Ultimate Christianity

      Perhaps you have heard some of us have been meeting at Pinkerton Park on Sunday nights after our assembly and playing Ultimate Frisbee (by the way, if you can throw and catch a Frisbee, you are invited to play). We started a few weeks ago after I looked up the rules online. I explained the rules as best I could, and we started playing.

      Despite going over the rules repeatedly, something happens and I can’t remember the rule. When I get to a computer, I look it up and then, at our next gathering, explain it. There have also been a couple of times where I just perused the rulebook and noticed I had said something wrong. At our next gathering, I had to make the correction. Further, it also seems that no matter how many times we go over the rules, someone forgets and makes a mistake. We have to stop play, explain the rule again and then move on.

      Isn’t it interesting that we understand how this works with a game, but we have such trouble with it in Christianity?

      People today don’t like the idea of rules for Christianity. Folks constantly get upset when you mention the New Testament was meant to guide our lives and work. Yes, God was telling us He loved us, but He was also telling us to love Him by keeping His commandments (cf. I John 5:2-3).

      Some folks have the idea they can peruse the rules once and have it all down. Actually, we need to constantly get back into the rule book and make sure we are playing properly. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we never had it to begin with. In any event, we have to be diligent so we might be approved by using God’s word properly in our lives and churches (II Timothy 2:15).

      Then there are the folks that hear questions but don’t give Bible answers. They provide their think-sos. “I can’t see why God would oppose or allow such and such.” Whether we can see it is really immaterial. The question is whether or not God authorized it. The Scriptures equip us for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore when we have questions about good works, we shouldn’t search our minds, we should search the scriptures.

      Finally, many folks hate it when someone tries to correct mistakes. That is called negative. We are told it just brings people down. Interestingly, I have never once had someone in Ultimate Frisbee say a correction based on the rules was negative. We all understand if we are going to play, we have to live by the rules. When we violate them, we have to be corrected. That’s how we get better. We must not forget, II Timothy 3:16-17 also said the Scriptures were given to correct us.

      It doesn’t really matter if we get Ultimate Frisbee right. Yet, we all know how to. It really does matter if we get Ultimate Christianity right. Why do we struggle with it so much?

Edwin L. Crozier