Can Christians Have Any Craic?
If you grew up in the general vicinity of a church or indeed went to a school associated with a church, one thing you might pick up about Christianity is that it has this long list of things that are not allowed. This is a common understanding and one I would like to look at from a slightly different angle in this article.
Now before you come in thinking that I’m about to suggest that there are no rules in Christianity, that is not what I’m arguing for. The immediate example being the ten commandments that most people have heard of. However, no book, even one as long as the Bible, can cover every possible situation that we find ourselves in and so there are many scenarios not covered by biblical law. For example, what can the Bible say about pornography or drugs? While the Bible can say something about the attitudes surrounding modern moral issues, how is this to be interpreted? How am I supposed to make moral choices if the Bible doesn’t tell me exactly what to do in every situation?
Well the answer to that question is actually quite interesting, for we actually have this amazing ability to choose. This is actually true for most people, but they do their best to avoid making moral choices. We make excuses, claim that things have always been done this way. Or that we are a victim of our upbringing. Or that this is how someone else would respond in our situation. We do whatever we can to avoid taking responsibility for our decisions. For if we take responsibility for our decisions, then the consequences are suddenly our fault.
The Bible tells the story of God giving His people laws to live by and them ignoring those laws and feeling the consequences of their actions. While you may be thinking, yeah this is the Bible, full of rules, people breaking those rules and getting punished. Yeah that’s totally in there for sure. Obvious examples come to mind, Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden, everyone that wasn't on Noah’s ark and Jonah getting swallowed by a fish. However, what we often fail to notice in this process is the freedom to break these laws.
If God is God and knows what’s best for the world, why on Earth would He allow the possibility to break His laws? A question for the philosophers throughout the ages, but it does reveal something of the character of God. He’s a being that values the ability to choose. In a world where following is easy, where simply following orders is the easiest thing, God created us to have freedom. To have the freedom to choose our own path.
What is revolutionary about this idea is that we are not necessarily products of our environment. Contrary to popular opinion we can choose how we respond to our circumstances. The result of this is two-fold. On the one hand we have this wonderful ability to have an impact on our lives and what happens to us. We don’t have to be stuck in a rut. It may take an awful lot of work, but we can influence our response to our circumstances. The second result is that we take responsibility. People like to blame their problems on the world. It’s comforting to feel like a victim in a cruel world that cares nothing for us. It means we can just sit wallowing in our misery, personally I find misery to be most comfortable. However, in a world where we have choices, we can still choose the wallowing, but the responsibility is our own in that. We choose to wallow. We can also choose to break out of that cycle. It’s not easy, it often requires a heavy level of work, help from those around us and occasionally a little divine intervention, but it’s possible.
So what is it that Christians are allowed to do? We are allowed to choose our response to circumstances. We are allowed to stand and break out of unhealthy habits and destructive thought patterns. This is a freedom that is given to all of humanity. Despite the fact that it does not fit in a materialist worldview of absolute cause and effect. Christians believe that we are each given freedom to choose.
