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Monday, August 6, 2018

Sit, Christian, sit!

Some time back, a Facebook friend of mine, Bobby Valentine, wrote a Facebook post about the concept of "precision obedience".  The concept goes something like this:  God has precise requirements and he expects us to obey them precisely.  Or, God wants us to do exactly what he says exactly the way he says it.

This got my attention.  I'm a Christian, and I want to obey God.  What Christian doesn't?  Wouldn't it be good to "precisely" obey God?

So I did a trusty Google search of the phrase, "precision obedience".

Know what else came up in my search, besides articles on the teaching of "precision obedience"?

Dog training.

Yes, this doctrine, that we are supposed to do "exactly" what God says "exactly" the way he says it, apparently is on the same level as teaching Rover, Fido, and Spot how to sit, stand, heel, lie down, roll over, and play dead!

Does this mean that we have to do "exactly" what God says "exactly" the way he says it and be rewarded with the spiritual equivalent of a doggy treat?

Look, I get that God calls us to obey him.  Jesus himself said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments."  We are called to obedience and we are called to a particular standard of living, a particular "code of conduct", if you will, as Christians. 

But here's my problem with the whole concept of "precision obedience".

One, it's not possible.  No one can "precisely obey" anything.  I found it interesting that this article about "precision obedience" appealed to the book of Deuteronomy -- the "second giving" of the Jewish law -- to support the argument that yes, we are called to "precisely obey" what God says.  Apparently the writer forgot that the purpose of the law was to lead us to Christ, and now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law (Galatians 3:25).

Two, how do you quantify "precision obedience"?  Jesus himself said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27.)  How do you measure love?  How do you "precisely obey" the command to "love your neighbor as yourself"?  Is there a standard that you can point to that says, you "precisely" obeyed the command to love?

Three, and this is my biggest problem with this entire concept:

Who decides?

Who decides what "precision obedience" is?  And do not tell me, "God decides," because there are plenty of places that he doesn't give us precise guidelines of what to do.  He tells us to "love our neighbor".  He doesn't tell us exactly how to do it.  He tells us to "forgive as the Lord forgave you".  He doesn't give us a formula of how to forgive.  (Believe me, I wish he had!)

Are you not "precisely obeying" if you drop off your church contribution at the office on Friday instead of putting it in the offering plate on Sunday?  Or, if you do your contribution by direct deposit instead of putting in the offering plate? 

If you do Sunday School first and then worship service, are you "precisely obeying"?

What about if you use an overhead projector instead of hymnbooks?

What if you use multiple cups for communion instead of one?  Or pass a plate that has BOTH the bread and the grape juice on it, instead of passing a plate with bread and then passing a plate with juice cups?

And don't get me started on instrumental music.  (For those who comment that the early church didn't use instruments, the early church also didn't use four-part harmony.  If we REALLY want to do things the way the first century did, we'd be singing in something similar to Gregorian chant!)

Although the desire to find out what God wants us to do and to do it is right--and we should find out what God wants us to do and then do it!--this whole concept of "precision obedience" is nothing more than salvation by law-keeping.  Paul wrote an entire book, the book of Galatians, on the fallacy of salvation by the law.  And James wrote that anyone who keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)  Peter, in the book of Acts, refers to law-keeping as a yoke that neither they nor their ancestors were able to bear (Acts 15:10). 

"Precision obedience" puts a believer, metaphorically speaking, on a tightrope walking over Niagara Falls.  One slip, and they're doomed!  They will fall into the bubbling waters of Lake Ontario, and the Maid of the Mist will probably not be there to catch them. 

This whole idea of "precision obedience" reminds me of the very end of Family Ties, although I'd probably change it to the following:

"Sit, Christian, sit!"

"Good dog."

Woof!

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

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