Guidelines for Christian Behavior

We can divide the commandments in the Old Testament (OT) into three types:
Cultural and Civic -- for the OT Israelite culture, like commands on how to divide the land among the tribes.
Ceremonial -- concerning the Israelites' worship.
Moral -- for all cultures, at all times, like the commandment that husbands stay with their wives (Genesis 2:24, repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:5). Moral commandments, stated first in the OT, are also found in the New Testament (NT).
We can't always tell which type of command was meant. The church generally does not hold that the first two types of commandments are binding on Christians. At the Jerusalem conference, when some Jews felt that gentile Christians must obey the ceremonial law, the leaders wrote: Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: 29a that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality At least one of these prohibitions is not usually taken as binding by most Christians anymore, (eating blood) and at least one wasn’t always followed in NT times: 1 Corinthians 8:8 But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. 9 But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. The Acts 15 statement was about the ceremonial law. It does not undo God's moral laws.

Some questions to ask ourselves before starting a new activity or relationship, or making a significant purchase:
1) Is it consistent with the Bible? Especially Mark 12:29b ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
2) Would it put my spiritual health at risk? Physical health is also important.
3) How will it affect other people? Will this drive others away from Christ, or attract them to Him? (See Romans 14:1-15:8)
4) Why am I considering this? Be careful to do nothing because of pride.
5) Has God given me a personal conviction against this (or for it)? If so, I'd better abide by that conviction. (Convictions are personal – not everyone will agree.)
6) Have I promised not to do this (or to do it)? Promises, including church vows, and marriage vows, should be kept.
7) How much will it cost me? (In money, time, effort and emotionally)

The questions above were revised on July 1, 2015

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by Gilbert K. Chesteron

To show that a faith or a philosophy is true from every standpoint would be too big an undertaking even for a much bigger book than this; it is necessary to follow one path of argument; and this is the path that I here propose to follow. I wish to set forth my faith as particularly answering this double spiritual need, the need for that mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar which Christendom has rightly named romance. For the very word "romance" has in it the mystery and ancient meaning of Rome. Any one setting out to dispute anything ought always to begin by saying what he does not dispute. Beyond stating what he proposes to prove he should always state what he does not propose to prove. The thing I do not propose to prove, the thing I propose to take as common ground between myself and any average reader, is this desirability of an active and imaginative life, picturesque and full of a poetical curiosity, a life such as western man at any rate always seems to have desired. If a man says that extinction is better than existence or blank existence better than variety and adventure, then he is not one of the ordinary people to whom I am talking. If a man prefers nothing I can give him nothing. But nearly all people I have ever met in this western society in which I live would agree to the general proposition that we need this life of practical romance; the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable. It is THIS achievement of my creed that I shall chiefly pursue in these pages.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg.
 
Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

Being a Christian and believing in the Bible

I received this comment, on one of my posts, recently:


Can a person consider a true believer if he believes only the modified version of the scripture? Should he consider himself to be a true believer if he believes on the selective part of the scripture? Should he consider himself to be a true believer if he mentions certain part of the Bible is not genuinely from God or is not applicable to him? Should he consider himself to believe in God and Jesus if he changes the God’s words to suit his own intention? If he should not be considered as truly believing in the scripture when he changes the meaning of the scripture to suit his intention, how he could be saved then. Salvation is through our faith in God and Jesus.

I hope God would save them.

What if God do not treat them to have genuine faith in Jesus, their salvation is questionable.

Good questions, and I'll try to deal with them, although I'm not an expert in such matters. (The questioner's first language is not English, but I believe what he asked is quite understandable. I didn't want to change what he said.)

First, we aren't redeemed by having correct doctrine. No one, including me, is correct on all points. The early church had disagreements about various matters, especially how to treat Gentiles, but, it is generally agreed, most or all of the disputants were, and still are, after their deaths, redeemed. We are redeemed by belief in the sacrifice of Christ, the sinless Son of God, for our sin, and in His resurrection, and acceptance of Christ as Lord. We don't have to have every jot and tittle of doctrine right. Christians who are believers, and part of Christ's Kingdom, disagree about many things, such as church government, eternal security, ordination of women, the mode of baptism, end times, the meaning of communion, speaking in tongues.

Second, it is true that there are limits to how far we can go in our belief, as I understand the Bible. It's up to God to judge, not me, of course, but if our beliefs don't conform to the bold statement in the previous paragraph, we are in spiritual danger. Deliberately changing the meaning of scripture, or leaving part of it out for that reason, or adding to the scripture to suit one's fancy, is a mistake, a sin, and puts one in spiritual danger. It doesn't matter how one "consider[s] himself." How God considers us is what does matter. Followers of Christ should continue to read, pray over, and think about God's revelation in the Bible, and read and listen to the teaching of others. As we do so, some of our peripheral beliefs will probably change.

Third, interpretation of scripture is a tricky business. If you want examples, see my book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. I'll summarize very briefly. The Bible was written for all time, but it was also written, usually, so that the people of Bible times could understand it, in their culture. For example, Christ wasn't in the tomb for three days, even though the Bible literally says He was -- He was placed in the grave on Friday afternoon or evening, and had arisen by Sunday morning. That culture used an expression for time differently than we do. For another example, the Bible was written with the understanding of science of that day -- bacteria aren't mentioned, and the solar system and the universe are assumed to have a fixed earth at their center. Bacteria weren't known, and it was assumed that the universe was geocentric. We should remain suitably humble about what we personally believe -- we may not be interpreting scripture as God meant for it to be interpreted. It wasn't all meant to be taken literally. See my book for more on this.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to the commenter for the questions.