From Legalism To Antinomianism: The Middle Of The Road

August 31, 2004 @ 10:31 pm by Pressed

In the battle for moral fortitude in the personal lives of Christians and in the church we seem to flip-flop almost as much as John Kerry. There are two sides of the fence in Christian Ethics, legalism and antinomianism (anti-law), and believe it or not I am here to say that Christians should be in the middle! That is weird coming from me huh? I am certainly not a moderate, I lean far to the right in my politics and theology, and yet in the case of Christian ethics I believe we should be neither too far right or too far left, but find a nice comfy position on the middle ground.

Legalism: Many non-Christians see the Christian faith as a set of rules and regulations and things they can’t do. Honestly, I know a lot of people and churches that have fallen into legalism, the art of doing everything the same way, by the book, no deviations and everyone must do it! If a person would be looked down upon for wearing blue jeans to a revival in your church, that’s legalism. If people are saved from a life of sin and the only thing you have to tell them is a list of do’s and don’ts, that’s legalism. As my ethics professor says, the law kills! Being too strict in some of these issues is a killer for the church because it places the focus on earthly things that will simply fade away and takes the focus off of Jesus. We get too worried about the kind of clothes we wear, the color of our hair, the kind of songs we sing, the way the church looks and it causes us to lose focus on what is really important, our savior. This was the Pharisee’s problem! They were too caught up in the law and rules that they couldn’t see the Messiah right in front of them! Rules have value and can be beneficial, but legalism is worthless and destroys the church.

Colossians 2:16-23 “Therefore don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his fleshly mind. He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God. If you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? All these {regulations} refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value against fleshly indulgences.”

As Christians we want to live Godly lives, worthy of the calling that we have received. We want to be righteous and holy, we want to please God, and we want the church to be pleasing to Him as well. The problem comes when we completely forget about Jesus and we lose sight of wanting to please him because we are in the middle of making legalistic rules and forcing people to follow them. So, to combat legalism, many people and churches jump over the fence and go running to the other side.

Antinomianism: This is basically the anti-law position. Instead of creating laws and forcing people to live by our rules, in antinomianism, there are no rules. You can wear what you want, do what you want, act how you want, and be whatever you want to be at all times. Where legalism says “everyone must dress up and wear the same type of clothes to church” antinomianism says “you can wear whatever you feel like wearing” and grandma ends up coming to church in her bikini. You see the problem here? When we get too legalistic we have a tendency to run screaming to the other side and abolish all rules which is another problem altogether and is just as wrong as legalism. A good example of what happens when there is no law, is found in the book of Judges between 17:6 and 21:5. Judges 17:6 says “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted.” After this statement there was a large amount of corruption happening with the people of Israel. Men killed, stole, worshiped false idols, slaughtered unsuspecting people, men raped other men and women, and society became extremely corrupt and perverted and thousands upon thousands of men died in battles because of these perversions.

Judges 19:22 “While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

Judges 19:25 “But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning…When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine [who had been raped all night and died] and he cut her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.”

Without law there is utter chaos. Without rules, regulations, moral codes, life is nothing but a big mess. Can you imagine our great nation without a government, without laws, and without anyone to lead? It would be utter chaos and it would result in far more corruption and death than exists now. Moving away from legalism is a good thing, but moving too far into Antinomianism is a horrible thing. There has to be a middle ground. We need rules, we need a moral code, we need to know what is right and wrong and yet we don’t need to be so worried about legalistic, earthly rules that we completely miss the message of the gospel and overlook our savior. We need to be lax in some areas, but not so lax that we throw out all rules and all common sense and allow people to do whatever they want. In ethics, it is a good thing to be in the middle.

Pressed

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The Sarcastic Edition (Re-Posted)

August 27, 2004 @ 1:03 pm by Pressed

The Woman at the Well (Revised)
The following is an excerpt from John 4:15-26 in the NLV Bible (New Liberalized Version).

15 The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thristy and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What have just said is quite true.”
19 The woman, angered by the fact that Jesus had the audacity to pry into her private life, decided to be the better person and respond in love saying, “Sir, who are you to judge me and my actions. If you think that what I have done is wrong, then you should see what other members of the synagogue are doing, which is far worse. And is it not you who has been stirring up problems in the community lately? Perhaps you should remove the plank from your own eye first.”
20 Jesus responded, saying, “But it is written that thou shalt not commit adultery”.
21 The woman attempted to further de-escalate the issue. “Master,” she said, “that verse is open to interpretation. It is obvious that neither you nor anyone else truly understands the relationship that I have with this man. We have a connection that transcends comprehension. We are spiritually connected.”
22 The woman continued, “And besides, what gives you the right to use the Bible as your own personal whipping tool? Should you not love me unconditionally?”
23 As Jesus sat dumbfounded, the woman continued. “And what about grace? I will admit that what I am doing is wrong, but I am a sinner just as everyone else is and God sees all sin in the same way. I feel in my heart that God will continue to use me in spite of this misunderstanding.
24 Instead of slandering me and spewing venom, perhaps you and the church of God should try practicing things like love and tolerance.”
25 After pondering these things, Jesus replied, “Dear woman, surely your sin has opened your eyes. Through your disobedience, God has obviously revealed to you things that are hidden and mysterious to others regarding Scripture and the church. Now go, and sin some more.”
26 And the woman left pleased that she could have her cake and eat it too.

