Quote:
Originally Posted by CC1
I don't know that I have ever said "ditto" to a Randy Wayne post but I can this one.
My anecdotal analysis after being in or around old time Pentecost the last 50 years or so is that most old time Pentecostal churches are primarily made up of;
1. Those born into the church and those who marry them.
2. People who come from lives / situation with little or no structure (abandoned by parents, substance abuse issues in the family, etc)
For those who come from secular lives with little or no structure the laundry list of legalism is a refuge for them providing a structure they have not had in their lives and is also a crtuch / measuring stick by which they can measure their position with God.
I also think these folks are more apt to follow a preacher who is preaching extra biblical doctrines and practices as they desperately want someone to believe in and put all of their faith in (a human being in addition to Jesus).
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This is precisely an observation I made a few months back.
When looking around my current and past UPCI churches, I see a pattern of the "newly saved" being generally undereducated and from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. The only exception I see is for a couple terminally ill individuals who had family connections in the church (in one case, the spouse of a terminally ill individual was a "backslid" Pentecostal who'd been raised in the church and left...so falling into your category of spouses of those who grew up in church).
Having grown up in the church myself, I heard the threats that people in the world are selfish. They'll use you and abuse you. People "in the world" can't make real friends - their friends have ulterior motives.
While there's no doubt that Christ opens up a realm of love and selflessness that one could never know without Him - it's total crock that people "in the world" are incapable of exhibiting kindness, loyalty, and true friendship.
But this myth is self-perpetuating because all the "new people" in the church who buy into the legalistic approach come from backgrounds that are unstable, broken, and without a support system of loving friends and family.
Not that socioeconomic status means a thing in the body of Christ - but shouldn't we be questioning why the college educated, white collar populations seem to be underrepresented among our "new converts"? Is there a reason why those who are more successful in their education and professions don't seem to buy into the UPCI dogma? (And I'm not saying that blue collar persons can't be successful, but often times "moving up" in blue collar professions means moving into management, which I would say turns them white collar.)
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