Silly "church" rules

Churches who make standards usually do so because the leaders of the organization or church has a control issue. They want to dominate not shepherd the flock. They want to lord it over others.

I attended Holiness churches for over 15 years until God showed me that I was believing Phariseeism. Jesus told the Pharisees that they put more upon the people then they can bear and that is what holiness churches do.

These churches claim they can quote scripture for their beliefs but the scriptures they use can be tore apart by other scriptures or by history.

The only true scriptures for dress codes are where both Peter and Paul said women should dress modestly. The pants issue for women is not what Deuteronomy is talking about. This is something men have come up with trying to dominate the women. Pants if not tight are modest apparel. I Corinthins 11 does not in any way say a woman cannot cut her hair. What Paul and Peter was stating about the wearing of Gold did not say jewelry could not be worn. There are others scriptures which shows us that Jewelry is acceptable to God.

It is true that most standards are pointed towards women but this is man's need to control women. It is not scriptural.

As far as women speaking in Church Paul said he did not allow it but he did not say this was a commandment from God. He said he did not allow women to usurp the Authority of man but God did when he allowed Deborah to be a judge with Barak under her authority.

There was a time in holiness churches where the following rules were taught:

No deodorant.
No mouth wash.
No perfume.
MEn must wear long sleeved shirts at all time.
Men must wear long pants at all times.
Women could not shave their legs or under their arms.
No adornment on any shoes. Either women or men.
Men could not wear pink, purple or light colors.
No moustaches or beards.
No hair adornments.
women could not wear anything red.
Women could not wear their hair down.
women could not pluck their eyebrows.
No make up on women of any kind.
Women had to wear dresses at least 3 to 4 inches below their knees at all times.
women could not cut, trim or burn their hair nor braid it.
Men had to cut their hair short.
No televisions.
No amusement parks or theatres.
Only gospel music which was some contemporary and Southern Gospel music.
no secular concerts.
No rings, necklaces, chains, mufflers, beads, earrings, or any piercings at all.
No tatoos.
no souped up cars.
No wild looking neck ties.
You did not kiss on any date or hold hands or hug.
Matter of fact until you reached 21 you were not supposed to single date but had to double date.
Boys could not suit out for Physical Education and girls had to wear skirts for P.E.
Men could not mow the yard in the heat shirtless or just in a Tshirt. (yet it was okay for younger boys to play outside shirtless or in a t shirt)
Men had to wear button shirts not pull overs.
Teen age boys could wear pull over shirts but not men.
No mixed swimming even in families.
Had to tell pastor when you were going out of town or on vacation.

There were some more but I cannot think of them right now.

 

Oh a lot of these post just greive me
I belong to an independant fund. church and I love it. The people are sooo loving and the pastor doesn't act like he's God, and doesn't play the part of the Holy Spirit. I thank God for him.

The pastors in the church stand on the kjv but will not tell you what to read. It needs to be the Holy Spirit who does that. Alone with pants, jewerly, hair length etc.
Do any of those pastors leave room for the Holy Spirit to work?

Now there are some things that are expected when involved in a ministry because the church's reputation is being shown. Our deacons also must wear a suit coat, and the ladies are to wear skirts if they teach awana's or sunday school but out side of church it is the Holy Spirits conviction that we need to follow NOT the pastor.

I just left a very legalistic church 2 years ago that I was in for 5 years and it just sickens me to think I believed all that stuff and I became so judgmental of others who didn't follow MY beliefs. The pastor now tells the congergation that is left that they are not allowed to be friends with us cause we are all backslidden. Who is he to tell someone who they can be friends with? He has a rude awakening comming someday!
All that church was, was about looking good on the outside and judging everyone else. Who cares about the heart just clean up your actions!!
Very very sad!!!

Just my thoughts!
Heather

 

Laurenda

Thank you for all you have written.

May I ask, in spite of all these "rules", is your church growing in numbers all the time?

Also, if a member rebels, and disobeys the rules
(perhaps a woman cutes her hair? sorry. did u say they have long hair? or whatever) what happens? The pastor deals with it personally? Is the person encouraged in the Lord for their "wrongdoing"? Is there a committee who deals with them? Are they given "another chance"? Does excommunication exist?

Laurenda, are your members exclusive in their thinking, in that christians outside your church may not be saved?

Would you try and bring another christian into your church, or would you feel satisfied they are doing fine worshipping God in another church?

Do the teenagers (some of them) "sneak" out to movies ever? Do some members secretly have TV's hidden perhaps in a closet?

Is there a time when a young person growing up comes to the stage where they also make a commitment to God within that church? Is this to be expected? For some it might be 9 years of age, and others 19 .... is that normal there?

