How you livin'?

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been pondering what it means to be a Christian and a Seventh - day Adventist? 

So.. I have had many friends who are no longer Adventist because of some drama that has happened in the church that has caused them to either feel that they can no longer live up to the "standard" or they feel they don't want to put themselves through all the hoop-jumping that goes hand in hand with SDA culture.  

Don't get me wrong. I am a strong believer in standards that should be clearly stated. People need direction and definite guidelines, otherwise people do what the "feel" is best and we get some kind of hodgeposh organized chaos. Example, when Casual Friday was first introduced into corporate America it sounded like a GREAT idea. This gave the company the opportunity to let their employees express themselves and increase office moral. The aim was to decrease stuffy professional standoffness and encourage people to interact on a more personal level just by changing out of their suits and putting on a cute pair of jeans and those funky colored shoes you picked up but had no place to wear them...  But as usual, best made plans..... People started taking this self expression toooooo far! Hawaiian shirts, miniskirts, see through shirts men & women, athletic wear and the list goes on. People started losing their minds! Guess what happened next? Yup, someone had to set Casual Friday dress code/guidelines and now we have a new phrase in the English dictionary, "Dressy Casual". What does this new term mean? You can break from the suits and loafers and express yourself in a more causal way, but all the aforementioned items are now on the no-no list. This is a extended example of how things get out of control when everyone is left to define the rules themselves instead of providing a standard for living and doing. 

Far too often people pass along traditions as the golden standard without investigating why the standard was introduced in the first place. Imagine, if you will, the earth has someone managed to survive another 2000 years. People are still working in cubicles, unfortunately, and they still participate in Casual Fridays. The no jean rule survived all this time (and yes, so did jeans), and possible expanded to: no jeans on Friday period. People feel that it is the ultimate disrespect for a person to wear jeans to work on Friday. Why do they feel so strongly about this? Most likely the origin of Casual Friday has been forgotten, but people probably traditionally passed on the information that wear jeans to work on Friday is bad. Are jeans themselves bad? No. Is is bad to wear jeans on Friday? No! But if nobody goes back and thinks about what the people who introduced the standard were trying to accomplish the meaning is lost, and people are merely following tradition for tradition sake out of context. 

This is a really expanded analogy, but I hope you get my point. Adventist have many traditionally motivated dos and don'ts. Because I have been an SDA all my life... I have heard every argument known to man, but rarely do I hear people discuss the "rules" in context to make sense in their own lives. Instead people want to blindly justify what they have always done.. simply because this is something they have always done. On the other hand you have the people who have lived the life aka the been rebellious and have had a conversion experience. This person wholly clings to the rules and regulations regardless how trivial, simply because they feel they need to make up for the time when they didn't follow the rules or they need to strictly follow the rules so they don't slip back into their old lifestyle. I get the impression that they feel that they believe true conversion must be difficult, painful, and extreme. Yes, yes... this is an generalization and not everyone fits into this little box, but that bring me to my next point. 

I read a quote the other day, "The cross you bear is customized". Oh how true this is! The "rules" of the church should be viewed more as guidelines than absolute mandates. Don't get me wrong, there are some absolutes i.e. The Ten Commandments.  But the other so-called-rules (Biblically based or otherwise) should be analyzed in context to where they were found and the general idea that is trying to be conveyed. There is alot of grey in the Bible and I think there is a reason for this. Everyone is different and we all have had different experiences that mold and shape our personalities, weaknesses and strengths. 

 To be safe everyone should use this guide, "Nothing between my soul and my Savior". In other words, don't let anything affect your relationship with Christ, our ONLY hope of salvation! This is a very personalized statement. And our maker and designer knows that we are all different, so He left somethings  in the grey when giving us "rules". He knows what things we can handle and what things we cannot. Example, sexual relationships before marriage. Our maker knew that this extremely intimate bond is not something to be taken lightly. Our body chemistry changes to accept our partner and form a intimate connection that will last FOREVER. This is a non-negotiable guideline that was given to us in the Bible. There are many examples in the Bible and in real life where sexual relationships have impaired judgment and have cause long-term psychological damage that can not be reversed. If we would only follow what God has told us, we would be so much better off. And that’s the point.  

 However there are other so-called rules such as jewelry that has become such a buzz-words we have banished people to the far ends of the earth for violating this SDA mandate! I believe this is totally a traditionally propagated "rule" that needs to be evaluated by every person within the church. Again, I have heard all the argument and I can predict what the opposition will say before they say it, and to you I say... OUT OF CONTEXT! If we go back to the rule of thumb for determining if something is important to your Christian journey, "Nothing between my soul and my Savior", it is clear that this is a personal matter. Some people can be completely obsessed with jewelry. These people should evaluate there connection with inanimate objects and determine that their actions are preventing them from fully having an intimate relationship with their Father, Jesus Christ. These people should not wear or purchase any form of jewelry because it weakens your connection with Christ, not because your pastor can find an obscure verse in the Bible that refers to God instructing the Israelites to remove their jewelry. On the other hand if you are like me, I have lost every mood ring that I have ever purchased. I have no desire to wear jewelry, I would for a special occasion, but its just not that deep, this is not what would keep me from Jesus. Shoes.. maybe..lol

 Jesus only gives us instruction on how to make the relationship He has with us better! He wants to be my friend, my lover, my everything. He doesn't want to come second to anyone or anything. Christ is not trivial and he doesn't waste his breath giving us meaningless instruction. Everything he asks us to do is for our own good, to keep us healthy or in a focused direct connection with Him.

 I know someone is reading this and think, "What about being a stumbling block"? That’s for another blogpost soon to come. Worry about keeping and maintaining your relationship with Christ strong and healthy and the rest will follow. Be an example of how Christ is working in your life and not merely for the sake of being an example. God doesn't need you to reform people, He needs you to become like Him and all the other pieces will fall into place.

 In conclusion, let us stop referring to the Church manual as the ultimate guideline for how to be a Christian, but look to Christ example about how to cultivate and enhance our relationship with our father. Remember, "Nothing between my soul and my Savior", and let us have the attitude that our cross is customized for maximum transformation. Analyze everything to see if what you have been told in given in context and if it applies to your life. Stop doing things for tradition sake and start living life personalized to bring you ultimate happiness in Christ.