Religious Rules

Some people say rules are made to be broken.  Others say you better follow the rules or you will be in trouble.  Christian rules don't follow either of those concepts.

Following all the rules to the letter with no regard for anything else is actually frowned upon in Christianity.  It's called legalism.  You can't get to heaven that way.  You earn no favor with God that way.  Your life may be a little bit better off is all. 

The rules God lays out in the bible are not meant to take our fun away, or make us pious so that our lives consist of nothing but serving God through these rules.  In fact, if you really read and understand them, it's hard to even take them that way at all.

God gives us these rules, these guidelines to live by, because he loves us.  Because by voluntarily following them, we grow much closer to him and because of that our lives will be fuller in every sense.  He will show us how to utilize our natural abilities to the fullest.  He will put wonderful people in our lives that bless us as we bless them.  He wants us to live life to the absolute fullest.

This only works if you almost disregard the rules at the beginning.  Don't start with the rules, start with love.  Get to know God personally.  Let him show you what you need to do.  Learn to love him more and more.  As you do this, he will naturally start to align your will with his and you will want to follow the rules.  Not because you feel like you have to.  But because you have a desire to serve him better.  To know him more. 

That is the key.  There's a world of difference between following rules by rote because that's just what you feel you have to do, and following the rules because you have a desire to serve the one that put the rules there.  The former means you gain nothing, the latter means you gain everything.