O you who love the Lord, hate evil! – Psalm 97:10 ~ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – Proverbs 14:12
I see many Christians using this word toward Christians who obey God’s holy Word where they, the accusers, think there is liberty in a certain matter. So, maybe this will help clear things up for those who use this terminolgy, even if you think you are right to use it.
From: Are You Legalistic? Legalism, Grace, and the Motivation for Obedience By Dr. Robert G. Spinney
I. Were the Puritans Legalistic?
For several years I served as a professor at a conservative Christian college in the Chicago area. Perhaps ninety percent of my students had been reared in Christian homes and went to what we would call conservative, evangelical, Bible-believing churches. This always made for interesting classes. Although most of my classes were in American history, if I was quick on my feet, I could get into meaty spiritual issues, regardless of what subject I was teaching.
Indeed I recall one day in a U.S. history class where we were studying the Puritans. My students had read Edmund Morgan’s The Puritan Dilemma, a delightful biography of John Winthrop that discussed the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1620s. This book talked about the Puritans coming to America, their first years in North America, and their attempt to establish a Christian commonwealth.
It was an amazing story. This collection of godly men and women, most of whom were deeply committed to the Word of God, left families behind in Europe to come to an unknown and undeveloped America. That meant that they arrived in a wilderness with no politicians, no states, and no economy. They had to build a community from scratch. For the Puritans, this errand into the wilderness was a holy experiment.
So my students read this book about the Puritans.
If nothing else, what the Puritans tried to do was admirable. They tried to be serious about this holy experiment; they tried to apply the Word of God to every aspect of life.
I could tell during our class discussion, however, that even though my students had read this biography, and even though the book gave a favorable portrayal of the Puritans, my students did not share my love for the Puritans. They didn’t like these guys. They wouldn’t come out and say it, but you could tell that they weren’t regarding the Puritans as their spiritual heroes.
At some point in the discussion I stopped, and I asked my students, “Was there something wrong with the Puritans? You all seem kind of reserved, as if you don’t like these guys.” My students were silent. Finally one of my students, one of my brightest students, said, “Well, you know, the Puritans were . . er, . . . they were legalistic.”
I said, “They were legalistic?”
He answered, “Yeah, they were legalistic.”
I looked at my students and said, “Do you all agree with that? How many of the rest of you think that the Puritans were legalistic?”
Almost every hand went up.
So I went to the chalkboard, and I wrote down the word legalistic. Then I asked my class, “Would someone define that word for me, please.”
Silence.
So I waited. Finally I baited them. “Just give me an idea; just get us started. What does that word mean; what does legalism mean?”
No one said a word.
I continued, “How many people have ever used the word legalism before?”
All the hands went up.
I asked, “Do you guys think the Puritans were legalistic?”
Again all the hands went up.
“Can you tell me what it means?”
No definitions were offered.
Finally my one student, my bright student, said with much hesitation, “Well, they were just like, er, so concerned with obeying God all the time.”
As he spoke, you could tell he realized that this wasn’t a very good definition.
I asked, “Isn’t it good to obey God all the time? What’s wrong with obedience?”
Silence. Nobody said anything.
Pointing again to the word I had written on the blackboard, I again asked, “Can anybody define this word?”
Let me tell you about my students. Even though this was a conservative Christian college, the students never used the word eschatology, they never used the word justification, and they rarely used the word sanctification. But they could deploy the word legalism at the right moments; they knew that word.
Finally after a long period of silence, my good student, my bright student, said, “I think you’ve convinced us that we really don’t know what that word means.”
I suspect that this situation is not unusual. Legalism and legalistic are words that we Christians use with reckless abandon. Yet I’m not sure that we can define this word accurately. In fact, I am fully confident that if I were to pass out index cards and ask the men here in our church to define the word legalism, we would get at least ten different definitions. But that doesn’t stop us from using the word. We use the word all the time, as if we knew what it meant, and as if we all meant the same thing when we used it.
I think this is a bad assumption. I don’t think the students in my classroom were that unusual at all. I think they were a typical representation of conservative, evangelical, Bible- believing Christians in America. We are not sure what legalism is, despite our frequent use of the term.
Read the rest here
‘That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.’
Read full post here.
Well said, Susan!
