Legalism and Revisiting Baptism

Any of you who know me will know this has been a point of contention for me the last couple of years. I attend a COC that has what I believe is a narrow definition of baptism that somehow means according to them I haven't actually been baptised and so can't become a member.

The upside is that I've done a lot of reading , praying, discussing and I have a much better understanding of baptism than I did before. Rather than changing my opinion of my own baptism I think it has strengthened it and has deepened my relationship with God. It's also made me a little more understanding of others.

I was reading something last night that reminded me about the whole baptism thing. It's a book on the life and history of Jesus (I think "Jesus, the greatest life of all". Sorry I don't remember the author or the ISBN Jodie ;)). The chapter I read last night discusses the historical significance of the pharisee's and sadducee's, how they came about, why they opposed each other in a semi-symbiotic way, and their significance to the time Jesus lived in and to the message he brought.

Middo's recently written about legalism. Well this was out of control at the time Jesus lived. The Pharisee's had laws for everything. For example the sabbath had 39 laws RE what you couldn't do, and the focus had come off what the point of the day of rest was.

Luke 6:1-5 – 1Now it happened on a Sabbath, Jesus was passing through grain fields, and his
disciples were plucking and eating heads of grain by rubbing them in their hands. 2Then some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is illegal for Sabbath?” 3Answering them, Jesus said, “Have none of you read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him?” 4How he entered the house of God, and taking the bread of offering, he ate and he gave to those with him, that which was illegal to eat except for the priests alone?” 5Then he said to them, “The son of man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Man wasn't created for the sabbath, rather the sabbath was created for men. The Pharisee's had flipped this around.

Now I was thinking last night about how this related to baptism, and the belief that baptism must be by full immersion and you have to be at least 13 or older (or whichever age you pick). Now my opinion is that this is legalism. Baptism was created for man, not man for baptism. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not pointing the finger if you believe Jesus was baptised by full immersion as an adult and that's how you want it. I spose I'm saying if you judge other peoples baptism against this you are venturing into the area of legalism and judgmentalism.

Now moving on from this point, it's my opinion that Christians in general are and have been too legalistic for too long, and maybe always. I think many of us unfortunately place sin above the person (e.g. sex before/outside marriage, homosexuality, abortion, gambling, drinking, drug taking, protitution etc, etc.). Grace and salvation are offered for all, despite sin or anything else. Thank God I reckon. I hope I'm slowly getting better at living that.

A Question About Jesus

I work with Physicists. Now I am a physicist myself and we tend to be logical, calculating, reasoning types (as well as nerds for the most part ;). I'm the only Christian or even religious person in the group of us that have lunch everyday and we often have quite good discussions about religion (as well as lots of other stuff). While not being believers the others are quite open and understanding, even though they can't understand why I would believe in a god.


One asked a question today which I don't really have a good answer for yet. "Why did God need to send Jesus to suffer and die?" Simple question and I think most christians would give a simple answer. But why was Jesus' life forfeit for our sins? My friend asked "why couldn't God just forgive us?" I think it's a lot more complicated and there is much more to it that we often credit.


We both understood the importance and significance of God becoming man and providing an example to us, rather than simply sending instructions or commands. But why the requirement to die? I speculated that this could be related to Jewish practices at the time, where forgiveness or atonement was related to sacrifice. But this still doesn't explain why Jesus' death was necessary.


Any thoughts? I'd appreciate some help/insight into this one. :)

Why are people so unkind?

You may or may not have heard about the attack on the weekend at Curtin University. 3 aboriginal guys attacked a 35 year old female student and busted her up pretty badly.

