Discovering Spiritual Freedom
A Seekers Struggle to Discover Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Liberty
Roy Hershberger
My religious heritage runs deep. My Grandfather was a Mennonite preacher in the backwoods of northern Minnesota. My parents, though they left the Mennonite religion when I was very young, remained strong in their Christian faith and active in the “church” life of another denomination.
This has proved to be a profound blessing because I am now reaping the benefits of the Godly lifestyles lived by my parents and grandparents. I realize that I have been spared much of the pain and difficulties that my generation faces do to many generations of my ancestors living a more or less righteous life. Such a heritage can also be somewhat of a curse because I have had to overcome many preconceived ideas about truth and reality formed out of the humanly conceived religious traditions passed down to me.
Thankfully my parents had an advanced understanding (for their time) of the problems of legalism and human-made theology. In addition, the denomination I grew up in (the Christian and Missionary Alliance) is probably one of the freest and least legalistic of all organized “church” groups. Because of these two facts I had a good start at the difficult task of losing my religion However, humanistic habits are such a large part of the modern “church” structure no group or individual has remained unaffected, and I had some way to go before I discover a more complete freedom from such thinking.
As a young musician one of my first eye opining experiences came when members of our congregation began to object to the style of music my friends and I liked to play. By todays standards most of it was fairly low key, but many found the “rock” music that pulsated from our amplifiers offensive and not the proper genre for young Christian youth. When we put our music above non-Sunday church activities it was the last straw. Fortunately I am blessed with a wise and insightful father who was also a respected elder and member of the board. His calm, thoughtful insight helped to calm the fears of some who were ready to bring down the full authority of the church on our clean cut little teenager heads.
Years of playing contemporary Christian music for many different Christian groups and “churches” caused me to grow tired of always wondering if my guitar was too loud or the distortion setting too intense for the religious ears of my fellow believers. When I found enough liberty to take my playing out of the Christian subculture and into the world of bars and nightclubs (no, I wasn't backsliding, out to party, or just in it for the money) I discovered that viewing Christiandom from the outside is even more insightful. This experience gave me the opportunity to take a few steps back and see how modern Christianity appeared to a sincere and rational person who is searching for the answers to life. what I saw helped me to identify my own legalistic preconceived notions of what being a Christian was all about. It also lead me to the realization that for anyone to see past all the extra biblical, religious clutter of the institutionalized church and discover the reality of Jesus Christ was truly a profound miracle.
In my book A Religion of Irrelevance I identify some of the symptoms of the legalistic mind set - offer an explanation for their hold on the modern Christian - then offer the only real solution. Legalism is:
...doing something in a certain way only because we view that way to
be more “spiritual” than another way.
It is spewing forth Christian clichés rather then reaching for creative
and fresh ways to communicate truth to the modern mind.
It is jumping to conclusions without taking time to look into the facts.
It is teaching concepts as solid doctrine, without a solidly indisputable
scriptural base.
It is our personal tastes telling us what is spiritual and what isn't.
It is holding on to tradition for tradition's sake only, instead of asking
ourselves: “Has this practice lost all relevant meaning?”
It is a form of laziness that will try to answer complex questions with
simplistic answers rather then taking the time necessary to understand
the depth of the issue.
It is putting God in a box that fits our cultural view of who He is.
It is failing to distinguish between a narrow religious system, and the
broad Christian experience.
It is establishing a set of rules without first establishing the purpose,
benefits and logical reasons for obeying them.
And it is failing to look at the character of God as the final authority
in order to clearly understand and define right from wrong.
All of the proceeding bad habits are intellectually based. Most obvious
sin is a result of uncontrolled emotions, lust, or pride, but legalism
is a result of mental laziness. It is a protectionist response by Christians
who are overwhelmed by a world that seems to have more intellectual confidence.
Legalism is a quick and easy way out. Rather than facing the fact that
we have allowed the advance of Christ centered and Godly inspired thought, that has developed over
many centuries, to slip away, we instead curse the darkness around us and
retreat into our religious shells. Christians must face up to the fact
that we are the only ones to blame for the decay of Western
culture for we have failed to be the salt and light of our world. It is time for us to face up to the sins that have destroyed our ability to
be that salt and light.
Most Christians have been guilty of legalism in some form or another. What's
important is for us to realize how devastating these practices are, and
began seeing them as sin that should not be tolerated. Then God can begin
a healing and renewing process that will result in the body of Christ once again
being a powerful shining light in the darkness. [Quote taken from Chapter 3: Legalism]
Lord knows that this list is probable only the tip of the iceberg, but the freedom and emotional release that comes when we identify and pin down such distortions of truth can have an amazing effect on our relationship with God. When the religious garbage is removed in front of our eyes the view of truth it reveals will give us a new passion and energy to seek the reality of our Creator to an even greater depth. As I can personally testify.
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