What 2 Side Dishes Do You Want With Your Camel?

There are those times when I just cannot hold it in any longer.  I guess this is one of those times.  Remember what I say here is only opinion.  Remember the title "Freaking Genius" is only tongue-in-cheek, not a narcissistic self-proclamation.   I have many, many opinions.  And I'm not usually too bashful to share my opinions.  I don't think my opinions are necessarily right, only opinions, but they are still my opinions.  I have a dear friend who has always said, usually when he's about ready to correct me, "Eat the fish, spit out the bones."  Good advice for anyone.

Before I say anything else, I need to give you the "fine print", the disclaimer.  First, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  I have been since I was around 20 years old.  Next, I went two bible college and got two degrees in theology and Bible.  By no means does that make me an expert in any of this, but I think I know my way around the Bible.  Also, I was a pastor off and on for about 15 years.  Take that for whatever it's worth.  I explain all that to say, I love Jesus and everything He's done for me, I love His people,  and I look forward to eternity with Him by nothing of my doing whatsoever.  I'm nowhere near perfect, and I still have a LOT to learn!

But like anyone else, I get a bit frustrated sometimes and just have to say something.  As I was writing this, I thought of Frank Costanza.  You know, on Seinfeld…George's dad.  He came up with the holiday called Festivus.  "A Festivus for the rest of us."  Frank conned a group of people to come to his home to celebrate.  Standing up from the dinner table Frank proclaims, "Festivus begins with the airing of grievances.  I got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about it!"  Maybe I feel a little like Frank today.

It sometimes doesn't surprise me that people don't want to have anything to do with 'organized religion'.  There are probably as many ways to define 'organized religion' as there are people who use the term.  I don't like religion either.  What I mean by that is the system of rules and regulations that people, denominations, church councils, church boards, and just plain old Christians come up with, then they 'baptize them' and make them gospel whether or not God actually says anything about them.  The thing that's interesting is that there are a whole lot more don'ts than there are do's.  That makes for a very negative taste in people's mouths when they think about Jesus, or the church, or the Bible.  They think (wrongly) that Christianity is very negative.

Some of you are already thinking negative things.  I know that the Bible has a lot of "thou shalt not's".  They are there for a reason, I'm very well aware.  Those are typically the only things remembered by God's well meaning kids…the stuff we can't do.  What tends to be forgotten are the "thou shalts".  To me, the bigger problem  is that too many of those "thou shalt not" items are nowhere to be found in the Bible.  I'm not going to spell them out here, though in the course of this post some may slip out.

 I see the same thing when an older sibling is put in charge of a younger sibling.  You hear a lot more "don't do that" than you hear, "you can do this".  People seem to get more enjoyment out of telling people what they can't do, rather than what they can do.  Parent's, when is the last time you caught your kid doing something right??  We're all guilty.  But when you make Christianity out to be a list of things you can't do, you've done a great disservice to Christianity. 

First, those things don't have anything to do with me spending eternity with God.  Actually they are the reason I cannot.  Christianity isn't about what I do, it's about what's been done for me.  The "don'ts" prove to me and the world that I can't be good enough to earn heaven by my own doing.  I need help big time.  The first time I "did" a "don't", I screwed the whole thing up for myself.   Enter Jesus.  He did for me what I couldn't do for myself.  Awesome!

 Why do so many of us who claim to be Christians insist on making everyone around us keep up with our lists of "what you can't do if you're a Christian".  I get it…"Read the New Testament, Freaking Genius, it's there.  You can't sleep with another guy's wife.  You can't steal a car.  You can't lie about things."  I know…I know.  It's some of the other stuff people get all bent out of shape about that bother me.

What are you going to say to me if I smoke?  What about if I drink?  What about spending 50 bucks at the casino?  What about all three at the same time??  There are a whole lot of verses that get thrown around to prohibit 'good Christians' from doing these things.  There was a time in my life, when as a pastor, I was expected to come up with chapter and verse to 'use on' people (what, are we talking about hammers?) to convince them they 'ought not do such things'.

  I was told that you shouldn't use 'cuss words' because Ephesians 4:29 says, "Don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths".  There you go…don't cuss.  Wait a minute!! Where is the rest of the verse????  "...but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen."  Is the verse prohibiting cussing, or is it saying, "don't use cutting humor that tends to aim at a person's worth and or say negative things that discourages others, instead say things that encourage and build other people up."    The context seems to fit the latter.  A 'good Christian' wouldn't dream of cussing someone out, but they would cut them down with sarcastic humor in a heartbeat!!  The problem with trying to come up with biblical answers to some of those rules was, I had to really, really stretch some verses to make them fit those circumstances.  I couldn't and still can't do it. 

The same people would  jump all over me for saying these things are the same ones who are the most judgmental, bitter, unloving, and angry people that I've ever met.   Now THOSE things, Jesus does have something to say about!

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."  Matthew 23:23 - 24

Jesus was talking to the religious right of the day.  These people had their lists down pat, and made sure everyone else was going to toe the line if they had to.  The were very negative, bitter, and angry people. (Sounds very familiar!)  The law of tithing was taken very seriously…even the smallest of seeds were counted out and 10% was given to God at the temple.  Sounds like real dedication, huh?  Going to that extent just to keep God's commands…Wow! They were good people, on the right side of the law, so to speak.  Notice what he calls them…

They were paying such great attention to little things God said nothing about, and ignoring things that he was very clear about.  The big stuff was being ignored.  Justice, mercy, faithfulness…THOSE things God talks about over and over again are left untouched!  "You strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel."  The funny thing about that comment is, BOTH winged insects and camel meat are not kosher to the audience he was speaking to!  Now THAT's funny!!

 There are more Christians that would get really bent out of shape if I were smoking a cigar with a beer in my hand while plugging a quarter in a slot machine and would be more than happy to let me know about it, than if I were a negative, angry, jerk who really doesn't care about people that much.  We don't have the guts to confront the jerks…they might get mad at us or something!  But we'll welcome this guy (even with a leadership position) while the others we'll  de-friend, gasp at, or avoid, because they're not being "good Christians".

So, don't be telling me what I can or can't watch on TV, don't tell me what I can or can't put in my mouth, don't tell me what kind of church I should go to, don't be telling me where I can or can't shop.  Christianity isn't a religion, it's a relationship.  Tell me what Jesus did for me, so that out of love and appreciation for what He's done for me, I'll find out what makes him happy, and what is going to harm me.  Maybe the difference between me and the camel eaters is that I'm not afraid that what I'm saying is going to create a bunch of alcoholic, chain smoking people who lose their houses at the blackjack table.  I tend to take the high road with people.

I think that Christianity is very positive, full of mercy, love, forgiveness, and hope.  Sure, there are some things we shouldn't do because they don't bring about the best that God intends for us, but there is so much more positive than negative.  If I spend more time doing the do's I won't have time to do the don'ts.  I suppose that even if camel were kosher, I probably still wouldn't try it.