The topic of Christian liberty touches my heart deeply. I am greatly concerned about the havoc that fundamentalism has wreaked on upon the consciences of Christians. As the confession says, "Only God has the right to bind the conscience."
Man made taboos, Scriptural twisting in order to create self-rightoeus people, and plain old ignorance of Romans 14 (and likeminded texts) are in direct conflict with the gospel of justification by faith alone. "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free." Many legalists hate "freedom" language because they fear that it leads to antinomianism (lawlessness). But Paul says, "do not use your freedom to induulge teh flesh." The problem is, many Christians seek to shackle the freedom of others by imposing their own strict rules upon them in the name of Christ. The moral law (which is still in force today) is somehow not enough. We feel that we can be as wise as God by creating a fence around the laws to keep people from sinning. For Reformed Christians this is especially troubling, since such a practice runs in direct conflict with the doctrine of total depravity. Laws do not make our hearts better, they reveal what is in need of fixing through the gospel.
The horrors of these practices run deep and the numbers of atheists that have been created by forcing people to obey things that God considers matters of liberty are tragic. We are in great need to a proper understanding of Romans 14 - Christian Liberty!
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Doug Van Dorn is the founding pastor of Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado. He is a graduate of Denver Seminary, and he and his wife, Janelle, are proud parents of two daughters.
