They had to change the sin factor and sinfulness of their hearts, not what they wore to temple.
I have actually heard salvation and conversion equated, with well that brother is wearing a suit and tie now, Sister so and so is now wearing a skirt.
Now in the greater context of modesty great, glad that person has their conscience awakened about modesty, decorum, but to equate salvation and health of a church body based on those small issues is to miss the larger picture.
[QUOTE=keith4him;85910] Now in the greater context of modesty great, glad that person has their conscience awakened about modesty, decorum, but to equate salvation and health of a church body based on those small issues is to miss the larger picture.[/QUOTE]
Imagine all those saved Mennonite and Amish folk.....
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They had to change the sin factor and sinfulness of their hearts, not what they wore to temple.
I have actually heard salvation and conversion equated, with well that brother is wearing a suit and tie now, Sister so and so is now wearing a skirt.
Now in the greater context of modesty great, glad that person has their conscience awakened about modesty, decorum, but to equate salvation and health of a church body based on those small issues is to miss the larger picture.
Oh, I see where you are going now.
Hmmm...
Do you think Jesus wore immodest clothing (being LIKE them) when He was trying to win them?
Not sure what you are meaning in relationship to my post, but Jesus was in the culture of His time and lived accordingly..."Render unto Caesar..."
Perhaps we are on the same track here, but I am not sure.
Jesus went to where the people were, but his lifestyle was such that people wanted to change from what they were to what He was.
Don't know where the Western style church missionary enters in here...?
A little help, Keith?
Ok, in Pentecost we have set of values, culture, a package and presentation that has nothing to do with the core of Christianity, now granted we interpret and apply some principles and we get what we get.
The missionary thing is to take the application of those principles and across the board not contextualize them within the culture we are trying to reach. When missionaries and agencies that support them fail at contextualizing the truth of God then their mission will fail.
My example of Hudson Taylor fits in here.
In our culture, you only dress up for formal occasions or business situations.
Now by human nature, people who come to hear about God will be affected by this tendency that in order to encounter God I might have to dress up and become like they do, this is where we miss it. We have to purposely fight this so as not to confuse our culture with message. There I hope you get it, if you don't oh well, as Dr. McGraw says, either you get or you don't.
Also, 'becoming all things to all men' doesn't mean Paul became a drunk to win drunks, or a prostitute to win prostitutes. It's more like, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
I believe Paul adapted to the cultural and societal rules and mores so he would be more on their level instead of seeming to be above (or below) them, according to the culture he was visiting.
Jesus didn't travel outside of his country, but I don't believe He'd have done differently than Paul did if He had.
Bump for those who are claiming that Jesus didn't become all things to all men.
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Ok, in Pentecost we have set of values, culture, a package and presentation that has nothing to do with the core of Christianity, now granted we interpret and apply some principles and we get what we get.
The missionary thing is to take the application of those principles and across the board not contextualize them within the culture we are trying to reach. When missionaries and agencies that support them fail at contextualizing the truth of God then their mission will fail.
My example of Hudson Taylor fits in here.
In our culture, you only dress up for formal occasions or business situations.
Now by human nature, people who come to hear about God will be affected by this tendency that in order to encounter God I might have to dress up and become like they do, this is where we miss it. We have to purposely fight this so as not to confuse our culture with message. There I hope you get it, if you don't oh well, as Dr. McGraw says, either you get or you don't.
I believe you said Hudson Taylor adopted a ponytail. Scripture declares long hair on a man as a shame.
We can go into other cultures and adapt to them, yet never violate Scriptural principles.
Do you think Jesus wore immodest clothing (being LIKE them) when He was trying to win them?
I'm sure I know your answer, but...
There were a lot of cultural customs that were practiced in that day that would be immodest in our culture today.
For instance, people didn't wear underclothes back then. It was common to fish naked or with hardly anything on.
There are cultures today where, according to our culture, they are immodest, but if you teach them to cover themselves, it would be insulting to their culture. In some cultures, women being topless is common and it's their culture. Men wearing only a loincloth is modest in their culture.
Even in our own culture, if we compare how we dress today to 100 years ago, we are immodest in our dress, especially the women, yet we see nothing wrong with it today.
Modesty is defined by each culture. Teaching modesty instead of a clothesline will not steer you wrong, no matter where you preach.
I believe this is why you never read of Paul preaching clothesline to the churches he visited. There was no way he could do that.
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