I started this blog primarily due to the number of people I have run into over the years who have this really twisted, skewed view of Christ, Christianity, salvation and what it really means to be a Christian. The bigger problem was...they were Christians.
This blog mainly isn't to attack guys like Joel Osteen or Rick Warren. There are enough of those. There are whole ministries whose sole purpose is to attack men like them.
Rather, it's to challenge, and combat, the perception of Christianity that I have increasingly encountered over the years. You see, in the Bible, Jesus was the anti-establishment rebel, the guy who shook things up and challenged long-held beliefs and perspectives. And who were His principle adversaries? Not murderers, thieves and hookers. No, those were His dinner buddies. His adversaries were church leaders.
What was his problem with them? Several things, actually. They twisted scripture to mean what they wanted it to. They held closely to, and exclusively preached, the letter of God's law, but totally missed the spirit. They prayed loudly in public, primarily in order to draw attention to themselves. They placed themselves at the head of the church body, so that rather than leading their followers to God, they instead just made their followers believe that they themselves were Holy and righteous, and their wisdom and judgement unquestionable. And of course, they believed that they were perfect, or at least far better than those filthy people at their feet.
Since the Bible teaches us to follow Jesus (and was in fact written by Him), and the Pharisees, the title church leaders of the time took, were portrayed as villians, you'd think modern-day Christians would want to be as unlike them as possible, but unfortunately, I run into more modern-day Pharisees, and people who have a Pharisaical attitude about their daily lives, than I ever imagined I would. I have gone to church with these people and worshipped right alongside them. I have chatted with them on the internet. Several of them have their own pulpit to preach from.
I firmly believe that these people fall into two camps: those who do as they do because they are fervently trying to earn God's favor, and those who do so because they are hate-filled people who seek to hurt, and think they've found the perfect weapon in the Bible.
What neither kind of Pharisee, or "legalist" if you prefer, seems to realize is, it's not about you. It's not about me. It's not about them. They want to take the focus away from God, away from Jesus, and make it all about you and me and who's better than whom and which religious leader we should follow.
Have you ever seen a minister, deacon, elder or even just a Christian who holds no leadership position, who get really hung up about the following topics?:
-which denomination you belong to
-which translation of the Bible you use
-whether you believe in or reject Calvinism
-whether you believe in predestination
-whether you ascribe to "Lordship salvation" or not
-whether you believe in eternal security (that is, once saved, always saved)
-how ecumenical the church you belong to is
-the amount of souls you have personally won for Christ
-how much you tithe
-what styles of music you listen to, books you read or movies/tv you watch
-the way you wear your hair
-the kind of clothing you wear
-whether or not you consume alcohol
These are hot-button issues in some Christian circles. There are thousands if not millions of Christians who will judge your salvation based on the critera above. The problem is...Where is God in all of that!?
Does Romans 10:9 say "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and use the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, and attend an Independant Baptist Church, and reject doctrines like Calvinism, Lordship salvation, eternal security, predestination, etc., refuse to associate with any denomination but your own, be diligent in winning other souls, tithe regularly, throw out your rock music, get a haircut and put on a suit and tie and of course, abstain from alcohol, you will be saved."?
No, of course it doesn't, so why are we acting as though it does? Why do we keep qualifying it like that? Why can't we remember what Samuel was told in 1 Samuel 16:7: "But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not take note of his face or how tall he is, because I will not have him: for the Lord's view is not man's; man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord sees the heart."?
That last part sort of says it all. Man looks at what's outside. They see the teenager with the hoody and the running shoes with the hat turned backward and says "He isn't saved." God looks at the heart. He isn't concerned with our outer form. That verse could just as easily say "Do not take note of his leather jacket and earring, or her tank top, or his long hair, or her capris, or the rock music they're listening to, or the church they attend, or the Bible translation they use, or anything on the outside, because it is man that takes note of the outer form, not God. God sees the heart.
A lot of the people out there who ascribe to the legalistic worldview of caring primarily about how they look or what they're doing would probably be driven to despair, almost to the point of suicide if they could look at their own hearts the way God does.
Remember that rich young ruler in Luke 18:22 who wanted to know what was necessary to receive eternal life, but wasn't interested if it wasn't what he wanted to hear? He held to the commandments and was a good person, and he figured he was good enough. His pride was his fall: as soon as he understood that he needed to part with the way of life he'd become used to, he turned and walked off. Jesus didn't mean that it's against His will that anyone be rich, but this man had come to care more about being rich than about being saved. What he expected was for Jesus to say "My good and faithful servant, you're already doing what you need to do to earn eternal life. Keep up the good work."
And that's the position of the legalist. They care more about what they do, and how much they've done to earn salvation. They don't drink, they don't smoke, they tithe, they go door-to-door witnessing, etc. They think that stuff will save them, the same way the rich young ruler thought his good behavior would save him.
The purpose of this blog is both to call out those who would seek to use the word of God to hurt people, and to warn those trapped in legalism who think they're just doing God's will of how easy it is to start trusting in their own goodness to save them. The focus in the lives of these people is not on God anymore. God should be first in our hearts, and the only one in whom we put our trust, and yet these people still think it's all about them.
By the way, I may as well say it here: This blog is not for the purpose of discussing the existence of God or the validity of the Bible in its entirety. This is entirely for believers who have already accepted Christ and believed in the Bible. I've already decided God is real and the Bible is true, and there are innumerable apologetics blogs out there, so if your purpose in posting on my blog is to challenge my stance on God's existence or the Bible, don't bother, because I won't respond and will remove the post. No, I'm not afraid of you, I don't worry that you'll be able to argue me into atheism with logic. I've debated many people countless times on the existence of God, and none of their arguments sway me, so please do yourself a favor and don't bother.
However, if you have comments or questions related to doctrinal interpretations about God's will for our lives or commandments to his followers, and the like, I'm all ears and no matter how strongly you disagree with me, I will let the comment stand. I do ask that you refrain from personal attacks. Saying stuff like "You and your pansy liberal church needs to get right with God" (that exact thing has been said to me) or questioning my salvation will not be appreciated and depending on how venomous the attack is, I may remove the post.
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