Scott said something to the effect of when he was a kid, his church was conditioning people to be more like the pharisees and not like Christ. Another friend of mine shared that he was scared for his own salvation because he hadn't been to church in awhile. What a load of rot. Scott, here's your corroborating evidence to go along with your thoughts. At what point did we fall back into legalism? Apparently pretty early, from Paul's letter to the Galatians. That sucks. We finally got the chance to live in the great outdoors and instead we go back to our safe little cardboard boxes that we feel so comfortable in. There's so much to experience, enjoy, and yes, there is danger out there too, but if we stay in our smothering boxes, we received nothing new when we let Christ take our hand.

I think of little children in school, having to walk single file, no talking, no turning around, etc. This is what legalism is. It is controlled, it is safe, it is comfortable and predictable, but so limiting. God has given us more freedom and responsibility. We are free to roam the halls at will. On the one hand, there is less human control, and there may be some serious disruptions. But some of us will wander off to do good things. Maybe this is a bad example.

Life is unpredictable, with ups and downs. Some of us only see the ups, some only the downs, and most of us are on the roller coaster, riding the hills and valleys. Now, if we have followed all the rules, but we observe someone in need of comforting, loving, support, financial help, etc., we have no need nor are we responsible to aid this person. We've done all that is required of us. We've given our 10%. We've gone to church the right number of times. We've followed the rules. However, outside of legalism, we might not give 10% to charities, but then again we may give 20%. We may have never stepped inside a soup kitchen, or maybe we know some of the homeless by name. But we are always compelled to love. That person in need should get our help, and it doesn't matter one bit what we've already done or not done. In fact, all that we do is a reflection of the love in us from God, so the more we receive from God the more we shine.

Instead of a checklist, we have a journey to make. Instead of rules, we have a chisel. We can follow the rules or break them in the legalism method. In God's method, we are either becoming more Christlike, or going back to looking like ourselves.

"FREEEEEEEDOOMMMMMMM!!!!" says William Wallace, and so says Christ.