Andre Rabe writing about the potential for law to creep back into Christian experience: I call this the new law-system, because this is an attempt to re-make the old law-system into something that is valid for today. In this new law system, the commandments and rules become principles. Instead of actual animal sacrifices, they promote personal sacrifices of time and especially money as a way to guarantee Gods favour. Even the gifts of God are reduced to benefits that can be earned through diligently following the precepts laid out by the new professional priesthood. Instead of a consciousness of union, there is a constant awareness of right and wrong. There is a constant awareness of mans contribution: have I followed the seven steps to ensure that Im in the will of God; have I applied the three steps to receiving from God correctly? To declare with Paul that it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God, seems like a mystical paradox. This new law-system is present in some of the most current and modern religious movements, yet the bondage and separation that results from it is as old as sin itself. Anything that denies man the intimate immediate and unconditional encounter with God, denies the reality of what Christ achieved, no matter how spiritual it sounds! (in: Imagine pp47-48)
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 08:05:54 +0000