postlaestadianrevival

Sometimes I meet a family who has never been exposed to the OALC but there is something about them that reminds me so much of the culture there that I find it amazing that there is no connection. I think there is a spirit of legalism--it is something I can sense but not quite get my finger on it.

I am trying to figure it out. Is it putting too much emphasis on pleasing God by how we live? Do we think we can please God by our lifestyle?

One of the odd things I noticed after leaving the OALC is that I no longer worried about what to wear to church. The focus on clothing for women seemed to give me some sort of complex. I didn't worry about propriety of my dress, it seemed important to dress well. To look attractive.That others approve. I could wear the same ugly outfit for six Sundays straight at my current church and I don't think anyone would even notice. That is rather liberating.

It was as if the emphasis on outer appearance had the unintended side effect of making me "vain" about what I wore.

Another thing I have observed is that families that tend to shelter their children through legalism have children who grow up and seem to have more trouble with sin than those with less rigid upbringing.

It is as if by imposing a righteousness from the outside they think can control the sin nature. It is an old lie, one the pharisees of Jesus' day were deceived by and one a great many since that time have been misled by as well.

The Righteousness of CHRIST. It is the only righteousness we can have.

We respond by trying to please God by "looking Christian" or perhaps by some sort of action, or lifestyle choice like home schooling, or communal living, that we imagine that God will like. But in fact, He may not like it at all when we behave as if we think we could please him by our actions, clothing or lifestyle.

BECAUSE THESE THINGS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS!

It is a counterfeit.

I don't see anything wrong with home schooling or going to a private church-sanctioned school. I was sent to a private church school for a few years and it did me good. I know of others who homeschool their children. When considering the state of affairs in the public schools it is no surprise people are opting for other education options. It isn't leagalism as far as I'm concerned. There is a spirit of legalism, no doubt, but it is based on man's impositions of do's and don'ts, the key word being imposition, so I see nothing wrong with homeschooling but I wouldn't make it a requisite to true spirituality or test of mutual Christian fellowship. Three or four verses in the new testament discuss some aspects of men's and women's appearance(modesty in dress and hair without adorning of gold jewels and costly array), but how the dress codes of many churches go far beyond these simple admonitions in the Bible, one would think half the new testament tells us how long the hair should be, if pants are appropriate or not, if make-up is acceptable, etc etc. The righteousness which comes by faith is most important. God will write his law on our hearts and we can take good comfort in that. In fact it is His promise. God deals with us on an individual basis and we are each at different places in our relationship with him. If there isn't a "thus saith the Lord" then it is something that need not be imposed on all believers by force and for a spiritual test of one's salvation or relationship with God. It cannot be overemphasized the place of faith and the righteousness by faith because from faith flow good works, mercy, love, the fruits of the Spirit a desire to honor God's word and live accordingly and fruit just doesn't appear mature immediately. There is pruning and nourishing to take place. Many churches try to make the tree(the believer) have mature fruit immediately thus drowning the tree or "poisoning" it with too much fertilizer. The OALC isn't the only church plagued by human-based righteousness. I was raised pentecostal and the pentecostal movement is divided over issues like this. Some pentecostals are far too liberal, others are far too legalist(follow their code for holiness or else lose salvation, sound familiar?)

Hi Sydney!
Glad to see you are back. It is hard to know how to help people like that. I have recently met a person who is even legalistic about not being legalistic!

What do you say? Go look in the mirror?

Seems hopeless!

Good words, Sydney, about legalism. Yes, I think many people have more trouble or get into more trouble when all kinds of rules are made up and given to the people. It is a law-minded righteousness. Fear based and law based theology is quite popular amazingly. I guess it gives the followers a sense of community or security. Sadly the followers get attention if they disobey, and that is not a healthy way to get attention(maybe that is what they want also).

When does our behavior become legalistic? The bible tells us to be holy.
It is my opinion (but I am wide open to instruction on this point) is that we are saved by grace and we are also sanctified by grace. We can't wake up one day and decide to be a better Christian and lay out a schedule of bible study prayer and whatever else we think might make us a better Christian.

We can't ever be any better than the moment we first believed because the righteousness we received is Christ's righteousness. It is perfect.Now the Spirit that we received when we were born again teaches us and as we obey the promptings of the Spirit we begin to show characteristics of Christ. I believe that living in obedience to the Holy Spirit is the truest confession of faith in Him. It makes me think of the old quote from I believe, St. Francis of Assisi "Speak the gospel always. If necessary use words."

Legalism I think is more concerned with how others perceive us. By the last year of my attendance of the OALC I was pretty hypocritical. I knew what to wear and how to look meek and demure and generally not attract too much attention. I had the proper appearance, but my heart was not into the teaching and the social mess that surrounded it all.

Have you had a chance to read Galations 5:6 in The Message Bible I am a bit uneasy about that particular bible version but I did think its rendering of Galations 5:6 was excellent.

4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.

Welcome to our forum djohn06. I have read your post before but didn't reply because I couldn't think of anything helpful to say. I am the parent of teen aged girls and I don't want them to develop strong emotional attachments until they are older. Contrary to popular belief, getting your heart broken 2 or 3 times before you commit to a life partner is not particularly pleasant or good for your emotional well-being.

Therefore, I would not wish my daughter or son to have a secret relationship that they know I don't approve of. And it would be wrong to encourage a minor to go against his or her parents wishes. You will never win any parent's trust that way. Secrets have a way of coming out, usually when they will humiliate you the most.

So my counsel to you is to keep things upfront. It is better to seek God and proceed with integrity as He leads. Sometimes the things we think we want the most are not the the best things which God has in mind for us.

I wish you the best and hope to hear from you again.