Formalities and Salvation.

[Jesse Dornfeld]

I am pretty sure that Christ Himself was strictly against being overly formal. My reason for thinking this is that Christ seemed to almost go out of His way to be informal in the way he communicated. Take this verse for example:

"He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16:2–3)

This was just common vernacular for the time. It's a turn of phrase that is similar to the one we have today that goes, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning."

There are many other ways I could demonstrate this such as many of the parables that Jesus used.

The point: If you make Christianity a bunch of rules to follow or a bunch of formalities that you have to do, it kind of steals the magic of what Christ was after. Christ didn't need to rely on formalities to get His message across. Isn't that why He picked Peter of all people, who by all accounts was pretty rough around the edges and probably had a bit of a salors tongue before Christ called him?

Now, I'm not saying, "It a relationship, not a religion." So please don't hear me saying that. Christianity is a religion. But when we get so focused on formalities we have lost the point of what Christ was about. So by all means, take your theology seriously. Study. Learn. Know the depths of Christ. But if the original communities [sic] were just homes where people visited, I find the idea that we need all these formalities very off-putting and not what Christ was after.

 

[Soyeong]

I am pretty sure that Christ Himself was strictly against being overly formal. My reason for thinking this is that Christ seemed to almost go out of His way to be informal in the way he communicated. Take this verse for example:

"He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16:2–3)

This was just common vernacular for the time. It's a turn of phrase that is similar to the one we have today that goes, "Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning."

There are many other ways I could demonstrate this such as many of the parables that Jesus used.

The point: If you make Christianity a bunch of rules to follow or a bunch of formalities that you have to do, it kind of steals the magic of what Christ was after. Christ didn't need to rely on formalities to get His message across. Isn't that why He picked Peter of all people, who by all accounts was pretty rough around the edges and probably had a bit of a salors tongue before Christ called him?

Now, I'm not saying, "It a relationship, not a religion." So please don't hear me saying that. Christianity is a religion. But when we get so focused on formalities we have lost the point of what Christ was about. So by all means, take your theology seriously. Study. Learn. Know the depths of Christ. But if the original communities [sic] were just homes where people visited, I find the idea that we need all these formalities very off-putting and not what Christ was after.

I see a difference between being formal and following rules. Jesus set a perfect example for us to follow of how to practice Judaismvby living in sinless obedience to the Torah, so he was much more zealous for living in obedience to it than they the Pharisees were.

 

[tonychanyt]

I find the idea that we need all these formalities very off-putting and not what Christ was after.

Amen. No one is saved by rituals and formalities and checking the right boxes in a questionnaire