Wholesome and Pure
from the only-the-good-stuff
dept.
Today I'd like to talk to the Christians who put
themselves under the authority of scripture. You've heard it said that as
Christians, we should try our best to avoid images of evil and debauchery at all
times. This includes media input like movies and television. This also
includes reading material like books and news. This logically must also include
ideas we dream up in our own head and even objects we set before our eyes. I'm
not talking about things that could necessarily lead to sin in this article.
I'm talking about media input that doesn't necessarily cause the viewer to sin
by merely watching it. Media that causes the viewer to sin by watching it has
already been clearly spoken about in the bible and that is not the topic of this
article.
Instead, I'm talking about things that some Christians look down upon. For example, it might be a movie about wizards or a television show about murder. It might even be shows that use base humor or sporting events that are violent (real or rake). Basically, whatever's on cable. The subject matter can be easily summarized by those opposed to it with the question, "Why would we subject ourselves to anything that is not of God?" But I would like to demonstrate how this notion is actually a weak set of rules that are futile, silly, and even laughable. Let me show you my rationale for this.
The first principle we have to look at is that God demands holiness in his presence. Being holy is a requirement for us to physically approach God. We cannot stand in his holiness as defiled beings. That's just the way it is. Even the angels in Isaiah 6:2 could not look upon God, even though these angels were supposed to be sinless beings, having no defilement or shame:
Isaiah 6:1-2, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly."
Since the angels are sinless, yet they hid their faces, this is the most proper posture for anyone to approach God in his holiness, albeit a rather unlikely scenario for us as humans living under the sun (that, and we don't have wings last time I checked). Therefore, we need to find a different method for practicing holiness here on earth. Jesus came to earth to bridge the gap between God and man. Jesus alone makes it possible for us to approach God because we are deemed righteous.
Romans 3:21-25, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
Yet this righteousness isn't enough for some Christians. So in order to improve upon it in their infinite wisdom, many Christians will define a standard of conduct, sometimes known as a code of conduct. Unfortunately, this code of conduct is not neatly defined for us in the 21st century. That's because in the past, if an Israelite defiled himself (he didn't necessarily commit a sin in order to become defiled before God), he would need to make the proper sacrifice and ritual washing as a method of becoming ceremonially clean which was required by God. We simply don't use those methods today. In God's infinite wisdom, in order to keep the bible from having regular revelations and updates to keep the methods accurate, God defines principles that we "codify" (arrange) unto methods and rules we can follow. But the resulting ends up being man-made methods of God's perfect principles. We are only bound to the biblical principles, not the "codified" methods. Here's an example of how we create a code of conduct:
Psalms 101:3, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."
The above verse isn't really a commandment but can still be read as a biblical principle that the Holy Spirit wrote to us, through David in this case. When people create a code of conduct based on this principle, they have to essentially modify the text in order to apply it. In and of itself, this is a correct approach if we want to try to personally apply a biblical principle. Ten years ago, someone might have made that verse read:
"I will set no Rated R Movie before mine eyes: I hate the work of Godless Movie Makers; it shall not cleave to me."
There's really nothing wrong with this code of conduct, if that's how your conscience wants to apply the original scripture to your personal life. The problem is that people like to write these rules down and give them to others to follow. Not only that but this code of conduct might have been incomplete ten years ago as compared to today because it doesn't go far enough for some, or it goes too far for others. For instance, ten years ago the above rule might have been a good rule, but we need to make at least one exception now-a-days:
"I will set no Rated R Movie That's Not About Jesus before mine eyes: I hate the work of Godless Movie Makers Even If They Are Possibly Anti-Semitic; it shall not cleave to me."
