Legalism vs. Moral relativism
Legalism - Strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code, as of religion or morality.
Moral relativism contends that opposing moral positions have no truth value, and that there is no preferred standard of reference by which to judge them.
We were studying 1 Corinthians 8 this morning. Paul is talking about not doing things that would be a “stumbling block” to those that may be weak in their faith. This is the scripture that convicted me about smoking and caused me quit. This chapter of scripture talks about conscience. Actions like drinking and smoking are usually addressed by church doctrine. As was pointed out in Bible study this morning, the Bible often refers to drinking of wine to celebrate certain events. There are many references to drinking wine, even Jesus turned the water into wine. So where is the sin in drinking wine? If I drink a glass of wine to celebrate the birth or marriage of a child, do I sin? If I drink a couple of cold beers while celebrating my favorite football team on Saturday afternoon, do I sin? If I go to a bar on Saturday night and have a couple of rum and cokes with friends, do I sin?
The real question is – how can one Christian be convicted of smoking or drinking or cussing and another Christian not? Isn’t that moral relativism?
June 6th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Many people use the “not offending the weaker brother” as an argument that a Christian should not drink alcohol at all. Why is that the reasoning for not drinking alcohol but that doesn’t apply to abstaining from any other (biblically stated) sin? It seems that more often than not Christians are more offended by another Christian drinking a beer than they are by another Christian living in blatant, unrepented sin. Many times Christians seem to question the spiritual maturity of another Christian with a margarita but will think nothing about a Christian living a lifestyle explicitly prohibited in scripture.
So drink or don’t drink, we have the liberty to decide on that but we also have the responsibility to use some wisdom in that decision as well. There could be any number of reasons why it would be wrong for one but not another. The first to come to mind is a person who already has displayed some addictive tendencies in other areas. If it is wrong for you to drink then it is wrong for you to drink, but that doesn’t translate into a scriptural doctrine on the sinfulness of drinking alcohol. That is legalism.
As for the others, while smoking is not directly addressed in scripture either, I think it also falls into the same category as excessive drinking (which IS addressed in scripture). As a Christian we are to be controlled by the Spirit, not the flesh, not the alcohol, not the tobacco, or anything or anyone else. To submit ourselves to the control of a person or a substance puts that person or substance in authority over us…a place that only Christ is to occupy.
For me smoking was never an addictive thing. I’ve always been able to pick it up and put it down with no problem – I just REALLY enjoyed smoking…probably still would on most days! But it really came down to two things…respect and consideration for Tim when he quit smoking and my reasons for lighting up. Tim had, in the past, always experienced a lot of difficulty when he’d tried to quit. There was no way that I could continue to smoke while he was struggling with that. To do so would’ve been beyond inconsiderate!
More often than not I would smoke to fill up something in myself that was lacking. If I was bored, nervous, stressed, whatever, instead of looking to Jesus to meditate on, calm my fears, turn my troubles over to I’d just light up. I know it sounds silly but being an ex smoker I’m sure you can probably relate to that a little bit.
I’ll quit being a blog hog but really there are some things also that are not a matter of salvation but rather a matter of growth and sometimes we have to remember that the Lord was very merciful to each of us in revealing some of the things we needed to clean up in our own lives. Even though they might not be directly addressed as sin, it’s just part of the pruning and refining that is constantly going on in the life of a growing Christian. God continues the work he began in us….he didn’t complete it all at the moment of our conversion….it’s a process…it’s a journey…He prunes and tests and refines us along the way and at each step we make the decision to cooperate with what He wants to do in us or not.
June 12th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
There is a question that I seem to ask myself alot when I come to these issues in life, that is, “Is it holy?” We seem to want a line that we can come up to, but not cross. In other words, how close to sin can I go without actually sinning? Is that the way we really want to live our lives? I don’t think that Jesus is really pleased with that attitude. If you ask the question, “Is it holy?” it puts a whole different spin on things. If it is not holy, why even consider it? If it doesn’t bring you closer to God, why participate in it? We want to get close to the world without upsetting (sorry, wrong word, but I cant think of the right one now) God. God wants us to draw close to Him. Does drinking really do that? Does smoking do that? Does foul language do that? Does gossip do that? Does hours and hours in front of the TV do that? Does flirting with the opposite sex do that, even when nothing is actually said or done? We can go on, and on, and on, but I don’t think that there is a need.
The difference between one being convicted and one not, in my humble opinion, is the frame of reference in which they are living their lives. Are they trying to be holy, or just stay out of trouble?
June 13th, 2006 at 7:40 am
This one really made me think about the options. Actually, it made me think about why I gave up those things. At first I think I did it because it seemed like the right thing to do. I couldn’t be doing the things that totally opposed what I was claiming in my life as a new believer to be right and just.
Then as time passed I believe that I kept and have continued to keep those things out of my life because Philippians 2:5 convicted me of an attitude like Christ and then the entire chapter 2 of that same book encouraged me that if I am to be a light/witness for Christ that I must be what I profess and walk the walk, talk the talk.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t sin in my life. That would be a wrong thing to state. It only means that I work harder at recognizing those things that bring sin into my life and then removing them to prevent the one time mistake from becoming a second time habit or tradition. My prayer continues every day for God to give me the strength to keep out those things that destroy my life and my witness for Him.
The line that Bill talks about in the sand is way to easy to just adjust. It has to stop before that line for me or there is no line.
June 14th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
More of this on Bill’s Front Porch