Minor Thoughts from me to you

Jesus set us free from the Law, as any good Christian can tell you (and as any totally awful Christian will most certainly tell you).

So why do we keep making up new ones in its place?

This thought did not come to me because my contract prohibited me from sipping a spot of wine with my meal tonight. Really. I had the hankering for a Coke. But it reminded me anyhow of the basic trap that we as humans repeatedly fall into when given such an alien gift as spiritual freedom.

That is: we think to ourselves, "OK. I'm free! I don't want to sin anymore. So let's see... What's a sin? Well, the Bible says not to get drunk. So that's not right. Now, I know I'm a flawed man, so how am I going to insure that I don't screw up here? I know! I'll make it a rule that I can't even drink a sip of alcohol. After all, it's not like the stuff's essential to one's diet anyway, right? So there's no harm in drinking it... which means that if you want to drink any of it, in fact, you surely are in a manner sinning, because you are unnecessarily courting disaster! And when Jesus said to flee from Sin! Terrible drinkers of alcohol! Mired in their sinful lifestyles!"

Now, ya see? Badabing, badaboom - all of a sudden, the free Christian has created a brand-spankin'-new, iron law, and one preempting something which even Jesus Himself most certainly enjoyed now and then (unless you want to take the laughable position that Jesus and His disciples sipped Welch's).

Though the "free" Christian won't stop there, mind you, oh no; he or she will continue to draw the widest possible radius around every sin in The Book, and eventually term all that he or she has successfully included within the safety circumferences "sin", having of course eventually forgotten to distinguish between his or her safeguards against sin and the sin itself. Now anything which may or may not be unwise, according to one's conscience, is evil.

Smoking a cigarette? That's not just unhealthy and foolish, it's a sin.

Enjoying a waltz with a member of the opposite sex? Good Heavens, People, you're touching each other! Are you trying to tempt the sexual impulses?! Sinners!

Now you're married and having sex - with birth control?

Sinners! Sinners! Sinners!

And - well, I could go on, all the live-long day, but I sincerely doubt I have to. Odds are, you can think up a dozen examples of your own without me.

The Law returns from the grave into which Jesus tossed it when we create a system of draconian rules everyone must follow because, hey, after all, it does solve the problem of alcoholism if nobody is allowed to ever touch alcohol, right? And what about our weaker brothers? "It's only Christian to set a good example!"

As if anyone can seriously believe that's what Paul meant. If Paul truly believed one should exchange one's own entire lifestyle for his or her weaker brother's, He would have recommended Gentiles, in the name of their weaker brothers the Jews, adopt Judaic laws. But he didn't. QED.

Now, nobody is saying that rules do not have their place. Non-adults should be ruled by their parents, as non-adults by very definition lack the necessary discernment to be entrusted with their own spiritual health. Personal rules are certainly OK, too; if you have a strong history of alcoholism in your family, it is probably a very good idea that you steer clear of any fire water, and I'll abstain from drinking in your company to help you out. And authorities should certainly impose those rules necessary for order and safety, in the church and elsewhere. But all of this is a far cry from the rampant reinstatement of legalism we've been seeing for some time now from various parts of Jesus' Kingdom on Earth.

We need to care enough about our good Lord Jesus and ourselves to set boundaries against temptation, yes, but we also need to remember how the Law became so crushing a presence in the first place. The Pharisee law lovers of the New Testament were men and women devoted to the LORD; the mistakes for which Jesus put them on notice are not as alien to us as we'd like to pretend.

Trying to win our own salvation via Law is very tempting, even to those passionate for the Christ. How could it not be? Being free is such a truly strange, and perilous, state in which to find ourselves.

But we should safeguard it anyway, perhaps even as much as our own purity.

It is, after all, what Jesus paid for.