attitude toward personal discretion

Not all Christians agree on some arenas of behavior; not all actions are commonly known to be "sin" or "holy". As conscientious devotees enact their personal discretion, there are two basic categories of possibilities: 1) restriction, 2) allowance. Which attitude shall fellow believers take? Are they to cheer restriction or allowance?

In my opinion, that question is a trick. People who always lean toward either of the two categories aren't properly exercising their own discretion. Sometimes restriction is prudent, and sometimes allowance is quite harmless. It's not a question that can be answered in general. Default answers are too often unexamined answers.

Furthermore, Christians must be highly alert to the danger of amplifying differences in personal discretion into haughy attitudes. Some consider the embodiment of commitment to consist of constant sacrifices of virtually every delight in the pursuit of holiness; some consider the embodiment of Spirit-led freedom from the Law of death to consist of joyful and love-filled improvisation combined with continual self-monitoring in every individual at every time. An accusation "Your restrictions close your mind to understanding and reaching the unbeliever" can be just as toxic as "Your permissiveness clouds your heart to understanding and reaching the Holy One".

Personal discretion isn't an excuse to take revenge on the downfalls of your upbringing through attacks on differing Christians. Whether you feel that your physically or emotionally absent parents failed to give you a firm compass, or that your domineering and humorless parents failed to give you affection for God, your opportunity is to move beyond rather than merely react against their excesses.