Who Decided What Was Sinful???
I was talking to my internet friend from England a few days ago and I mentioned the song It’s My Life by Bon Jovi that I had placed on my other web site (http://allincluded.multiply.com/)and at the same time I said that people in this area would likely not understand why I would place a “worldly” song on a web site that talks about Jesus. After sending the email off a thought came to me that perhaps I should elaborate a bit more on why I made the statement that most would not understand why I would do that.
I will start off by going back 30 years ago and listing some of the things, not all the things as they would take too much time and space to list here, but I will list some that come to mind that I was told after coming to a knowledge of the salvation of the Lord, that I should not do.
I was told going to bowling alleys was not allowed, going to a pool hall was definitely out, no more entering a tavern to have a beer or having a beer at home for that matter, no more going to a dance, smoking was something that would take you to hell and if by chance it didn’t, you smelled like you had already been there, not to associate with my old friends any longer as they were of the devil, not to even have a deck of cards in the house, only watch certain things on TV and preferable some would even say to get rid of our TV altogether. We were told not to attend movies, not to listen to worldly music, (in fact I got rid of a large collection of music albums) and the list could go on and on.
This morning as I am sitting here I can see the terrible bondage I was placed under by the local denominational church. I can see now why it was always a struggle to keep going and trying to “live the so-called Christian life”. They will tell you that it is sin to do these things and if you do any of these plus the many, many others I have not listed, you put your entrance into Heaven in jeopardy.
I am also seeing today that the ones that decided which things are “sin” and which are not is the organized church. It has absolutely nothing to do with what sin is and what it isn’t. It is just rules and regulations they have placed upon people and are continuing to do this day after day. Instead of telling people they are free in Christ they place them under terrible and destructive bondage.
When I think of these things I have to be careful not to become too irritated, or should I say angry, because I know they are teaching what they have been taught themselves. They (the leaders) are also under the same bondage they pass on to the people they teach. I find it sad that I was gullible to these things for well over 20 years but today I am so thankful that the Lord has shown me Himself in me and has freed me from the terrible bondage I had been placed under by listening to men teach us that we were still under law. I am finally free and at total peace with myself and God.
Getting back to the song by Bon Jovi, I put it on my web site because of what the words say. It’s My Life and I want to live while I’m alive. No more bondage. No more having to answer to man by going to an altar to repent of things I may have done because I am a human being and created by God that way. No more feeling guilty about what I do or don’t do. There is now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. And who are those that are in Him? Read and understand the account of the cross and you will see that it is the entire human race.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to say a prayer, read your Bible, attend church or anything else in order to make it to Heaven. Jesus resurrected with the entire human race in Himself and seated us all in heavenly places in Him. I am free and so are you. Stop listening to the terrible junk that comes from behind the vast majority of pulpits in this world. Maybe I’ve raised some questions here today and some may not want to comment on this blog but hopefully you will see that Jesus made us all free. It is finished.
I will start off by going back 30 years ago and listing some of the things, not all the things as they would take too much time and space to list here, but I will list some that come to mind that I was told after coming to a knowledge of the salvation of the Lord, that I should not do.
I was told going to bowling alleys was not allowed, going to a pool hall was definitely out, no more entering a tavern to have a beer or having a beer at home for that matter, no more going to a dance, smoking was something that would take you to hell and if by chance it didn’t, you smelled like you had already been there, not to associate with my old friends any longer as they were of the devil, not to even have a deck of cards in the house, only watch certain things on TV and preferable some would even say to get rid of our TV altogether. We were told not to attend movies, not to listen to worldly music, (in fact I got rid of a large collection of music albums) and the list could go on and on.
This morning as I am sitting here I can see the terrible bondage I was placed under by the local denominational church. I can see now why it was always a struggle to keep going and trying to “live the so-called Christian life”. They will tell you that it is sin to do these things and if you do any of these plus the many, many others I have not listed, you put your entrance into Heaven in jeopardy.
I am also seeing today that the ones that decided which things are “sin” and which are not is the organized church. It has absolutely nothing to do with what sin is and what it isn’t. It is just rules and regulations they have placed upon people and are continuing to do this day after day. Instead of telling people they are free in Christ they place them under terrible and destructive bondage.
When I think of these things I have to be careful not to become too irritated, or should I say angry, because I know they are teaching what they have been taught themselves. They (the leaders) are also under the same bondage they pass on to the people they teach. I find it sad that I was gullible to these things for well over 20 years but today I am so thankful that the Lord has shown me Himself in me and has freed me from the terrible bondage I had been placed under by listening to men teach us that we were still under law. I am finally free and at total peace with myself and God.
Getting back to the song by Bon Jovi, I put it on my web site because of what the words say. It’s My Life and I want to live while I’m alive. No more bondage. No more having to answer to man by going to an altar to repent of things I may have done because I am a human being and created by God that way. No more feeling guilty about what I do or don’t do. There is now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. And who are those that are in Him? Read and understand the account of the cross and you will see that it is the entire human race.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to say a prayer, read your Bible, attend church or anything else in order to make it to Heaven. Jesus resurrected with the entire human race in Himself and seated us all in heavenly places in Him. I am free and so are you. Stop listening to the terrible junk that comes from behind the vast majority of pulpits in this world. Maybe I’ve raised some questions here today and some may not want to comment on this blog but hopefully you will see that Jesus made us all free. It is finished.
Posted by
at
13:05:01
Wow! It seems that we are walking a similar course that God has ser before us! Didn’t Jesus say, “I came to give life and that life abundantly”? Yes, He did! Where is life in the bondage and confusion of the man-made religion, Christendom, and its rules and regulations? Jesus, also said to the pharisees, “You know every stroke and tittle of the law, and yet you refuse to come to me for LIFE”! If we are to believe in Christ, and then have to fix ourselves, with the use of another 2000 oral-tradition, law-system, then why did Jesus make the sacrifice for us? I used to have so much trouble trying to explain, to my intellectual, non-believer friends, why I held to such a confused philosophy. They were right! Thank God, He delivered me (us) from this horrible bondage that is not of Him!!
Dave
Yes it appears we are. I sometimes sit down and cannot for the life of me understand how I could swallow all I was taught by the evangelical church over a period of about 25 years. I am now free and no longer under the bondage they placed me under. The redeemer of the entire human race is Who He is, not just the redeemer of a few chosen ones. Thanks for commenting Dave.
Amen. It would seem that the Institutional Church never really did grasp the freedom we have in Christ, opting instead to substitute that freedom with merely another version of the Law.
Those of us who’s eyes have been opened to the Gospel of Life in Christ and the freedom it offers, are often accused of preaching greasy grace and slopy agape. For years I preached a “Fault Finding, Sin Judging”, gospel. While in organized religion, as long as I preached the gospel of condemnation, hell, fire and brimstone, everyone in the body were in agreement and “amen’s!” were shouted more times than I cared to count.
Now I find myself on what Christians perceive as being “the road to perdition.” An apostate and enemy of the cross. The devil’s child and you name it. Everything I do that is contrary to the fruity doctrines of Christians is wrong. The judge the music I listen to. The judge the movies I watch. But I can’t blame them since I too at one time was a”fruit inspector” of other people’s actions.
But I do know this… Jesus came preaching grace and singing a new song, and dancing to different beat of music, while proclaiming freedom to the captives, and He too was often criticized by the self-righteous of His day. So I can only conclude one thing when going against the grain of organized religion’s judgments… I must be preaching true Grace and enjoying true peace and freedom in Christ.
dead2sin23@yahoo.com
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