So in a fit of… something last night I tweeted “Christians spend WAY too much time on “dos and don’ts”.” Nothing prompted it in particular. I’d like to blame the Holy Spirit for it, but he/she/it couldn’t be reached for comment. I suspect that part of the Trinity just sits back and looks at my meanderings and LAAAAUGHS.

Anyway, this particular brain dropping elicited a fair number of responses.

JT said “christians hold no special monopoly on that. that is a people problem not a christian problem”. That’s true enough. Folks have been coming up with rules for as long as there’ve been people. Rules are good things so far as they go. I’m not anti-rules, but more on that momentarily.

Jon Welborn said so you’re saying “don’t spend time on do’s and don’ts”?” Boy if that didn’t cut right to it. Jon’s sharp as a razor. I’m not trying to set up yet another thing to do/not do. But, of course, that is tempting. I’ve posted a number of posts (blogged a number of blogs?) that seem sort of like reverse legalism and that’s the last thing I want. I’m not about licentiousness or coming up with new rules, but more on that momentarily.

Comedy blogger extraordinaire Rhodester said “*snork* stating the obvious again, Scotty?” (and yes he and my Aunt are the ONLY ones who can call me Scotty) So I said to him I said, obvious to you and me maybe but I’m not preaching to you. Which he liked, cause most folk don’t like being preached to or at. No this particular missive was aimed at my regular church going, rule spouting brethren.

Ed Parrot, the prettier half (and that ain’t sayin’ much) of the writing team known as Ed Talbot said “especially don’ts ”
To which I replied, “We spend a lot of time telling each other what to do. Of course that’s usually couched in the terms ‘ur doin it rong’”. And that’s pretty dang true right there.

Renee Osborne, fellow writer and Messianic Christian (I think that’s the proper title), and I had a long back and forth about this since she and her husband Doug are both observant of a good number of Old Testament laws. What it boiled down to is that there are some decent reasons to be as observant as she and her husband are. They’re trying to be more like Christ and to be more obedient to God. I don’t think either of those things are bad. In fact, they can be quite beneficial.

So what was I saying exactly? Well let’s see. Rules are good, to a point. Ignoring rules meant for your benefit can be very bad. I believe that the rules God laid out can certainly be beneficial. I don’t believe that it’s his will that all people everywhere follow all of the rules laid out in the Bible. I do believe that, as Renee said, the covenants that these very rules come from build on each other. Ultimately I think the covenants point to Jesus and our need for him.

He said in Matthew 22 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” That is a distillation of all 1700 or so laws that Renee mentioned. Everything hangs on these two things. So here’s the thing. I can’t do either one of those perfectly. Neither can you. That’s why we need Jesus.

Now should we try? Yes, of course we should try. Being obedient to those two rules and how they are broken out in the Bible and in your life as a believer is of vital importance. It can draw you closer to God. It reveals your need for and drives you to Christ. It makes you want to know Christ more so that you can be an imitator of Christ as we are called to be. Those are all great and wonderful.

“So get to the point Scott, what do you mean?”

Here’s what I mean, and check me on these.

I don’t believe we are called to use the laws that we have laid our for us in the Bible to run other people’s lives for them. If I feel convicted by God to observe the Passover, so long as it doesn’t become a law that I think others should follow to obtain their salvation, then I have the freedom to do that or not to do that. If I believe that smoking is sinful because it’s unhealthy and the body is our temple then I’m allowed not to smoke. I just don’t have the right or the obligation to tell someone else that they are sinning by smoking. We are not to spend our time looking for specks of sawdust to remove from others’ eyes in order to make them more righteous.

I also don’t think that we need to spend overly much time worrying about whether a particular thing we are doing is sin or not. There is certainly a place for examined life. If we do have a question about some activity or behavior we’re engaged in, we should go to the word and go in prayer to God to seek out the answer. Asking your brother/pastor is also a good idea. I see people getting eaten up by this though. I’ve even heard tell of folks making a list of every sin they can think of and using that in ways that I don’t think are healthy or beneficial to try and rid their life of sin. Some of these folks sweat and worry about missing one and the consequences of that. That’s unhealthy.

Now I do think that there’s a place for accountability in our lives. If I go to someone and tell them, “I struggle with this thing that is clearly a sin, can you help me by keeping me accountable?” I think that’s good and healthy. If I feel that someone has sinned against me then I need to talk to them, not harbor it in my heart. If they’re not receptive to that then once again the Word is clear that we need to get others involved. Hopefully maturity and a healthy perspective brought on by someone outside the situation can bring a resolution. These things shouldn’t be happening all the time though, really.

We are to be concerned with loving God, loving our neighbor, and spreading the news of the grace that we have received through Jesus Christ. This shouldn’t look like control or gutting out living under some code that’s a burden to us and those around us. It shouldn’t be a bait and switch job where we tell people that “it’s all about grace” and then when they come in we spring an Extreme Makeover on them. It’s not about reading the right books or the wrong books or being filled with purpose or saying the right prayer or listening to some music and not other. It’s about knowing Christ and him crucified and treating those around us and in our care like the beloved family that they are. Good families have good rules, but belonging to a family isn’t first and foremost about following those rules, it’s about loving your family.

Does all of this add up to even more dos and don’ts? Maybe so. The last thing I want to do is give you another thing on your mental checklist. What I hope it does is to encourage you to change focus away from that list and towards your brother who is there to love you and your father who is there to guide you gently.