Quote:
Originally Posted by deacon blues
I think it's perfectly Biblical to care about worship that has order, thats modest, befitting and appropriate. Paul spends three chapters in I Corinthians addressing the inappropriate way the Corinthian Christians were worshiping. It was important to him as a leader of the church to communicate to the Corinthians that frightening unbelievers and causing them to believe they were nuts was not appropriate. God is not the author of confusion.
A good question would be to ask "Are we doing anything at our church that fosters confusion in the minds of unbelievers visiting our church?" I had to spend 1 1/2 hours doing damage control several weeks ago after some unwise members of our church decided to overwhelm a new believer, a former Catholic, with "super spirituality" getting in her face and declaring that there were demons in her house. If I hadn't defused her confusion back at her friends house alongside her yet to convert husband, would've stopped coming to our assembly.
So as a pastor I am very sensitive to these assumptions we make as lifelong Pentecostals that we should do whatever, whenever, however under the guise of "freedom in the Spirit". Spirit-filled, Spirit-led people have liberty, yes, but they're supposed to possess wisdom too.
It's not the first time I have had to help undo the damage done to people because people feel it's okay to get a little crazy at church. Worship doesn't have to be outlandish and a turn off to outsiders to be pleasing to God. If a fruit of the Spirit is self control, why can't some people seem to exercise that when they worship. I don't believe God possesses you and makes you do things you cannot control.
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Some of what you wrote is indeed your role to teach and do damage control. You seemed to have handled that well. It also teaches the Catholic couple that you are wise and in control. It's a teachable moment all around and I'm always glad to have them.
I think that all people possess individual personalities, as such, every person will respond in different ways. We can't corral people into one personality, but they must be allowed to have their freedom of expression.
Now, it is wise to teach the proper balance in I Corinthians. Some teach what I see as an imbalance. They teach that you should not speak in tongues in the congregation, but in private. Yet, when you look closely,
I Cor 14:5 says this, " I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied:..." You simply can't use Webster to define, "rather".
He is actually, by Greek definition, saying, "I would that you all speak in tongues, but in a larger degree, that you would prophesy."
So, he never says NOT to speak in tongues in the congregation, but to pray to prophesy to a larger degree.
Someone here once stated that they don't allow their people to speak in tongues in the congregation, aside from being infilled, but they do let them run and dance around the church. lol There is more scripture on speaking in tongues than the latter, so I don't know where that teaching is from.
Anyway, we've been around the block long enough to know that the church is a place of teaching and correction. And we know that the move of God has had much more positive results than those that make a display and circumvent rationality.
We are a spiritual church, given gifts to operate. Let's not try to cast that aside because of a few tares or misguided souls.
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