An unbelievable blue sky, of the deepest blue and the power of the sun multiplied many times over as it reflected off the snow, made for unusual and powerful clarity in a place that is mostly know for it's amazingly bad air . . . pollution is a terrible factor in our daily lives. Air pollution that is . . . but we also have the moral variety as well. Soul ripping pornography on TV and every newsstand, a culture stripped of grace, racial and ethnic hatred of immense proportions, a country rife with jealousy and suspicions of every type, and an obsession with material things that defies belief. This is the hairy armpit, its where I live, Jesus is desperately needed here.
But today I got above all of that, literally. I spent the day at 5600 feet elevation on the ski slopes. We got above all of the air pollution, and the sky was so amazingly clear that I was sure I could see the throne room of the Living God. It was glorious. I had forgotten that the world could be such a beautiful place.
But this blog is more about the moral pollution that living in this world involves and the appropriate Christian response. I find it consistently fascinating and discouraging that almost every Christian organization in the world today (as well as the non-christian religions) make a standard of rules to which they expect everyone to follow. From where I am sitting after 27 years in the Kingdom of God, these standards are always "Jesus and something else." It's really depressing how we keep adding to the scriptures.
The moral pollution that I mentioned earlier I can understand . . . it's normal for the unredeemed world to be . . . well . . . unredeemed. It gets me though when we Christians add all these "extras" to the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . which is Jesus plus nothing. Last week I was getting hammered by a local missionary because essentially I was not agreeing that the local pastors and people in the National Church abstain from alcoholic beverages. How can we insist on more than the Holy Scriptures insist on? (At some point one must come to grip with the fact that the living Son of God made high quality wine for all to enjoy). Of course I refused to say that all drinking is a sin for the simple fact that Scripture never says that either. Here we would have to ban communion as well were we to take this position since we use wine in our celebration of the Lord's supper. (Then again us using grape juice instead of wine is another one of those additions)
Then another missionary reamed me for not challenging the mild heresies of one of the ladies in our International Church. They insisted that I was a liberal and I did not believe in the absolute inerrancy of Scripture. To which I replied that I in fact do hold to an inerrant view of God's Holy Word, but I do not hold to an inerrant understanding of God's Word on our part. I still do not think that these people were happy with me in the end. I am willing to let the Word of God say what it says , and I am willing to let it not say what it does not say.
The moral pollution in this world is what Jesus came to set us free from and He is stilling willing to do so, but then with the most unimaginable arrogance, we add rules, make policies, and draw lines of man-made holiness in the sand, and it seems that God now needs to set us free from ourselves too. Its hard to have clarity in a polluted world.
But today I got above all of that, literally. I spent the day at 5600 feet elevation on the ski slopes. We got above all of the air pollution, and the sky was so amazingly clear that I was sure I could see the throne room of the Living God. It was glorious. I had forgotten that the world could be such a beautiful place.
But this blog is more about the moral pollution that living in this world involves and the appropriate Christian response. I find it consistently fascinating and discouraging that almost every Christian organization in the world today (as well as the non-christian religions) make a standard of rules to which they expect everyone to follow. From where I am sitting after 27 years in the Kingdom of God, these standards are always "Jesus and something else." It's really depressing how we keep adding to the scriptures.
The moral pollution that I mentioned earlier I can understand . . . it's normal for the unredeemed world to be . . . well . . . unredeemed. It gets me though when we Christians add all these "extras" to the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . which is Jesus plus nothing. Last week I was getting hammered by a local missionary because essentially I was not agreeing that the local pastors and people in the National Church abstain from alcoholic beverages. How can we insist on more than the Holy Scriptures insist on? (At some point one must come to grip with the fact that the living Son of God made high quality wine for all to enjoy). Of course I refused to say that all drinking is a sin for the simple fact that Scripture never says that either. Here we would have to ban communion as well were we to take this position since we use wine in our celebration of the Lord's supper. (Then again us using grape juice instead of wine is another one of those additions)
Then another missionary reamed me for not challenging the mild heresies of one of the ladies in our International Church. They insisted that I was a liberal and I did not believe in the absolute inerrancy of Scripture. To which I replied that I in fact do hold to an inerrant view of God's Holy Word, but I do not hold to an inerrant understanding of God's Word on our part. I still do not think that these people were happy with me in the end. I am willing to let the Word of God say what it says , and I am willing to let it not say what it does not say.
The moral pollution in this world is what Jesus came to set us free from and He is stilling willing to do so, but then with the most unimaginable arrogance, we add rules, make policies, and draw lines of man-made holiness in the sand, and it seems that God now needs to set us free from ourselves too. Its hard to have clarity in a polluted world.
7 comments:
Dr D.,
I have been thinking, pondering, and pulling my hair out as of late on this very same subject. I think that we would all do well to read Sketches on Early Jewish Social Life by Edersheim. He really sheds some light on the extra rules the Jews added to the scriptures, and it will make you start fearing that we are walking that same path they did. Don't know if my comment makes sense to anyone but me, but anyway there it is.
Pastor Jerry . . . I too am afraid. I did not want to get into this too much in the blog . . . but this path is the exact issue that the Apostle Paul is addressing in Galatians! He clearly states that justification (and the flip side of that = righteousness) flows FROM God to us, and that the Gospel is immune to human influence! Yet we aren't immune to the influence of the Gospel. It radically transforms us into saints rather than sinners . . . are we sinless no . . . but instead we have been set free from the power of sin and the curse of the Law. But it seems that we much prefer the Law (rules and regs) over freedom. Some days I wonder if we should start a revolt within our organization for the sake of the Gospel . . . which again is Jesus plus nothing! Anyhooo this is rapidly becoming a hobby horse of mine . . . how to live out the freedom that I have in Christ, within the confines of a denomination like ours.
I am thinking it would be a really healthy thing for every Christian to have a couple of friends, or spend a little time with, Christians of other cultures and with Christians of other denominations. Then we could begin to realize that our ideas may not always be exclusively inerrant. In Japan we knew a German deaconess who told us that when she left Japan to return to Germany, her church elders would expect her to lift a stein with them in cheerful company, but would absolutely denounce her as a heretic if she were to so much as trim her waist-length hair.
So everybody's got their something.
Well said Beth.
Although I agree that the necessity of some rules has past, I also think it’s important to remember when and why certain stances were made…what can I say, Martha McClellan Brown (feminist & temperance front-runner back in the day) impresses my socks off. I recognize that my “Christian peer group” so to speak generally doesn’t give a rip about rules we think aren’t necessary (we don’t fight them as much as we ignore them…I’m not saying this attitude is great), so maybe my exposure to christians has been a smidge different. I can’t say I’ve even had much exposure to the discussion bc it was such a non-issue...
I do get tired out just realizing how many people have expectations of what the church - or I - should do or be...but then I remember that the kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Why do you suppose we add all these little rules of how people "should" act and especially how they "should" treat us...maybe partly so we can feel self-righteous when they don't meet our expectations? Or because meeting those Laws is in reality simpler and more self-satisfying than learning how to live by the Spirit?
Anyhow, I'm thankful for the joy and peace and righteousness (that very obviously isn't pattie-made!), and look forward to your revolution.
Any righteousness I have is also not david-made . . . and if there is a revolution, it won't be mine, but rather ours. Good word Pattie.
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