A Tale of Two Fields:A Personal Journey Out of Legalism

It is not from the Bible. Furthermore, if there is some sort of demonic activity, I am convinced that it is not nearly so widespread as many believer would have us think. Oh… the curiosity of God sometimes tempts me to ponder these things, yet I try not to expend too much energy trying to understand the darkness of our existence as I find I am much more rewarded with the fruits if the spirit if I spend my efforts looking into His Light of love! Even if demonic activity is widespread and a dominating force of evil… believing in it or not is irrelevant if your eyes are on Christ Jesus and your focus is on living in His will.

Love in action will dispel evil… whether it be real, projected, or imaginary. I thought a most interesting and balanced documentary on heaven and hell is: Greetings from an Dutch girl tired of churchy dogma, but endlessy fascinated by Jesus. And thanks for sharing the trailer; I had not seen it before. If demons exist, they are irrelevant to us. And it is much more useful to focus on the love of the Father and its impact on our lives than to be bogged down in speculations about dark forces.

I think you may have noticed I have spent nearly the whole day on your blog. I was led here this morning by Eric of Christian Evolution and I am quite grateful. Your insights are helping me with my own struggles of trying to reconcile things that I have always believed and things I can no longer stomach quite frankly. I am sure I will have questions as soon as I can find the best way to word them.

I hope you will do me the honor of pointing me toward answers if you can. Thank you for sharing here. Wonderful title, by the way! Eric at Christian Evolution is an excellent progressive Christian blogger. When you decide what you want to talk about first, you can email me at tchastain cfl. I am happy to interact with you and help you in any way I can. I must say that I find your blogs to be like a breath of fresh air Tim. I believe as Christians we are guilty of complicating our Christian walk with rules and regulations and I must say that seeing God in the light of Jesus, as opposed to the OT is very liberating.

Thank you and keep up the good work. Thank you Neville; I am so pleased.

Leaving Legalism: A Review

Indeed, the Father Jesus tells us about is very liberating. He liberates us from fear, guilt, and alienation. I hope you continue to visit here. I am fortunate not to have accumulated a lot of religious baggage. He was an Old Testament and Greek scholar so I still hold his teachings in my thinking.

He has redeemed it and also the world. Hi John, I am glad you never accumulated a lot of religious baggage. I certainly did, and it was difficult and frightening working through it to find Jesus—not the Bible—as the foundation of my life and beliefs. Flying in the Spirit. Hi Tim, I have just found your blog and I am enjoying your posts. I believe in having an intelligent faith — one that puts scripture into context, uses reason and experience and focuses on Jesus as our Savior. At present I am still working through my opinions on the Bible.

Karen, I am glad you enjoy the blog! I think you are taking a healthy approach to your journey with Jesus. As you work through your opinions on the Bible, let me know if you are interested in my take on any issue. The biggest argument against fundamentalism in my life has been fundamentalists. Being a female fundamentalist particularly those influenced by the reformed dogmas, which people like John Piper represent is a little prison of a life for women. The patriarchy of extreme male dominance is in fact quite influenced by Bill Gothard, that turns out is quite the predator that time revealed.

What I experienced living under that bondage for decades was a battered heart that atrophied. Their entire identity is wrapped up in doing the will of men and the exploitation of that position is astonishing. The levels of domestic violence that spring out of those man centered doctrines is criminal. I spent decade after decade getting beaten down. One of the catalysts of my journey out was going to college at age 45 and being astonished at the world of ideas and books and thoughts. My mind exploded into creativity like being let out of a cage I flew.

On campus as I got a BA and a MA I had my first experiences of my entire life of feeling accepted, valued and treated with respect. Something about being allowed to think after you mind has been in a little box is transformative. I routinely waked across campus with tears of joy running down my face not an experience I ever had in fundie land. Like Liked by 2 people.

You had a terrible experience, but unfortunately it is a common one for far too many women.

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I was in various stages of fundamentalism for more than 30 years before I walked away from it completely around My fundamentalism put restrictions on woman, but not as much as the extreme forms of fundamentalism today. I am so glad you found a community to help you feel more of a person. A proper education produces healthy critical thinking as well, something frowned on in fundamentalism. I feel badly that these misguided teachers are creating such burdens for people—the opposite of what Jesus teaches: Come to me you who are burdened down and I will give you rest.

