Blast from the Past

Sounds like a Fundie Treasure Chest.:laugh:

 

I am a single dad. I do not smoke.

I couldn't dance to save my life, but I'm not against most dancing.

I love good movies, yes.

No, but I don't see anything wrong with them.

No, only because I don't know anyone who plays the games I like. Anyone up for some pinochle?

 

Well! :laugh:

Now, what do they ask today????

 

What do they ask?

I had a church ask if I own a TV in a list of questions they sent me. I didn't send the answers back, but my TV has been in storage for two years.

 

I used to smoke cigars, but not often at all.

I love to dance. Don't get to much anymore. My mother taught me how to 2-step, my aunt taught me how to polka, and my grandmother taught me how to waltz. On New Year's Eve last year, my then-83 year old grandmother was just getting over a bad bout of infection in her chest. I helped her outside on her walker so she could watch the fireworks just before midnight. I turned up my truck stereo so we could listen to some classic country music leading up to the countdown. I'm standing out in the street with my mom and some of the neighbors when my grandma comes walking down wanting to dance. We got out of the middle of the street and danced to a couple of songs before she had to quit. She then wanted my mother to help her back up to the house so she could get her walker. Needless to say, after watching all of that, my mother didn't want to hear how feable Mamaw claimed to be.:laugh: I guess we're just a bunch of sinners for dancing.

Went to the movies last Saturday with my parents and my 3 year old nephew. We saw Shrek the Third. It was funny.

I've never been to a boxing match, unless you count the fights I've seen at school and such. The last fight I watched on t.v. in its entirety was the one 10 years ago when Tyson took a bite out of Holyfield's ear. Boxing just really isn't my sport.

The last major wrestling event I went to was the then-WWF. It was actually scheduled as a t.v. Smackdown event, which back then was put on Tuesday nights. It was sceduled for September 11, 2001. Of course, it was cancelled that day and was re-scheduled for Thursday, September 13th. It was the first major event of any kind following the 9/11 attacks. I still have my ticket in my wallet with the September 11, 2001 date on it. I'll always know exactly what I was doing and what I did in the following days after 9/11. I still watch WWE on t.v. occasionaly, moreso on the payperview because my cousin buys them and has a cookout each time. That cousin is also the ring announcer for Texas All-Star Wrestling, so I go to their matches every once in a while.

I don't play cards as near as often as I'd like. I love poker and have a group of friends and family who get together to play. It used to be an every Saturday evening thing, but we've only played once since January. Everybody's just been too busy.

 

That list is a peice of cake compared to some of the lists you see today.:godisgood:

 

Let me see - just a few oldies from missionary questionnaires -

Do you ever use any version other than the KJV for any purpose?

Do you have any facial hair?

Does your wife wear trousers? (sorry, but I just can't say "pants" in this context since I moved over here )

Do you spend as much reading your Bible as you do watching television?

How many souls did you lead to Jesus in the last week? The last month? The last year?

Do you listen to rock music? Country music? CCM?

I'll try to remember the others....

Got a one or two that I am too embarrassed to post here

 

On the one hand these questions may seem irrational, but, here's there way I see it:

1. Missionaries contact missionary societies to join with THEM. So, you have to play by their rules. If a missionary does not like the mission board's stands, then find another one or start your own, don't try and change the one they approached.

2. Missionaries contact churches. We missionaries are asking for their prayers and cash. If I am going to separate with my time, energy and cash then it will be by my rules, not by the ones who approached me.

The same goes for church membership, pastors candidating etc.

I write this against myself because I, in the past, have questioned their questions. The simple fact is they only questioned me because I approached them.

It is funny, guys do not join the airforce and then complain about not getting to ride on boats, they join the navy to ride on boats. Yet we Christians seem to constantly try and change the church/group/board/society we have approached rather than just tolerate the differences or approach those we know agree with us.

This is not meant to be a slight on anyone, just an observation in this personal arena of my life.

 

Do you or your wife smoke? Only when cooking.

Do you dance? Yes, when people shoot at me.