"A Curtin University student bashed as she walked home early yesterday in an unprovoked attack broke her wrist trying to fight off her attacker.The 35-year-old woman, who only wanted to be known by her first name Vaisaali, suffered lacerations to her face, split lips, chipped teeth and bruising to both eyes in the unprovoked attack. She was attacked at 12.15am yesterday as she walked home after working at Curtin University. The attack is the latest in a series of bashings near the university's Bentley campus. Vaisaali, who suffers cerebral palsy, has described from her hospital bed at Royal Perth Hospital seeing three men at the university's bus station on Hayman Road as she approached it. The men spoke to her, asking how she was. She then noticed one of the men started to follow her before he suddenly started bashing her about 100m from the bus station. Vaisaali was hit on the face and head several times, falling to the ground in a semi-conscious state as her attacker rummaged through her jeans and jacket pockets, stealing a debit card and keys.“I said ‘look I have no money’ but still he kept on bashing me and checking my jacket. He bashed me to the point that I was unconscious on the ground and he kept on bashing," Vaisaali said. Her attacker only fled after officers in a passing St John ambulance saw the man standing over her and stopped to help. Vaisaali said she did not remember whether her attacker had said anything before he started bashing her. She only had a few dollars on her, a credit card and a mobile phone."I was really lucky that the ambulance came and he ran off. I was wearing black so no one would have noticed me lying on the path."She broke her wrist trying to defend herself. “I just thought ‘he’s bashing me for money so just give it to him but I had no money. I was trying to save my mobile in case if I’m in trouble afterwards and I needed to call somebody.”Vaisaali believes only one of the three men attacked her.The attack has left her struggling to sleep and in terrible pain as she recovers in hospital.She has called for better security at the university, particularly on the student campus and bus station.Police are today appealing for witnesses to the attack. The three men are described as dark skinned males. One wore a black and grey hooded jumper and blue jeans.Police have obtained security footage from the bus station and hope the footage will help identify the men.A WA police spokesman said that the latest attack could be linked to a series of attacks near the university.There have been five similar attacks over the past week at the university surrounds and streets. Police are appealing for public help with police operations underway around the university this week.Any information to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."

I happen to know this lady from Uni as a fellow post grad student. She is a lovely, quiet, unassuming person, and is of small build and has cerebal palsy. There is no need to hit her if you wanted to take her stuff. There is absolutely nothing she could do to defend herself and she wouldn't even be able to escape. Hurting her is so senseless and needless.

The whole thing is very sad. That people are capable of such heartless and needlessly destructive behaviour and that she now has to overcome this abuse.

Who do you listen to?

I went and saw my Dad preach today. It was great. It was the first time he's done it in a while. It's also the first time I've been back to an Anglican Church for a few years. I really enjoyed it. The guys that wrote the prayer book really did a great job. I still remember many of the prayers/creed/etc but they really stirred up a lot of emotion in me.

Plus I enjoyed the sermon. Dad used the old T, new T and gospel readings and tied them in a practical and interesting way. I liked it especially cause I've been a little starved for good sermons at my current Church recently. Plus he's my dad so I'm a little biased.

He asked who do you listen to? Family, friends, the media, etc were some of the responses. We are surrounded by voices, all trying to move us in different directions. Who do we listen to? As christians we would say Jesus and his teachings through the bible. But how can we trust that voice over others? Once again he asked for examples and they could be split up into 2 categories - personal experience and the apostolic witness or the witness of history (i.e. the bible).

Who do you listen to? And why? I think I listen to Jesus first and I spose Gandhi, whose also been a big influence on me. My family as well have always been a big influence.

There's lots more that I'd love to relate but I can't do any of it justice. It tied in well with much of what I've been contemplating over the last few months. I've resolved to visit an anglican Church regularly, maybe monthly I think. I also did the music for them which was good fun. It was all hymns and older songs, and one darling lady came up afterwards and said she loved my playing and singing, even though she'd never really liked the guitar before. :)

Grace..... what does it mean?

What does the grace of God mean to you?

I was reading a blog earlier and discussion came up on Karma and Grace. Now people are a little funny in that despite the world around us, which really isn't "fair" we have this tendency to think there should be some sort of cosmic justice. People who do bad things will get punished and visa versa. I think unfortunately many christians don't let go of this "Karma" theology but incorporate it into their christianity. What I mean by that is that if something bad happens to someone good, well they'll get payback through eternal bliss, whereas bad people are going to get eternal smackdown in hell. Surely that's just another form of Karma??

Anyways, the concept of grace is pretty important to christianity. Someone facetiously/argumentatively asked on this other blog "well could Hilter be in heaven, if you believe this whole grace thing?"

