No 23

F) Am I a legalist, a Pharisee?

When a person becomes a born-again Christian, he or she receives a new life in Jesus Christ and depending from when and where this person came from will largely determine his or her convictions. A conviction is a “firm belief or the state of being convinced”. So, when a person has convictions, this is good…? Not necessarily; here’s why. A Christian’s conviction must be based on Biblical truth, not on his or her beliefs. A person can become legalistic when he or she wants to impose their convictions on people in their entourage; oftentimes, in begins in the family. Some new Christians will get rid of their sound system and all the music in the house saying it’s from the devil or will force family members to remain at the table for a long Bible reading; you know what I’m talking about. A person can also impose harsh dress codes and forbid certain types of clothing based on appearance (what will other people think?). Once an American Christian criticized a French person for drinking wine and smoking to which the French Christian said in response that they could not understand why Americans wore high heels and put make-up on their faces; the French knew that those things were immoral. One cannot oblige someone else to adhere to regulations that they don’t have a conviction for. The Bible says in Romans 14 “One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.” (v5) and also “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.” (v23). In other words, don’t force someone to do something that is marginal at best and think less of that person if they do not go along with your conviction. There are, of course many things that are not marginal and the Holy Spirit is the one that does the convincing, not us.