A Rebel I am because I can?

A story from Russia:
"While i had no classes to teach at the moment, and all the student were in class, I decided to take a stroll down the halls and look out the windows at the snow falling down..  I was in another world enjoying the white beauty falling from the heavens outside, that I started whistling a cheerful tune.. ... all of a sudden a fellow teacher walks up and says, 'Don't whistle, it will bring bad fortune; you will lose all your money'.  I looked back at her as if wondering if she was serious or not.  She was.  To myself I was thinking how silly to think that whistling indoors will make me loose all I have.

I could easily turn around and keep whistling because I can, and I know that I will not lose my money because of a superstition.... Yes I have the right to do it if I want, I have that freedom.  I also have a responsibility to respect others.

Another incident that happened:  My teammates and I were going to visit Christ The Saviour Cathedral, and on of my friends without thinking anything of it, put his hands in his pockets while admiring the interior of the cathedral.  A nun came over and pulled his hands out of his pockets, saying something fast to him in Russian, but the jist he got from it was that it was very rude to put your hands in your pockets when inside the cathedral.  Would this condem his soul if he chose to keep his hands in his pockets? no, but would it offend many there? yes

For you and me:  Because we know that we have freedom in Christ, does that mean we can do whatever we want?  no.... Paul confronts the Romans about the issue of whether or not to eat sacrificed meat, even though they could freely eat it and it not harm them.  In conclusion our liberty has a responsibility.

I could be a "Rebel" if I wanted to, and prove that  i can do many things outside of traditions and they will not destroy my relationship with Christ, ... but ... it might make a brother or sister stumble, who are new and just beginning to grow.  Be careful my friends, ... Freedom in Christ holds a responsibility to be discerning.

Romans 14:20" Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.  Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats."