Clean and Unclean - 4

...nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:14)

I continue to be fascinated by many implications that can be seen within this single verse and in conjunction with the surrounding context. What is this phrase implying, to him who thinks... it is unclean? And I find a similar kind of phrase in verse 20. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. Is this telling me that religious uncleanness can be created in the imagination of each individual on earth? Is this another version of the references in the Old Testament where it says that every man did what was right in his own eyes?

I know it might seem easy to rush to conclusions to counter this and try to refute what seems to be explicitly stated here. But while I am not looking for quick and easy answers, this is baffling me to some extent. I don't want to take off on easy rabbit trails in either direction, whether liberal or authoritarian. But it is clear to me that Paul believed that whatever uncleanness means, it seems to have a lot to do with the condition of each person's beliefs and feelings. And not only that, but these beliefs and assumptions are not to be ignored or even offended unnecessarily by those who have different opinions about that particular thing or belief.

It would be easier to accept this easily if Paul would just have left it at the first part – that each person perceives religion in their own way and has their own fears and ignorant persuasions. But he had to go farther and insist that true Christians must be careful to protect the freedom of each person to cling to their misconceptions with a spirit of respect and even acceptance. This is acceptance for the person themselves, not endorsement of their narrow ideas about what causes their fears or discomfort.

This definitely runs against what comes naturally for me and for others that I know. It is so much easier to want to offer instructions and advice and corrections to challenge a person's “ignorant assumptions” so as to bring them more quickly into alignment with my own “more enlightened” beliefs. But in this chapter I am seeing that Paul is giving me a very different model to be careful to follow. Apparently it is not my job to set others straight about their misguided beliefs but it is my responsibility to accept them as my siblings in the family of God and protect their space and freedom even while they retain beliefs that may sharply differ from my own.

This is much more than an intellectual enlightenment for me. This is making me feel quite uncomfortable inside. Something inside of me is squirming around looking for an out from this instruction, looking for excuses to legitimize my tendency to want to correct others instead of embracing them with loving, respectful acceptance. But I strongly suspect that this part inside of me that is squirming is resisting true light and, like the termites that I uncovered yesterday while repairing a house infested with them, this false god is running for the cover of darkness to avoid exposure and detection.

But just like those termites that had secretly wreaked so much damage silently behind the facade of secure walls and glossy paint jobs, this false spirit inside of me has riddled me with paths and habits that run counter to the ways of God and weaken my character. I want the light of the spirit of God to invade my own heart, to expose my own corruption and to spray these false gods that cling so tenaciously to my mind with the poison of His grace and truth and love.

Satan's kingdom is founded upon deception, force, fear and independence. But these elements are like the work of termites that continually weaken the image of God within my soul, excavating and consuming all the goodness and grace and mercy and truth that is needed as proper building materials for a life after the order of God. But while I cannot repair myself or even expel the unwanted intruders that I inherited through many generations of sinful ancestors as well as my own bad choices and habits, I can call on my God and my Savior to continue to implement His plan of redemption within my own structure, my temple designed for His habitation.

This subject has been lurking in the back of my mind and has surfaced repeatedly over the past few days causing me to question many of my attitudes, reactions and assumptions about those around me. I feel very much unsettled about this and have to trust the Spirit of God to guide me into more accurate truth in this matter.

Now here is an enlightening thought that just came to me as I expressed that last statement. Just as other people have false beliefs about certain things but still need to be accepted without criticism or contempt, so I am finding myself even in this discovery as very vulnerable to misunderstanding and potential criticism and contempt by others who may find objectionable my emerging beliefs about what this chapter is saying to my heart. This chapter just as much applies to those around me as it does to me, though it is not my responsibility to impose it on their conscience. Just as these instructions are designed to protect the spirit of others from my contempt and criticism, so to it can also protect me from the same damaging effects from others.

The Need for Community and Joy

From my growing understanding of the true meaning of the word “joy”, I can see another aspect of this that is quite significant. In verse 17 the core description of the kingdom of God is spelled out as righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The neurological definition of the experience of joy for the brain is that sensation one gets when someone else is genuinely and intensely glad to be with them. Joy seems to be the preferred fuel for our lives that God designed us to run on and that causes us to thrive and grow in maturity. It has been observed that joy is the only thing that a young baby is motivated to seek on their own. They can be motivated to avoid other emotions, but the only thing that they will be motivated to seek on their own initiative is to find someone who will be glad to be with them and increase their sense of joy.

Scientists have learned recently that joy is the primary factor in the development and growth of one of the most important parts of the human brain, the right orbital pre-frontal cortex. Apparently this part of the brain is nearly non-existent at birth but within the span of a relatively short time can grow to become up to 35% of the adult brain. What is very fascinating is that the primary exercise or input for fueling growth of this part of the brain is shared experiences of joy with significant people in their life, at first primarily the mother figure.