Maybe I'm trying to be funny here and maybe I'm not. What I am trying to illustrate that how we attempt to make our rules clearer over time. Honestly, even if we got the contemporary rule perfectly formed, God's principle was perfect long before we got our grubby hands on it. Yet we think that by following this clearer code of conduct, we have made ourselves right with God, which is really just so comical. Here's proof of how comical our little rules are:
Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Thus, there's nothing we can do to impress God. Our code of conduct is as filthy rags (which is the biblical euphemism for a tampon). Not only that, but the more we try to clarify the rules, the more disgusted God is with our attempts. So what if we leave God's perfect principles alone and follow them exactly as they are written? Here's an example of that:
Amos 5:21, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them : neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts."
Wow, even when we humans followed God's law to the letter as it was written in Leviticus (that's where Israel got God's order for burnt offerings in the first place), it turns out that God wasn't impressed with us at all. It's like that nonsense saying, "We can't win for losin'!"
The code of conduct doesn't work. Following the law as it's written doesn't work. That's because the law isn't designed for that purpose. So, if that's what God thinks of our silly code of conduct, does that mean we shouldn't try? Actually, yes. That's exactly what it means. There's something intrinsically wrong with us. We think we're ok, but people who have these kinds of deep seated problems would think that they were ok.
Psalms 20:5, "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out."
That just means that the heart is not a trivial aspect to our existence. The heart is not something to ignore, yet we have to be careful what it tells us. It's a complicated and weighty thing to consider. Moreover, it's wicked beyond our wildest imagination:
Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Now wait a second! I thought I wasn't supposed to place any wicked thing before my eyes. Or perhaps you think Jeremiah 17:9 doesn't apply to born again Christians. To apply this, I guess I shouldn't look at myself in the mirror and I most certainly shouldn't look at a any wicked pagans. Wait, if you think that, then you are already a total pharasitical wing-nut anyway. Good luck with that.
Anyway, so let's assume we all agree that we are all messed up, even (or especially) us born again Christians. If the heart is desperately wicked, what hope do we have? The only thing I can do is ask God to change my heart. If that prayer results in any change in my behavior, then that is God working on my heart. If there is no change in my behavior, either God isn't working on my heart, or there's nothing to work on in the first place. We're all different, it's between me, my conscience, and God to work out over the process of my whole life.
Asking God to change what's wrong with us takes trust and honesty. On the other hand, just following rules we made up requires no trust at all, a complete lack of honesty, and white-knuckled-discipline. With the above in mind, which approach attributes the most glory to God?
Instead, I'm talking about things that some Christians look down upon. For example, it might be a movie about wizards or a television show about murder. It might even be shows that use base humor or sporting events that are violent (real or rake). Basically, whatever's on cable. The subject matter can be easily summarized by those opposed to it with the question, "Why would we subject ourselves to anything that is not of God?" But I would like to demonstrate how this notion is actually a weak set of rules that are futile, silly, and even laughable. Let me show you my rationale for this.
The first principle we have to look at is that God demands holiness in his presence. Being holy is a requirement for us to physically approach God. We cannot stand in his holiness as defiled beings. That's just the way it is. Even the angels in Isaiah 6:2 could not look upon God, even though these angels were supposed to be sinless beings, having no defilement or shame:
Isaiah 6:1-2, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly."
Since the angels are sinless, yet they hid their faces, this is the most proper posture for anyone to approach God in his holiness, albeit a rather unlikely scenario for us as humans living under the sun (that, and we don't have wings last time I checked). Therefore, we need to find a different method for practicing holiness here on earth. Jesus came to earth to bridge the gap between God and man. Jesus alone makes it possible for us to approach God because we are deemed righteous.
Romans 3:21-25, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
Yet this righteousness isn't enough for some Christians. So in order to improve upon it in their infinite wisdom, many Christians will define a standard of conduct, sometimes known as a code of conduct. Unfortunately, this code of conduct is not neatly defined for us in the 21st century. That's because in the past, if an Israelite defiled himself (he didn't necessarily commit a sin in order to become defiled before God), he would need to make the proper sacrifice and ritual washing as a method of becoming ceremonially clean which was required by God. We simply don't use those methods today. In God's infinite wisdom, in order to keep the bible from having regular revelations and updates to keep the methods accurate, God defines principles that we "codify" (arrange) unto methods and rules we can follow. But the resulting ends up being man-made methods of God's perfect principles. We are only bound to the biblical principles, not the "codified" methods. Here's an example of how we create a code of conduct:
Psalms 101:3, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."