Now I think the idea of grace is important practically for living a happy and fulfilling life. Practicing graceousness towards others and also to ourselves can be very freeing and is a healthy way to live.

I've got some questions that I'll look up but feel free give your 2 bobs worth ;)

• Is grace covered much in the new testament? Is it more a NT concept?
• Do any other religions have a similar grace concept?
• Is there actually a biblical basis to "christian Karma" - maybe some OT verses?
• Does forgiveness require grace?
• What's the relationship between grace and love?
• What is grace?

I read that grace is getting what you don't deserve. That's a bit simplistic I think but interesting.

The path to happiness.....

I have this notion that there are a lot of people about who don't really think about the important things. It's too easy to get caught up "living", getting up going to work, playing sport, spending time with family, etc, and not think about why and how we do the things we do. And I think that's important.

Everyone wants to be happy. But how? Apparently having money, being skinny and being famous means you're a success. At least that's what our society raises up as success. But are you happy if you're a success??

Heck no. Just look at all the hollywood stars in rehab. Check out the successful AFL stars who's lives fall apart after finishing footy. Success and happiness aren't mutually inclusive. That doesn't mean you can't be successful and happy. But how do you go about being successful and happy?

I unfortunately don't have the answers. However, I am personally starting to get there. Here are some of my thoughts for being happy. Keep in mind this is from my life.

1. Take Responsibility For What You Can Control.... Yourself - I used to feel like a victim. In relationships, work, etc. Things were out of my control. I wasn't taking responsibility for me, the way I felt and acted. My mood, happiness, etc was dictated to me by others and events around me. I now take responsibility for what I can control - me, the way I act and feel. I have a sad feeling that there are plenty of people out in the world trapped by their inability to accept responsibility for themselves, like I was. If you are unhappy in a relationship, take responsibility for it. Either end the relationship or accept responsibility for doing something about it. The same holds if you are unhappy at work.

2. Don't Take Responsibility for Things You Can't Control - I also used to take responsibility for other people :). I'd feel it was my responsibility to make them better, to fix them. Pretty stupid. It was very stressful and a source of constant disappointment and unhappiness. I think taking responsibility for other people is like trying to control the weather or make a living off of gambling - a scary roller coaster ride ;). Now not taking responsibility for others doesn't mean not being caring and loving. In fact I think it often takes more love not to take responsibility for others.

3. Deal with the Bad and be Thankful for the Good - recently I've been more aware and thankful for all the good things in my life. I live in a great country, have a great job, lots of great friends, get to do lots of things I enjoy, etc. Bad things and stress still creep into my life (and lets face it unless you're dead they are going to) but even when I'm having a poo time, I am aware of how much is good. I think it helps me to be more realistic, to not focus on the bad things, to deal with them and move on. It means they don't drag you down. And who wants that?

4. Put Yourself First - After All You're Number One - This may sound a bit selfish, but I'm really beginning to think this is one of the most important things for people to accept. And I don't mean "stuff everyone else and get what you can because you're better than everyone else". I think we have to accept that we are human and we need to look after ourselves as a first priority. If you are heading towards self improvement and taking care of yourself it makes you much better at being able to help, care for and look after other people in a healthy and positive way. I used to prioritise looking after other people in my relationships (partly because I had insecurity issues). It isn't sustainable or realistic. If anyone ever tells you love is about sacrifice, or relationships are all about giving, etc, it's a lie. This is in my opinion over romanticised rubbish. ;) Putting yourself first doesn't mean always doing what you want, but what is best for you. There's a big difference.

5. Communicating with Yourself and Others - effective and honest communication is crucial for relationships. It's also crucial I think to communicate with yourself. I mean to think about what you want, how you feel, etc. Self reflection, prayer, or whatever you want to call it is crucial to self awareness, personal happiness and development.

All the above are things I am currently "living" to varying degrees of success. They are all pretty simple (at least to write or tell others about, if not live yourself sometimes) and they are all also inter-related. I haven't referred at all to God or religion yet, because I don't believe God or religion are pre-requisits for happiness. I know plenty of unhappy christians and plenty of happy athiests. Personally though I have found my spirituality to be important in my ongoing journey towards happiness.

How do you go about being happy?