This is one of the most important parts of the brain for preparing a person to interact with others on a deeply bonded level through love and shared joy. What is also very important is that this “joy center” in the brain is simultaneously the very same equipment needed to handle trauma throughout one's lifetime. If this part of the brain is not properly developed early in life, it leaves a person very vulnerable to being overwhelmed by stressful traumas that can leave them emotionally incapacitated in many respects until they have opportunity to increase this part of the brain later in life. Once they have had opportunity to increase their capacity for joy they can then have the capacity to go back and reprocess previously experienced traumas and successfully resolve them.

So should it come as any surprise that part of the main description of the kingdom of God includes the word joy? Joy is not just feeling happy and pleasurable. In fact, given this advanced definition of the real meaning of joy, it can sometimes feel quite different than those words might typically convey. I know this very acutely from person experience. But I can also vouch that true joy – someone willing and even happy to be close to me, to accept me unconditionally and who genuinely cares about me even in the midst of a most painful experience – is a most powerful stabilizing force and a source of bonding that has amazing capacity for healing and growth.

This is all starting to make more sense for me now in this context. What Paul seems to be saying to me here is that just as I need unconditional acceptance that can produce joy in my heart to help me endure trauma and trials, so too everyone around me needs someone to be genuinely glad to be with them in whatever they are experiencing without the element of judgment, condemnation, contempt or criticism in the areas in which my beliefs differ from theirs. I am being asked by God to be a potential source of joy in the Holy Spirit for others who are lacking in joy strength themselves.

If I want to really further the kingdom of God on this earth, it will not involve trying to coerce other people to adopt my set of doctrines or force others to attend my church or worship God in the style that I prefer. It will not be advanced wonderfully by massive preaching campaigns or getting many people to repeat some formula in words that supposedly cause them to be “saved”. According to this passage, the kingdom will be advanced when I begin to practice genuine acceptance of others with an open heart even while we may have different ideas about what is clean or unclean for our own souls.

Uncleanness has much more to do with the condition of the spirit of a person than with some contamination from incorrect beliefs or doctrines or external activities. And evidently, something that has a worse effect on the spirit than having faulty notions about what is clean or unclean is to be viewed with contempt by others claiming to by my brothers and sisters in Christ. That is the very opposite of joy and therefore should have no place in the fellowship of believers called the kingdom of God.

Father, my temple structure is far more compromised by the termites of deception and pride and selfishness than I can even imagine. The more facade You peel away the more damage is revealed and I observe the supernatural termites scurrying for cover. When I experience this I start to feel anxious and think that You should too. I expect You to rush in to condemn me for the false ideas that are uncovered and to insist that I correct them immediately. I am surprised rather often at the seemingly slow pace and the lack of excitement on Your part whenever my faults are exposed. But just like the exterminator yesterday had a patient, calm demeanor while he carefully resprayed the area for termites, You too always have a patient assurance that Your grace and truth will have their intended effects in my life in the long run.

Father, I am slowly learning to trust in Your ways, Your timing and Your methodical, meticulous and thorough work in my salvation. I'm sure glad You are in charge of this or it would simply never be possible in the slightest. Father, mentor me and teach me to treat others with the same, calm acceptance and respect that You continue to show me. Please cleanse me of all false notions and habits and assumptions about how I should treat others who believe differently than me and have unfounded fears that hamper their joy and freedom. Please help me to see them from Your perspective, to have Your sympathy, Your patience, Your compassion and to be willing to bring real joy to their hearts by my willingness to accept them just where they are without trying to change them myself. And I would certainly like it if You would send some people into my life that would be willing to do the same for me. Just a thought....

Keep reminding me that they are Your children, not mine and they are Your responsibility. You will show them the freedom You have for them when they are mature enough to be ready to receive and believe it. Please keep me from trying to force their flower petals open before they are ready. Remind me to rest in Your timing and Your work for them as well as for me. You are so gracious and patient and consistent with Your faithfulness and love. I trust You and rest in You and praise You for Your infinite power and grace.

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Service God's Way

For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Do not tear down the work of God.... (Romans 14:18, 20)

There are times when I find it very helpful to discover meanings and definitions within the text that shed a lot of light on terms and concepts that are important for us to know. Because of the pervasive nature of deception in this world and particularly in religion, it is extremely important to keep watch for clues of the genuine where God is trying to reveal the real truth to us if we are willing to pay attention.

In these verses I see notice given that religion as many people tend to view it is likely practiced quite differently than the way God wants us to experience it. This whole passage, even this whole book, is addressing that very problem. Paul is trying to get people to see that God's desires for His children are radically different than the assumptions we have often had about what He wants for us. Much of what is labeled as “service” for Christ is, in His eyes, not really serving Him at all but is tearing down what He is working to build up.

The contractor that I work with likes to tell this little example to his customers on occasion. He tells them that sometimes people want to know if they can save any money by helping him as he works to repair their house and how much they might save. He tells them, “Well, I am certainly willing to let the homeowner help me work. Sometimes I offer to pay them ten dollars an hour and for others I charge them ten dollars an hour. That depends on how much real assistance you are, and right now I don't know which it will be until I see how you work.”

