District Puts WPF on Notice

[triumphant1]

Originally Posted by scotty

I have to admit that there a few around us that are standards preachers, here is the thing though (not saying its like this everywhere) they are barely making it. Little churches that have more pews than people, and there preacher could preach the walls down and no one else in the district would pay a whole lot of attention.

I know we can both be right, it was said in sarcasm..

I don't think it is hate...I think it is opposing opinions and negative perceptions. Let me preface my further remarks by saying that as for me I do not hate the UPC..nor do I hate the district which I was once a pastor in. So if you read any hate speech in my posts you are reading way too much into them.

As far as how this discussion has gone I'd say, "Hate?" No. "Negative experience that creates a negative perception?" IMO...yes. If all you know is a very conservative UPC district/section that always harped on standards, then you'd naturally have a perception that the whole org is that way... If all you know is a very tolerant (or liberal) district/section that preached a whole lot of grace and never really touched the dress and hair issues, then you'd have a perception that the whole org is like that...

If the UPC you experienced was mean to you--whether in a local church or in a district/section--because you didn't adhere to the doctrines, then you'd leave believing that the whole org is mean...

To be quite honest, I know several who were treated very harshly by the UPC representatives (both officials and pastors) in their lives over standards...and it taints the whole movement in their eyes...and as long as these dress and hair issues are put out front in district and national events, nothing can change that perception.

But on the same token, I know of people who were mistreated in a dentist's chair, and they will not go to a dentist to this day....they think all dentist are bad...and we both know that this is not the case either.

To be honest again, I was in the UPC for the first 36 years of my life, I had good and bad happen to me at the hands of the UPC representatives in my life. I do not have a jaded perception of the org as a whole because the good balances the bad...therefore I know, I was mistreated by some...but I was loved by others...so the whole org isn't bad after all...just some of its representatives in my life...