Jay Kesler, president of Taylor University, told me about his own brush with legalism. Shortly after deciding to follow Christ as a teenager, he felt overwhelmed by all the new rules imposed on him. Confused, Jay walked around his backyard in Indiana and noticed his faithful collie Laddy, merrily gnawing on a bone while stretched out in the glistening wet grass. It struck Jay that Laddy was possibly the best Christian he knew. Laddy did not smoke, drink, go to movies, dance, or carry protest signs. He was harmless, docile, and inactive. At once Jay saw how far he had strayed from the life of
...more
