Into the Unknown and Unexpected!!

I've been going along on this Christian journey for a long time! I am fully committed to Jesus! But, apparently, my journey hit a snag; one that caused others to wonder about my faith. Suddenly, I began to follow the Torah! Had I converted to Judaism? Had I become a Pharisaical legalist? The answer to these questions is a resounding, "No!" But let me explain.

I was totally convinced about Christianity and its truth. However, I had one bugaboo. I couldn't understand "Christian Liberty." I had a feeling that the way Christians taught it and lived it could not be accurate. Christian liberty seemed like a legitimization of sin to me.

Christian liberty, as it is sometimes explained, means that Christians are no longer obligated to follow the Torah, or the so called Law of Moses (Romans 3:20-22). Yet, the Torah has many verses that speak of the eternality of God's laws. For example:

Exodus 29:9 (KJV): And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

Exodus 31:16 (KJV): Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

But how could I believe contrary to all the theologians that have taught, throughout most of Church history, that Jesus had done away with the Law? Initially, I felt compelled to "go along," that  my understanding was incorrect. However, it continued to rub me the wrong way. Would God ever make this concept clear in my mind? Would I come to terms with this teaching?

If you've ever had an issue with Christian liberty, please let me know! I would love to hear from you! Stay tuned for part 2 to see where the Lord took me!

Christian Halloween?

Every year at this time I struggle with Halloween. It's not that my immediate family participates in it nor do we think that we are missing out on anything. Rather, I struggle with Christian family and friends who feel that Halloween can be modified into something acceptable. They insist that by choosing costumes that don't glorify death or by going to their churches' Harvest Party that Halloween has somehow become something a Christian family can participate in.

However, this same kind of attitude ended up by creating a mess in Christianity during its early days. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire there were many, many pagans that were compelled to become Christians. Thinking that the incorporation of some pagan rituals and traditions into Christianity would ease the pagans' transition to their new religion, Christianity became polluted and contained elements that God had not desired. Hence Christmas and Easter came into existence full of pagan rituals and traditions. Even pagan holidays had been co-opted and supposedly sanitized.

But no matter what you do with a pagan holiday it remains a pagan holiday! Another example of this is the new craze of Christian yoga. What? Just ask a Hindu and you will be met with scoffing. The principles behind yoga are not Christian, they are Hindu. Christian yoga is still Hindu!

God's Word says it best.

2 Corinthians 6:15-17 (KJV) 
¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

If we are to remain separate from paganism and pleasing to God we have no business trying to sanitize Halloween into a Harvest Party or its traditions into Christian traditions. There can be no compromises!!