The above verse isn't really a commandment but can still be read as a biblical principle that the Holy Spirit wrote to us, through David in this case. When people create a code of conduct based on this principle, they have to essentially modify the text in order to apply it. In and of itself, this is a correct approach if we want to try to personally apply a biblical principle. Ten years ago, someone might have made that verse read:
"I will set no Rated R Movie before mine eyes: I hate the work of Godless Movie Makers; it shall not cleave to me."
There's really nothing wrong with this code of conduct, if that's how your conscience wants to apply the original scripture to your personal life. The problem is that people like to write these rules down and give them to others to follow. Not only that but this code of conduct might have been incomplete ten years ago as compared to today because it doesn't go far enough for some, or it goes too far for others. For instance, ten years ago the above rule might have been a good rule, but we need to make at least one exception now-a-days:
"I will set no Rated R Movie That's Not About Jesus before mine eyes: I hate the work of Godless Movie Makers Even If They Are Possibly Anti-Semitic; it shall not cleave to me."
Maybe I'm trying to be funny here and maybe I'm not. What I am trying to illustrate that how we attempt to make our rules clearer over time. Honestly, even if we got the contemporary rule perfectly formed, God's principle was perfect long before we got our grubby hands on it. Yet we think that by following this clearer code of conduct, we have made ourselves right with God, which is really just so comical. Here's proof of how comical our little rules are:
Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
Thus, there's nothing we can do to impress God. Our code of conduct is as filthy rags (which is the biblical euphemism for a tampon). Not only that, but the more we try to clarify the rules, the more disgusted God is with our attempts. So what if we leave God's perfect principles alone and follow them exactly as they are written? Here's an example of that:
Amos 5:21, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them : neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts."
Wow, even when we humans followed God's law to the letter as it was written in Leviticus (that's where Israel got God's order for burnt offerings in the first place), it turns out that God wasn't impressed with us at all. It's like that nonsense saying, "We can't win for losin'!"
The code of conduct doesn't work. Following the law as it's written doesn't work. That's because the law isn't designed for that purpose. So, if that's what God thinks of our silly code of conduct, does that mean we shouldn't try? Actually, yes. That's exactly what it means. There's something intrinsically wrong with us. We think we're ok, but people who have these kinds of deep seated problems would think that they were ok.
Psalms 20:5, "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out."
That just means that the heart is not a trivial aspect to our existence. The heart is not something to ignore, yet we have to be careful what it tells us. It's a complicated and weighty thing to consider. Moreover, it's wicked beyond our wildest imagination:
Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Now wait a second! I thought I wasn't supposed to place any wicked thing before my eyes. Or perhaps you think Jeremiah 17:9 doesn't apply to born again Christians. To apply this, I guess I shouldn't look at myself in the mirror and I most certainly shouldn't look at a any wicked pagans. Wait, if you think that, then you are already a total pharasitical wing-nut anyway. Good luck with that.
Anyway, so let's assume we all agree that we are all messed up, even (or especially) us born again Christians. If the heart is desperately wicked, what hope do we have? The only thing I can do is ask God to change my heart. If that prayer results in any change in my behavior, then that is God working on my heart. If there is no change in my behavior, either God isn't working on my heart, or there's nothing to work on in the first place. We're all different, it's between me, my conscience, and God to work out over the process of my whole life.
Asking God to change what's wrong with us takes trust and honesty. On the other hand, just following rules we made up requires no trust at all, a complete lack of honesty, and white-knuckled-discipline. With the above in mind, which approach attributes the most glory to God?
Posted: Wednesday - August 30, 2006 at 11:10 PM |
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