For all of my life, and well before, the church in America has often defined itself by listing what Christians can't do or shouldn't do. I grew up and served most of my adult life in a denomination that had an impressive set of written and unwritten rules by which to live. All the while they proclaimed that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. But that wasn't how it worked day to day.
What was really communicated was that you had to have a right understanding of baptism or your salvation wasn't certain. You had to properly understand communion or you were taking it to your own damnation. It was a denomination steeped in education, which is great, unless people start to believe that you have to understand the Bible properly in order to be saved...which many people came to believe. Throughout the church we have somehow communicated that there is a personal performance component to salvation.
"Don't drink, don't dance, don't go to movies, don't play cards, don't, don't, don't and if you do, God will not be happy with you."
Translation - God is a stern parent constantly looking to catch you with your hand in the cookie jar and making sure you eat your broccoli. As I began to really read the Bible and ask lots of questions the book of Romans became more and more precious to me. Ultimately Romans 8:1 rose up as my most favorite verse. "For there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
How often is that message communicated in church? No condemnation. Or as Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you."
What do you think might happen to a church that loves people into a relationship with Jesus proclaiming forgiveness of sins, freedom from oppression, sight for the blind, release for the captives, the abundance of the Lord's favor and the assurance that when you are in a relationship with Jesus THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION? I think it would shock people who grew up in churches proclaiming "There is now 'NO'"!
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