Creating Jobs for the Sadistic

It's in our nature to complicate our Faith.  We see an example of this right from the beginning, in Genesis Chapter 2 when God tells Adam:

"You are free to eat from any tree in the Garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of  good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die."

It's a pretty simple rule: "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

In the very next Chapter, Satan is tempting Eve and asks her:

"Did God really say, 'you must not eat from any tree in the Garden'?"

Eve replies, "We may eat fruit from the trees of the Garden, but God did say, 'you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the Garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.'"

I think this was the first human complication of the Faith in the Bible.  Eve adds, "you must not touch it" on top of God's simple rule.  Now, don't get me wrong, it makes a lot of sense to not touch the fruit.  It's a great guardrail because it is fair to say that if you don't even touch the fruit, then you can't realistically eat the fruit.  It's wise not to touch the fruit.  I believe we need to have both personal and corporate guardrails as Followers who are broken and prone to sin. (Especially if we have proclivity to a certain sin.)

Where we can get in trouble is when we begin confusing guardrails with God's law, and we start transforming those guardrails into Laws.  That's where Satan saw his best chance of winning, and before you know it, he's using rules that have been over-complicated to instigate the Fall of Man.

Satan uses this single layer of complexity to gain a foothold  - only one layer of complexity.  Imagine if Satan had tempted Adam and Eve many years later (or had tempted their offspring many generations later,) they might have replied:

"We may eat fruit from any tree in the Garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, and you must not get within 50 feet of the tree, and you must build a wall around the tree, and while your at it ... don't even look at the wall."  Guardrails for guardrails for guardrails.

 I think when we over-complicate our Faith with too many rules:

• It can make God seem unreasonable. 
• It can make God seem unloving.
• It can distract our focus from God's Truth.
• It can divert our energy and our productivity.
• It can make it easier for us to judge other people.
• It can be an unneccessary "barrier to entry"into the Faith.
• It can distort our view of God's true Nature.
• It can dispose us to assume the worst in people.
• It can warp our view on how God truly values us.
• It can create cumbersome and unnecessary religious infrastructures and hierarchies.
• It can allow us to hide behind observable behaviors and cover the true condition of our hearts.

Complex legalism can lead to religious fanaticism which, as religious history has shown, can create plenty of jobs for the sadistic (Inquisitions, Crusades, Joan of Arc, 911.)

Jesus came to earth at a time when religious Legalists ruled God's people with iron fists.  It's no wonder He called the Sadducees and Pharisees, "You brood of vipers!" (Snakes) I find it interesting that when I say the word "legalist," I sound like a snake.

Legalisssst.

Legalism is a form of complexity that Jesus came to destroy.  It's foretold at the end of Genesis Chapter 3,  God says to the Serpent (Satan), "I will place enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers, and he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

I'm working hard to keep my Faith simple:  Love God, love others, and tell the world about it.

Peace.