Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Rules
A while back, Joe Carter asked "What Would Jesus Drink?" His point was a cautionary tale against two things really. The first, legalism. That may be the oldest saw in faith. After all were not the legalistic Pharisees Jesus' primary protagonists?
The second point though is much more subtle, and that is the grafting of personal agendas onto sacred missions.
As Joe points out, alcoholic abstinence has become a hallmark of faith for many, many people, and yet, Christ Himself imbibed. Most people do not realize it, but alcohol allowed mankind to flourish for many centuries. before we understood germs and water purification, we understood that alcoholic beverages did not induce the gastronomical symptomology that water from the fetid lake often did. Brewing and fermenting were in fact the earliest forms of water purification. (Never mess with a chemist on this stuff! :-))
Yes, alcohol can be probelmatic for some people and it is certainly better to take it in moderation and avoid it altogether in some circumstances, but that is very different for making it a hallmark of the faith.
I can think of so many examples of advancing to the status of hallmark something that is decidedly less. "True worship involves contemporary music" (or classical music for that matter) "If you are ill, you must have displeased God."
We are very good at "majoring in the minors." But what I find most insidious is that the minors we usually try to advance are our personal pet peeves. In other words, majoring in the minors is not just an act of misprioritization, but an act of selfishness. Instead of listening to God and His priorities, we insert ourselves and lay our priorities on Him.
That's not just a mistake, that is the anti-thesis of genuine faith! Which is why, in the end, the Pharisees were Christ's primary antagonists.
Something to think about.
Related Tags: alcohol, legalism, Pharisiees, majoring in the minors
The second point though is much more subtle, and that is the grafting of personal agendas onto sacred missions.
As Joe points out, alcoholic abstinence has become a hallmark of faith for many, many people, and yet, Christ Himself imbibed. Most people do not realize it, but alcohol allowed mankind to flourish for many centuries. before we understood germs and water purification, we understood that alcoholic beverages did not induce the gastronomical symptomology that water from the fetid lake often did. Brewing and fermenting were in fact the earliest forms of water purification. (Never mess with a chemist on this stuff! :-))
Yes, alcohol can be probelmatic for some people and it is certainly better to take it in moderation and avoid it altogether in some circumstances, but that is very different for making it a hallmark of the faith.
I can think of so many examples of advancing to the status of hallmark something that is decidedly less. "True worship involves contemporary music" (or classical music for that matter) "If you are ill, you must have displeased God."
We are very good at "majoring in the minors." But what I find most insidious is that the minors we usually try to advance are our personal pet peeves. In other words, majoring in the minors is not just an act of misprioritization, but an act of selfishness. Instead of listening to God and His priorities, we insert ourselves and lay our priorities on Him.
That's not just a mistake, that is the anti-thesis of genuine faith! Which is why, in the end, the Pharisees were Christ's primary antagonists.
Something to think about.
Related Tags: alcohol, legalism, Pharisiees, majoring in the minors
