When is it okay too....?

I don't know how many of you read my other blog but I have a nice story of a local attraction on it. So if you don't check my blog (its still being worked on so don't judge it too much) The I-4 Tourist.

I tell of a local attraction I went too and how it was very strange. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

Okay enough with the commercial and on with the blog.

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Occasionally I give a website a nod on here for cool websites. I recently stumbled across one, its cool. The site, titled Strictly No Photography, encourages people to take pictures in places where photos aren't allowed. This ban range from war zones to art galleries. The site is pretty cool, with its banned photos of the most random places, but its all based around not following a rule and by not following rules are you actually sinning. (hum, that was an interesting twist in the story wasn't it.) The Bible says we need to follow our leaders and if our leaders ask us to not to take photos and we do we aren't following the rules. So does this website actually encourage us to sin? Can an act as simple as taking a photo in the cathedral or a art museum be a sin?

I have always struggled with how we should follow rules of the land and follow Christ. I know of so many scavenger hunts by youth groups that had the students do things like singing happy birthday on the intercom in Wal-Mart. Most of these intercoms ask for only associates to use them, even if they don't we know its against the rules to use them. Or they have the students take photos doing dumb things in fast food restaurants, usually resulting in the group being asked to leave.

What is our 'witness' (as a church and as a Christian) when we are having fun. How does the community at large view our churches we are known to disrupt restaurants, use intercoms we aren't supposed to use, and sometimes even break actual laws. I don't want to be the stickler but what should our rule of thumb be? I find so many Christians who post picks of them mooning someone, is this harmless fun. What about the churches themselves. I know of numerous churches that break the local sound ordinances, what example is this giving the members of the church? I also have personally witnessed pastors actually bragging about breaking the capacity set forth by the Fire Marshal.

I'm not talking about the obvious rules we should follow (like speeding) but the less enforced or smaller rules. Things like keeping teens out after a curfew or posting signs where its illegal. I know of so many churches that post small signs in intersections, even though most places have rules against this. Or what about our loved small groups, quite a few homeowners associates have rules against how many cars be in the road or how often a person can hold a party, but few house groups follow these rules. Is this wrong? (I know of many house group leaders complaining about their neighbors throwing parties often. How these parties make it difficult to drive down the street, how they last long into the night and there are rules in place to for parties not to happen as often, even though their house group should follow the same rules.)

I was helping a church with some spring cleaning once and I was told to throw all the old paint, chemicals and construction trash in the compactor even though this went directly against both the rules on the compactor and local law. How should I have reacted to this?

How strict should we be. Too strict and we are stuck doing very little, not strict enough and we break what the Bible commands us to follow.

So what do we do?