A situation I’m dealing with has me thinking about boundaries or guardrails when it comes to Christian beliefs and behaviors. Guardrails are there for a reason, ultimately not to limit us, but to keep us “safe” within those essential boundaries, so that we don’t fall over the edge into heresy or sin. Truth matters. Christianity is a truth based faith; the Scripture proclaims certain things true and false.
Two approaches can go wrong when it comes to this. One is staying very close to, or right on top of, that guardrail. Theoretically being right on the edge is okay; you are still within the boundaries. Yet, for many if not all of us, this is a dangerous place to be. You are very close to falling over the edge! Sadly, I have observed such happen a number of times.
But a second and opposite problem is…staying excessively far back from the guardrails, in essence creating new guardrails by moving them much closer together. The Pharisees in the New Testament are an example of this with behavior, as they put “hedges” around the law (adding new laws) in order to make it harder to break the core law. They had admirable motives, but drifted into legalism and created burdens for people. The same can happen with essential Christian doctrines. There are things we must believe in order to be Christian, and not be a heretic, but it is possible to make these guardrails too narrow, turning non-essentials into essentials.
Some of us will have a weakness that leans either way. There can be times where leaning one way is a good thing. For example, maybe you are coming out of a harsh, legalistic background when it came to both beliefs and behavior, and it is necessary for some narrow boundaries to be widened. Someone leaving an addictive behavior behind, may temporarily or permanently need to maintain certain limits. Etc.
We also need to consider our motives. If you are asking yourself how close you can get without falling over the cliff, well – right there – I think you have your answer! I’d say that questionable or sinful motives are at work. Back up.
But whatever our situation, whatever our weakness, we need to remember that the boundaries or guardrails are there for a reason. Heed them. Truth matters.
A final thought…we need to be able to differentiate between the truth and a distortion of the truth. This can take time, especially if we’d gotten tangled up in a distortion for a prolonged period of time. We will need other believers to help us. I’ve observed a troubling way this can go. A distortion can overshadow the truth, but the truth is still there, but sometimes the essential truth gets discarded instead of just the distortion! The person ends up falling over the guardrail into heretical belief or even abandonment of belief.
⇒ Thanks for visiting Enough Light. People are not reading blogs much anymore, so I appreciate that you spent time here. You are welcome to “look around” while here Grace and Peace, Laura Martin
