L & L

L & L
Liberal! Legalist! Perhaps the two most used words of derision by Contemporary Christians. In view of our conversations on Christian unity, this is a vital point to bring up. These two words account for perhaps the greatest division in the American Christian Church today. On the one end of the spectrum we have radical liberals, people who are completely out of sync with Biblical principles, and who stretch Christian liberty to gargantuan heights. People who would claim to be Christians and still violently disobey God's precepts for sexuality. On the other end of the scale, we have the legalists, those people who have Rulebooks bigger than the Bible (really!).

In order to get a grip on where Christians should be, I'd like to examine what the Bible has to say about both extremes.

Liberalism ("Christian Liberty"): "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?...Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts." Romans 6:1-2;12 (NASB)

Legalism: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." Colossians 2:8 (NASB)

So on the one hand, we are to avoid sinning at will in the name of
"Christian liberty", and on the other we are to shun the rules of men.
We are truly saved by grace, but if we are saved by grace, we shouldn't
want to sin.

Co-operate?

As the forces of darkness rapidly engulf the United States, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike are beginning to wonder if our traditional antagonistic stances are worth clinging to.

My answer to this is both a "yes" and a "no".

In the political realm, I believe that conservative Protestants and conservative Roman Catholics can be hardly different. Indeed, conservative Protestants seem to share more in common with the conservative Roman Catholic than the liberal Evangelical. In politics we are united on several vital fronts - perhaps most significantly abortion. In the old slogan from the Revolutionary war, it is very much "Unite or Die."

However, in the religious realm, I think we still need to keep ourselves seperate. There are so many differences that it is better if we remain in seperate buildings. I do believe there can be true believers in both groups, but I also disagree with many Roman Catholic beliefs. There are, though, 3rd party ministries that we may be involved in with relatively no conflict.

As far as what Scripture has to say about this, it's sort of difficult. We are told to "love one another" and to be united with fellow believers, but we are also warned to stay away from false teachings. There are fellow believers in the Roman Catholic church, but there are also a lot of false teachings. So I feel that in situations where we can work together without having to compromise our convictions, it's good. I worked last summer with an evangelical group, but the guy working with me was a Roman Catholic. We both believed in Christ as our Savior and we worked together wonderfully in that setting.

Introduction

Christianity has always been a heavily assaulted religion. Of course this should hardly bother us since Jesus Himself predicted that the world would hate us. In Jesus' time on earth, the Pharisees and temple leaders attacked his teachings time and again; during the early church age, heresies like Gnosticism launched campaigns against the growing Faith. As the centuries began to pile up, church tradition and extra-Biblical rules assaulted the simple truth of the Gospel; in the 20th century such lies as Communism, Atheism, Darwinism, and Humanism confronted the church, and in our times evil foes also are plentiful - tolerance of sinful sexual behaviors - sodomy, immorality, and adultery, wicca, new-age, and Islam abound. To make things even more difficult, there have been countless 'gray' areas that have only added to the confusion and division among Christians.

What is a Christian to do in such a torrent of false and questionable philosophies? The Scriptures mandate simply that we "test everything". Everything that comes our way needs to be run through the grid of "What does the Bible say about it?" Or in the simple rally cry of the reformation, "Sola Scriptura!"

This blog is an attempt by a Bible-believing Christian to run ideas and philosophies of our time through the sift of the Bible. It is important to remember that however destructive these philosophies may be, we must still strive to love the people bound up by them. I pray ferverntly for the collapse of Islam, but I also pray for the salvation of the people. May God grant that I don't show imbalance in either area. We must be uncomprimising on sin, but warriors for souls.

In essence, I say simply with Martin Luther, great champion of the Faith, "Here I stand. I can do no other."

Welcome!

Welcome to Christian, Think! My name is Jonathan L. McCarthy. I am a highschool junior, and I believe that Christians need to be a thinking people. Please check back for more details, updates and intellectual discussions!