I Escaped Church Legalism and Found Freedom in Jesus - Lisa Marcelina

I Escaped Church Legalism and Found Freedom in Christ

Introduction

I escaped church legalism and found freedom in Jesus.

Church legalism is something I am familiar with. I attended a legalistic church for some years and learnt a lot while I was there. I honestly believed it was God’s plan for me at the time.

Before that, as a youth in my early teens, I attended the Anglican Church. Sunday School was fun. I was in the choir and went on a lot of Church outings. There were events galore, but I didn’t truly learn about the Bible, except for the Bible stories we heard in Sunday School. As I got older, I yearned for more. I eventually found a church that taught me a lot about the Bible. It was here that my faith grew. After a while the church gave up its legalistic view, causing it to disintegrate. I have been in search for a place to fellowship since then, but in the interim I also learned that it’s my relationship with Jesus that counts the most. I eventually found Freedom in Jesus, not in church.

My Church Experience

When I was a child growing up my mother always spoke about her faith in God. I never doubted God existed because of her strong faith . We belonged to the Anglican Church and she ensured I went to church every Sunday, including Sunday school.

I attended the Anglican Church until my early teens.  I was an active member but after a while I lost interest and stopped attending. One day I was looking at television at this Christian programme.  The topic was prophecy and it was very interesting.  They offered free literature and a bible correspondence course for which I applied.  It was then I started learning to read the bible and had a better understanding of it.

After some enquiries I found out there was a branch of the church in my country. I made up my mind to attend. But in order to become a member they had to interview you. You could not ‘join’ out of curiosity, they wanted you to learn and accept their teachings.

Celebrations like Christmas, Easter, and birthdays, were not part of their faith. They were called a cult, but that was not my experience. They just tried to teach and live by the bible as they saw it.  Fellowship was an integral part of church activities. The members went out of their way to get to know you and help you along the way to becoming a true Christian.

After some years though, they started to change their doctrine.  Accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior was their new teaching. It was no longer about works, but what you felt in your heart.  This did not go down well with a lot of members and the church eventually broke apart.

Since then I have been back and forth to different churches. I even went back to the Anglican church trying to find somewhere to fellowship. 

I eventually found one that seemed relatively ok. The members of this church comprised a lot of young people who, at the time, were around my age. They were vibrant and there were a lot of activities that encouraged fellowship. Convinced that this was the church I was looking for, I baptized.  But my experience after that was not good. They tried to force me to leave behind my friends and the people I normally associated with, to associate with only the people in the church. They cited 2 Corinthians 6:14:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” KJV.

They were a part of the “ours is the only true church of God” churches. There were other practices that made me feel very uncomfortable, so I left.

I Found Freedom in Christ

It was back to hunting for a church I could feel relatively comfortable in, but sorry to say, I have not succeeded.  In some, fellowship was lacking. You went, you listened to the sermon and then you left. In others too many rules to follow. In other words, church legalism. After a while I learnt that the most important thing is my personal relationship with Christ. Not so much what church I belonged to.  Of course church is important. After all, I learned all about the bible from church. But Jesus came to set me free and I am no longer under the law but under grace (Romans 6:14)

Galatians 5:1 says: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Church Legalism places us back under bondage. Submitting to a set of rules may be easier than living exclusively for Jesus, but this is not the life Jesus meant for us. When we place our heart, soul, and minds to truly live for Jesus it is then we experience an abundant life.

I don’t know if I would ever find a church that I can comfortably worship. And I am well aware that there is no perfect church. But having escaped the legalism of what some churches offered, I have found what it means to live for Jesus, and the freedom it truly entails.

What has your church experience been like? Please share with me.

This post first appeared in FaithWriters.com


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