It is amazing how various COG groups continue to make excuses to this day on how liberated and enlightened they are. Gerald Weston hilariously believes that he and the Living Church of God do not follow a list of "do's and don'ts" Who wants to tell him?
Beyond “Dos and Don’ts”
Jesus had to deal with the Pharisees, who kept a long list of “dos and don’ts.” Their idea was that as long as they stayed within that detailed list of their own making, they were free to get away with anything else they wanted. Yet what did Jesus say?
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:23–24).
Often, for those who take a “checklist” approach, there are bigger questions that are ignored or missed. Jesus Christ told the Pharisees that they had neglected the weightier matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. These are less easily defined. It is not that they are undefinable, but they require us to use righteous judgment. We must mature over time as we grow in understanding and Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit, so that we may make godly judgments (Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 5:14). Tithing on something is rather clear cut. If someone says you must tithe on mint and anise and cumin, these are clear guidelines—how and when and how much—and we can feel very good about doing that. But without clear “dos” or “don’ts” on a point of justice, mercy, or faith, it’s not so easy to know if we have pleased God. Yet He is plain that they are “weightier matters” that mean a great deal to Him.
And it was not only the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who sought to keep lists of extrabiblical “dos and don’ts.” With the advance of technology, today’s Orthodox Jews often seek rulings as to whether or how to adapt or adopt modern innovations into their religious lives. In 2007, the Jerusalem Post reported an attempt by the Israeli Defense Force to accommodate the “requirements” of religious soldiers:
A recent decision by the IDF top brass to institute a “kosher telephone” that minimizes Shabbat desecration is yet another sign of the growing influence of religious soldiers on the army. In recent weeks the IDF purchased hundreds of telephones developed by the Tzomet Institute, a research group that finds technology-based loopholes in Jewish law, according to the army weekly Bamachane.… Dialing and other electronic operations on the “Shabbat phone” are performed in an indirect way so that the person using the phone is not directly closing electrical circuits. Instead, an electronic eye scans the phone buttons every two seconds. If a button has been pressed, the eye activates the phone’s dialing system. This indirect way of activation is called a grama (“‘Kosher phone’ helps IDF minimize Shabbat desecration,” February 14, 2007).
In other words, punching in the same numbers is not technically dialing the phone. Imagine one Israeli solder calling another on his special “Sabbath-compliant” phone and saying, “We’ve got to lob artillery fire on those people coming across the border.” Now, that would produce a good-sized fire! Yet, it was the tiny telephone circuit that was seen as desecrating the Sabbath! You will never come to an end of “dos” and “don’ts” if that’s your approach.
We at times find the same approach, perhaps less obvious, among ourselves. Consider how often the question “Is it OK?” really means “Is it a sin?” And, again, a lot depends on the spirit in which that question is asked.
The Days of Unleavened Bread teach us a lesson about sin, and we certainly do not want to commit sin. But too often people use questions like these in an effort to find technical “cover” for doing something that, deep down, they know is probably not the most righteous course of action they could take. The Apostle Paul gives us very good advice when he points out that some things may technically be OK—may not be sin—but still not be profitable: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify” (1 Corinthians 10:23; see also 6:12).
Paul’s statement challenges Christians to aim higher—to ask harder questions. Asking “Can I technically justify my actions in the law?” is one thing. The Pharisees were very good at this. But asking questions like “Does this edify others?” and “Is it helpful to the congregation and my family?” and “Does it truly reflect God’s own mind, thinking, and desires?” is something very different. The Pharisees were not very good in this department.
Some details are clear-cut in Scripture, of course. For instance, consider the question “Is it OK to get a tattoo?” The answer is unambiguous: “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:28). But let’s look at another example that many think is similarly clear-cut, but in fact is not: “Is it OK for a man to wear an earring?” Some will argue that men are adopting a female custom if they wear earrings, so they shouldn’t do so. But what about a society in which both men and women routinely wear earrings? Proponents may go to Exodus 32, Exodus 35, Judges 8, and other chapters to point out that Israelite men at times wore earrings, seemingly without condemnation.
So, which is it? The answer to “Is it OK?” may be either “Yes” or “No,” depending on circumstances. The question, whether it is asked aloud or only internally, should not be “Can a man get away with wearing an earring?” Rather, we should keep in mind a vital admonition from Scripture: “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
Notice: “keep His commandments”— of course—but also “do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
If we begin by seeking to please God, rather than to follow a fad promoted by a culture deliberately pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior, we will naturally ask, “Is God pleased when we try to imitate the world around us” (1 John 2:15-17)? Can we not recognize who is behind the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2)? Even if we can’t find a definitive passage of Scripture that forbids earrings on men and other body piercings the way it forbids tattoos, we can put verses together and understand something of the mind of God. Consider this vital passage from Deuteronomy:
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things (Deuteronomy 12:2–4).
This passage is about destroying the symbols and altars of pagan gods. What is one of the most influential gods of our present society? Pride and the promotion of the self. Think of a simple baseball cap, with its visor on the front to keep the sun out of the wearer’s eyes. Is it OK to wear the cap sideways? What could be wrong with that? Nothing—or everything. It’s “just a style,” true. But is it about looking “cool” and projecting an attitude about the self—an attitude Satan would recognize as his own?
This kind of thinking—real, honest self-examination concerning our own motives and desires—is hard. Much harder than checking a list of “dos” and don’ts” to see if something is “OK” or “a sin.”
