The Danger of Guardrails
Over ten years ago on this blog, I wrote about how a dog leash is a good illustration of legalism. Our dog at the time was a perfect example of obedience and behavior on a walk without a leash. However, on the leash, he became reckless, unobservant dog. He had no attention for us and tested limits and ran crazy, knowing the leash would keep him in check. That would be a recipe for disaster if the leash were dropped and he were to try to run into a street.
There are other ways that legalism—or the attempted safety of man-made boundaries—can have the opposite than intended effect. People used to be told that dancing was a sin because it was feared it would lead to sex. However, when people rightly intuited that dancing was not a problem, they would “rebel” against the man-made rules and not understand where to rightly set their own boundaries. Other examples would be claiming that cards are a sin out of the fear of gambling, or that drinking alcohol is a sin out of fear of drunkenness.
When we create guardrails away from true dangers, we don’t experience the struggle with grace and law that leads to a mature, healthy understanding of boundaries. Good intentions lead to disastrous results.
It can be argued that this occurred all the way back in the garden. When God gave the one rule to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve was not yet created. So, when the serpent asked her about the rule, and she said that it was forbidden to eat of it or touch it, we can deduce that Adam taught her this addition, this guardrail. The problem is, when she touched it—which was not forbidden—and nothing happened, she assumed that the whole danger was made up.
A relatively new development along these lines is the trend today for Christians to avoid, suspect, and downright reject science and education. The dangers of some theories and proposals of science and education are seen as a threat, so we have made an enemy of all knowledge. “Don’t think critically about things!” “Don’t listen to science or philosophers!” “Don’t interact with them!” Instead, we are told to merely follow whatever our leaders and our tribe says. Blindly listen to safe voices of self-appointed men. The problem is that we lose the ability to think critically and engage the world at all. Even reality is suspect. Guardrails are driving us back towards medieval, superstitious, ignorant minds.
There are other ways that legalism—or the attempted safety of man-made boundaries—can have the opposite than intended effect. People used to be told that dancing was a sin because it was feared it would lead to sex. However, when people rightly intuited that dancing was not a problem, they would “rebel” against the man-made rules and not understand where to rightly set their own boundaries. Other examples would be claiming that cards are a sin out of the fear of gambling, or that drinking alcohol is a sin out of fear of drunkenness.
When we create guardrails away from true dangers, we don’t experience the struggle with grace and law that leads to a mature, healthy understanding of boundaries. Good intentions lead to disastrous results.
It can be argued that this occurred all the way back in the garden. When God gave the one rule to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve was not yet created. So, when the serpent asked her about the rule, and she said that it was forbidden to eat of it or touch it, we can deduce that Adam taught her this addition, this guardrail. The problem is, when she touched it—which was not forbidden—and nothing happened, she assumed that the whole danger was made up.
A relatively new development along these lines is the trend today for Christians to avoid, suspect, and downright reject science and education. The dangers of some theories and proposals of science and education are seen as a threat, so we have made an enemy of all knowledge. “Don’t think critically about things!” “Don’t listen to science or philosophers!” “Don’t interact with them!” Instead, we are told to merely follow whatever our leaders and our tribe says. Blindly listen to safe voices of self-appointed men. The problem is that we lose the ability to think critically and engage the world at all. Even reality is suspect. Guardrails are driving us back towards medieval, superstitious, ignorant minds.
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