A New Law

Don't teach me about politics and government -
Just tell me who to vote for.

Don't teach me about truth and beauty -
Just label my music.

Don't teach me how to live like a free man -
Just give me a new law.

- from "A New Law" by Derek Webb

Funny thing, freedom. We love freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, you name it. We're even told that our nation is such a bastion of freedom that other cultures hate us because of it. But when it comes to freedom as a Christian, things get complicated. We want parameters. We want the line of demarcation between sin and not sin to be clearly defined for us. The problem is that living under grace rather than law messes with our heads. Can a Christian listen to secular music? Can a Christian watch R-rated movies? Or, God forbid, can a Christian vote for a Democrat (gasp!)? The Bible doesn't advise us directly on these (and a million other) subjects, so what's a Christian to do? Do we just avoid the difficult question of life and faith and culture and the intersection of such? Do we do what the hell we want because, we're free, dammit?

"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?" Matthew 23:23-24 (The Message)

Perhaps even our consideration of these things is the issue behind the issue. In all our religious fervor to be "good", we often miss the point. We strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, Jesus said. Keeping all the rules, most of which are man-made anyway, doesn't amount to anything if you don't have compassion. Tithing is great, but not if you don't love your neighbor. What do you think? Does focusing on the "weightier matters" preclude living according to a man-made moral code? Or does striving for moral excellence still play a role in the life of a Christian in today's culture?









OK, so a I missed a day. Did you not read all that anti-legalism stuff I just wrote?