“To devise any image of God is in itself impious; because by this corruption His Majesty is adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He is. … as soon as any one has permitted himself to devise an image of God, he immediately falls into false worship. And surely whosoever reverently and soberly feels and thinks about God Himself, is far from this absurdity; nor does any desire or presumption to metamorphose God ever creep in, except when coarse and carnal imaginations occupy our minds. …let us recollect that God is insulted, not only when His worship is transferred to idols (editor’s note: via X Mass and Easter), but when we try to represent Him by any outward similitude.” — John Calvin
The Catholic Church is a blend of Semiramis worship and Roman Emperor worship. Long ago, in ancient Babylon, was a pagan system of worship that was based on the Queen of Babylon, Semiramis and her infant “god” son, Damu. This paganism had spread throughout the ancient world and after Christ came in the flesh, and as the church grew and eventually became corrupted, the Catholic priests who went about the world evangelizing encountered this mother goddess and child wherever they went no matter what culture they came upon.
To make “conversion” to “Christianity” easier, the priests incorporated this paganism into the church. They changed Semiramis to Mary. They changed her son, Damu, to Jesus. Hence the Madonna and child was transferred from ancient Babylon and incorporated into the teachings of the church. No wonder God refers to this corrupt, perverted “church” as “the whore of Babylon”! (A spiritual slut) See Revelation 17:4-6.
Likewise, as the Roman Empire lost ground, and the emperor became weaker, the pope grew up in his place and eventually replaced the Roman emperor. So emperor worship was also incorporated into this perverted bride, and displayed in the position of the pope.
And that is why we see elements both of Rome and of Babylon in the Catholic Church and find allusions to both in references to the whore in the book of Revelation.
Some links for your further study of Semiramis:
SEMIRAMIS, QUEEN OF BABYLON Matous Losuta and the Catholic coming deception
Full blog post Part One Part Two
I want to point out that the author of CHRISTIANIZING SECULAR CUSTOMS –A Biblical look at Christmas, Easter, and Halloween makes a ridiculous statement when he says, “The practice of sitting in chairs or pews lined up to face the front was adopted directly from pagan temples in 326 AD.” As if he could cover up his embellishment with a date. Like I said before, couldn’t this practice come from synagogues and temples, aka, schools of Jewish learning? Or even before that! How else would one sit when there is a teaching going on, be it secular or religious or even within families?
I hope what little I’ve pointed out in this article will help the reader to look a bit closer to the arguments that many Christians use when defending X Mass and Easter celebrations. Ask: Is this of man’s wisdom and desires or of God’s? It has to begin on the foundation of God’s Word rightly divided. In this case, the foundation of God’s Word concerning the worship of Him and Christian liberty has to be predicated on what God has already said about the manner of worship acceptable to Him and what the apostles knew of Israel’s history of judgement from God for their syncretism with idolatry. There is NO conceivable way they would ever give Christians permission to use pagan rites and traditions knowing the severe punishment on Israel for doing the same. Disobedience never pleases God.
One bit of agreement with the author I must point out as a warning to those of us who know why we shouldn’t celebrate Christo-pagan “holy” days:
One of the reasons people are motivated to abstain from pagan-based customs is that participation would seem to show dishonor to God. (my note on the word-play use of “seem”: no, it doesn’t “seem” to show disrespect-it actually does show it!) Parents must make choices for themselves and their children regarding demonstrations of honor for God – abstaining from certain holidays may be one of those choices. However, we must be careful if we are preoccupied with identifying and then avoiding everything in our culture that might possibly hint at what we think is dishonor for God, although not directly mentioned in Scripture… Some find it easy, once they start identifying the pagan or evil roots of cultural customs, to become consumed with trying to show God respect by avoiding every questionable custom. (me again: yes, I’ve seen this and it makes it very hard to get the truth out when some have zeal without knowledge)
For example, if one discovers that each of the days of the week is named after a pagan god, must we then stop using those names? Does God truly feel dishonored because we call Sunday “Sunday” or call Monday “Monday,” etc? Should we begin to chastise our children for using exclamations like “gee whiz”, “golly” or “oh my” even though their motives are innocent? This path is never-ending. Once we start trying to avoid everything with historical roots that probably might dishonor God, the journey becomes consuming. Ask yourself, do you really think God feels dishonored because a new believer tries to clean up his language and exclaims “Oh, my!” instead of uttering something profane?