Do you socialize with christians outside your own fellowship much?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am in a similar sounding fellowship, and I was comparing notes, I guess.

Hope this was ok to ask

Glorious

 

Glorious, I will try to answer your questions the best I can.

Laurenda
May I ask, in spite of all these "rules", is your church growing in numbers all the time?

My church has grown from 9 people to over 5,000 in 13 years. It grows so much we have to have a building program every year.

Also, if a member rebels, and disobeys the rules (perhaps a woman cuts her hair? sorry. did u say they have long hair? or whatever) what happens? The pastor deals with it personally? Is the person encouraged in the Lord for their "wrongdoing"? Is there a committee who deals with them? Are they given "another chance"? Does excommunication exist?

If a person rebels against the contract that they signed to be in a ministry or have their child in the christian school, they might be asked not to serve in that ministry, and their children could be expelled from the school. Excomunication is a term that I've only heard in Catholism. I have no personal knowledge of committees or if the Pastors gets personally involved, I would guess that he would. The woman's hair cutting thing was posted by someone else. My church doesn't have any rules about woman's hair other than it shouldn't be colored blue or green or shaved off completely for fashions sake, if they are serving in a ministry.

Laurenda, are your members exclusive in their thinking, in that christians outside your church may not be saved?

A person's salvation is based on their faith in God. The Bible doesn't say anything about my church being the only way to salvation.

Would you try and bring another christian into your church, or would you feel satisfied they are doing fine worshipping God in another church?

Most people who have a church they are happy with don't go church-hopping except maybe when they are on vacation. Would I invite someone if they were looking...sure.

Do the teenagers (some of them) "sneak" out to movies ever? Do some members secretly have TV's hidden perhaps in a closet?


The teenaged children of my friends seem to be very happy and active in church things. None of them seem to be rebellious at all. T.V. is not prohibitted but parents usually closely monitor what is watched by their children.

Is there a time when a young person growing up comes to the stage where they also make a commitment to God within that church? Is this to be expected? For some it might be 9 years of age, and others 19 .... is that normal there?

I've seen many different ages get saved and baptised. It depends on the person. I'm not sure what you mean by commitment to the church.

Do you socialize with christians outside your own fellowship much?

No. because I don't know anyone really outside of my family and my church. If I did, I might. But as of now it's a non-issue.

I hope that was okay...answering all these questions has taken some considerable time and now I am very tired.

Laurenda

 

Add these rules to mine...These are also standards where I attend.

Laurenda

editted to remove commentary

[ March 04, 2003, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: Laurenda ]

 

Dear Laurenda

Thank you so much for your response.

Only one more question ...

I didn't mean commitment to the church, I meant basically being saved.

All christians have been saved at one point, and this is what I was referring to.

Would there be some sort of ceremony, or perhaps thing which happens when a teenager makes the decision inside his heart to serve God?

Perhaps it is baptism maybe?

I hope you are resting or sleeping now, and we might meet again somewhere on these boards sometime

Glorious

 

Glorious, It's not even 5pm where I am. I'm just the kind of tired that you get from staring at a computer screen for too long.

Yes, it would be baptism.

Laurenda

 

My church does several things they cannot explain. When I asked them why do they continue they said because that's the way it has been done for as long as they can remember.

When a new member(s) joins they have to wait and be voted on in the next business meeting? We have an interim pastor. A man came at the end of the service to join the church. He was already a christian. The pastor welcomed him and said "All in favor, say amen." Many looked dazed and confused.

We light 2 candles in front of the pulpit. One of the choir members called me over to say I needed to light the candles before we did anything. I asked why? Because that's what we have always done.

On Sunday mornings we sit on both sides of the church. On Sunday & Wednesday evenings they all sit on the right side and only turn the lights on, on that side. It's like being in a cave.

When singing a hymn, no one sings the echo & harmony parts on the chorus (when applicable).

They don't stop for the traditional fermatas.

They do like coats and ties. I'm 6'5" at many, many pounds. When I where a coat my arms come together like a T-Rex and look like a puppet. I have not wore a coat in years.

 

Laurenda,

The numbers at your church just go to show you that people are looking for a church with structure. They don't want this wishy washy easy believism that is so prevalent today.

There is a church in Riverside that boasts 12000 in their roster, and all of those people are commited to living Godly lives.

THEY WANT to live Godly lives.

I hope that this is a sign that the easy believism of the 90's is going out with the stupid hairdo's of the 90's!

God Bless

 

ONENESS,

You silly thing. You know where I go to church!

If you wanted to know the specific Company, it is the Fallbrook SDAC, in Fallbrook CA.

