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Greetings!
Welcome to the first issue of The Disentangler,
Ill-Legalism.com's regular newsletter. Our goal is to
help "recovering legalists" find a way to enjoy the liberty
of living in the Grace of Jesus without drowning themselves
in the deep end of anarchy. We are not here to discuss
everything that is wrong with "the church" or to rail
against those who do things differently from us. Instead we
are dedicated to finding positive, constructive ways to
engage the culture - Christian and secular - with the good
news of God's grace. Explore this issue and let us know what
you think.
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First Person: Imperfection and Ill-Legalism |
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Rose Marie Smith from the Ill-legalism Story
group shares this:
I don’t think I have been bitter...just disheartened
by the callousness that I felt from people that I
thought would be sensitive and understanding when my
life was at a very difficult stage. Sadly, I believe
now that my experiences aren’t that unique.
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Featured Book Review - Telling Secrets |
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Fans of Brian McLaren will find a lot to love
about his latest book, The Secret Message of Jesus.
Critics of Brian McLaren will find a lot to condemn
about his latest book, The Secret Message of Jesus.
McLaren seems to elicit such polarized response
whenever he puts pen to paper and his latest
offering is no exception. Polemicists on either side
of the divide between Evangelicals and Emergents
have plenty of ammunition now that McLaren has
clarified much of the doctrinal ambiguity in his
previous books. To the satisfaction of some and
chagrin of others, he has finally taken a firm
position on a number of issues that were previously
open to discussion...
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Gamaliel's Desk - Recent Posts |
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Who is Gamaliel?
Pastor Gamaliel, the spiritual leader of the
First Pharisee Church, is widely respected in
the
Pharisee
denomination for his outspoken, hard-hitting
commentaries on what is wrong with society at large
and
Christianity in particular. A graduate of Grace
Pharisee Bible College, pastor Gamaliel has been
involved in pursuing spiritual excellence his entire
ministerial career. While his congregation, and
indeed his denomination, is small, thanks to the
power of the Internet, Gamaliel’s discourses,
diatribes and disputes can be read by all those in
need of spiritual direction. Eschewing political
correctness and promoting candor and confrontation,
Gamaliel dispenses sage wisdom for anyone who wants
to know exactly what it takes to be a spiritual
Christian. For all others too weak or carnal to
pursue the disciplined life of a dedicated disciple
of legalistic (see
Legalism) conformity to external standards of
conduct, Gamaliel serves as a warning.
"Even though I was raised in a
Pharisee church by Pharisee parents,
graduated from a Pharisee Christian school, went
to a Pharisee Bible College and have only
attended Pharisee churches all my life, my
beliefs are not influenced one bit by my
upbringing or culture. They are strictly a
product of sound Biblical
exegesis and applied study. This is because
"no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation" and Pharisee churches take a
high view of the
Bible. While our beliefs may be unique to
the
Pharisee church, it is because we are the
only ones who rightly divide the Word of Truth.
How do I know this to be true? It is because I
only study Pharisee theologians and read
Pharisee commentators."
Following are some recent selections from his blog.
To read them in their entirity, visit
Gamaliel's Desk.
Clothesline Conformity
In all of the preachers conferences I have attended,
I find the same burning questions. "What are we
doing wrong? Why do so many of our preachers and
pastors look, act and talk like the world? How can
it be that preachers, who are supposed to be set
apart for God and sheltered from worldly influence
are indistinguishable in language, appearance and
conduct from the world?"
At every single conference, I saw preachers – yes,
preachers! – dressing just like the world. It was
abominable. Why, this group of preachers was
indistinguishable from any group of businessmen,
politicians or lawyers. Every last one of them was
dressed in a suit and looked fit to join the ranks
of greedy robber barons, crooked politicians or
lying lawyers. We could have droped the whole lot of
them down in a joint session of congress or a
meeting of the Trial Lawyers Association and we
couldn't tell who was a man of God and who was a
worldling, based solely on appearance.
Legalistic Hypocrites and Hypocritical Legalists
I don't know how many times I have been called a
legalist simply because I believe in setting
standards of decency and decorum for church
attendees and workers. I am fed up with these
slanderous and hypocritical accusations. Let me
state for the record that I do not have a problem
with legalism because I am not a legalist. And
people who accuse me of such are hypocrites because
they want to apply their standard of legalism to my
expression of the Christian faith. What they really
object to is how I tell them they are wrong for
holding to the error of their ways, but they have no
objection to telling me that I am wrong. If this is
not the height of hypocrisy, I don't know what is.
Truth be told, I never make personal, slanderous
accusations about them. I only point out the Truth
of God's Word, while they levy ad hominem attacks
against me of a very personal nature even to the
point of questioning my very salvation. Of course,
most of my critics are unsaved to begin with, but if
they were, I would never question their personal
relationship to God as they do mine...
Autobiographical Moral Norms
People ask me why I am so hard on rock music and why
I make such a big deal about the dangers of
contemporary Christian music. Let me share my
testimony and you will see why. During my 20's God
saved me by his marvelous grace out of the rock &
roll culture. I was as addicted to the music as I
was addicted to the drugs, the sex, the lifestyle
and the wantonness. The life that I lived then was a
life of profligacy, debauchery and shame and I thank
God that he had saved me out of it...
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From Bad News Religion: |
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By Greg Albrecht
"Legalism often adorns itself in a Christian
uniform, and as a part of this disguise it talks the
talk, paying lip service to God's grace." (41)
"Preaching and teaching that judges Christians
solely upon external actions almost inevitably leads
to manipulation for the purpose of creating guilt
and shame." (43)
"Because of the lies of legalism many of its
followers never realize that religious externalism
is an illusion, a spiritual mirage, the religious
equivalent of the Emperor's new clothes." (54)
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What is Legalism?
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When we talk about legalism, we often find ourselves
in discussion about what the term actually means.
The most common definition I've found for legalism
is, "Anyone who is stricter than I am." This
definition may apply in some circumstances but it is
decidedly unhelpful when talking about legalism in
general.
Pastor Drew Walther of
Johnstown Independent Baptist Church (OH)
recently shed some light on Colossians 2:8, "Beware
lest any man spoil you though philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." He
summarized the topic with these points:
• Legalism is something that we think other people
suffer from, but we don't have the problem ourselves
- when in fact we often do...
• Legalism compares ourselves to others...
Find out more.... |
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