The modern concept of church is a Procrustean bed. Scriptures that do not fit the shape of the institutional church are either chopped off (dismissed) or they are stretched to fit its mold. --from Reimagining Church by Frank Viola
Frank Viola always manages to take everything that has been brewing and fighting inside of me for years and distill it down to a sentence or two. The above statement is exactly what I'm afraid of and have been struggling with. I do not want to spend my whole life following a cut-and-paste religion.
I do not want to follow rules just because tradition has solidified them, yet I do not want to shun the Word of God and make up my own lifestyle without regard to Scriptures. I agree with the logic that says, "How can you believe in Jesus if you don't believe in all the Bible says?" My own practicality disagrees with simply picking the parts of the Bible that I like and making up my own God, one who is palatable to my tastes and preferences. What kind of faith is that? Rather it is idolatry, taking my own mind and sensibilities and calling them god.
Still, though, something smacks of being a brood of vipers in the way most people talk about believing and following the Bible to the letter. People always manage to find a way to explain away certain passages and defend others to the point of condemnation of all in their path who disagree. That's not to say I don't believe that context needs to be considered; I do. We are not living in the first century, and our cultures and communities are different than those to whom most of the New Testament was originally addressed. Surely there are things about the authors and audiences, times and places, of Scriptures to be understood in order to understand what it means for us two millennia later. But how do I, even with what education and earnestness I have, know the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of it? How does anyone without the Spirit? And how does one know what is the Spirit and what is self?
I don't want to whack off heads and stretch legs to make it fit the bed I want it to fill or the bed passed down to me by centuries of construction and restructuring.
I consider these words of Jesus quoted in Reimagining Church:
Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. (Matt. 15:6)
Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men... You are experts in setting aside the commandments of God in order to keep your tradition. (Mark 7:8-9)Oh, Holy Spirit, do not let these things be true of me, for how am I to know the difference?
