"Just being right about a few things doesn't make you a good person."
Special advance release of I Was A Teenage Pharisee!
Available at:http://www.lulu.com/…/pap…/i-was-a-teenage-pharisee/16685086
Harold says "This book is you getting to the bottom of the truth of what God isn't."
And it's not just my story anymore. This book features people from a number of different Brethren (and a few other) backgrounds comparing their upbringings. Gospel Hall Brethren, Needed Truth Brethren, Renton Brethren, Tunbridge Wells Brethren, and even the infamous Taylor-Hales Brethren. Fond memories. Funny memories. Heart-breaking memories.
A Christian upbringing is supposed to be a really wonderful thing. So what goes wrong? Children are raised in an environment which tells them weekly that God loves them and Jesus died for them. Somehow what gets imprinted on their hearts is shame, fear and enslavement to a lifelong burden. The obligation to satisfy every expectation of church people (living and dead) as to how their lives "look" and what message they send.
Why does a simple message about rejoicing in a loving God seem to require a complicated religious system to convey it? One which requires people to sacrifice all of the things that would give them the most joy, upon the dark altar of a Shame god who apparently delights in that? Whose fun is somehow spoiled if we have any at all? How does "be careful for (about) nothing" turn into "worry all the time, about everything"?
Mainly, this tome is about legalism. The letter of the law. What was wrong with the Pharisees. Needing to "be right" but not being a good person despite all of that focus upon correctness. Why is legalism so appealing? Why do
legalistic people stay, while the more open, loving people leave, whenever Christians
throw down? Why is there such a correlation between people who abuse others (particularly children) and the same people seeking and being given positions of authority? What is the extent of the damage done by legalism? What fuels it and what beats it? Why can't people who bear the marks of a legalistic upbringing simply "move past" it and "put it behind them"?
Most importantly, how do you repent of being a teenage Pharisee? How do you stop the cycle, and become neither the kind of person who used to smack you with the legalism stick when you were younger, nor the predicted reprobate prodigal son they warned you you'd become? How do you move beyond all that and find God, yourself, and freedom?
It's serious stuff, but also, there's a lot of humour in all this. Because there's got to be, right?
Most importantly, how do you repent of being a teenage Pharisee? How do you stop the cycle, and become neither the kind of person who used to smack you with the legalism stick when you were younger, nor the predicted reprobate prodigal son they warned you you'd become? How do you move beyond all that and find God, yourself, and freedom?
It's serious stuff, but also, there's a lot of humour in all this. Because there's got to be, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment