That's NOT a SIN!

The Problem with the Church
Discovering "new sins" is an old problem in the Christian faith. Here is a list of things that some Christians think is a sin:
coffee, musical instruments in church, jewelry, cosmetics, playing cards, jeans on women, casual attire at church, women without a hat at church, eating meat, worshiping on Sunday instead of Saturday, shorts, short sleeves, short hair on women, long hair on men, all dancing, theaters, dating, contraception, married church leaders, minced oaths ("dang" and "heck"), secular music, any Bible except King James Version, blah blah blah. It's obvious to any casual observer that all of these are harmless. (Most are blessings.... coffee, for example.) Those rules make it nearly impossible to do the right thing, because there are just TOO MANY HARD RULES. It turns people AGAINST the church.

I Will Name Names
Some guilty parties are: Church of God Holiness, Catholics, Church of Christ, Bill Gothard seminars, Pete Ruckman, Pentecostal Holiness, Seventh Day Adventists, Independent Baptists. They are Slamming the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven on the Seekers of God. They are what the rest of the church calls, "legalistic," because they put so much emphasis on a myriad of laws.

Why are These Misguided Rules a Problem?
I've seen it enough times to detect a pattern. A legalistic Christian (meaning a "rule freak" Christian) is working so hard to keep all these harsh laws. He is facing his deprivation with courage. He is sure he is pleasing to God. Yet, he accidentally steps over the line in the subtle areas, because his will power is completely tapped out. He is full of anger, lust, unkindness. Predictably, he is an out-of-touch geek who can't relate to those around him. He spends more time arguing about peripheral issues than he spends sharing the gospel. The Christian life is a narrow road. He makes that road not just narrow, but narrow and HARD and STEEP. Matthew 23:4 says about these people: "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them."

WE MUST STAY STRONG AGAINST SUCH THINGS.

I know I have been guilty of this, too. At one time I preached against contemporary Christian music and against all movies. I have argued that adult Christians should still obey unbelieving parents, instead of obeying God. I have put pressure on male new believers who wore an earring. I have congratulated them when they cut their hair short. I have looked with contempt at people who dress, "rebelliously." (Try to define, "dressing rebelliously!") But I couldn't find anything in the Bible that condemned these things, so I changed my stand.

How many people did I scare off?