tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8229901721883327583.post3398081672324489645..comments2024-03-25T16:19:14.073-07:00Comments on Wake Up People!: The Walk of Faithwendywornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157162145721730955noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8229901721883327583.post-71842224659006050662012-10-17T09:58:34.075-07:002012-10-17T09:58:34.075-07:00Very wise words, Dan.
KimVery wise words, Dan. <br /><br />KimKimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15449934341845326322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8229901721883327583.post-10843644771731891042012-10-14T11:26:23.156-07:002012-10-14T11:26:23.156-07:00May I express an alternative view?
I know about y...May I express an alternative view?<br /><br />I know about your legalistic roots and I know where you are at now, both from this blog and from what you have shared. At some point, we will have to discuss this in more depth; maybe as a study in our small group? Only time will tell if this becomes possible, for reasons you already know. This response is not to oppose your mutual decision, but to present an alternative point of view.<br /><br />A preacher I recently listened to said that discernment boils down to differentiating between liberty and legalism. Legalism provides a mold for what the Christian life looks like by objectifying the experience. Liberty recognizes that the mold is not the product. No matter how accurate the mold, a product still needs to be made from that mold. To put it another way, if the law is the rules for setting up a potter’s shop (such as the composition of the clay, the specifications for the potter’s wheel, the tools to be included, and so on), liberty is the hands that renders a work of art, along with the knowledge that goes into making that pot.<br /><br />I’ll expound on this at a later date. For now, let me direct this line of thought to Johnny’s (and your) situation. I agree when you say that your previously extreme legalistic viewpoint would have been harmful. A legalist cannot love, no matter how hard he/she tries to do so. The command to love is never the exercise of it. I also agree that it would not be productive to try to conform Johnny into the traditions of men, as you put it. <br /><br />However, liberty and freedom, when taken to the other extreme, produces a slew of problems that can damage us as well. Freedom in Christ, when taken to an extreme, casts off the restraint that the law provides. In each moral law there is a wealth of wisdom. Dispute any “Thou shalt not” and you will find out why the command was given, through pain and suffering. The law was written to protect us from ourselves, even if it did not have the power to actually make it happen.<br /><br />The example you provided will suffice to illuminate this. One of the rules was the substitution of Christian music over TV. If the basis of this rule is legalistic (i.e., TV often broadcasts unspiritual principles and questionable morals), then it’s a mostly useless rule, since the believer will eventually be exposed to any and all of this at one point or another, and growth does not come from sticking oneself in a monastery indefinitely. However, if the point of this rule, and others like it, is to create a sort of spiritual nursery, where the inhabitants can thrive like plants in a sun-room before eventually being transplanted back into the wilderness, then it has its uses. To put it another way, if Johnny is as young in his faith as you point out, a period of incubation is wise. Would you teach him by throwing him out into the deep end of the pool?<br /><br />I was raised a legalist in the Catholic tradition (of which a whole separate book containing all of the additional laws and rules is taught to its adherents). I rebelled and went the way of freedom, discarding the majority of laws that I was once taught. Now, as I stand here and look at the many scars on my soul, I can say that there is value in both. My only hope here is to spare both of you from receiving some of the same scars that still handicap me to this day.<br />Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11689058114590999591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8229901721883327583.post-18207690405401187582012-10-14T05:00:31.283-07:002012-10-14T05:00:31.283-07:00See Ma! I knew you would understand. I'll keep...See Ma! I knew you would understand. I'll keep you postedwendywornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00157162145721730955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8229901721883327583.post-56420289944859553562012-10-14T03:57:24.168-07:002012-10-14T03:57:24.168-07:00I can't wait to hear what the Lord does:)
I...I can't wait to hear what the Lord does:)<br /><br /><br /><br />I understand your concerns about the rules and regs.<br /><br />After finding Jesus and having my own relationship, I got into religion and all that, now I feel like I'm kind of coming out the other side to go back to right where I started.<br /><br />But it's all good. You know?Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00380432930727921469noreply@blogger.com