Beyond believing this, or this...what do have to believe in to be a part of your faith community. Are there things, the fine print, ammendments, attachments that are more important than simple faith in Jesus.
Thomas Merton shares some thoughts on legalism...
Legalism in practice makes law and discipline more important than love itself. For the legalist, law is more worthy of love than the persons for whose benefit the law was instituted. Discipline is more important than the good of souls to whom discipline is given, not as an end in itself but as a means to their growth in Christ.
The authoritarian Christian does not love his brother so much as he loves the cause or the policy which he wants his brother to follow. For him, love of the brother consists, not in helping his brother to grow and mature in love as an individual person loved by Christ, but in making him "toe the line" and fulfill exterior obligations, without any regard for the interior need of his soul for love, understanding and communion. All too often, for the legalist, love of his brother means punishing his brother, in order to force him to become "what he ought to be." Then, when this is achieved, perhaps the brother can be loved. But until then he is not really "worthy of love."
This is in reality a fatal perversion of the Christian spirit. Such "love" is the enemy of the Cross if Christ because it flatly contradicts the teaching and the mercy of Christ. It treats man as if he were made for the sabbath. It loves concepts and despises persons. It is the kind of love that says corban (see Mark 7:9-13) and makes void the commandment of God "in order to keep the traditions of men"( Thomas Merton; Disputed Questions )
Sure, there is Truth. There are truths which are simply true. And truth sets us free, not falsehood. We must know this. But all rules or discipline or even laws are not all about truth and freedom in Christ. Many are about fear and control and a wrong-headed way to get people to "be good so they get to heaven." In all this, somehow, it was seemingly forgotten, the very center of our Christian faith - the Love and Mercy of God our Father which leads, as He embraces us, to our transformation into beautiful new children.
We forgot, along the way, about that part. We got selfish - we had to add more to it. Put your blinders on and power through this life to get to the other side! I could go on and on with this but hopefully you get the point. We must awake from our long slumber and become, once again, aware of the core, the point - our relational union with God leading to our transformation...not climbing the ladder of the law. And when we grow in this union, we naturally begin reflecting the Nature of our Father, and that is Love. Take care. Allow yourself to be awakened. God, give us all Grace to know well. ( ht...Alan Creech )
We look at the gospels and we see Jesus, rabbi, teacher with this raggamuffin collection of students...in order to teach them, to discover faith He takes them into the wide open spaces of humanity. There is no classroom, DVD, a step by step program you follow where you arrive at faith. It is almost as if faith and law oppose each other. Faith is lived, where the Spirit of God gently blows in fields of grace.
In the beginning, we were heads over heels in love with Jesus, we followed...there was so much freedom. We were like kids chasing the wind on a blustery autumn day. But then someone said, " there's more to it than just that..."
Great post and great Merton quote. I've borrowed it from you and posted it at my blog. And have told folk to come read your post here.
Thanks for putting it up, Ron!
Posted by: Bill Kinnon | October 06, 2007 at 08:50 AM