I think that God may feel that way about us many times. We have such grandiose plans of how we want to further God's work on earth and we spend much of our time, our lives and energy and creativity working to build up what we believe is the church of God while in actuality we are sometimes dismantling many of the things that from God's perspective are the elements of the true body He is knitting together. I have come to realize that quite likely God has to advance His work in spite of most of our efforts for Him much more than His work benefits because of our supposed work for Him.

But I also believe that God's work in the lives and hearts of people could advance much more quickly if we actually got closer to His heart ourselves and learned to see things from His perspective instead of what we are used to thinking. But this requires a much more radical paradigm shift in many areas of our thinking and the scrapping of most, if not all of our assumptions about God and about religion that most people are often unwilling to do. It is very difficult to let go of our deep-seated beliefs about religion and life and relationships. It is all we have ever known and we feel much safer clinging to the known than allowing our lives to be caught up in the swift current of God's passion for souls and be swept into the unknown to be used as He desires to use us.

I think about the previous verse here that explicitly describes what the kingdom of God really is and how different that is from how we perceive religion and God's kingdom. We are so addicted to force, to compulsion, to externals, so obsessed with appearances and so infiltrated with subtle pride and independence that it is nearly impossible for us to believe that God could ever operate outside our narrow parameters. But Paul tries to make it clearer here for us. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

The external nature of religion is so deeply ingrained in my own thinking from my upbringing that whenever I read this verse a voice inside instantly points out that the word righteousness must mean right behavior and that means focusing on being a good person and obeying and.... If you are familiar with this kind of thinking I believe you can get the drift toward performance. But this only betrays my own problem of fighting against false ideas about religion that still reside inside of my brain and tends to infiltrate everything that passes through it. While God has been very gracious in sharing with me many things that are opposite of what I previously believed and assumed, I am becoming more and more aware of many assumptions still very much entrenched within my heart that need to be exposed and replaced with God's perspective and God's ways.

Because of this I am coming much more into sympathy with the Psalmist who repeatedly wrote that he wanted to understand God's ways, His laws and His statutes. I used to cringe every time I read those sorts of things in the Psalms because for me laws meant arbitrary and repulsive rules and restrictions that were anything but life-giving or appealing. But in the past few years as my perception of God has changed so much in response to His on-going revelations to my heart, my definitions of religious words and phrases has been repeatedly revised and transformed. I am coming to be much more attracted to the true God of heaven, my Father who I am coming to actually believe loves me in ways that make a difference to my heart. I have been slowly accepting His view of true religion as the falseness of popular religion has been more and more exposed in the light of surprising and exciting revelations of His true character. Because of this I am becoming more intensely hungry to know more about Him and how He relates to us because it is so much more attractive and appealing than I ever dreamed in previous years.

That is the reason why each time this inner voice tries to convince me that righteousness means primarily outward performance that I have to remind myself that this definition comes from a lying spirit that still haunts me from my past. It is a religious spirit but still a lying spirit nonetheless. And this verse is one of the most effective flashlights that shines light on the false nature of this assumption about the word righteousness. This verse makes very clear that God's priorities are primarily about the condition of my heart and my spirit and not about external trappings and performances of religion. If I don't get that crucial truth firmly in place within my belief system nothing else will ever fit together correctly. This truth is absolutely fundamental to a proper relationship with God and a healthy perception of true religion.

I see this verse as a warning for me. It tells me that religion can easily become a distraction from experiencing the real kingdom of God. True kingdom thinking is not to be focused on the externals and working hard to maintain appearances but is all about the condition of my heart, my attitudes and my relationships. Anytime I find myself zeroing in on performance in any arena and forget that the condition of my spirit is more important, then it is very likely that I will find myself getting out of balance and becoming derailed from the truly important things that keep me in touch with my Creator.

The externals are the symptoms by which I can learn what is going on at the deeper levels of my being since I often cannot consciously access what is really in my heart most of the time. I believe that much of what God is working to repair and correct is at the sub-conscious level of our being and is therefore frustrating to those who want to measure and keep tabs on their Christian growth. But it is impossible to perceive much of the deeper things within us simply because they are outside the ability of our brain to access. But our conscious choices do have great influence on our subconscious processes and it is our spirit that lies at the center of the great battle between good and evil, between God and His archenemy and the great deceiver, Satan.

So while the externals are not to be ignored or marginalized, they need to always be put back repeatedly in their proper place in our priorities and God's Spirit must be sensed and followed more consistently. If I give more focus and attention to Sabbath-keeping than on the condition of my spirit for which the Sabbath was given, then I am getting derailed from true spirituality. If I get more obsessed about facts of Scripture than I am attracted to the heart of the One the Scriptures are trying to reveal to me, then I am becoming anesthetized by deception. If I get worked up and anxious in the slightest about diet, about dress, about religious activities and performances then I am being sucked into the false security of counterfeit righteousness and I need to repent and turn again to seek God's face and deepen my vital connection with His heart of passionate love.

