Do Man-Made Rules Make You Holy?

Is it possible to obtain holiness by obeying a list of man-made rules?

Col 2:20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--
21 "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,"
22 which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Paul explains that these man-made rules only appear to have wisdom, because they cause you to sacrifice. But they do not improve your flesh or keep you from sin.

Why Fundamentalists Accepted the Rules

"Modernists" are people within Christianity who seek to turn their church or denomination away from Christ. In the early twentieth century, they were opposed by the "fundamentalists," who believed the fundamental Christian doctrines. The fundamentalists were not a new group; Christianity had always believed in the Deity of Christ and His virgin birth, the literal Second Coming of Christ, His literal resurrection from the dead, salvation by faith alone, and the total innerrancy of the Bible.

Having rejected Christ, modernists also rejected holy living, which is a natural product of the new birth (which they also rejected). Fundamentalists over-reacted, preaching holy living (which the Bible commands) but adding man-made rules that dealt with the current situation.

They preached against movies, cards, women wearing slacks, and various other offenses. At one time, some of these rules might have made some sense. But as the decades rolled by, the "current situation" that had produced these rules changed. Fundamentalists found themselves stuck with obsolete rules that their own people did not want to obey. Their response? Preach heavily on these rules; it was the only way to keep them in force.

How the Rules Began

It helps if you understand where, when, and how today's bunch of man-made rules began. In the early part of the twentieth century, Hollywood found that movies provided a lucrative method of introducing immorality, glamor, and worldliness to the general population. At a time of strict government laws against indecency, Hollywood fought for sin, and wealthy producers made a fortune doing so. A small number of rebellious women began wearing pants in public. Playing cards provided opportunities to gamble, drink, and neglect families.

A small number of churches objected, but these objections were not well-organized....yet.

When Strict Rules Fail

A successful Ruckmanite pastor would post on the internet, insisting that Christians had to obey a list of man-made rules in order to live holy lives. The list included various dress codes, restrictions on music, places where Christians were not allowed to go, and others.

Another pastor, who had graduated from a strict Bible college that had commanded those same rules, wrote in to ridicule him. He had turned against those rules, and he now practiced scorn and ridicule on those who obeyed them. Later, it turned out that the second pastor was having an affair while still pastoring his church.

The first pastor went on in triumph, until his wife caught him having an affair that had lasted nine months. A few weeks later, he was back on the internet, teaching with authority, as if nothing had happened.

While there have always been scandals in the ministry, Ruckmanites (people who believe that the King James Version IS the Word of God, and it is sinful to use any other translation) have had a far heavier share than most; yet they have stricter rules than most.

In the next few weeks, we'll be discussing how to live a holy life without obeying a list of man-made rules.

Jealous leaders, fearful of losing their power, are generally incompetent. They often realize the danger of having their people build lateral support, because they have difficulty controlling it. A common method of destroying lateral support is to teach people that they chould not listen to "critics." Surprisingly, words like "critic, critics, criticize," etc., do not appear anywhere in the King James Version, and therefor, there is no Biblical definition of these words. Therefor, I'll give my own definition of a critic: "a person who criticizes frequently, whose first response to any situation is to criticize without hearing all the facts."If you have lateral support, and these people are helping you, and suddenly they all start urging you to get out of a certain organization, they are not critics. The Bible does warn against "scorners," and a person who goes around ridiculing others should not be part of your lateral support. But a person who goes around helping people, who believes that you are in an abusive situation, is not a critic.

Building Lateral Support

How do you built lateral support?

1) It really helps if your spouse and you can agree that your family is more important than your church. People who won't tolerate seeing their family members being abused are less likey to get abused.
2) Cultivate friendships with Christians at work or in your neighborhood who don't go to your church. If those friendships become strong enough, you'll have lateral support.
3) Keep in touch with friends from previous churches.
4) In your own church, attend social functions, such as church dinners. Cultivate friendships that can exist outside the church walls.
5) Get onto Christian forums, where you can explain your situation to sympathetic listeners anonymously.
6) Seek out fruitful Christians. The Bible talks about the fruit of good works, the fruit of giving, and the fruit of converts.
7) Be supportive of other Christians, because some day you might need to reap what you sow.

Lateral Support

We have seen from both the Bible and real life that jealousy and envy are difficult to overcome. How do you overcome these two evils when you're on the receiving end?

One way is to develop "lateral support." This means that you have other Godly Christians as friends, and you can go to them for advice. Lateral support is important enough that most churches pay to allow their pastor to go to ministers' conferences, realizing that they help the preacher improve in his service. It is also important enough that Christian school teachers are not allowed to have it; their conferences are tightly controlled by pastors, and even their newsletters are actually pastor-controlled.

Is "lateral support" Biblical? You need to know, because abusive pastors either forbid or discourage lateral support.
Pr 11:14 ¶ Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
Pr 15:22 ¶ Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
Pr 24:6 For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.The Apostle Paul followed this pattern, usually having Godly companions with him.
Ac 20:4 And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia--also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

So what kind of people should you go to for lateral support? And how do you develop lateral support?