Rules Are Rules

I was recently added to the board of directors of Idlewild Christian Camp. I haven’t gotten fully into the swing of being a “director” yet, but I should know a little something about what is coming. I spent 30 straight years there as a camper (see picture of me and my camp homeys... or maybe homelies) and then staff, and spent ten years on the board of directors before my 10-year hiatus. So I had a little experience with camp… and I let them put me back on the board anyway.

One of the things that we used to spend a lot of time talking about were rules—“Special Rules for Camping Sessions.” Everyone agreed on the necessity; we often disagreed often over exactly what specific the rules should be. Usually, the rules were reactive; they were enacted due to some specific situation that arose during camp. Something screwy would happen, and then the board would meet to issue some official edict—

• In early years, the water pump cabin fire extinguishers were often used, not to fight fires, but to hose down campers. We made a rule that prohibited the use of fire extinguishers for any purpose other than to fight fires. That rule remained on the books long after the extinguishers were removed from the cabins.


• A visiting group from a Christian college went swimming late one evening, and the rattling of the diving board the cooks awake. Sure enough, the next year we issued a rule that said that no night swims by guests or staff would take place after l0:00 PM.

The longer the camp operated, the more situations were encountered, and the list of rules grew longer and longer. When I left the Board, the rule sheet listed separate 28 rules printed in 10 point Times Roman font just to squeeze them all on one page.

For some reason, I flashed on that rule sheet as I was doing my reading today in Leviticus. Saturday’s reading (Lev 18) listed 20 different types of sexual liaisons that were forbidden the Jews, from having sex with parents to having sex with animals. Sunday’s reading (Lev 20) listed the punishment for those sexual sins. Both the sins and the punishments are listed in excruciating detail. Everything there could have been covered with a simple “There will be no sex outside of marriage or else.” But the rules were very specific and the punishment was exact. Not only did the Jews know the rules, they knew why the rules were important, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” (Leviticus 20:7-8).

There are times when I wish there was a list of rules to cover every situation that could possible come up. Like when people ask, “What does the Bible say about invitofertilization?” It would be nice to be able to get down the concordance and look it up. Of course, if every ethical, moral question were covered, we would need a forklift to get down the concordance! What we learn from Israel’s experience of the law is that having rules to cover every imaginable situation does not mean one will seen to follow the rules. Some of Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees indicate that the law became for some a way to justify their own behavior while keeping other people in line (see Matt 23:4, Mark 7:11-13).

Let’s face it, our biggest moral/ethical problem is not knowing what is and is not right. It is rather that so often, what is right is not what we want. For the person who recognizes that God desires for us to be holy as He is holy, the list of rules probably won’t matter that much. They may be too busy pleasing God with their lives to haggle over the details of what is and is not in the rules. Maybe we’re way too much like the Pharisees than we would ever want to admit?