There is this idea of a universal truth of right and wrong. In this idea, God makes a blanket statement and rule for all of humanity, and it is the duty of humanity to follow it without question or fail.
The problem with this point of view is that it does not allow for individuality. There is almost no situation in which a blanket statement applies to everyone all of the time. I suppose there are some, all humans being worthy of Love for example, but even that appears different in application. (Each human needs different expressions of Love at different times).
Thus I would say that any blanket statement of right and wrong is inherently legalistic, but perhaps that is a blanket statement, so I won't be a hypocrite. I will just say that I am learning that we don't have the omniscience that is needed to impose our view of right and wrong upon another person and that our sovereignty extends only to our own lives, never to another's.
Some of the biggest religious rules, ones that everyone knows from earliest childhood if they grow up as Christians, are the Ten Commandments. Many Christians take them and make them unimpeachable blanket statements, claiming that they are from God. Eschewing nuance and individuality, the idea is that the Ten Commandments must be obeyed completely all the time without question. Because of this idea, humanity suffers.
The first commandment is that you shall have no other God before Yahweh. From one perspective this is both easy to obey and obvious, but if you take this commandment at face value, you will bar yourself from ever digging deeper into your own Divinity or the Divinity of others. Yes, there is only one God. Yes, you can call Him Yahweh. But He exists in multiple expressions, and if we take this commandment and make it theology, we will keep ourselves from knowing Him in any expression other than the one we were first taught.
There is a commandment about honoring your mother and your father. Again, something that's hard to argue with. Yet, it can be taken to an extreme when parents are abusive and cause children to believe that they have to let their parents abuse them. Another commandment says to never lie, but I doubt anybody would argue that we should tell Adolf Hitler the truth when he asks us if we are hiding Jews up in our attic. Yahshua Himself dismantled the commandment about honoring the Sabbath by saying He was the Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, He could pick wheat and heal the sick. He knew the nuances and the way to see the deeper Truths and from that knowledge choose a path that expresses the maximum Love possible.
Humanity suffers when we take a commandment or any other belief or law at face value and say that it must apply to every situation all of the time. This idea curtails the maximum expression of Love. It doesn't allow for individuals to express themselves fully. It keeps Love from being expressed outside of a certain ideology. Following the face-value idea of "never bear false witness" can lead to actual death in certain situations. I think most people are grown up enough to know this and they wouldn't tell Hitler they have Jews hiding in their attics, but there are many other situations that they would refuse to navigate around because of legalism and religion. Ironically, by trying so hard to do right, we keep ourselves from the paths of righteousness.
We must be led by the Spirit, not by the law, and yet when we say we are being led by the Spirit only within the boundaries of a theology, we are still being led by the law. So let's just get rid of the law and really trust Holy Spirit.
The problem with this point of view is that it does not allow for individuality. There is almost no situation in which a blanket statement applies to everyone all of the time. I suppose there are some, all humans being worthy of Love for example, but even that appears different in application. (Each human needs different expressions of Love at different times).
Thus I would say that any blanket statement of right and wrong is inherently legalistic, but perhaps that is a blanket statement, so I won't be a hypocrite. I will just say that I am learning that we don't have the omniscience that is needed to impose our view of right and wrong upon another person and that our sovereignty extends only to our own lives, never to another's.
Some of the biggest religious rules, ones that everyone knows from earliest childhood if they grow up as Christians, are the Ten Commandments. Many Christians take them and make them unimpeachable blanket statements, claiming that they are from God. Eschewing nuance and individuality, the idea is that the Ten Commandments must be obeyed completely all the time without question. Because of this idea, humanity suffers.
The first commandment is that you shall have no other God before Yahweh. From one perspective this is both easy to obey and obvious, but if you take this commandment at face value, you will bar yourself from ever digging deeper into your own Divinity or the Divinity of others. Yes, there is only one God. Yes, you can call Him Yahweh. But He exists in multiple expressions, and if we take this commandment and make it theology, we will keep ourselves from knowing Him in any expression other than the one we were first taught.
There is a commandment about honoring your mother and your father. Again, something that's hard to argue with. Yet, it can be taken to an extreme when parents are abusive and cause children to believe that they have to let their parents abuse them. Another commandment says to never lie, but I doubt anybody would argue that we should tell Adolf Hitler the truth when he asks us if we are hiding Jews up in our attic. Yahshua Himself dismantled the commandment about honoring the Sabbath by saying He was the Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, He could pick wheat and heal the sick. He knew the nuances and the way to see the deeper Truths and from that knowledge choose a path that expresses the maximum Love possible.
Humanity suffers when we take a commandment or any other belief or law at face value and say that it must apply to every situation all of the time. This idea curtails the maximum expression of Love. It doesn't allow for individuals to express themselves fully. It keeps Love from being expressed outside of a certain ideology. Following the face-value idea of "never bear false witness" can lead to actual death in certain situations. I think most people are grown up enough to know this and they wouldn't tell Hitler they have Jews hiding in their attics, but there are many other situations that they would refuse to navigate around because of legalism and religion. Ironically, by trying so hard to do right, we keep ourselves from the paths of righteousness.
We must be led by the Spirit, not by the law, and yet when we say we are being led by the Spirit only within the boundaries of a theology, we are still being led by the law. So let's just get rid of the law and really trust Holy Spirit.
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