On Boundaries

We really do not like them. "Thou shalt do this! Thou shalt not do that! You must obey the traffic lights. You must pay your taxes. You must not covet your neighbor's wife. You must not kill (unborn babies either). You must not work on Sabbath but keep that day holy for the Lord. "

They make our lives narrow, don't they? I can't do what I want on Sunday, for example can't make money, because some ancient law scribbled on some stone tablet by God (?) and later copied by Moses (?) says so.

For the Christian, they do widen the perspectives.

Is that because all Christians are so narrow-minded that even God's laws or the commandments of the Church seen wide in comparison?

Not at all. Christians are not that narrow. They are smart enough to explain the commandments and laws as they find convenient. But what do these smart Christians achieve by that?

When the smart Christian decides to "widen" the meaning of the law by being modern or culturally appropriate, what happens is, he in fact establishes the new boundaries of his own freedom instead of the ancient freedom of God's boundaries. And what kind of freedom is this new one created by the smart Christian?

It does look like freedom most of the time. Thou shall not divorce, unless .... (unless you are King Henry VIII and badly need a male heir).
Thou shall not work on Sundays but go to church unless... (you live in a pagan country where the clients want you to work on Sunday, and you are panicking anyway from the economic downturn).

This is of course very understandable. You also may believe that God loves you so much that He gave this commandment to make sure you have one day for rest and recreation, which include churchgoing and a bit of prayer. So you either decide that your health is just fine, or accept the idea and do that on a Tuesday instead when most Mongolians do not want to do any business anyway, because it is a "bad day." (But then of course you don't go to church on Tuesday, or do you?)

Well, when God gave the Ten Commandments, he gave them not because he wanted the Jews to have a day of recreation, but to separate them from everyone else, and make sure that at least every seventh day they think of Him and talk to Him and listen to Him. Otherwise they would not have done that. Would have forgotten.

And is there anything more painful for a lover than when his beloved would not talk to him or even think of him for weeks?

So guess what. When you work on the Sunday instead of going to church you do not necessarily commit a grave sin if you sanctify Tuesday instead. Or Wednesday. But then when another, non-superstitious client wants you to work on Tuesday or Wednesday, you immediately forget that your Sabbath is on Tuesday, you revert it to Sunday, and happily go out to make some more business on Tuesday, don't you?

Yes, you are making business, but fail to make witness, fail to be a testimony of God's love and your own faith. Nobody knows you are a Christian. Even if they know that you are a Christian, because you once mentioned it, they think Christians are just like everyone else, because, let us face it, you ARE like everyone else, who for example work on Sundays. Or Tuesdays.

SO why did I start it with boundaries? I have some news for you. By explaining away God's boundaries, and choosing your own freedom, you simply choose another set of boundaries... your own. And if you compare yourself with God, your finiteness with God's infiniteness, guess which which will be narrower.... Your freedom or God's limits?

You know why? Because the Lord can "set you on a wide plain," and in fact He would like to do that, if only you kept His commandments. He will choose a much better client for you, and bless your incomes with a bigger business, one who accepts that you keep the Sabbath, if only you accept His blessing.

He will give you strength, money and a bigger apartment if only you accept all the babies he wants to give you, if only you accept them all and not force your wife to practice contraception...

But what do you choose? You may choose your own freedom created by your little, finite mind, or God's boundaries, created by His infinite love. It is up to you.

But then everything is related, is it not? Do you think your decision affects only you? Bad news. It affects everyone under your authority, your wife, your children, your employees, your clients, your future grandchildren and who knows how many generations?

You already eliminated so many generations of sons and daughters from your own family just by not allowing them to be conceived. So they are not and will not be. By refusing to accept the boundaries of God you hold your own umbrella above your children and wife and everyone who knows you to keep them safe. They all stay under your umbrella. You keep them safe. And dry. And unblessed.