Holiness
 

"A lot of our convictions are preferences, and that is all right. But don't impose your preference upon someone and call it holiness." Tom Fred Tenney

Re: Holiness
 

Is TF the father or the son?

(that sounds like a theological debate...lol)

Re: Holiness
 

TF Tenney is the father, born in 1933 and has been ministering for about 60 years.
The son goes by the name Tommy Tenney.

Re: Holiness
 

Exactly!! That is exactly how I feel about it. It's fine to have personal convictions, or even preferences about things. And to determine that you and your household will follow these things. But it seems that it can never stop there. Pretty soon it's 'law' for everyone, and we're attempting to shut people out of the kingdom of God if they don't follow our preferences.

Re: Holiness
 

Could you source that quote before I post it on facebook and get dogpiled by the neo-legalists?

Re: Holiness
 

I posted it on Facebook earlier today but did not give the source.
It is on page 259 of "The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing" by T.F. Tenney, copyright 1993 by Word Aflame Press

Re: Holiness
 

Thanks.
I'm curious, do you know what he thinks is holiness?
I know he attends Mangun's church, or at least he did.
They seem to be very outward appearance adherents.

Re: Holiness
 

Indeed. Personal convictions are treasures that God gives us. Points of dedication and memories of those times in our lives where we saw a better way.

I think that the "need" to force our convictions on others shows a deeper problem. It can be an indication of the persons inner feeling about these convictions since their need to force others to do the same seems to show an "if I have to do it you have to do it too" way of thinking.

Re: Holiness
 

I'm not really familiar with T.F. Tenney.
From what I understand, he and his wife Thetus and his son Tommy are good people who love the Lord.
T.F. Tenney was part of the political structure of the UPC for years so I imagine he couldn't help but be tainted by that.

Things I've heard or seen here on AFF (so consider the source) about him are:

He regularly preaches for at least one trinitarian church/pastor without following the UPC Manual protocol of getting permission from the local UPC pastor first

He is famous for a sermon on "Let the Redeemed of the Lord Dress So."

He rose to office of Foreign Missions Director of the UPC on a platform of "revealing" that "we have missionaries in the field who do not even believe in the plan of salvation"

He has appeared on TBN and prayed for the host of the show

He is a member of the board of his son's organization

He is a closet one-stepper

He has co-authored at least one book with his son

Re: Holiness
 

Okay, thanks.
I don't think I want to hear the sermon on let the redeemed dress so...

Re: Holiness
 

Holiness, I would say, is the inward condition of being completely sold out to Christ. Holiness can not be seen (because it's on the inside), but the evidence of it can be seen outwardly. Unfortunately, many of us have tried to define what that evidence is according to our own convictions and traditions about how a person (usually a woman) looks/dresses.

If we preach the holiness of God, the heart of God, the plan of God, people will desire to fit with HIM. This works much better than trying to make them fit with "us".

Re: Holiness
 

"We believe in holiness --externally, internally, and eternally.
TFT page 260

Re: Holiness
 

:thumbsup

Re: Holiness
 

you don't have to be around a person long until you know if they are holy...

Re: Holiness
 

In one of his books former President jimmy Carter tells about a zealous soul winner who kept pestering an old farmer with the repeated question, "Are you a Christian?"

The old man paused, reached into the top pocket of his bib overalls, pulled out a stub of a pencil and a small note pad, licked the pencil lead, slowly wrote something down on the pad, tore off a page and handed it to the young man, put the pencil back into his pocket and said, "These are the names of some folks that have known me for many years. They can tell you if I'm a Christian or not."