Don’t run with scissors. Play nice. Don’t throw rocks. Eat your vegetables.  Don’t talk back! Sin was simple back in kindergarten, and so was expiation of that sin. Break a rule, you get a whoopin’. Very simple.

By my teenage years we added Don’t Do Drugs. Of course back then, in the Sixties, only the hippies and un-American types did drugs . . .or so I was told.

Becoming a “Church People”

I ran across many kinds of church people as I grew older. Many had an enhanced list of things that were bad — and things that were also bad.  This was not ALL church people, but a lot of church people.  I remember when I first learned that dancing was a no-no and that things as playing cards, gambling, movies, rock music, and beer greatly displeased God. This was all very disconcerting because at age 18 I liked all that stuff – a lot!

After graduating from college I was swooped up by the grace and mercy of God. I decided that I needed to become one of those church people. In the process, I started to try to differentiate between church offenses, cultural taboos, morals, preferences, bad habits, social gaffs, and what God actually views as SIN. It can get confusing.

I read my Bible daily. I studied the Scriptures and prayed for insight. Mostly, I devoured the words of Jesus Christ. The beauty of God’s love and the antidote for sin was simple. A theme emerges in Scripture, Christ died for our sins, and arose from the dead for that we might have life – FREEDOM.

Meanwhile I sat in Sunday School classes, listened to sermons and at first grew my own long list of what I call church people sins. Continue reading My Addiction – Pride →