Core Values vs Manifestation of Value

I was reading the book Built to Last and had a thought that I feel is worth sharing. Don't mistake an inherited manifestation of core values for actually holding those values. Nowhere do our core values specify white shirts and ties, a certain seating arrangement, or a particular version of the Bible. Read and understand Christianity's core values and then educate, inspire, and motivate people to carry those values forward relentlessly, in whatever way they manifest those values. Don't just carry forward the way previous generations showed their dedication to the values for the sake of it, especially not if it impedes rather than facilitates the spread and realization of those values in this day and age and certainly don't try to make others do it.

If you see members going through the motions without the passion and dedication that animated the first century Christians, it's a sure sign that they are just "copying" others' expressions of Biblical values rather than actually holding those values themselves. To remedy this, we must encourage them to understand the values and then set them free to go and live those values the way they see fit. In other words - if it's just an opinion, keep it to yourself unless it's simply a friendly discussion. Forcing opinions on others is one of the quickest ways to push people out of the church. Just because something matters a lot to you, and because you think it's super important, does not oblige others to agree. If it's not in the Bible, it isn't a requirement - period.

Consider Christ's teachings: 

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger... “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Matthew 23:1-4,13,15

If this post offends you or causes you to feel uncomfortable, then let me be very clear. I am talking to you. I challenge you and hope that you will consider and reflect on these things so that you soften your heart and let God start working through you again.