Hey to all my bro's and sis's
Hoping that you all can help me with sme of this stuff. I have been "in" church, meaning after I have been saved for 5 months. I think when you start you just trust everyone, and i am learning quickly this is not smart to do.
But, there are some rules at the church that i was hoping you could help me to understand.
The first one is that our church does not send flowers to funerals if the distance is to far in their opinion.
The second is that no one can touch an instumet if they are not saved, like the cannot pick up a tambourine and play it if they are not saved.
third, they do not allow any type of contemerary music.
These are a few of them.
I guess what i a wondering is how many of these rules have any biblical support to them, and how many of them ae just man made rules?
Thanks a bunch,
blessings
Sounds strange to me. But some of it may not be so strange, once you get to know them better.
A lot of Christian congregations and even whole denominations have some pretty interesting rules. I have attended some and visited others, and some I have only learned about through brothers and sisters in Christ who were either members or had been members of such groups.
I think the most important thing, in such situations is to avoid judging the believers who hold to such ideas and rules. They may or may not be able to point to meaningful Scripture support. But there is often a reason, somewhere along the way, for the idea to become reasonable and important to them.
Religion can often get in the way of open fellowship with other Christian believers. By religion, I mean the rituals and practices that grow up in our minds and sometimes take over. A person can even be religious about not being religious. I've actually seen that happen.
It's best not to turn away from fellow believers just because they hold different ideas. After all, no one is perfect. When the Lord wants you to go elsewhere He will lead you in His own way. The enemy, on the other hand, always accuses our brothers and sisters in Christ, pointing out all kinds of things — real and imagined — that they do wrong.
If these Christians have been a blessing and help to you in your early walk with Christ, then allow them to continue being a part of your life and Christian growth. You may think they are a bit strange, but try not to let that get between you and them. The Lord probably has a good reason for bringing them into your life.
I visited a Bible school, many years ago, to encourage some kids from our church who were attending, and who felt crushed by all the harsh rules of conduct and behavior. It was far away from our home, way up in the Adirondack mountains, and very conservative. My wife and I drove about a thousand miles to get there.
When we got there, the kids had already settled down and were pretty happy. The school was very conservative (a lot more than our church at the time), but the kids had also been homesick. What I saw while visiting made me want to attend the school myself. And after serious prayer, I moved my family up there.
To this day, I wear jeans just about everywhere. I don't keep my hair super short. And I do other things that the school had very strict rules against. But while attending the school I did everything I could to keep all the rules. And they also leaned a lot, trying to overlook my "wild and crazy" ways.
I believed the Lord wanted me to attend, and they also believed I belonged there. So we respected the differences we had and things worked out. The result was that my wife and I had a fantastic time there, soaking up all kinds of good stuff, and making wonderful new friends in Christ.
Jim