I hope your journey continues to go well. It can be a scary thing at the start what if they are right? You are certainly welcome to continue reading and interacting on the blog if you find it helpful. Your website speaks to me on an emotional AND intellectual level. But through your website which I cannot stop reading!

I think I will be able to read the Bible now from an entirely new perspective. I understand now that the only thing Jesus hates are hypocritical, hateful, judgmental people who use religion legalism and threats to terrify and control. That is NOT Christianity; it is control. God hates narcissism, and if God really sent those who cannot believe in him to burn in a firey pit for all eternity, he would be a hypocrite and every bit as narcisisistic as the Pharisees.

But I think through your site, my spirit can finally find peace and rest in Jesus and stop being so afraid. Thank you so much for making this website. For now, I want to give you this link to a post I wrote just before I found your wonderful site. Lucky, I am glad you found the blog so useful!

This is the reason I write—to help people who are struggling with misguided doctrinal baggage placed on them by other people. I read your blog post and all its comments. I am impressed; you express yourself very well in a genuine way and seem to help a lot of people. Since you mentioned hell in your comment here, I was going to include the link to my Resources on Hell page for your consideration, but in reading you comments on your post it seems you might have already read it.

But here it is in case you did not. Thanks so much for this! You have a great day too. I am so happy you like my blog. Why, you might ask? I was dazed from the shock of it, and then tried to return to what I was watching. Even black and white classics were condemned in my conscience; basically, it was a result of the teaching that I heard from the televangelists saying that television was immorality, and I took that to mean that all of it was. But I identify with what you are saying. My early religious circles were mixed regarding TV.

Some had TVs, while others were fiercely opposed. One pastor I had would say you could drive down the street and see where the devil lived because his horns were sticking out of the rooftop TV antenna; this was a long time ago. In one church I was in, the pastor agreed with those who were against TV, but he also accommodated those who had TVs and this caused a minor split in the church as some left over the issue. This kind of legalism is a great burden. Thanks for your response on what I said! The story of Mary and Martha applies here:. As Jesus and the disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.

Tell her to help me! In fact, Martha was so involved with the work of her service—i. So mad, in fact, that she started demanding things from the very One she was supposed to be serving! Mary chose what was more important on this occasion.

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You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. The first passage shows that the Pharisees were steadfast in giving their herbal tithes at the expense of godly traits like justice and love. The second passage is figurative. In other words, it was absurd. If anything is strained out it should be the camel! Gossip and slander, on the other hand, have the power to ruin lives, reputations and relationships.

Which is the minor issue and which is the major? Because it is through the good news of the gospel that people are reconciled with their Creator. We can have an actual relationship with God through spiritual regeneration via the imperishable seed of the enduring Word of God, Jesus Christ 1 Peter 1: Why do they dream up new rules or laws? What we see here is a tendency of legalists to conjure-up rules that go beyond Scripture. The Bible is full of moral commands, which can be condensed into the two greatest commands, loving God and loving people as you love yourself Matthew Paul commented on this fleshly practice when he wrote to the Colossians:.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: Notice Paul is denouncing human commands and teachings, not biblical ones. Such rules only have an appearance of wisdom and have no real power to restrain carnality verse Only spiritual rebirth, putting off the old self and putting on the new self with the help of the Holy Spirit provides the power to walk in true righteousness and holiness Ephesians 4: Also observe in verse 21 how Paul literally mocks the goofy rules that legalists dream up: Legalists do the same thing today as they did in the 1 st century.

Here are ten modern examples with my observations about each in parentheses:. Do people pick up grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Away from me, you evildoers! Jesus was speaking of the future occasion when those who falsely speak for God stand before him to be judged. Unbelievably, they immediately start boasting of their great works!

They brag about their prophesying, exorcisms and miracles! Away from me you evildoers! This shows two things: Christianity is a relationship with the awesome Creator of the universe and our works are merely an overflow of this relationship. Consequently, they divert to rule-ism and works-oriented religion.

This is why these false ministers immediately start boasting of their works when they come face-to-face with the Lord. Take the Pharisees, for example. They claimed that God was their father, which implies close kinship, but Jesus frankly told them they were children of the devil John 8: Another good example is the priests of Judah just before their forced exile. The LORD spoke of them like so:. He goes on to point out that they had no awe of God verse People who really know the LORD develop an overwhelming awe.

