Sometimes I still feel guilty going to see a movie at the theater. I grew up in a conservative Christian home. The son of a Pastor, my life was scrutinized carefully to make sure that I followed all of the rules that a PK (Pastors Kid) should follow. I wasn’t allowed to go to the movie theater growing up. That was part of our denominational beliefs. Besides, we would have been supporting “The Movie Industry” which we all know is corrupt and produces all kinds of smut. So we had to wait until the movie came out on VCR to watch it. Apparently it was ok to support the Post-Movie Theater Industry. I don’t like religion.
I’ve heard quite a few Christians recently express the sentiment that they like Christianity, but not religion. What does that mean? I define religion as being pharisaical. Being like the pharisees of the Bible. The pharisees were a particular group of people singled out in the Bible for their over-zealous attempts to keep God’s law. To the letter. In their attempts to keep the law, they often overlooked the reason for the law. Practicality didn’t matter. Keeping the law mattered. The pharisees were very concerned about outward appearance. They dressed the part so that everyone would know how important they were. They insisted on using titles. They demanded recognition, or honor as we would say in our church culture today. They prayed loudly and visibly so that people could see how close to God they were.
They also insisted on keeping rules, and even made rules for keeping the rules. For example, the law said “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. The pharisees were convinced that people may not realize what it meant to keep the Sabbath day holy, so they helped define it for us. Some examples:
- They taught that you should not look in a mirror on the Sabbath because you might be tempted to pluck out a grey hair and that would be reaping.
- They said that you could only eat an egg which had been laid on the Sabbath if you killed the chicken for Sabbath-breaking.
- A donkey could be led out of the stable on the Sabbath, but the harness and saddle had to be placed on him the day before.
- An egg could not be boiled on the Sabbath, either by normal means or by putting it near a hot kettle or by wrapping it in a hot cloth or by putting it in the hot sand outside.
- If the lights were on when the Sabbath came (Sabbath began at sundown), you could not blow them out. If they had not been lit in time, then you could not light them.
- It was unlawful to move furniture on the Sabbath. There was an exception to this in that you were allowed to move a ladder on the Sabbath, but you could only move it four steps.
- It was unlawful to wear any jewelry or ornaments on the Sabbath, since this might be construed as carrying a burden.
- It was not permitted to wear false teeth on the Sabbath (that must have been a hit in the synagogue services).
- You were allowed to eat radishes on the Sabbath, but you were warned against dipping them into salt because you might leave them in the salt too long and pickle them and this was considered to be Sabbath-breaking. The Pharisees actually had discussions as to how long it took to pickle a radish.
- It was fine to spit on a rock on the Sabbath, but you could not spit on the ground, because that made mud and mud was mortar, and that was work.
- If a woman got mud on her dress, she was to wait until it had dried and then she was permitted to crumple the dress in her hands one time and crush it and then shake it out once. If that did not do the trick, then she had to wear it.
Seems kind of foolish to us, but the pharisees were not joking. I believe that we have some modern pharisees in the church. And they may not even realize it. The pharisees didn’t realize what they were doing. They thought that they were doing what was necessary to please God. The Pharisees in the first century didn’t have a problem keeping their hundreds of rules. They didn’t have to work for a living. All they had to do was to be religious. Leaving a sheep in the ditch on the Sabbath wasn’t a big deal for them. But the poor Jewish guy who owned the flock had to break the Sabbath rules and pull his sheep out of the ditch if he wanted to have the animal available for sale the next morning.
For a long time, Christians were critical of others over issues that they themselves managed to avoid. Over time however, as some of those things began affecting the Christian population, guess what happened? Those things that were once horrible sins, suddenly became more acceptable when they began to affect our own lives.
I remember growing up, we left church and came home to a dinner that Mom had prepared. We never went out to eat on Sundays, because going out to eat would have been a violation of “keeping the Sabbath day holy”. In fact, most stores were closed on Sundays because of so-called “Blue Laws” that made it illegal to do business on Sundays. Even the NFL games were scheduled to begin after Sunday worship. Anything that took people away from attending church on Sundays was an evil influence that had to be avoided.
We couldn’t play cards either. Well, not with the playing cards used by sinners. Those were used for gambling, so if we used those cards, we might grow up to be professional gamblers or blackjack dealers in a Vegas strip club.
I couldn’t listen to popular music on the radio. While my pagan friends were listening to the Beatles, I was listening to the Blackwood Brothers or George Beverly Shea. Even contemporary Christian music was off-limits because those guys had long hair and didn’t wear a white shirt and tie to church.
Of course, we never had any alcohol in the house. Or cigarettes. Those were the first steps to Hell. I wasn’t going to go there.
