(A short sequel to Wednesday’s column, originally posted here.)
Some Christians are convinced that Satan can corrupt many things — such as alcohol or yoga practices, like positions or breathing — to the point where
b) Avoiding this Thing makes you a better Christian. (Some really extreme sectors would say not avoiding it could mean you’re not saved.)
Consider this montage of quotes from Justin Taylor’s blog: Alcohol, Liberty, and Legalism. It’s one of the best summaries I’ve read of why Christians ought to fight man-made rules at least as much, if not more so, than they fight addictive behaviors or actual pagan practices.
Here’s an excerpt, from Taylor’s excerpt from You Know Who1 about legalism’s appalling dangers. It is far worse than the obvious danger of alcohol, or any other Bad Thing we try to avoid.
Satan is so sly. “He disguises himself as an angel of light,” the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 11:14. He keeps his deadliest diseases most sanitary. He clothes his captains in religious garments and houses his weapons in temples. O don’t you want to see his plots uncovered? . . .
Legalism is a more dangerous disease than alcoholism because it doesn’t look like one.
Alcoholism makes men fail; legalism helps them succeed in the world.
Alcoholism makes men depend on the bottle; legalism makes them self-sufficient, depending on no one.
Alcoholism destroys moral resolve; legalism gives it strength.
Alcoholics don’t feel welcome in church; legalists love to hear their morality extolled in church.
- John Piper. ↩
