Posted: 07/19/06

Standards were not a big topic in the Garden of Eden before the fall. What was there to debate? God said, "Thou shalt not eat of the tree of good and evil." That was it. Just don't eat of the fruit.

Today, all of us spend much of our time talking about, trying to understand, struggling with, and trying to obey certain standards. The question is not whether or not to have standards. The question is whose standards do claim and obey. Bible-believing Christians claim to follow the standards of God as revealed in the Bible. But, what is shocking to me is that many of those same brothers and sisters so often actually reject those very standards. Let me explain.

In 1983, I, along with the then president of American Vision Ministry, was a guest on the now defunct PTL Club television broadcast. My worst fear materialized that day. Jim Bakker was out of town and Tammy Faye was going to host the show. I had nothing against Tammy Faye personally. My fear was that she wouldn't understand our message, and she didn't. She actually admitted this during the break. PTL's audience just wasn't used to the type of hardcore message that we presented.

What was our message? We simply submitted the insane proposition that we (Christians) have to have a standard and that standard has to be Scripture. We argued that the Bible was applicable to every area of life including government, family, law, business, economics, art, ethics, etc. There was no neutrality. Many just can't accept this argument. To me this is just Bible 101.

Who could disagree? Many people believe it or not. You wouldn't think this would be controversial but it was and still is. Christians seem to have a great aversion to being confronted with or held to hardcore standards. They seem to prefer the mushy, ambiguous, amorphous type of standard that can be tailored to individual needs. Of course, I am generalizing, but what I am saying holds true generally across the denominational board.

For example as soon as one quotes an Old Testament law or standard the common response is, "We are not under law but under grace."  What I find amusing is that when challenged rarely can anyone tell me what that means in practice. No matter how you define it, you have to reference back to the law.

Why can't we murder people we don't like under grace? The law. Why can't we steal? The law. Adultery, nope, can't do that either. Again, the law prevents us. And, it doesn't matter whether you call it the law of Christ or the law of love or simply the law. There is still a standard that prohibits or encourages certain actions. We must conform to the law to please God.

Please don't misunderstand my point here. The law does not save us. It never has. Keeping a standard does not save us. The standard is merely guideposts along the road of sanctification.[1] The law clearly reveals where we are in the sanctification process. I know that I am growing in Christ because I've cut back on stealing. I don't murder either although I'll confess I'm tempted at times. Let's face it. We are all murderers in our hearts. We just choose not to commit the crime in order to please God and to avoid the nasty penalty.

This is exactly the point that C.S. Lewis makes in his classic book, Mere Christianity. All of us when in a dispute with someone else will appeal to some standard. As soon as we say something is wrong or claim that we have a better way, we have appealed to a standard. I think Christians will agree that the only reliable standard in life is Scripture so what's the big problem?

Let me refer back to my PTL Club experience. We arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, the day before the broadcast and were taken by limosine to a private part of the massive PTL complex. We were given private accommodations away from the general population. We also had an exclusive dining room where all the celebs, like us, ate. I'll admit that this experience really appeals to your flesh, but that's beside the point.

While we were unpacking our suitcases a pastor dropped by to introduce himself. I cannot remember his name but he was a regular on the program. We started talking about our message and he got down right "hot." We had appealed to God's law and his response was, "I hate God's law!" and he quickly left. Although I don't know for sure, I assume he we reacting to legalism and not to God's law. I'd do the same. However, he violently reacted to a standard.

On another occasion I was speaking in a home to a group of maybe ten people. Again, I made the statement that we have to have a standard and that the standard must be God's law or his principles if you prefer.

At some point during my presentation this one man got visibly angry and lashed out at me. He said, "I don't like the fact that you see everything in black and white or right or wrong!" I responded by asking him, "What specific standard or issue are you referring to?" He got even madder and yelled, "Don't try and put that on me!!!"

This is the clincher. When I pose specific situations and ask how we would address them without appealing to the law no one has given me a good biblical answer. It's always ambiguous.

Think about this. Under the law of Christ, what is the punishment for embezzlement? How about libeling someone? Murder? What if you broke a neighbor's lawnmower that you borrowed and then broke?

Can you see the problem? When we sever ourselves from God's laws we drift. That's what is wrong with America today. We are drifting to where I don't know but away from our foundational principles. We are living just like they did in the time of Judges when Scripture tells us, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." This is pure humanism and too many Christians have opted to become humanist because they hate a standard.

If America is to recover from its downward track, America must repent. It must return to the God of our Fathers. It must stand on the only true standard mankind has: The Word of God, all of it.

In conclusion, I offer God's formula for success, Joshua 1:8:

The Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (NKJB).

If you think I'm being legalistic by quoting the Old Testament, then I offer Jesus' words in John 14:15:

If you love me keep my commandments.

This is what I think. What about you?

Ralph C. Barker

www.ralphbarker.com

cruiseone@mindspring.com

By Ralph C. Barker Click here for bio and archived articles