don't smoke; don't chew; don't go with girls that do

Want to know how screwed up the American Church is? Check out the Conduct Statement students at Word of Life Bible Institute (WOLBI) in upstate New York have to sign. See Wolbi.com.

It's an horrific view of the past; it's like the one I agreed to when I was a student there in the early seventies. Yes, I was there. I agreed not to drink, smoke or take illegal drugs. I agreed not to play with a standard deck of cards; or to go to movies or plays; to never dance socially and to wear a one piece bathing suit (quite a sacrifice that).

Because of changing standards, hair length, facial hair, piercing and tattoos are not mentioned, but I'm sure that WOLBI will police its students, striving to have the most conservative, "Christian looking" student body possible. I forgot, they had better be listening to appropriate (insert Christian, rapless, moderate rock beat) music also, because rock music unfettered is "The Devil's Diversion."

I didn't care much about WOLBI's restrictions in 1971. I was coming out of the counter-culture, and it all meant nothing to me. I was beamed into Jesus, and everything was secondary to that.
But within a year, the spirit behind the regulations had captured me. Christian legalism is a system that establishes that Christians can, and are, to judge fellow believers by their appearance and actions to see how they match up to the testimony of Jesus. This system inevitably spills over to judgment of those not following Jesus as well.

Legalism is an awful thing. It separates people who have the same faith on the basis of choices regarding mostly unimportant issues. In that it creates confidence in those not practicing these evil actions, it takes focus away from moving to accomplish positive things for Jesus. You don't do good by policing those doing bad. You don't do good resting in the knowledge that you have prevented someone from doing what you perceive as evil.

Christianity is a quagmire much of the time, but never more than when children of the same father kill each other with words and deeds. I may have to speak very harsh things about prosperity theology and Joel Osteen, but I have no joy in doing it, and I don't feel I gain anything from that action. Joel Osteen may be a godly man - I hope he is - but prosperity theology (think, act, believe prosperous and God is required to make you that) is a complete distortion of Jesus' teaching in the New Testament. The theology is wrong - Joel Osteen may or may not be - but calling him out does nothing for the integrity of my life. That is determined by my actual life, and the things I do that advance God's love on earth.

Just so you have ammunition to judge me, Word of Life friends and alumni: I drink beer, wine and Scotch - once a week, usually; I smoked a pipe for years, now I do a couple of cigars a month; I play cards indiscriminately, but don't gamble; I would dance all night if I could do it well - I like to be close to female flesh (my wife's specifically); I have three tattoos - two are huge, in vivid color; I love movies and theatre - I have been known to watch questionable programs on TV, most recently "The L Word," and I deal with God's conviction when I give myself access to programs that distract me from the task at hand.

I care about Christians squandering their sexuality, getting DUIs, being dishonest in business transactions, abusing their spouses and children and getting easy divorces, but I don't sweat the small stuff, nor do I think I gain anything from an other's failure.

Jesus said it was right to address brothers and sisters caught in sin - quietly, meekly, with absolute humility. I see no humility in WOLBI's Conduct Statement, and very little of Jesus either.