Do you attend movies? No, but I watch them sometimes.

Do you attend Boxing Bouts? No, it conflicts with cock-fighting season.

Do you attend Wrestling Matches? I don't play with matches.

Do you play cards? No, I don't even like baseball.

 

I don't think anyone wants anybody to change to fit our standards. If a supporting church sends a questionnaire I answer honestly and they can drop me if they want. If it is a new church who has these man-made,views I won't pursue support any farther. I don't really want the cash of a church who bases so much on these kind of traditions.

 

The questions about Wrestling and Boxing and cards made me chuckle -- especially the cards. At my church, my kids won the rook championship at camp several years

I wish I could remember the questions I had to answer to work for Calvary. To many "outsiders" they seem invasive. I did have to state what I thought about divorce, alcohol, creation, but past that . . . No yes/no questions for card playing though!

I was involved in a discussion on a secular teacher board about a gal who was fired from a Christian school for "the appearance of evil." She described her situation - IMO, she was very careless and based on what she said was in her contract, the school had the right to dismiss her. They could have shown grace, but based on the situation and what was written, they dismissed her. Maybe they were looking for something and this was it.

I've never heard such a hoopla. AND no matter how much those of us at Christian schools tried to explain that we willingly sign contracts with stipulations (like we won't go to boxing and wrestling matches ) people kept commenting on how they'd never work under such restrictions - how stifling it must be - how dare anyone tell us what to do in our personal lives. The thing is that I joined an organization in which I am in agreement. No one is telling me what to do with my personal life, I was already doing those things because they are biblical.

So I understand what mnw is saying and am in agreement with him. I just found the questions funny. I think anything popped out of context like that can at times be comical.

 

I understand what you are saying C4K, and re-reading my post it did come across in a "blanket statement" manner. Sorry about that.

Thank you mcdirector, for articulating my thoughts in a much better way.

Just for the record, I am not defending all the positions mentioned here, just perhaps the right to ask them.

C4K is right though, we answer them honestly and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Every local church has every right to ask those questions - it is a help to those involved to know whether or not they want to be involved with them.

 

Good answers! :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

At my age, these questions are not so strange....they don't go far enough. On cards, we called them the Devil's deck...we didn't play games on Sundays, and we didn't attend shops that "violated" the Lord's Day. People only worked when it was absolutely essential on a Sunday, and we sure didn't attend sporting events, picture shows and the like.

If the church were so perfect, I would be out of a job. I prefer having sinners sitting in the pews, than self-righteous prigs, with noses so far in the air they couldn't see a soul in need, let alone their own perditious state.

I found the list quite amusing as I ponder back over the years and recall all the changes in time.

Cheers, and thanks for the reminder,

Jim

 

And likewise it allows the body or other group to see if they want to be involved with a particular individual, as well. Has something to do with being Baptist, I think.

Ed

 

Air force means flying. It's easy to demonstrate that air force means flying.

Christians means Christianity. The above questions have nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity. Nobody can demonstrate from scripture that they have anything to do with Christianity.

So the comparison is totally invalid. Every Christian has the right - no, DUTY - to criticize selection of missionaries by man-made rules.

 

BUT this organization wasn't going to be recruiting from churches that had Thursday night card games. If these things were really important to them, it's better for them to ask and for the applicant to have known. We are talking 20 years ago here.

I've got multiple piercings in my ears. I remember sitting in orientation and that flashed on the screen -- that only one set of earrings could be worn at a time. There was another rebellious teacher in orientation too. I remember raising my hand and saying, "Ummm excuse me, but I sat through multiple interviews with all these earrings dangling and now that the school year has started you bring this up?" (I did say it in a very respectful tone.) IMHO, if it had been important to them, they should have said something in the hiring process, not after we were hired. I don't remember exactly how it was handled at that moment (what I remember is how flabergasted I was), but the two of us still wear our multiple sets of earrings.

 

I don't dispute an organization's right (as an organization) to require whatever they want. We, as Christians, however, have both the right and duty to criticize Christian organizations for adding man-made rules to doctrine.