God, You know the weakness and falseness of my heart far better than I can ever know. I throw myself on Your mercy and grace and trust in Your love, Your wisdom and Your kindness to keep bringing me back to focus my whole life on knowing Your heart. I give You permission again and ask You to reveal Yourself much more clearly to my heart and teach me Your ways. I want to see much more clearly Your eternal principles that for us have been called laws. Please cleanse me of all resistance to Your work in my heart. Take me today, bless me, transform me and mentor me. I want to see what You are doing and to be used by You to cooperate with Your true work in other people's lives instead of ignorantly tearing down the very things You are trying to build up in other hearts. Open my eyes, my ears, my heart and draw me to Yourself today for Your name's sake.

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Clean and Unclean - 3

Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. (Romans 14:22)

Guilt and condemnation is, at the brain level, a tension created by conflict between opposing beliefs held in the left and right brain – between intellectual beliefs and strongly held experiential or emotional beliefs. In the situation Paul is describing here, a person may try to accept intellectually the belief that there is nothing spiritually unclean about something he is encouraged to eat, or some activity. But if that belief is forced on him by others judging him, then at the emotional and heart level this belief has not taken hold and this other part of their brain does not really believe this truth. Then whenever that person might engage in those activities or partake of those things, conflict will take place within their own being and tension will ensue and grow as a feeling of guilt inside of their mind.

Just as this takes place within the mind of a person, so too in the body of Christ whenever one person views another with contempt, a feeling of guilt and condemnation is created which is very debilitating and discouraging. The heavy weight of feeling condemned is a burden we were not designed to carry around, it is the very opposite of the joyful lifestyle that Jesus desires for us in which our soul can thrive and grow and bond together with others and with Him.

It is not enough just to try to intellectually refrain from condemning one's self about something that they feel is wrong or unclean. This is why Paul keeps talking about a much deeper level of belief in this passage. This deeper level is called a conviction, being convinced, having a belief at the level of conscience that allows one the freedom to do things that formerly were unthinkable without having twinges of fear and guilt.

This is not the same thing as hardening the heart against true convictions of the Spirit of God so that we can do wrong things without feeling guilty. That is the counterfeit of this kind of conviction. Also, this freedom from condemnation is not the same thing as convincing ourselves that our opinion is right or better than others and thus allowing pride to slowly extinguish the voice of God in our souls. That may appear very similar to what Paul is talking about here, and this passage may even be used to justify such activity. But that is not the point that Paul wants to make here.

What is needed, both in our own experience and in our relationships with others within the body of believers, is a humility of spirit but also a congruency of belief. This is what is sometimes called an integrated personality where our beliefs also correspond with our gut-level feelings and impulses. Apparently the importance of this congruency is very high in God's eyes, and a lack of consistency in our own heart and thinking is a very serious liability that needs to be addressed even more so than our lack of accurate information.

What Paul might be saying here is that instead of externals or misinformation being the cause of our becoming spiritually unclean, it is our relationships and the cherished attitudes of our spirit that is most likely to have that effect in our lives. The debilitating effect of “uncleanness” on our spirit can not only come from the guilt involved in eating certain things that we may believe can produce condemnation but also can come from receiving contempt and judgment from others who should be there to encourage and lift us up. Thus, fellow Christians can potentially become the source of uncleanness of the spirit for us in place of forbidden activities that were part of the Old Covenant restrictions.

Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. (Romans 14:15-16)

Is this talking about physical destruction here? I don't believe so, at least not in the immediate sense. So it must be talking about the tearing down of the spirit. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. (Romans 14:20) In verse 17 Paul explicitly clarifies what he is referring to here. The kingdom of God is not about externals as we continue to often suppose, but is about having our spirit properly aligned and synchronized and connected with the life of God Himself. This will produce real righteousness, unimaginable peace and true joy in the Holy Spirit.

What is being described here is a transition of maturity from childhood to adulthood in the spiritual life of God's people on earth. God is trying to take us past the simplistic rules needed for the protection of little children to more meaningful levels of relationship with Him through mature ways of living and thinking. That does not mean that what we were taught as children no longer applies – that is the logic of fools. It means that we shift our priorities and focus on the things that God now wants us to consider as of more importance appropriate for our more advanced level of maturity. Instead of throwing away the past instructions God gave, we should be building on their foundational principles and coming to understand them better in the increased light of advanced truth.

Present truth never discards past truth but will tend to enhance and expand on it more clearly. Some of the simplistic, childlike restrictions may be withdrawn or outgrown as one matures, but that does not mean that the underlying reasons for those restrictions no longer exist. It means that we are being trusted to act more responsibly and are being trusted to think and relate in more mature ways. If we fail to use our new freedoms responsibly we fail to enter into the proper place of advanced mature responsibility in God's family that He designs for us to enjoy.

