Religion

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Comment by Reed McCallum on July 5, 2010 at 5:12pm

Cool thoughts. I imagine that the word "legalism" encompasses the kind of petty religious intolerance you're thinking about here.
Religion is a tricky subject. People often use the flaws of the religious institution as an excuse to not be religious. I recall a conversation with a bunch of trendy dudes smoking out behind a QT one time. They asked me if I was a Christian, and I responded "Yes. How about you guys?" They said, "Nah, man. We're not Christians. We're Christ Followers."
At first I thought that was a really cool concept. Then I asked them what that entailed, and they said "We don't go to church or read the Bible, and we don't use the Bible as a weapon to attack homosexuals or members of other faiths. We just treat others well, like Christ taught us."
"That's a great start," I said, "but if you're only following the moral guidelines, there's not really any accountability, is there?"
"That's the point, man. Freedom from accountability. Freedom to live however we choose. Our lives are our own. That's God's gift."
I was young in my faith at the time, so I didn't know how to respond to this. Of course, now I more fully realize that God's gift is that our lives are NOT our own. They're His. We aren't free to live however we choose if we want Him to take all the consequences and all the responsibility for our sins. That's our accountability, but it's also our freedom.
I wonder how many "Christ Followers" are actually going where Christ is leading, and how many just don't want to go in the same direction as the church. Sometimes, I feel like I can't blame them for wanting to break off from the church. But we should try our best to better the church from within, to more accurately represent God's teachings, so that it can fulfill its original purpose of teaching and executing God's word. That way, future generations will hopefully not see the church as a place of intolerance, legalism, and hatred, but rather a place for rest from a sinful world, hope for salvation, and dedication to the Lord.

Very thoughtful, Aaron. God bless!

Comment by Seth Grey on January 15, 2010 at 12:44pm

Awesome video!!! Thanks for posting this. I hope we'll see more!