Y’all say papi whatever is wrong but first she apologized for her language and now she’s talking grace and mercy and WARNING everyone here of their worldliness. Idols everywhere in entertainment and it’s plainly seen here, Missy fell away because she won’t let go of her idols and everyone else refuses to listen and calls her a legalistic.
Ok. I prayed and mulled over whether I should answer this or delete it. I've already interacted a few times with Papirouge, and on the basis of Titus 3:9-10, I elected to stop any further discourse with her. But for the sake of publicly correcting the errors that I keep seeing repeated here that are causing so much trouble for so many young Christians, in the spirit of Paul's letter to the Galatians, I feel like I need to answer. I was also planning to write a single long post refuting the legalist nonsense surrounding Christian use of entertainment that I could refer people to when I'm asked about this in the future, so this reply will serve that function as well.
First, as an aside, Missy hasn't fallen away. I'm persuaded that she's still in Christ, and always will be. Missy has some severe mental / emotional challenges that she's dealing with, and it's been really hard for her. She's had a rough road up to now. But make no mistake, God isn't going to leave her where she is. She's going to come out of it, and on the other side, she'll be better off, and God will get the glory.
Now on to the heart of the matter: legalism.
The first Church council was held in Jerusalem about 15 years or so after Jesus ascended. There was a disagreement in the church concerning the Law of Moses. Certain Jewish Christians who had been Pharisees were perfectly willing to welcome Gentiles into the Church, but they insisted that the Gentiles be circumcised and obey all of the Law of Moses. Other Jewish Christians, especially the Apostle Paul, argued that salvation was enabled by God's grace, and was secured through faith; circumcision and keeping the Law was not required for anyone to be saved. The council, led by the Holy Spirit, decided in favor of Paul's position.
Later, some of the Christians who disagreed with the council's decision continued to teach Gentiles that they had to keep the Law in order to be saved. These Christians (called "Judaizers"), reached a church in Galatia where their message was accepted by the fledgling Christians there, prompting Paul to write his letter to the Galatians. In that letter (as well as in his other writings), Paul destroyed the notion that Christians were saved by adherence to outside laws and rituals rather than by faith:
"O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.""
Paul's point here is that good works can't save a person, a point he makes explicitly in Ephesians 2 when he says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Salvation is not the result of outward religious practices; it is a matter of the heart.
Today, the very same attitude the Judaizers had in Paul's time is alive and well in the Church. There are groups within the Church that are actively advocating for keeping the Law of Moses as Christians. But there's also a slightly less obvious form of the same spirit in the Church. These types don't necessarily argue for the Law of Moses, but they do argue for various forms of outward laws that they say Christians must abide by in order to be saved; women can't wear pants, men must have their hair cut above their ears, women can't have hair above their shoulders, Christians can't take any drugs at all, Christians must attend church services on Sunday and no other days, Christians can't dance under any circumstances, Christians must do away with all forms of entertainment, and so on and so forth.
As Christians, we must be in the business of pushing sin out of our lives all the time. We can't live in it, and we can't turn a blind eye to it. Sin is anything contrary to God's revealed will; sin is both actively doing evil, and simply failing to do what is good. The Apostle John summed up all sin with the expression, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Sexual immorality, cursing and profanity, lying, cheating, theft, drunkenness (including drug abuse), murder, cruelty, gratuitous violence, selfishness and pride, greed, envy, blasphemy, idolatry, and all else described in the Bible as contrary to God has no place in the Christian's life; these things are what the Bible calls "worldly." When we first come to Christ, we repent of the sins we were living in (which means to turn away from or change your mind about sin), and turn to God to embrace His commands for us. Then, as we grow in the faith and walk with God, we discover other areas of our lives that we need to repent of; and as we go along, we see yet more that needs to be repented of, and so on. We call this process "sanctification," which means to be set apart. It's the process by which we all become more and more Godly, and less and less worldly.
So, from the very beginning, the Christian must be cutting things out of their life. Anything that causes them to sin, or celebrates sin, or tempts them to sin should be done away with. This includes forms of entertainment; secular music, movies, tv shows, and video games that fall into the aforementioned categories have to go. Why? Is it because God will revoke our salvation if we don't? No. Once you are saved, you are saved for good. We remove sin and strive to obey God because the Holy Spirit in us drives us to love God and to want to please Him in all things, and to worship Him with our lives. We expunge sin and cut off people, habits, practices, hobbies, and other things because we strongly desire God and want to facilitate an atmosphere around ourselves that is conducive to His presence.
In other words, we do not obey to be saved, but because we are saved. Repentance is the necessary by-product of the work of grace in the heart; it is evidence that you've been saved. Without true salvation, there is no true repentance. With true salvation, true repentance is inevitable.
Paul teaches that, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," and admonishes us to "not to go beyond what is written." The Scripture (both Old and New Testaments) is God's inspired, revealed Word to us. God very clearly and emphatically details for us what sin is. No human being has the authority to add to what the Word of God says, or to declare something sinful that isn't described as such in Scripture.
