Just a couple quick thoughts
I read this article today (h/t, DMN Religion Blog)
Christians in Indiana are drawing parallels between spelling champ
Elliot Huck, 14, and Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner who refused to
compete on Sundays, and whose story is told in the movie Chariots of
Fire. Elliot, who advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2005
and 2006, will not compete this year, his last year of eligibility.
That's because the Herald-Times, the newspaper sponsoring Bloomington's
regional feed-in bee, scheduled the contest on a Sunday.
Elliot, on his own, decided he would not compete: God commands
Christians to keep the Sabbath holy, he said. "If I make exceptions to
following God's rule, even if it is only once, there will be more
exceptions that will follow," he said.
I want to make clear that I'm not making light of his decision or saying he's wrong. He's not wrong, and I applaud him for the stand that he's making. However, this just smacks of legalism to me. Romans 7:6 says "But now, by dying to what
once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in
the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." We are no longer under the law. God knows that we can't be perfect and he doesn't expect that from us. Collette and I just outright skipped church a couple weeks ago to spend time with our kids. God isn't going to punish us for that I don't think.
Again, I want to say how much admire Elliot though. I can imagine as a eighth grader that it's hard to give up something that you're very good at and that many won't understand your reasoning why.
My second thought? I still owe everyone a Take a Stand article from last weekend. I'll post it this week, or else you'll get two next weekend.