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Clean and Unclean - 2

...nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:14)

I am searching for the real meaning and nature of this concept of “unclean” here. I realize that it comes from many statements and prohibitions found in the laws of Moses and carefully observed by the Jews down through the centuries. It was also was part of the process of the externalization of spirituality that became what we call often call “religion” which largely has stripped away the inner core of what God intended for His people to experience with Him. Nearly all that is left in religion is the artificial external symptoms of what should emerge from a real relationship with God, outward evidence that is supposed to emerge from a genuine growth in knowledge and grace from true spiritual development.

It is all too easy to just brush aside all the Old Testament ceremonial restrictions as irrelevant to our lives today where we can now live “not under the law”. But this has far too often led to brushing aside things that God never intended to be lost sight of and that are still vital to our relationship with Him. While the Old Covenant arrangements in many respects are no longer in place because they have been superseded and fulfilled by Gospel realities, it is important for us even today to understand the true meaning of the Old Covenant concepts because the core principles that they reflected are eternal in nature and still hold very significant meaning for us for all time.

Paul is pointing out here an important aspect of this idea that needs to be noted. The uncleanness that he is referring to is something in the mind and heart, not an external, physical uncleanness which is another but seperate very real problem that has little to do with ceremonial issues. And while the two kinds of uncleanness often paralleled and overlapped each other, we must be careful not to summarily dismiss physical laws of health in our rush to ignore ceremonial restrictions that were fulfilled in the life and death of the Messiah.

Paul tells us that the things that were previously considered unclean in a ceremonial sense were unclean because of how they were to be viewed from the standpoint of the mind of the person so instructed. Something that was ceremonially unclean was not inherently so because of some intrinsic quality within it. So the real uncleanness was something that was going on internally in the mind, not just something that might infect the body with disease or poison, though again that was also often a very real possibility as well. And because this kind of contamination was in the mind it would have strong effect on the person's relationships both with God and with others around them.

What does it mean for us today to know the truth about something being unclean under the Old Covenant arrangement? How does it help us to understand God's ways better to learn that things are not intrinsically ceremonially unclean in and of themselves as this verse seems to indicate? I believe that there are some things that are very important in this area that can be helpful for enhancing and deepening my own relationship with God once I begin to understand it better.

Uncleanness is not fictional, it is real but maybe different than what we often think. The uncleanness that is referred to here seems to have strong implications that are of a spiritual nature and are not always referring to physical uncleanliness. But the problem often arises when we fail to distinguish between the two and jump to an assumption that nothing we eat will hurt us because the spiritual uncleanness no longer carries religious condemnation.

In the Old Testament, God very often merged the physical and religious laws together to make life more simple for very simple minds. As we usually do for very immature children, the rules had to be very plain and simple for His immature people to be safe and protected and to be able to thrive until they were old enough in terms of maturity to absorb more of the complexities and differences between what is physically dangerous and what is spiritually contaminating. Just as He gave directions for not touching dead things, personal hygiene and other laws related to clean and unclean, I believe the main reason God created classes of clean and unclean meats was in part to simplify the directions for their life and to keep them from destroying themselves by unhealthy habits that would negatively affect their ability to relate to God with their physical minds.

Science today has discovered that the flesh foods that God declared unclean in the Old Testament are far less conducive to healthful living than other foods. But that makes one wonder why many Christians today are so eager to indulge in “foods” that were once prohibited as unclean by God in the Old Testament? I suspect it is not really a sign of maturity and freedom as they want to suppose but is more of a sign of ignorance and pride and self-dependence. Insisting that the freedoms enjoyed by those who are supposed to be mature gives license to ignore the deeper principles of health and lifestyles is not a liberating truth of a new dispensation but is an insult to the wisdom and guidance and care of God for His people in the past. Instead of trying to see how much we can get away with in our supposed “freedoms” from “clean” and “unclean” laws, it would make better sense that we should try to understand more clearly the deeper reasons those were given in the first place and incorporate those principles into our own lives so as to better enable us to draw closer to the life that measures with the life of God.

In the New Testament, God is trying to relate hopefully to a little higher level of maturity in His people and begins to differentiate between what is spiritually healthy and unhealthy and no longer puts so much emphasis on the externals and the physical. Does that mean that suddenly certain items that are eaten are no longer unhealthy that were previously? Or does it mean that God is trying to move us beyond simplistic thinking to view life in more complex and mature ways of thinking? Do the principles behind the simplistic rules we make for our young children suddenly disappear when they get older? Or do we count on those principles being so absorbed into their thinking and lifestyle that we no longer have to insist on those restrictions so much and can move on to more complex and satisfying understandings which are needed to be learned in order for them to live responsibly as adults?

Is it no longer necessary for a person to wash their hands after working or dealing with contamination simply because they have grown older and their parents are no longer in charge? That is patently absurd. But we hope to be able to assume that a person will learn about the reasons behind the need to wash their hands before they handle food or eat and this habit will be so ingrained into their thinking that we will not need to continue to dwell on it long after the age of childhood has passed.