Legalists tend to want to build on to what God has said. In Jesus' time, the Pharisees modified their keeping of Torah with what they called the "tradition of the elders," which was a collection of sayings and interpretations of the Torah by various respected Jewish sages that the Pharisees held to be equal to the Torah. You can find examples of this all through the Gospels, but this one is always the first on my mind when the topic comes up:
"5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) — 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”"
Jesus vehemently opposed the Pharisees adding to what God had given. Jesus perfectly kept the Torah as it was written without regard for the tradition of the elders, because the extra stuff brought absolutely nothing to the table, having it's origin in the minds of men and not God; and worse than that, the extra stuff also caused some to negate what God had commanded. Paul echoed Jesus' point when he wrote, "20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Colossians 2:23)
Jesus pointed out that genuine sin has its origin in the heart of man when He taught that it's what comes out of a person that defiles them (Matthew 15:16-20). Legalists always miss this point; they tend to arbitrarily consider some actions and behaviors to be sinful without regard for whether those actions have any relation to a person's heart attitude, and almost always they tie a person's salvation to these things; "it doesn't matter if you trust in the Lord Jesus and have repented of sins as recorded in Scripture, if you do or don't do this thing (watch movies, play games, drink caffine, eat pork, cut your hair a particular way, wear makeup, or whatever) you're going to Hell."
As an example: sex was created by God. In the right context, sex and sexual desire isn't at all sinful. But in the wrong context, sex is sinful. The difference is all about the state of the heart. Sinful sexual expressions and desires begin in the heart. A legalist perspective on sex may be to do away with all sex, in all circumstances; "if you ever have sex, even while married, you're going to Hell."
Another example: legitimate medicinal use of drugs isn't sinful. Abuse of those drugs to get high (and there are various sinful heart motives behind getting high) is sinful. A legalist perspective on drug use may be to do away with all drug use entirely; "if you take any drugs, even painkillers after surgery, you're going to Hell."
I'm sure you get the point.
Legalism is most often the result of the unregenerate mind trying to be religious. Not trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross, the legalist attempts to earn their own righteousness through adherence to rules. Often, the legalists rules miss the Biblical point behind the Christian's avoidance of sin and ignore what the Scripture plainly says. Legalists tend to be hypocrites; when you come across them, you'll usually see them denouncing sins of a particular type, while openly rolling in sin of other types without being aware of it (like condemning other Christians for watching movies while making liberal use of profanity, or writing with vitriol, spite, anger and disrespect without regard for what the Scripture teaches about the fruit of the Spirit, or judging fellow Christians).
Jesus condemned this behavior when He said, "13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves...23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:13-15, 23-28)
About entertainment: Paul, addressing the issue of things not called sin in the Scripture, wrote in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10 about how we as Christians ought to handle such things.
"¹ As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved."
Here, Paul uses the example of food sacrificed to idols and holidays, but the principle taught applies to anything not called sin in Scripture, including entertainment. Concerning such things, we as Christians should prayerfully consider whatever we do, and follow the dictates of our consciences. If a Christian feels like something that isn't called sin in Scripture actually is wrong to do, they shouldn't do it; and those of us who disagree, for the sake of loving our fellow Christians, we ought to avoid doing that thing when we're around them, not because the thing is actually wrong, but because we don't want to offend our brothers and sisters. But it's very clear that the thing itself isn't forbidden.
Certain forms of entertainment are inherently sinful, lead to sin, and/or celebrate sin; Christians should avoid those things. Other forms of entertainment are not related to anything the Bible calls sinful, and therefore are acceptable for Christians. Christians must keep God first, and entertainment in the periphery. Christians should obey the dictates of their consciences and follow the Lord's leading. Christians should also consider their brothers and sisters above themselves, and abstain from anything that may cause a fellow Christian to stumble when in the presence of that Christian.
Let's tie all of this together:
It is true that Christians must repent of sins and seek the Lord above all else. It is also true that the Bible defines what sin is, and to outrun the Scriptures to declare other things sinful that the Bible doesn't is itself sinful. Legalism is damnable; it is contrary to the Gospel and ought to be avoided at all costs. The practice of describing as sin that which the Bible does not, and laying extra burdens on the backs of Christians is endemic to legalism. Legalist teachers are false teachers, and are almost always hypocrites. They can't defend their position with Scripture, and so no Christian should listen to what they have to say.
Christians are not forbidden to rest and relax, or to partake in pastimes, like hobbies and entertainment. If a thing isn't inherently sinful, celebrating sin, or leading to sin, and as long as the thing doesn't take up more than the peripheral space in a Christian's life, the Christian may partake as they please; this is not sin. For the sake of other Christians who disagree on a particular thing, each Christian ought to be willing to forego that thing when in the presence of the Christian who disagrees.
We should always be prayerfully seeking the Lord about all the things we do, willing to forsake anything He tells us to, and obeying the Scriptures.