God Bless

 

Ha-ha! I had forgotten about men and women --
not even family members -- being able to swim
within sight of one another. We had that rule also.

Where I went, all the rules were definitely a control
issue. In fact, I remember the first pastor I ever
had and how he would get in the pulpit and scream
at us until his face turned bright red and purple-
blue veins on his neck looked like they would
burst. I also remember how he would take
members into his office and scream at them there
for just missing a service or a prayer meeting
(obligatory every Saturday morning). And if this
doesn't scream cult, I am clueless.

I thank my God that I am out of there. I pray for
the people still going there, but I pray for the
dissolution of that church and complete
restructuring. I pray that TRUTH in the leadership
becomes important there -- a concept that
completely leapt the walls a few years ago.

 

during worship:

men and women sit in different sections, with a physical barrier between them.

no hugging or kissing of children.

no talking, other than to pray.

men must wear a strange cape with fringes and strap leather boxes to their head and arm. of course, women must never do these things.

worship is 3 times a day, seven days a week. women are exempted to take care of children.

day to day:

for women:
loose straight skirts or dresses only, below the knee. covering above the elbow and below the collarbone. married women must cover their hair. may not sing in the presence of a man and must not wear the color red.

for men:
must wear a beanie at all times, and special godly underwear with fringes. cannot touch any woman other than ther wives, and then only during certain parts of the month, when they can't even hand things to each other or sleep in the same bed. cannot be alone with a woman other than his wife or close family. must not walk behind women, but beside them or in front of them.

----

ok, i'm cheating, this was my synagogue, not my church

 

The church I grew up in had a christian school too, which was in the back of the church. We had chapel every day M-F. Sun we went on a bus route to get kids for sunday school at 6o am. We had "A" sunday school, took the kids home, Then had "B" sunday school. Church was from 11:00am until 1:00 or 2:00pm. We went to 7/11 and got bologna and ate sandwiches and hung out till evening service at 6:00pm. Evening service was from 6:00pm until midnight sometimes. Wednesday prayer meetings was from 6:00pm until about midnight. So needless to say I had alot of church.
Rules:
no pants, make-up, could not show coller bone, dresses 2 inches below the knee (no skirts-because you could roll them up at the waist).
no movies, theaters, rock music, secondary music (hymn only), no dancing (considered foreplay, however, married people could not dance either
No wearing bathing suits, we had to pin our dresses between our legs to swim. The girls could not even wear snow pants under their dresses in 2-3 ft. of snow. No closer than 6 inches to a boy, we sat on the otherside of the church and the opposite side of the bus. Could not question anything taught, or you were considered an unbeliever (blind-faith was expected).
Even when I went to a public school I wore dresses all the time. They even made me wear one when I was made to jump on the trampeling during gym.
I GUESS IT WAS BETTER FOR EVERYONE TO SEE MY CONSTITUTION, THEN FOR ME TO WEAR SHORTS OR PANTS UNDER MY DRESS!!!

 

3 Angels, You go to church in Fallbrook? My grandmother live in Fallbrook. But she isn't baptist...She's pentecostal. Small world isn't it?

Laurenda

P.S. don't anyone say anything negative about my grandmother going to a pentecostal church please. She's one of the most godly women I know.

 

Yes it is.

I was in at the Riverside Covention Center tonight and I thought of you.

How far are you from there?

If you are close you should come over on Saturday, we are having a 'Faith Summit' weekend there.

Starts at 2:30. I am tall, and have 3 little boys.

You should come out if you aren't busy and it is close.

God Bless

 

I can't remember who had the rule, NO TV. I was thinking about that,why would TV be bad, but having a computer is ok? I personally think there is much more and worse things accessible on the internet than in TV. If one can't be trusted to make the right decision on what to watch, how could they be trusted to go on good sites and use the internet in an appropriate manner?
Maybe they haven't thought of this rule yet, should I bring it up?

 

You women and your sexy collarbones. Just trying to excite us old guys.

In all the discussions of what a guy notices first about a woman, eyes, bow or stern, I never heard a guy say "I'm a clavicle guy".

Or a couple of teenagers say "Would you check the set of collarbones on that chick."

I'm assuming that some deacon had a collarbone fetish at one time, thus the prohibition.

Since becoming a Catholic, I tell my friends, "Being Catholic means, never having to wear a tie again". Just one of the many benefits.

Grace and peace,
Tieless Uncle Ray

 

This doesn't qualify as a rule, but I think it is a silly standard of practice for most churches.

...the construction of a "church" building.

 

Won't get any negative comments here. Pentecostals are wonderful and that's the truth.

MEE <----- Apostolic Pentecostal