In Le Renard Subtils opinion, the NLV’s take on judgment and accountability is a crock

(This was originally posted on October 10, 2002 by Le Renard Subtil

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Music With Class

August 26, 2004 @ 3:45 pm by Pressed

I have a new favorite radio station that is new to the St. Louis area. I’ve been listening non-stop to 104.1 FM RED both in the truck and on the web. If you go to their website you can listen to the station live on the internet anywhere. I usually do this at home while I am working. You can make online requests as well from the internet.

This station used to be 104.1 the mall and it played music from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s. It went under and they changed it to this station which plays mainly big band, jazz, and swing music. I used to hate this stuff, but now I love this kind of music. Ever since I found this station I have not stopped listening to it. Right now I am listening to a duet of New York, New York by Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet. If you like this style of music you might want to check it out!

Pressed

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Kerry On Taxes

August 25, 2004 @ 7:55 am by Pressed

“John Kerry promises not to raise taxes, but the reality is that he has cast 98 votes for tax increases, including voting ten times to raise gas taxes on the middle class. Kerry points to the largest tax increase in American history as the blueprint for his economic plan, which advisor Bob Rubin says Kerry won’t reveal until elected. Kerry’s credibility problem is only expanding as more and more Americans see the gap between what Kerry says and what Kerry does.” - Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney ‘04 Spokesman

John Kerry is in the continual habit of voting for higher taxes. Look at all of the times he’s voted for a tax increase on the middle class. Can we really believe him when he says that he will not raise taxes on the middle class?

Kerry Voted 98 Times For Tax Increases Totaling More Than $2.3 Trillion.

Kerry Voted At Least 126 Times Against Tax Cuts Totaling More Than $5.3 Trillion.

Kerry Voted Against 2001 And 2003 Bush Tax Cuts.

Kerry Voted Twice For Largest Tax Increase In U.S. History.

Kerry Voted For Higher Taxes On Social Security Benefits At Least Eight Times.

Kerry Voted Against Marriage Penalty Relief At Least 22 Times

Kerry Voted Against Expanding Child Tax Credit At Least 18 Times.

Kerry Voted For Higher Gas Taxes On The Middle Class 10 Times And He Once Supported A 50 Cent A Gallon Gas Tax Increase.

Kerry Sponsored And Voted For Motion To Kill Marriage Penalty Relief For Couples Earning Less Than $50,000 Per Year.

In 1995, Kerry Voted for a resolution that said Middle Class tax cuts were not wise.

Kerry Cited The 1993 Tax Hike On The Middle Class As His Tax Blueprint.

KERRY: “Our plan will cut the deficit in half by four years – the same thing that we set out to do in 1993, and I was there and I voted for it, I know how we did it.”

Lets stick with Bush for another 4 years, Kerry is the wrong answer for America.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I ask my readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you’ve already donated and volunteered for the Bush campaign, then talk to your friends and enlist them in this battle for whats right in America.

If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. Once you do, simply send an e-mail to wictory@blogsforbush.com so that you will be added to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs. To see the blogroll click the continue reading link below:
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Praise Band

August 24, 2004 @ 10:04 pm by Pressed

It’s about 10:00 p.m. and I am just getting home tonight from praise band practice. We’ve been playing live praise and worship on Wednesday nights for awhile now, but we always practice a couple hours before we play which ends up wreaking havoc on my whole schedule and stress level. In the past we have tried to meet on another night of the week and just couldn’t find the right time, but finally we have set a time for every Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.

Tonight we got a full two hours of play time in while working on several new songs and coming up with a set for tomorrow night. I spend the majority of my day coming up with songs, copying music, making folders for all the band members, and getting ready for practice tonight. Things are sounding really good and I am excited about tomorrow.

This pretty much fills up the first part of my week Monday I am at school and don’t get home till about 7:00 p.m. Tuesdays I won’t get home until 9:00 or 10:00, and Wednesdays I never get home until around 9:00 or 10:00. That is why Thursday is my day off, cause by that time I need to stay home. .

In the midst of my rigorous schedule I am attempting to keep up with school work, church work, my personal spiritual life, my health, and my blog. The blog might suffer a bit, but I am trying…

Pressed

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