As I’ve already mentioned, we couldn’t go to movies. There was nothing wrong with Disney movies, but if we went to see “good” movies, we might also go to “bad” movies too. Since people couldn’t tell which kind of movie you were going to go see, we figured it was safer to not go at all.
I never really had “the talk” with either of my parents, but I was given a book. I knew about the dangers of premarital sex. It leads to dancing.
Don’t get me wrong. My parents loved me and wanted the best for me and did a good job of raising me. If I were to ask my parents about being legalistic, they would say that our faith was based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But we sure spent a lot of time being good and doing good and avoiding being and doing bad. More time than we spent enjoying God.
Beginning in the 1970’s, a gradual shift away from this thought process began. As Christian baby boomers had more children, and Christian soccer moms started raising more little soccer players, skipping church on Sundays was no longer frowned upon as it had been. If little Johnny was going to play soccer, it was going to happen on Sunday because that’s when the games were played. And we couldn’t have little Johnny going alone. It had to be a family affair, so the entire family missed church. Now the tables were turned. If churches wanted people in their pews, they had to make some concessions to the people who weren’t coming on Sundays. They had to stop preaching against it as much so as not to offend them, and they also made concessions in their service times. Now we started seeing Saturday night services being offered. It’s not the Saturday services I have a problem with. It’s the years of hypocrisy and condemnation of those who took Sundays so casually. How is it that shopping on Sundays, or mowing your lawn on Sundays was such a grievous sin in the 1950’s and 60’s, but is OK now? Either God has changed His mind about the 4th commandment, or we should admit that we got it wrong and apologize to all of those men who were mowing their lawns on Sunday mornings.
This is not something new. As far back as 400 years ago, Galileo was subjected to the inquisition for daring to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun! Of course, we did apologize for that error. in 1992.
Divorce also comes to mind. It wasn’t too long ago that we Christians subjected those who were divorced to all kinds of guilt and shame. God hates divorce, se we did too. Good Christians never got divorced, and, using the Bible as a weapon, we beat down those who did. They were not allowed to serve in any official capacity in the church. The inability to keep a marriage together automatically disqualified a divorced person from preaching, teaching or even saying the prayer at the Sunday School Picnic. And if that didn’t discourage them from attending church, we made them feel even more unwelcome by our classification system. They didn’t fit into a married class any more, but they weren’t really single either. Or we used names like “Pairs and Spares” and made them the spares.
So what has changed? Has God changed His mind on the subject of divorce? Certainly not, but the divorce rate among Christians is about 50%. Regardless of how that compares to the overall population, this means that about half of the congregation on any given church will be divorced. Do you think a pastor is going to condemn divorce if it will affect the charitable contributions of half the congregation? And how could a church in Southern California possibly staff a board if roughly 80% of the congregation fail to meet the criteria for being on the board? It seems that the frequency of divorce in Christian marriages has caused us to consider divorce in a new light.
So what are some of the things that we view as morally wrong today that will fall to the same fate as Sunday dinner at a restaurant and a divorced Sunday School teacher? A recent poll shows that 47% of Christian leaders drink alcohol, even though 90% of clergy said a Christian drinking alcohol could cause other believers to stumble or be confused. And that is just among Christian leaders not the general population. In a 2007 poll, only 39% of believers thought that it was morally wrong to drink alcohol. Will this be one of the things that our views change on?
I’m not suggesting a liberal Christianity, or the “extreme grace” doctrine which says that we can do whatever we want and God’s grace will cover us. Therefore there is no sin. Paul already covered this when he asked “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom 6:1-2) But he also said in Galatians 5 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” I am suggesting that we often create our own rules of morality and then force those rules on others, instead of just following God’s word and allowing others to do so as well. We become pharisees.
As Christians, we are to be salt and light. I believe this is true. However, if you’ve ever eaten anything with too much salt on it, you know that it can ruin even the most flavorful dish. The same is true in life. Too much salt can ruin a life that is producing flavor of its own. We are also to be light. Enough light to see in darkness is good, but too much light can be blinding. This is true in life as well. Too much light can be blinding in a life that is already devoid of darkness. Too much of a good thing, salt or light, can be distasteful or harmful. I think we need to be careful about making our own rules about morality and then expecting others to follow those rules as well. The Bible is clear on some issues. Not so much on others. What may be crossing the moral line with us – even well-meaning Christians – may not be the case for others. The Bible is also very clear on being overly judgmental of other Christians. Paul tells the Colossians:
So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial … You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
We need to be intentional about not being a pharisee, because it’s easy to do. We usually have the other person’s best interest at heart and yet we end up doing as much harm as we do good in some cases. I challenge you to think before you condemn others. They may just be going to see a Disney movie after all.