Convictions and the Unwritten Rules of Christianity

As you read through this I’d like to encourage you to be looking at and thinking about the potential characteristics, convictions and consequences that can come from living by some of the Unwritten Rules of Christianity.  
Unwritten Rules of Church / Being a Follower of Christ:

• A few years ago one of my Catcher’s gave me a Coaches gift at the conclusion of the season. It was the book entitled The Unwritten Rules of Baseball by Paul Dickson. Unwritten Rules remind me of what some churches/believers live by today.
  • Some of the following might look familiar to you: In church there is to be no clapping, no raising/lifting hands, no drums, no guitars, and outside of church there is to be no other music allowed besides gospel music, no dancing, etc.
    • For the Men: no long hair (must be above the ears and off the collar…though I’m pretty sure God gave Sampson long hair as a strength), no earrings, no tattoos, no smoking, no drinking, no jeans to church except for on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, etc.  
    • For the Ladies: must wear a skirt or dress to the knees to church, and no coloring of hair (unless you’re over 70 years old), no tattoos, no smoking, no drinking, no jeans to church, etc.
    • Students long for “casual day” at some colleges…so my question is, what spiritually takes place in their lives on days they are or are not casually dressed? Is there something unwritten somewhere concerning God’s view on each of what I’ve listed above? Institutions can have their opinion and view on such topics, but making them come from God by attaching a Bible verse to their rules is where it becomes questionable.
    • Chaplain Roger Lipe reminds us that , “First glances seldom produce a wise assessment of the truth about people…That’s why Jesus says to not judge by appearances [(in John 7:24)]. Appearances only deal with the surface level of people.  Jesus wants us to focus on the heart. Righteous judgment is better because it can see past the appearances and facades, penetrating to the heart of the matter.  Righteous judgment gets to motivation, to desires, to heart-felt qualities like compassion and love.” 
  • Such unwritten rules have driven many of my generation and the younger generation to either leaving conservative churches, choosing entertainment over education, and or into feeling suppressed / like lesser of a believer / like they can’t express who they truly are in Him. Again, the Bible does point out absolute truths…what I’m referring to in this posting are the unwritten’s that in time are adopted and seen as coming directly from God’s word (as long as it has a verse attached to the man-made rule then it must be approved by God…that way of thinking is not necessarily true or recommended).

Suppression:

• Sensing the verbals and non-verbals that relay the message, “You can’t be a true Christian unless you look and act the way we tell you to…You must fit into our perfect world or else…”
• Suppression leads to Depression and Frustration, neither of which comes from God.
• At what expense? At whose expense?
• While on this earth Christ and His disciples directly addressed such things as – do not commit adultery, let there be no quarreling, etc. Therefore, when addressing any issue it’d be good for us to consider our motives and whether or not what we do and say is out of love or not.
• Our children and the world around us aren’t ignorant. They can see through the hypocrisy and judgmentalism.
• Realize that just because a Why answer is given doesn’t necessarily mean that the one questioning will agree. Many times Why answers fall flat when delivered as an Unwritten Rule (example: “because I said so”).

Pharisaical:

• Consider what the Apostle Paul came out of.
  • “Paul's Hebrew Heritage - Philippians 3:4-8
    Paul uses the Greek words: kerdos (that which is gained or earned – a profit, win, gain, advantage) and zēmia (a loss, forfeit, damage, disadvantage) to compare his present life in Christ with his former life and religion.
    Paul had invested many years and much effort in strenuously studying and following Pharisaical Judaism. He had achieved an excellent reputation and standing as a Pharisee. However, Paul willingly relinquished and forfeited all the advantages and privileges of his heritage and training. In fact, Paul saw the advantages as disadvantages and the privileges as liabilities. Paul had come to realise that following the traditions of Judaism, and any amount of human effort, was not able to earn him salvation or enable him to gain Christ.” https://margmowczko.com/philippians-3_4-8/
  • Ask yourself, “Does what I say or what I do come across as Pharisaical/Holier-than-thou, or Christ-like?” “What am I attempting to earn when I open my mouth, put on certain clothing, listen to certain music, etc.?” “What’s my motive for why I say and do what I do?” “Did I just put up a wall, or leave the door wide open to witness to someone?” “Did I leave myself an opportunity to be the voice of truth to that individual or group one day?”