I have seen many groups prune their ministries of holidays such as Christmas and Easter, as well as, each of the items on the foregoing list, including saying “gee wiz” and “golly.” When they started meeting in homes, got completely rid of these things, and the dust settled, they were no godlier than when they started. In fact, most of the groups were more self-righteous and judgmental. (again, me: I’m not sure that I buy what he is saying here about home church members but it is a good warning to everyone who has obeyed God’s Word concerning not worshiping Him in the same manner as the pagans do for their gods. I do hope this statement by the author is not an attempt at demonizing conscientious Christians).
This article, CHRISTIANIZING SECULAR CUSTOMS –A Biblical look at Christmas, Easter, and Halloween says that there is justification for us to “christianize” these pagan “holy” days because, after all:
Gen 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Did your jaw just drop?
How does doing as the world does advance the Kingdom of God? It doesn’t. It actually blurs the distinction that God says we are to have, to be holy (set apart) as He is holy. We must be careful not to be like the world, or we shall become at enmity with our merciful God. What many Christians don’t realize is that worshiping God using pagan means is lowering Christ Jesus down to the same level as the pagan gods! Instead of being the only true God, Who is God above all gods. He becomes just one of many in the eyes of the world. Besides, disobeying His Word is not one of His means of evangelism…
Can we find anywhere in Scriptures where Israel’s idolatry was turned around for their own good, like in the cited Scriptures that the author unlawfully used to make his point? Please do let me know! God used their idolatry as a means of judgement! I paraphrase the biblical text: “Go into those nations as captives and let those gods you love so much deliver you!” Israel incorporated the idol worship of the nations around them to worship the true God with (syncretism), just as many Christians do today with their trees and eggs, nativities and sunrise services.
FTA: “The modern church has many customs that were borrowed from the world, but which give opportunity for believers to advance the kingdom of God, ie:
> The custom of churches meeting in church buildings, rather than homes, was adopted from the pagan religious traditions of Rome. In the 4th (centuy) when Christianity was declared the only acceptable religion in the Roman Empire, pagan temples were converted into “churches.”
> The practice of sitting in chairs or pews lined up to face the front was adopted directly from pagan temples in 326 AD.
> Martin Luther wrote many hymns, such as “A Mighty Fortress” and took their melodies from beer drinking songs of his day, because the common people were familiar with them. Since then, many other secular tunes have been borrowed for hymns.
> Contemporary or rock style of music has been adapted and christianized. In the words of Larry Norman, “Why should the devil have all the good music?’
> The idea of segregating children from adults for church gatherings was an idea taken not from Jesus (Mat 19:13-14), but from 19th century American education leader, Horace Mann.
> The idea of separating out teens for “youth groups” never existed until the 1930’s, and developed from the philosophies of sociologist, G. Stanley Hall, who based his ideas on Darwinism.
> The radical idea of putting an Art Gallery or a coffee shop inside a building where a church gathers is offensive to many believers, but for those who do it, it is a valid outreach to the world.
> Selling books and tapes in the fellowship is an efficient way to provide believers materials but might be equated by some with allowing moneychangers in the temple.
> Pictures of Jesus in children’s Sunday school materials have proven to be effective in communicating the gospel but offend some who construe them to be graven images.”
Etc, etc, etc…
Now the author goes on to state that the church has adopted many customs of the world in their churches. Meeting in a building comes from the Roman pagans. Really? Perhaps it comes from Jewish temples and synagogues. Or both. There was a church built in Dura that preceded the Church of Rome’s takeover of pagan temples. Either way, these customs, some good and some bad, do not represent the true (or false) Messiah. They are not religious in and of themselves. However, for an example of a custom which does point to the false messiah, Tammuz, the decorated tree in the house was in honor of the father of all pagan religions, Nimrod. Now, Christians have changed it into meaning a symbol of eternal life, pointing to our Savior Jesus Christ. For Christians to use such a custom though changed in meaning, we would have to have God’s Word on it. Where is it? Acts 19:19 would be a good place for God, through His disciples, to say, “Don’t burn your books! I command them to be used for My glory! Just replace the names and meanings of those pagan religious rites and incantations with godly ones! Then you will be better able tell the world about the Gospel!”
Part Three tomorrow….
The X Mass Blog 