Friends church droppped "standards"

[ForeverBlessed]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

Friends church has moved away from standard. Pants, earrings etc..... He stated it seened church was "closer to God" and more commited as well as fellowshipped more before all the changes. Anyone else experience this?

Yes.. much closer walk with God than ever before.

[UnTraditional]

One word comes to mind... repentance.

[AreYouReady?]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

Again I will repeat, because I am tired of my comments being purposely misconstrued by some. I never said that people have to have these standards to be disciplined. I said that many churches I have seen that have lost their "standards" also lost their disciplines, even suggested that the loss of discipline probably came first and that THAT is what attributed to their loss of power.

I am not 'purposely misconstruing' anything you say.

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

I've never had this experience in Pentecost at all. I remember once I testified at my old church about my financial issues and after service had saints left and right offer me money. I've been put in charge of collecting offerings for people about to lose their homes. I've never seen anyone mocked for being sick. My home church used to send floods of saints to the hospitals when one of us fell sick. I remember the saints used to joke around and say all 1,500 of us were "on call" at all times. Hospitals in the area knew us because we'd send dozens of people to the hospital at a time. Are there gossipers in the church? Sure. But there were snakes, tigers, bears, and lions on the ark noah built. Doesn't mean I would've jumped ship back then and I don't plan on jumping ship on God now because of a few backbiters.

Then your area is much more holier than this region. You should count yourself blessed to have never been mocked for being sick. You should count yourself blessed to have people who care enough for others having financial difficulties.
You should count yourself blessed to have loving, kind people among you who show their love to the sick and oppressed. You should count yourself blessed that you aren't being shunned because you are from another area of the nation and that your ideas just don't line up with the backwards, chauvinistic, racist bunch of people as in some other areas of the nation.

Love and acceptance ain't around here for people who aren't made from the same cookie mold as the others.


I wonder, since you never had this experience I posted of in your pentecostal church, how you would feel if 90% of your entire experience with other saints was what I described? Would you stay in a den of vipers? Do you make the mistake of equating your pentecostal fellowship as being God? Very few of us here that do not attend a OP church ever 'jumped ship on God' just because we object to the standards.

Lastly, for all the years I was attending the pentecostal churches in this region, I was not allowed to say what I feel. I was not even allowed to have my feelings lest I 'offended' somebody in the church.

My Bible says:
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
(Psalms 119:165)

[ForeverBlessed]

Originally Posted by CC1

Rebellious teenagers who are not interested in church or God exist in ultra con, con, moderate, and lib churches. How they dress may or may not reflect the condition of their heart. There are plenty of churches with women in jeans who love God, pray, study God's word, and are sold out to living for Christ. Just as there are some churches with women in skirts below their knees, no makeup and no jewelry who are as far from God as one can be. A strict dress code does not mean one is right with God and living a victorious Christian life.

Amen CC1, have perfect examples of those women around me.. doing more for God, the lost, homeless on the street than I ever saw growing up.

It has nothing to do with our clothes, that is just shallow, temporal... it is all about the condition of the heart trusting in God.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by ForeverBlessed

Amen CC1, have perfect examples of those women around me.. doing more for God, the lost, homeless on the street than I ever saw growing up.

It has nothing to do with our clothes, that is just shallow, temporal... it is all about the condition of the heart trusting in God.

Yup. When people refer to a lack of "discipline" in church repeatedly, no matter how they try to explain it, reading between the lines I think it comes back to their concept equating rigid rules to being right with God and "power".

A church that jumps up and down, screams and hollers, calls the name of the Lord out loudly in vain repetition, etc may give the illusion to some of having "power" but as you noted I have seen people doing more for God and God doing more in peoples lives outside of that paradigm than in.

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by CC1

Yup. When people refer to a lack of "discipline" in church repeatedly, no matter how they try to explain it, reading between the lines I think it comes back to their concept equating rigid rules to being right with God and "power".

A church that jumps up and down, screams and hollers, calls the name of the Lord out loudly in vain repetition, etc may give the illusion to some of having "power" but as you noted I have seen people doing more for God and God doing more in peoples lives outside of that paradigm than in.

I don't. When I think of power I think of true anointing deliverences, wonders etc...

[CC1]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

I don't. When I think of power I think of true anointing deliverences, wonders etc...

I don't think anybody disagrees with "deliverences" and "wonders" but I have to ask what you mean by "true annointing". In my experience that is code for a preacher screaming, jumping up and down, and pointing his finger at people in the mistaken belief that he is an Old Testament prophet.

[ILG]

My walk with God was pretty much the same with and without standards with the exception that a load was lifted after I realized they were not necessary and the oppression lifted. The walk with God part was pretty much the same but the freedom I felt was much greater, if that makes any sense. My walk with God was always sincere before and after.

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by CC1

I don't think anybody disagrees with "deliverences" and "wonders" but I have to ask what you mean by "true annointing". In my experience that is code for a preacher screaming, jumping up and down, and pointing his finger at people in the mistaken belief that he is an Old Testament prophet.

That's my point it does not have to be hollering and such.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

Again I will repeat, because I am tired of my comments being purposely misconstrued by some. I never said that people have to have these standards to be disciplined. I said that many churches I have seen that have lost their "standards" also lost their disciplines, even suggested that the loss of discipline probably came first and that THAT is what attributed to their loss of power.



I've never had this experience in Pentecost at all. I remember once I testified at my old church about my financial issues and after service had saints left and right offer me money. I've been put in charge of collecting offerings for people about to lose their homes. I've never seen anyone mocked for being sick. My home church used to send floods of saints to the hospitals when one of us fell sick. I remember the saints used to joke around and say all 1,500 of us were "on call" at all times. Hospitals in the area knew us because we'd send dozens of people to the hospital at a time. Are there gossipers in the church? Sure. But there were snakes, tigers, bears, and lions on the ark noah built. Doesn't mean I would've jumped ship back then and I don't plan on jumping ship on God now because of a few backbiters.

I have to agree. I have seen people live to the standard, but not actually commit to the prayer and fasting. I have also seen many of these backslide, or take the lead when standards in the church started falling. If the church holds its standards for years on end, generally these people will leave because they are comparatively stony soil. This kept them from embracing the entire Christian life wholeheartedly.


I was in a church that held high standards, and when we had members in the hospital, the staff were stunned by the number of visitors that they had on a nearly daily basis. We were also well known for praying for the sick right there with sometimes more than 10 in the vicinity of the room at one time. This was especially true for those who fell ill during the candy season. Church members also helped one another get to service, watched children, loved, and encouraged one another constantly. None were perfect, but we were known for having love. Evangelists loved the church because they were generous. I spent time in the homes of both the Youth Leader and Song Leader when Mom and Dad had to be out of town taking care of another church, and I wanted to go to a special function. Other times, they dropped me off after lunch on Sunday because we went to Godfathers as a Sunday School class. This was my experience, and I have found it to hold true in many churches with high standards.