Paul does not say here in this verse (Romans 14:14) that he believes that nothing is unclean, he only says that the uncleanness is not inherent in the thing considered unclean but is rather in the mind or heart of the person viewing it as unclean. To him who thinks it is unclean could include Paul as well, but not necessarily.

What is becoming clear is that condemnation and judging about what is clean or unclean is far more destructive than any potential negative effects of violating “clean” laws. The harmful effects of being judged and condemned are destructive both when received from others or when imposed on ourselves internally.

What are the eternal principles underlying the clean laws and restrictions? That is important to know.

How do those still-true principles apply to our lives today and affect our relationship with God?

Just because the spirit with which we approach these issues is more important the the external details does not mean that the externals can be ignored altogether. We still must retain balance while keeping our priorities always in the right order.

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Clean and Unclean - 1

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. (Romans 14:14)

After the last time I expressed my thoughts on this passage along the line of being fully convinced, I find it interesting that I find myself feeling less than convinced the more I look at this passage. That is not an invitation for zealous Christians to assault me with the purpose of convincing me that there is nothing wrong with eating unclean meats as many want to insist. That is almost always done with the wrong spirit which would only turn me off. In fact, that is one of the reasons why Christians in general have so little success attracting both Jews and Muslims to Christianity, because they mistakenly believe that insisting that converts must eat unclean foods is a supposed sign of true “freedom” in Christ. This is highly repulsive to people from those backgrounds and blasphemes the very Spirit of the One they purport to represent.

But I am praying to know the real meaning of what this verse is trying to convey. I am not very confident that I can unpack it completely even in the very near future, but like many other beliefs that I am no longer afraid to re-examine, I am asking the Holy Spirit to give me insight and understanding about the real issues and principles underlying this statement of Paul. At the same time I do not want to become too side-tracked by the simplistic, conventional arguments typically associated with this verse.

I am beginning to notice something here. Paul is not necessarily saying that nothing is unclean at all. That is not the distinction that he seems to be trying to make here in spite of the strong insistence of many teachers and preachers. He is saying that in itself nothing is unclean. The uncleanness that he is referring to here is not a physical contamination which is inherent in something that can cause disease or death when ingested. That kind of uncleanness is very real and should not be ignored by a foolish interpretation of this text. The uncleanness that Paul is referring to here is of a spiritual, symbolic nature and was very real in the minds of people in his day, particularly the Jews.

This uncleanness was due to violations of meticulous prescriptions, laws, rules and ordinances that were both spelled out in the Old Testament writings of Moses and the added restrictions accumulated over many years of tradition put in place by the teachers and elders of Israel. Their lives had become something similar, in a way, to the superstitious lifestyles of many tribes still living today in remote parts of the earth that are steeped in demon and spirit worship. Their whole daily life is filled with rules and restrictions dictated by their superstitions that seem strange and bizarre to people outside their cultures. But these superstitions are very real and pervasive in the minds of those who have grown up within that tradition.

So too, the Jews over the centuries have pieced together a whole, elaborate system of meticulous rules and inhibitions that govern practically every detail of life in an attempt to perfect a way of life pleasing (or appeasing) to God in heaven. This system was built up around the original system of laws and prescriptions first given to the Israelites in the desert just after they were delivered by God from slavery in Egypt. As a nation, the people at that time were extremely immature and typically acted and thought like little infants. Because of this condition God needed to provide for them very restrictive and detailed rules just as parents have to do for young children, in order for them to reasonably function as part of His family and to keep them from destroying themselves and each other.

Part of the meticulous rules and detailed instructions that were given during that time were a great deal of rules regarding things that were considered good or things that were considered off limits for them. The terms used for this was clean and unclean. It was a very simplistic way of setting boundaries that are very necessary for immature individuals who are incapable of making safe decisions or thinking in adult ways. And just like the way we have to oversimplify things when dealing with immature children, God had to be very restrictive and explicit and simplistic in the way he dealt with these people who simply did not have the capacity to enter into a more mature, trusting relationship with Him at a higher level.

But just as the principles behind our rules for children outlast the rules themselves, so too the principles embodied in the clean and unclean dictates given to the Children of Israel remain valid long after the simplistic restrictions may no longer be needed. But part of our problem yet today is that if we view God's dealings with men through the lens of an authoritarian and control mentality instead of God's family model, we will come up with very confused notions of why He gave many of His instructions and what His purposes were for doing so. We will fall right into the same trap that the Jews did in the days of Jesus and Paul by clinging to the rules more that clinging to the One from where the rules originated and were given to describe.

Just as we would become distraught and terribly concerned if our grown children were still trying to live under every detail of every rule ever given to them in our home from the days of their infancy, so too, God is very disappointed when we place so much emphasis on rules that He designed to restrain and protect highly immature people until they should grow up into a more mature love relationship with His heart. But at the same time, He is also very disappointed when people try to claim that since the rules were designed primarily for children that we are now free to violate both the rules and the principles underlying those rules. That is not a sign of advanced maturity but a sign more along the lines of rebellion and insubordination. Principles are eternal in nature and God's rules are more descriptive than prescriptive. It is important to understand this distinction if we are to ever begin to grow up to a level of maturity where we can enter into a deeper level of intimacy with our Creator and Lover and Redeemer.

