to be bound up by the laws of others (government excepted)!

So can someone tell me WHY some people consider it their bounden duty to try and make other people follow their personal convictions as if they were laws? We're not bound to follow man-made rules--we're meant to follow Jesus alone.

To do anything else is unscriptural... just as unscriptural as their trying to impose their rules on us in the first place.