Hypocrites:

• I watch The Jalen and Jacoby Show on ESPN on a regular basis. Here's a conversation that took place on the Jalen and Jacoby Show on 11-11-19 concerning why the music artist Drake was booed off the stage:
  • David Jacoby acted surprised by saying...”Who would boo Drake?”
  • Jalen confidently replied...”The same people that get in their car and listen to his music. Makes no sense.”
• In Public some Christians are really good about saying “no” to going to movies, dressing a certain way, listening to certain music, etc., and then in Private go home and pop in a movie that’s not just G rated or such and such approved, turn on the “unapproved” music…that has a beat and “unapproved” musical instruments, put on their sweatpants or jeans with holes in them, etc. So who gets to determine when someone crosses the spiritual unwritten lines? The church is the people and the people venture outside the “church” building walls. What role is the Holy Spirit given in all of this? Who gets to do the judging and convicting? Who gets to feel like they’re in control? Is it the elitist Christian? 

Elitism:

• The mindset of equating all of Christianity with only living the way one particular group/denomination/institution/individual/family does?
• Let’s say I’m witnessing to an unsaved individual and I tell him/her that what I mentioned above is sinful / living like the world. And then that individual sees other Christian's going to the movies and listening to certain “unapproved” music – what message does that send to the unsaved? Hypocrisy? Confusion? He/she might think, “I thought Christian's didn't ___________....or weren't supposed to _____________?” So what is a Christian supposed to look / be like 100% across the board? Like all of the Unwritten Rules? That sounds like the Old Testament…living by the law. Rather, live like Christ, right?
• Ask yourself, “Am I the cause of creating more and more confusion? Remember, God is not a God of Confusion, but of PEACE (1 Corinthians 14:33).
• Christians judging other Christian's...some will never be able to measure up to anyone else’s convictions/unwritten rules, thus separating themselves from others. The point isn't to send the message that one must earn salvation by attempting to please man, but rather allowing the Holy Spirit to change someone’s heart…doing all one can to please the Lord. When a follower gets out of line, then respectfully listening to the correction relayed to him/her by the reading of the Bible / wise counsel.
• I’m not advocating for him, but when Joe Biden was in Grinnell on Monday, 11-11-19…
  he said that what he’s been calling elitist was “the attitude that we know better than ordinary people – what’s in their interests. ‘I know more than you, let me tell you what to do.'…the attitude that we know best, you do it my way.” He’s “talking about the attitude that if you don’t agree with me, [then] get in the other party.” https://whotv.com/2019/11/11/four-takeaways-from-joe-bidens-town-hall-in-grinnell/
• Ask yourself, “Do I come across as an elitist? Like I have it all figured out and so let me tell you have to live. How do you react/respond when others don’t agree with you? Do you jump into debate mode? Do you categorize them and get to determine whether they fall into the heaven or hell party?

Conclusion:

• Listen, I’m not telling anyone to let their guard down, or to eliminate discernment, and I’m not putting down those who hold to some of the convictions I mentioned above. My only concern is when others attempt to make you hold to the same Unwritten Rules / convictions that they have, and if you don’t, then you must be a bad Christian (maybe not a Christian at all). Let’s put more focus on loving others where they’re at and allowing the Holy Spirit to do a work on each of our hearts…we all need it. Love, Peace and Harmony are Christian characteristics that each of us can make every effort to live by…that’s the Biblical example Christ and His disciples left us with.  
• Feel free to comment, and or agree to disagree. I’m not too proud to read your thoughts as well. 2 Timothy 2:22-26 (NIV); 1 Peter 3:8-20 (NIV)

Additional Readings on this Subject:

• 6 Convictions of Effective Faith Sharing Christians
• When Christians Have Different Convictions

Songs:

• What this World Needs by Casting Crowns
  • What this world needs is for us to care more about the inside than the outside
    Have we become so blind that we can’t see
    God’s gotta change her heart before He changes her shirt
    https://castingcrowns.com/music/what-this-world-needs/
  • Some of us have become really good at reversing that statement...some of us would prefer to change the other persons outward appearance before seeing a heart change. Be patient and let God do His thing. 
• Come as you are? Or, Come as I think you should? Only leads to a lot of people resorting to hiding.
  • Truth be Told by Matthew West