When Jesus came to this earth, the Jews were still deeply entrenched and absorbed in the rules designed for infant and child level maturity given by God for His chosen people. They had unwisely also added many more rules in a mistaken belief that God was more interested in performance and external “perfection” than in anything else. They had almost totally lost sight of the fact that God was more desirous of a personal connection with them at the heart level than He was in their meticulous performance and alignment with every detail of every rule ever given to them throughout their growing up years. But they refused to accept this important facet of God's desire for them and so forced God to divorce them, to relinquish them as His priority people and form a new entity from all those who would accept His offer to participate in what was called the body of Christ on earth. This new body or entity was made up of both Jews and non-Jews without discrimination based on previous distinctions prescribed in the Old Testament.

This new body of believers was to be a more mature and advanced body than just infant or child where the Jews had remained stuck. The Jewish nation had become so entrenched in a juvenile mindset that God had to let them go in order to achieve His original plan to grow up a people to a level of maturity where He could interact with them like a marriage partner. This is almost astounding even to think about but is true according to the message of the Bible. God desires to draw us into a marriage relationship with Him after getting us grown up enough and matured so that we can have a healthy, dynamic life that measures with the life of God.

It is important to have this context in place when trying to understand the issue of clean and unclean and God's purpose for instituting these restrictions in the first place. Good parents still do the same thing today with their very young children and infants. We may have extremely simplistic rules like insisting that certain things are off-limits to children simply because they are “yucky”. The child is too young to understand or grasp the complex reasons and dangers behind why they should not play with something or put it in their mouth; so parents simply make seemingly arbitrary rules about those things in order to protect them from harm until they are mature enough to understand the real reasons and they have enough self-discipline to make wise choices.

That second point is also a very important part of the mix. It is not enough to just know the deeper reasons for some arbitrary rules if one does not have the internal discipline needed for self-control and self-regulation. In order to live in a healthy society successfully, we need adults who are self-restrained, thoughtful and considerate of others, who can reason from cause to effect and can have healthy, mature interactions with those around them. One cannot have a satisfying marriage to a person who is highly immature, undisciplined and irrational. That is a very tragic relationship and is due to failure of one or both partners to mature properly before entering into this kind of relationship.

Just the same, God knows that we must mature much more and internalize the principles embodied in the rules originally given to us as immature children so that our lives will become reflective of those principles, not just complicit with the external details of simplistic rules. As the true principles are more and more internalized, the outward expressions of those principles will be seen naturally. They may vary according to taste, personality and uniqueness, but the basic principles will never change.

If I am to properly understand this issue of clean and unclean, I need to grasp the underlying principles behind those early restrictions and then understand how they should be incorporated into a mature mind and heart. Many of the teachings in the New Testament are designed for the more mature, but they can also be easily misunderstood and misapplied by anyone who has failed to mature to the level needed to relate to them properly. We must understand the eternal principles behind the rules and instructions or we can easily be deceived and thwarted from entering into the relationship that God desires us to have with Him.

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Convictions and Conflict

Something I am beginning to see in my study of this chapter of Romans is the need to live in peace while properly relating to the potentially tension-creating situation described here. In this chapter (14) I am instructed to accept, even embrace as family, others in the body of Christ who believe differently about certain things than I do but at the same time be fully convinced in my own mind and heart about what God has revealed to me about those same issues.

This is a relatively new concept to me and is almost foreign to my thinking. What was modeled for me most of my life was quite the opposite of this teaching. The people who mentored me tended to play up their differences with other people and intentionally pointed them out and made that a reason to criticize and find fault with those who didn't agree with them. Thus pride was fostered in the heart and a system of comparing ourselves with other people became deeply ingrained in my life.

But I am now seeing that this way of relating to other believers is just the opposite as taught in the Bible, despite all the “proof texts” assembled to justify the actions of those who believe in amplifying differences. Is this a recipe for compromise and dilution of truth in the church as many are sure to claim? Well, I have to first of all be accountable to God for the truth as it is shared with me by the Holy Spirit directly from the Word of God. So I have to unravel this issue enough to see what the real purpose of God is for my life and listen in humility to the convictions of the Spirit.

Notice the verses in this chapter that highlight this important point.

Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. (Romans 14:1)

...Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:5)

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus... (Romans 14:14)

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he (violates his internal belief about some issue), because his (action that violates his own conscience) is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23)

Now that I think about this a little more, I wonder if part of the real problem is that when someone else presents beliefs or doctrines that differ from my own, that secretly I feel threatened because I am not really fully settled in my own heart about that particular issue as much as I think I am. Oh, I may be a strong defender of that particular belief or doctrine even to the point of fanaticism, but that may be because I have only embraced it with my head (and a great deal of prejudice as well) but have not really had my heart transformed by the underlying truth of that belief, if indeed it is true.