I should stress that works have their place. But, again, works are a result of having a relationship with God and not a means to the relationship. Unfortunately, legalists choose to concentrate on their works so that they can boast. We see this in the passage from Matthew above. Bullinger points out the differences between godliness and religion in his lexicon The Greek word for godliness in the Bible relates to a real and vital relationship with the Almighty whereas the Greek word for religion refers to the outward acts of religious works and ceremonies.

The latter can be performed by the flesh without knowing God at all, which is why legalists make it their focus, but the former—having a relationship with God—requires the human spirit. The point being that true worship is not merely a matter of outward conformity to religious rules, ceremonies, works and places.

In other words, a relationship with God produces godliness. Let me give an example of works being a natural outflow of having a relationship with God. I always strive for a relationship with the Lord and therefore talk to him throughout the day, give thanks, etc. As a result of this relationship he has given me a general commission as well as specific tasks. I literally love doing it and I struggle with a sense of meaninglessness whenever I stray from my calling.

In the above passage—Matthew 7: Imagine standing before the very Creator of the universe, what would be your first reaction? Notice again the reaction of legalists when they stand before the Lord:. How could anyone come before the Living Lord and start boasting away? To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else , Jesus told this parable: For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled , and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Notice what this Pharisee does when he goes to the Temple— he prays about himself. Can you believe it? Keep in mind that tax collectors were viewed with disdain while Pharisees were respected religious leaders of Israel. Do you know people in the Church who have a tendency to boast of their great religious works? It may even be a respected pastor, prophet, teacher or evangelist. Their idea of worldliness is not following the priority rules of their sect to the letter.

But how does the Bible itself define worldliness? Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world , the love of the Father is not in him. As you can see, this passage reveals that worldliness is three things: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh refers to all sexual-oriented sins, as well as gluttony, sloth, etc. Understanding what true worldliness is can be very liberating. As pointed out above, having standards of holiness is good but, be careful, because anything good can be corrupted.

The Bible instructs those who walk free of the debatable rule to not look down on those who follow it and vice versa Romans Because the issue itself tends to stir up unnecessary controversy which naturally leads to strife. Other than that, keep it between yourself and the LORD.

Let me give a couple examples. In one of the books the author went to extreme lengths to protect himself from his lust problem. These were rules that this man came up with in order to walk free of lust and serve the Lord with a clear conscience. These rules are akin to the alcoholic who must stay away from any environment that includes alcoholic beverages in order to walk in victory. But not all men have such a lust problem, nor do all people struggle with alcohol like the severe alcoholic. A couple of the men admitted they needed to go to such extremes to walk free of lust, while most others felt the rules were so radical that it was the next thing to requiring women to wear robes and veils in public, like in some Islamic countries.

To his own master he stands or falls. Not only was drinking a sip of alcohol a sin, it was also a sin to dine at an establishment that served alcohol, like Red Lobster. In fact, it was wrong to shop at a store that sold alcohol, like Walmart! Do you see the problem here? Because he had a weakness toward alcohol he developed an extreme view on the subject and tried to impose his personal rules of holiness on everyone else, including the vast majority who had no need of such rules. But what is the divine law of the new covenant that believers have with the Almighty? Faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love—love for God and love for people 1 Corinthians How does faith work?

Faith works by love Galatians 5: This is living out of our spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit:. You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self , which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self , created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. The fruits of the Spirit are his nature and are opposed to the works of the flesh Galatians 5: Legalists, unfortunately, reject this new way of the spirit.

They prefer instead to subject themselves to hard labor in order to achieve their own fleshly salvation and godliness, but this type of godliness is false and is actually self -righteousness. Someone might understandably argue that Christianity has its own endless list of rules and regulations. In other words, how does genuine Christianity differ from legalism? What makes Christianity superior? As noted in the previous section, there are only two laws in Christianity with three applications: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Therefore it is the fulfillment of the law. How is the believer able to successfully walk according to this rule? It starts with spiritual rebirth:. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit ,. In the new covenant all believers are of the house of Israel in a spiritual sense:.

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A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. The passage is talking about spiritual rebirth. This is how the LORD puts his moral law in the minds and hearts of his people. The second step is noted in the previous section: Learn to distinguish the desires of the flesh—your old nature—from the desires of the spirit—your new nature.

Put off the old and put on the new. When you do this you will naturally produce the fruit of the spirit, which are the very character traits of God. Since love is the primary fruit of the spirit and love is the fulfillment of the law, believers fulfill this single law of Christianity when they walk in the spirit. So Christianity is vastly superior to legalism because believers fulfill the Law by living according to the law of love that is within them and not by futilely disciplining their flesh to conform to an endless list of external rules.

