This column might be a little ranty. Just a warning. This is actually in response to my previous column (How weird is that, responding to my own comments?) I understand that we shouldn't do things that will cause other people to sin. But does that mean we should always cater to the lowest denominator of faith? Should we continue to let people believe in these baseless restrictions? Shouldn't we at least try to teach these people, so that they can grow and mature? Must we keep feeding them baby food all the time? Sure the growing process hurts, but they will have to do it eventually. You don't see 20 year olds walking around with a bib and still eating baby food, right?
Case in point: There was a movement among the early Christians, that as followers of Christ, we had no place in this world. Thus, a strict diet of basic food was encouraged, and even enforced among some of the monks. Sex, being a worldly and immoral act was forbidden, which is why even now many Catholic orders practice chastity. In order to commune more with God, these people began to live in caves to isolate themselves from the world, and provide more time for meditation. This all sounds good right? Poverty was encouraged, while wealth was degraded and to be avoided at all costs. By isolating the body from such worldly lusts, a person will become closer to God. However, as modern-day Christians we know better. For Protestants, we have even looser restrictions. We allow our leaders to marry, in fact, we encourage them to have families. It's ok to be rich, ok to eat rich food. These are things that we as Christians enjoy, because we know that it is not through our actions (or inactions as this case is), but it's through the Lord's Grace do we commune with God.
But why did we stop there? It seems ever since Martin Luther, there does not seem to be any other radical shifts in freedom. With Martin and others of his time, such as Calvin, they gave us the freedom to confess our sins directly to God and the freedom to conduct worship services in languages other than Latin. But now, it seems we have to cater to the conservatives, to be inclusive of people of all levels of faith (by levels I mean maturity levels). It seems we are saying it's ok to live with archaic rules, that it's ok to eat baby food.
But I don't think it is. I believe God wants us to grow. Not grow in earthly puffy knowledge, but grow in the knowledge of God's grace. We need to release these earthly shackles of things we "should" do, in order to present the "proper image". Because it's not what we do, it's not how we present ourselves, but it's our love for Christ that is the "proper image". How does showing up to Church dressed nicely demonstrate to people your love for Christ? How does drinking alcohol show disrespect to the Church Body? And why must we serve in Church ministries in order to show that we have faith in Christ?
While yes, we should nurture the babies of Christ, we shouldn't coddle them forever. Eventually, they need to discover that their salvation doesn't depend on the 10 commandments, or any of the other lessons of the Bible. Now, I'm not saying we should ignore the Bible and have no rules. What I'm saying is that there are earthly conventions that are restricting our walk with God. And it's up to those mature Christians to tell this to the Christian world. Rather than simply be passive and permissive, we should try to teach people about what is God's grace, and to teach people what it means to love Christ. Basically, what I'm ultimately trying to say is, "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. " (Ecc 9:7)
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Yes, it is true that God's grace set Christian free from "earthly shackles," but Paul's point in 1Cor 9 is that this grace especially sets the Christian free from "earthly shackles" SO THAT he/she can become SLAVE under the law so as to save those under the law (9:19-23). In other words, Paul used his freedom to be a channel of God's grace to those who are still weak and under the law. He did not use it to stumble, or else it would be a sin (8:9-13). He stressed this point very clearly, warning Christians not to exercise their freedom in such a manner. So your advice to eat and drink while ignoring a weak brother would be hard to follow, since it would be hard for a Christian to eat and drink *with a joyful heart* knowing that he/she may be stumbling a fellow believer, and God may not favor that kind of eating and drinking. And curbing one's own freedom for the sake of another is what Paul called "strict training" in 9:25. Then he warned against indulgence in chapter 10. And finally, the conclusion of all this is found at the end of chapter 10, where Paul said to do everything for the glory of God. And he explained what that meant by saying again, "do not cause anyone to stumble." So Paul's main point was that he was set free so that he could live free, and living free meant to have the freedom in Christ to become slave again that he might not stumble but to win some. That's true freedom, used for the glory of God, not for the indulgence of man.
As to what you wrote about not to coddle but to teach the babies, yes it is for the glory of God that all his children should grow into maturity. But this teaching is done through God's grace and by God 's grace, not by shoving christian freedom in their face. It is the Word that convicts and teaches the heart, done with love, sensitivity, humility, and respect for the person because it is God's grace and no one deserves it, including those who understand and possess it. In the end, it is ultimately God who works in both the mature and immature, such that the mature can't boast. Let him who boasts boast only in the Lord. Yes, the mature should teach the immature, but as one serving and catering to the other (following the example of Jesus washing the disciples feet), and not as a superior commanding the inferior to grow up.
This is what I believe is taught in the Bible, not that I myself can or desire do it.
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