Romans 14: Just because you're a "good Christian" doesn't mean you're a better Christian

Romans 14 is all about judgment, or judging one another as Christians (particularly judging someone as "less Christian" if they do certain actions).

This was only driven home recently as, driving through Florida, there were billboards spaced every few feet along the interstate with a Jesus message. Some were Bible verses, but some were condemning. One in particular had the message "Lust leads you to Hell."

Unfortunately, this message is patently false and has no relation to Christianity.

In reality, salvation (or whether or not a person goes to Heaven) does not depend on their actions. We cannot do certain actions to earn salvation (without having Christ), and with Christ, we are guaranteed to end up in Heaven. No bad actions we take along the way can lose that.

So that message is false because if the person has Christ, even if they are lustful, they will reach Heaven, and if they don't have Christ, they could be the most unlustful person you know, and they still won't reach Heaven.

Christ is the deciding factor, not our actions good or bad.

Now, the New Testament does talk about certain actions as "bad" and others as "good". But, if they don't affect whether a person goes to Heaven or not, they must be for our own growth.

Simply put, if we do actions that are bad for us, it limits us from growing into a person. Our bad habit may hurt others or hurt ourselves (newsflash: the world is full of hurt. This idea of self hurt or hurting others is what Christianity calls "sin".)

Bad actions are "bad" because they limit is from reaching our full potential.

In some ways, this is easy to see. The Bible advocates working hard; if you are a person who procrastinates, or has trouble self-motivating to work (*me, right here! or, at least I used to), it's clear you won't accomplish as much in your life. In other areas, like with the Bible's stance against lust, it's harder to see the bad effect, but just because we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. The Bible talks about many issues we can see (like loving your neighbor, working hard, being fair, standing up for the poor and lowly and underadvantaged in society), where we can clearly see the bad or the hurt from the negative, so we need to trust it in the situations where we can't see the clear outcome. After all, God has clearer vision than we have, and those truths have lasted for such a long span of time that it's beyond our comprehension (He has longer reaching vision, whereas our lifespans are so short in comparison, and it's hard to think our modern pithy achievements are even nothing compared to the great monuments some rulers and civilizations erected, but even those far beyond our capacity testaments God scorns as nothing compared to His own achievements).

Romans 14 isn't directed at non-Christians, however; it's directed at fellow Christians. And as any Christian knows, infighting between Christians is far worse, more bitter and vehement than that directed at non-Christians. It's why there are so many denominations.

The sad part is, many Christians are convinced their denomination is the One True Right Way and all the others are going to Hell.

The basic message of Romans 14 is "Do all things in your life for God, and if someone does them differently, still know they're doing them for God too, just in a different way." As long as you're both doing everything out of love for God, you're good.

Now, that brings up another whole set of issues. Do I really live every moment of my life for God? No. I want to, but I don't. In fact, some days I don't think of God at all, I have to remind myself to do so (I'm working on that). But that is what we should aspire to. Kind of like how in Star Wars, at first opening yourself to the Force takes practice, but over time, it becomes more and more of a habit until you're doing it continuously without effort.

Verses which stood out:

The one who [drinks alcohol] is not to regard with contempt the one who does not [drink alcohol], and the one who does not [drink alcohol] is not to judge the one who [drinks alcohol], for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls...and he WILL stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Rom 14:3-4)

The drinking alcohol issue has always bugged me. How can some Christians be against it, and so adamantly that they write it off as unbiblical? After all, Jesus turned water into wine, not grape juice. Yes, this very same chapter talks about not doing things which encourage weakness in others (such as drinking in front of an alcoholic), but to take that to "you should not drink at all" is drawing to exaggeration...and then to take that position and say it's the Biblical one is absurd.

Our tendency as humans is to believe in a just world - or that certain actions lead to a certain outcome. "If I just follow these rules, I'll get this result." So, over time, civilizations create arbitrary rules which you just have to follow. Jesus condemned this in the Pharisees, because this action unfortunately focuses more on the rule itself, while sometimes the feelings behind the rules are forgotten - or even contradicted! However, the Bible makes very clear, faith in God is the #1 important thing. Not rules.