For instance, it includes historical, prophetic and psychological truths, as well as passages of encouragement and comfort. It shows believers who they are , spiritually speaking, and therefore how God sees them Colossians 1: There are also instructions that are not of a moral nature, such as information on church order, church government, spiritual gifts, prayer, spiritual warfare, faith and healing. In other words, the Scriptures set the boundary lines for believers and the Church in general.

Law of Christ—What is It? Sabbath — What is it? Should Believers Observe It? Want to share your thoughts on any of the issues raised in this article? Please leave a comment below. Contrasting Legalism and Real Christianity Legalism regularly goes unnoticed because most Christians only perceive it according to the first definition above—focusing on something other than the grace offered in the gospel to attain salvation or have a right-relationship with God.

Legalism at the Time of Christ and Early Church The Pharisees were the conservative religious leaders at the time of Christ, but they were notorious legalists. Notice how he refers to legalists in this passage: Notice what he says about the legalists: Levels of Infection Of course, there are levels of infection and not everyone tainted by legalism is a modern-day Pharisee frothing at the mouth with iniquitous religiosity. Picture legalism as a hideous beast with four limbs, like so: Legalism is a hideous beast!

Confucius serves not as an all-powerful deity or a universally true set of abstract principles, but rather the ultimate model for others. For these reasons, according to many commentators, Confucius's teachings may be considered a Chinese example of humanism. One of his teachings was a variant of the Golden Rule , sometimes called the " Silver Rule " owing to its negative form:. Often overlooked in Confucian ethics are the virtues to the self: Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption, and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness.

Cultivating knowledge and sincerity is also important for one's own sake; the superior person loves learning for the sake of learning and righteousness for the sake of righteousness. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest. While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good.

Confucius asserts that virtue is a mean between extremes. For example, the properly generous person gives the right amount—not too much and not too little. Confucius's political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good.

This "sense of shame" is an internalisation of duty , where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism. Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples.

Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism , but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used and perhaps twisted past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: These would be rulers devoted to their people, striving for personal and social perfection , and such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules.

Confucius did not believe in the concept of " democracy ", which is itself an Athenian concept unknown in ancient China, but could be interpreted by Confucius's principles recommending against individuals electing their own political leaders to govern them, or that anyone is capable of self-government. He expressed fears that the masses lacked the intellect to make decisions for themselves, and that, in his view, since not everyone is created equal, not everyone has a right of self-government.

While he supported the idea of government ruling by a virtuous king, his ideas contained a number of elements to limit the power of rulers. He argued for representing truth in language, and honesty was of paramount importance. Even in facial expression , truth must always be represented.

Confucius believed that if a ruler is to lead correctly, by action, that orders would be unnecessary in that others will follow the proper actions of their ruler. In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject or a father and his son , he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the subordinates must advise their superiors if the superiors are considered to be taking a course of action that is wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.

Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers, who organized his teachings into the Analects. Two of Confucius's most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. In time, their writings, together with the Analects and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus of Confucianism. This realignment in Confucian thought was parallel to the development of Legalism , which saw filial piety as self-interest and not a useful tool for a ruler to create an effective state.

A disagreement between these two political philosophies came to a head in BC when the Qin state conquered all of China. Li Si , Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty , convinced Qin Shi Huang to abandon the Confucians' recommendation of awarding fiefs akin to the Zhou Dynasty before them which he saw as being against to the Legalist idea of centralizing the state around the ruler.

When the Confucian advisers pressed their point, Li Si had many Confucian scholars killed and their books burned—considered a huge blow to the philosophy and Chinese scholarship. Under the succeeding Han and Tang dynasties, Confucian ideas gained even more widespread prominence. Under Wudi , the works of Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in BC which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the 19th century. As Mohism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Laozi , whose focus on more spiritual ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era.

Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming Dynasty and even the Yuan Dynasty , although Kublai Khan distrusted handing over provincial control to them. In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death, his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant.

Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking Neo-Confucianism. The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty. The first known effort was by Michele Ruggieri , who returned to Italy in and carried on his translations while residing in Salerno.

Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and a team of Jesuits— Prospero Intorcetta , Philippe Couplet , and two others—published a translation of several Confucian works and an overview of Chinese history in Paris in In the modern era Confucian movements, such as New Confucianism , still exist, but during the Cultural Revolution , Confucianism was frequently attacked by leading figures in the Communist Party of China.

This was partially a continuation of the condemnations of Confucianism by intellectuals and activists in the early 20th century as a cause of the ethnocentric close-mindedness and refusal of the Qing Dynasty to modernize that led to the tragedies that befell China in the 19th century. Confucius's works are studied by scholars in many other Asian countries, particularly those in the Chinese cultural sphere , such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Many of those countries still hold the traditional memorial ceremony every year. In modern times, Asteroid , "Confucius", was named after the Chinese thinker. Confucius began teaching after he turned 30, and taught more than 3, students in his life, about 70 of whom were considered outstanding. His disciples and the early Confucian community they formed became the most influential intellectual force in the Warring States period.

Sima Qian recorded the names of 77 disciples in his collective biography, while Kongzi Jiayu , another early source, records 76, not completely overlapping. The two sources together yield the names of 96 disciples. Confucius did not charge any tuition, and only requested a symbolic gift of a bundle of dried meat from any prospective student. According to his disciple Zigong , his master treated students like doctors treated patients and did not turn anybody away. Confucius's favorite disciple was Yan Hui , most probably one of the most impoverished of them all. Yang Hu, who was a subordinate of the Ji family, had dominated the Lu government from to and even attempted a coup, which narrowly failed.

No contemporary painting or sculpture of Confucius survives, and it was only during the Han Dynasty that he was portrayed visually. Carvings often depict his legendary meeting with Laozi. Since that time there have been many portraits of Confucius as the ideal philosopher. The oldest known portrait of Confucius has been unearthed in the tomb of the Han dynasty ruler Marquis of Haihun died 59 BC.

The picture was painted on the wooden frame to a polished bronze mirror. In former times, it was customary to have a portrait in Confucius Temples ; however, during the reign of Hongwu Emperor Taizu of the Ming dynasty , it was decided that the only proper portrait of Confucius should be in the temple in his home town, Qufu in Shandong.

In other temples, Confucius is represented by a memorial tablet.

My Journey: Legalism, Atheism, and Finally Freedom

Soon after Confucius's death, Qufu , his home town, became a place of devotion and remembrance. The Han dynasty Records of the Grand Historian records that it had already become a place of pilgrimage for ministers. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. In Sinic cultures, there are many temples where representations of the Buddha , Laozi , and Confucius are found together.

There are also many temples dedicated to him, which have been used for Confucian ceremonies. In the twentieth century, this tradition was interrupted for several decades in mainland China, where the official stance of the Communist Party and the State was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary feudalist beliefs which held that the subservience of the people to the aristocracy is a part of the natural order.

All such ceremonies and rites were therefore banned. Only after the s did the ceremony resume.

Emperor Gaozu of Han

As it is now considered a veneration of Chinese history and tradition, even Communist Party members may be found in attendance. While not a national holiday, it does appear on all printed calendars, much as Father's Day or Christmas Day do in the Western world. In South Korea , a grand-scale memorial ceremony called Seokjeon Daeje is held twice a year on Confucius's birthday and the anniversary of his death, at Confucian academies across the country and Sungkyunkwan in Seoul.

Confucius's descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments with titles of nobility and official posts. They were honored with the rank of a marquis thirty-five times since Gaozu of the Han dynasty , and they were promoted to the rank of duke forty-two times from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty.



The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, [69] so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch remained in Quzhou where they live to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30, The clan then received an aristocratic rank during the succeeding Joseon Dynasty.

Gokbu , Shandong Province. Despite repeated dynastic change in China, the title of Duke Yansheng was bestowed upon successive generations of descendants until it was abolished by the Nationalist Government in The last holder of the title, Kung Te-cheng of the 77th generation, was appointed Sacrificial Official to Confucius. Kung Te-cheng died in October , and his son, Kung Wei-yi, the 78th lineal descendant, had died in Kung Te-cheng's grandson, Kung Tsui-chang , the 79th lineal descendant, was born in ; his great-grandson, Kung Yu-jen, the 80th lineal descendant, was born in Taipei on January 1, Te-cheng's sister, Kong Demao, lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu.

Another sister, Kong Deqi, died as a young woman. A descendant of Confucius, H. Kung was the Premier of the Republic of China.