If that is the case then a certain amount of tension or even guilt will be sensed whenever someone brings up that hot-button issue and to avoid feeling that sense of internal condemnation I may react in very strong opposition to that person believing that the real problem is in them and not in myself. This is a very common problem with humans, much more than most people ever care to admit or even believe possible. But whenever I find myself blaming others repeatedly for something it is a sure indicator that something inside my own heart is unresolved and needs to be exposed and faced much more directly.

It is a common reaction that whenever someone triggers a subject or unresolved issue in our own heart that we will tend to blame the ones who “caused” us to be triggered instead of taking responsibility ourself. But blame never resolves anything, it only attempts to mask the real problem and prevents us from achieving the healing that God wants to accomplish in our life and is so necessary to prepare us to encounter His dangerous presence.

It is equally true that whenever a person is fully settled in their mind and in their heart about a certain issue that when they meet others who believe differently than they do that there is no longer any intensity stirred up within them, no feelings that need to be suppressed or dealt with, no internal twinges of condemnation that create unease. This is the peace that comes from a settled mind and heart that has been healed by the truth and a gentle spirit that is synchronized with God and does not feel any need to justify itself.

As I have pointed out before, the examples that Paul used here in this chapter were some of the biggest “hot-button” issues in religion that caused the greatest conflicts in the church of his day. But they have lost most of their edge for people today and so their impact to convey the real message of this chapter today no longer illicits the explosive potential reactions in our thinking like they would have in the minds of those he was originally addressing. So to really get the strong emphasis that Paul intended this passage to have, we might do well to insert our own hot-button subjects into this passage in place of the ones he used to allow the text to speak its truth more forcefully to us today.

Those potential subjects will vary widely depending on the church, the culture or even the particular sub-group that you may find yourself in. But it is not really that hard to find something to bring this passage to life for us. Just think a little bit about what triggers you the most, what makes you feel defensive, what makes you feel an intense need to protect the religion or beliefs that you strongly believe in and you will likely have a good candidate for plugging in to this passage and seeing how the conviction of the Spirit of God can bring this truth to life in your own experience.

I know that in the culture and religion that I am most familiar with and the one that I grew up in around my own family that there are a number of hot-button topics that would easily fit this description. It takes very little to start up an argument around some of the people I know on certain subjects. But the real question that needs to be faced is, how can I relate to that trigger for conflict to examine the root cause for dis-ease in my own soul? If I feel intense about anything then assuredly there is a root of bitterness or a lie-based belief that still lies buried and potentially undetected in my own heart that God wants to expose and remove. But He can only do this with my explicit permission.

This is where I am reminded of the instruction from James, the brother of Jesus who wrote:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

We typically view this verse as referring to other kinds of trials, but anything that arouses tension and conflict in our hearts is a trial. What is important is that we learn to view trials as opportunities to have the root causes inside our heart that are triggering us in our trial to be healed by God. If we relate to these situations in this way then we will find ourselves engaged in the process described here that produces better faith and more endurance and greater maturity. I believe this is a good parallel to what Paul is referring to in Romans 14.

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he (violates his internal belief about some issue), because his (action that violates his own conscience) is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23)

What I find fascinating here is that Paul seems to be implying that different people can hold very opposing views compared to each other about the same doctrinal issue and yet both parties can be in right relationship with God. What seems to be more important here to God is that we are at peace about it in our own conscience and in our personal accountability to God more than He wants our being technically correct about some divisive issue.

This might seem to open the door to excuse deliberate self-deception when a person chooses to reject truth that is undesirable, but this is not the case. That is another issue that needs to be addressed separately. But that is the excuse that is often used for us to attack others who differ with us. Instead of looking within to see why we feel so defensive and intense about our favorite topic that we desire to champion, we accuse others of insincerity and go on the offensive to force them to come into alignment with our opinions. But this is in direct contradiction to the clear instruction in verse one where we are told to accept others without passing judgment on their opinions.

This is a very hard teaching for many of us. It runs directly across our natural ways of thinking and relating to others. But it is also a revelation of the kindness of God in His dealings with us. If God related to us based on the accuracy of our knowledge about factual and doctrinal truth we would be in a hopeless situation. What I am seeing here is a clearer revelation of the importance of focusing on the heart issues above the external, factual-based issues that we so often use to distinguish ourselves from others.

At the deeper level the real problem that is being exposed here is the deep reservoir of pride that still remains hidden in our hearts and minds. Until our pride is exposed for what it really is we will continue to have great difficulty properly understanding these instructions from the Word of God. True humility will lead to true unity in the body of Christ. And the closer we come to each other at the heart level the more we will be amazed at the ease with which God can correct our doctrinal conflicts and bring us into unity in those areas as well. But if the heart is not open and in the healing process, no amount of doctrinal correctness will prepare us to enter into the unity of spirit that God says is a much greater priority in His estimation.

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