If you think of a Christian, you probably naturally associate a set of rules. Christians don't drink, don't smoke, don't have tattoos, don't have sex, don't swear, etc. However, again, these are rules, and in Christianity, rules don't get you to Heaven or even make you more righteous than the next person. Yes, some of these are suggested in the Bible, but again, it's to make you a better person. God sees all sin, and thus all sinners, as the same in His eyes...and so if you swear, drink, have tattoos, have sex, etc., you're viewed just as highly as someone who goes to church all the time and is straightlaced.

The drinking issue is the first issue that came to mind with the above verse (notice I changed the words, from the word "eat" in the original text to "drink alcohol" which I think aptly applies), but I'm sure there are other issues. To me it's clear, with lines such as "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food" (Rom 14:20), that the anti-alcoholers do not have a leg to stand on. How can they combat this passage? Do they just ignore this chapter of the Bible? I've heard that some even combat the Jesus turning water into wine by claiming he instead turned it into grape juice. But I think the following line makes it clear that what you eat and drink is so trivial to God...God's much more concerned with your emotions, and your heart pursuing the right things, than whether or not you drink alcohol.

Therefore, do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14: 16-17)

We have a tendency (some more than others) to want to tear down others, or find the negative. Instead, let's work to find the positive.

Questions:

1. In what ways do I feel judged by other Christians?

• by Christians who don't drink looking down as "better" on those who do
• as a Catholic, because of all the different practices, seen as a heathen to be converted
• immersion baptism as the only "true way" and infant baptism not counting
• by those who do a greater number of Christian events or who grew up in church from a young age vs. people who didn't - they're viewed as Christian celebrities if they attend more Bible studies or volunteer at church, listen to Christian music and bands exclusively, attend all the worship nights, have done SWORD drills, etc. Does this make them better Christians? NO. It's exclusively between you, Christ, and God. God knows your faith. Just because I've never heard of most of the bands in their main popular listening circle and have no interest in listening to crappy Christian music doesn't mean I'm any less of a Christian.
• In some circles, if you don't read the King James Version of the Bible, some people think you're reading a lesser version of the Bible and look down on you! True, this tends to be older people in more high-tradition mainstream Protestant churches, but it's still Christians looking down on other Christians.

2. In what ways do I judge other Christians?

•  By the music they listen to - yup, I'm a reverse judger. So those Christians whose only music is Christian music and particularly all the latest bands, who dress alike and quote Bible passages in their everyday speech as if it were common knowledge, whose entire hobby list seems to be the church event list...I tend to put them into a certain box. I call it Cultural Christianity (although it's more of a Youth Cultural Christianity than the other meaning, of growing up in a culture where Christianity is entrenched and going to church is expected but more a part of tradition than anything to do with your personal belief). I in general really dislike Cultural Christians, mostly because I associate them with blindly following the rules I stated earlier and taking the rules as important, and standing for hateful things against people I love. However, not everyone who listens to Christian music or reads the Bible often is like this, and no one fits into a box really, so I need to not judge them.

Luckily I've gained some great friends in the past few years who are very Christian and at the same time very practical, uncoventional people. I'm still struggling to integrate this Christian faith with real life, and those people (rather than many Christians who sweep issues they don't like or don't know how to emotionally handle, like science or depression, under the rug and trying to ignore it) give a great example of how to live, move, and deal in the real world and still be wholeheartedly (and undoubtedly to all around) devoted to God. That's my example and ultimate goal.

Real Life Application:

My goals in this regard (and yes, this chapter caused me a bit of guilt as well as frustration, as it pointed out some things I too need to change!):

• Do each of my actions in my day wholeheartedly for God
• Realize every Christian is doing the things in their life for God, and don't judge them. Similarly, don't let myself be judged by them. We're all shoulder to shoulder in front of God.
• Don't fall into following the rules just because it's the easy path. God transcends rules, and wants me to focus on Him.
•  Work on learning to build others up. The Bible commends encouraging others, helping grow their strengths and develop as people. Everyone has some negative, but focus on helping them get ahead, not on pulling them behind.