While sitting in church this past Sunday with 3 of my 5 boys, I suddenly felt the pew shaking during the sermon. I glanced to my left, and two of my boys were in the midst of a “try hard not to laugh when you aren’t supposed to” moment.
Most of us have been there–when laughter is mercilessly suppressed by silence and scorn, causing tears to leak from the eyes and the body to tremble.
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
Galatians 3:1
In his epistle to the churches in Galatia, Paul admonished Jewish Christians who were teaching that converts, including Gentiles, must adhere to certain Jewish customs under the Law of Moses, such as circumcision and observance of special days, months, seasons and years. By placing the yoke of the Law upon the necks of believers, the Jewish Christians rejected the freedom of Christ through faith. Just as the Old Testament Jews stumbled over the stumbling stone (that is, Christ) by focusing on righteousness through works, the Galatian Jews were stumbling over Christ by reverting to legalism.
Continue reading “Legalism and the Decline of the American Church”
I repeatedly hear the question, “What kind of Christian are you?”, or some variation of that question. What the person asking wants to know is if I am a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, etc. Typically, I will play along and respond, “Presbyterian,” but in my head I am thinking, “What a silly question. I’m a Christian Christian.”
