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Remember Sam Malone from the old Cheers TV show?
Sam. A guy who doesn't like rules.
I used to have trouble with all those 'Thou Shall Nots,' too. And - let's be honest - God does have a lot of 'Thou Shall Nots' for us. He does have some standards, some directions and some rules. And it does grate against our ego to be told NOT to do something, doesn't it?
See we live in a society that stresses ego... self... empowerment... being assertive... looking out for number one.
And if we concede there is a God who has a personal interest in who we are and what we do... then... as God, he is number one. He is to be obeyed. And that... let's again be honest now... that goes against everything in us. God, it seems to many, is a sort of cosmic killjoy.
But what if those rules aren't to cramp our style but to help us?
back in the 1990's then working as a journalst, i was sent to Saudi Arabia to cover Operation Desert Storm and the Persian Gulf War. And I remember being taken out into the desert and videotaping one of our army special forces experts showing a group of Marines some of the very sophisticated explosives and land mines that the Iraqis had buried in the sand of Southern Kuwait.
The commander explained how these tiny things could tear a man in half if stepped on. But they were so sophisticated it took a long time to remove and because the marines were going to go screaming in hard and fast, there wasn't time to remove the Iraqis mines first.
What the special forces would do, said the commander, would be to sweep the area with mine detectors and, whenever one was found, they'd mark it. They'd place a little warning flag in the sand right next to it that said 'Don't Step Here.'
It was a like 'Thou Shall Not.' And guess what? Nobody minded that prohibition. The command not to step here wasn't something to cramp the soldiers' style. It was meant to save their lives.
That... I submit... is the same motive God has when we read of some of his rules in the Bible.
Here's an escapabe fact: If there is a God, then we have to accept the fact that we are accountable to him. And that means there indeed are some rules.
And maybe those rules aren't so bad after all. Maybe they're there to make our lives better instead of just restrictive. Think of the lives that would be whole, the families still together, the sexual diseases we wouldn't have, the societal problems of drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, crime and dishonesty in government that would be diminished if only more people heeded those Thou Shall Nots.
One more thing about Sam Malone. In this life, youth and good looks fade away. Good times run out. What happens when Sam loses his hair, loses his looks?
Earnest Hemingway was a man's man. A great, brilliant novelist. A hunter. Fisherman. Lady's man. But all that wild life caught up with him. He became a raging alcoholic. He found his health fading, his sexual powers waning and... since he didn't believe in God... he said the only thing he could do was to control the way and means with which he left this life so he took a nickel-plated shotgun and blew his brains out.
If there is no God... you see... there is no point. |
| Author: Mike Wendland |
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Author Bio:
The author is a pastor at a large Bible-beieving church in the Midwest and the publisher of the Online Christian Shopper (www.onlinechristianshopper.com), a popular shopping site specializing in uniquely-designed Christian T-Shirts and jewelry items. |
| This article can be searched using: Lessons From Cheers: What We Can Learn From Sam, Issues & News, Spirituality & Religion |
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