Standards? Why, yes, I do have a few battle flags laying around.
HAHAHAHAHAHA! BATTLE flags. that is awesome.
__________________ ...MY THOUGHTS, ANYWAY.
"Many Christians do not try to understand what was written in a verse in the Bible. Instead they approach the passage to prove what they already believe."
This has been tickling the back of my mind all day. I am in what most would consider a uuuuuuuc church, yet I have been a part of moderate to liberal churches in the past as well. And I have friends amongst all today. No matter where I go to church, "my" standards are those in my own heart, not what is taught in the church as passable. So I have basically two "standards," or measures, of holiness:
I grew up around a group of Nazarenes at a time that they were discussing whether or not to allow young people to go to movies (sorry, true story, no offence meant). The young people were laughing at their elders for their stance: they wouldn't allow someone to go to a movie theater because young people were going and making out. So the parents started allowing the same young people to sit in a dark bedroom, alone, and watch the same movie on video tape. The young people rightfully asked, "if it isn't wrong to do the second, why make a fuss over the first?" This is one of my standards: how will my choice now affect my kids in 10-20 years?
As a new convert, I had a unique situation where I would go to one church in the summer and a different one in the winter. One was more conservative, the other moderate. A concerned sister asked me at camp that summer how I was doing, being so far from my home church. I told her that it was OK, but I didn't know what to do with the standards. Did I dress one way in the summer at the conservative church and another way in the fall at the moderate church, or what? The sister got real quiet as she turned to me and answered, "No-you pray til you get a conviction in your own heart, and live it." That was one of the best sermons I ever heard preached. And so that is my other standard: What does God want me to do, as shown from searching scriptures and praying?
Good story, very thought provoking. I remember making a statement sometime back, after making years of observation concerning "convictions". In SOME cases folks have no idea what a conviction is. People often adapt and adopt what is in their surrounding environment.
That is not necessarily a bad thing, just human nature. I believe if you seek a conviction hard enough, you will get one, maybe from God, maybe from outside influence. I conformed to many things out of obedience to my pastor, and out of obligation to my duties as a minister - I sincerely thought for years that my conformance was in fact conviction, only to find out years later it was not a conviction at all.
Thankfully I do have convictions and personal standards, some of which I have had for years and did not know they were convictions, until I got close to the line. We do need convictions, and they need to be our own, personal, and relational to God - only those type of convictions actually stand the test of time and temptation. My opinion.
Thankfully I do have convictions and personal standards, some of which I have had for years and did not know they were convictions, until I got close to the line. We do need convictions, and they need to be our own, personal, and relational to God - only those type of convictions actually stand the test of time and temptation. My opinion.
very, very true, Lemon!
Many people have accepted conformance, but never gotten convictions of their own-that's true in the world at large as well as within the church. There are some things I do in conformance. Most I do no matter where I am, no matter who I'm with, and that I will stand in the face of adversity for. Those are convictions. The others are conformances. Not necessarily bad, but not real convictions. I like that your way of putting it. Thanks!
OK, most know that I'm not Pentecostal, don't consider myself Apostolic, barely even Christian anymore (most AFFers would say definitely not Christian, which is fine), so my "standards" are probably irrelevant. But yes, I do have them. Even some that have to do with "outward appearance", believe it or not. So, even if it's just to satisfy your curiosity and nothing more, here they are:
1. Love, provide for, and protect my family.
2. Be faithful to my wife.
3. Love and live at peace with my fellow man.
4. Dress appropriately for the occasion.
5. Get a haircut whenever my wife says to.
That's pretty much it. The most important ones, I suppose. Not that the haircut one is all that important... to me.... though it does seem important to my wife!
Can one be Apostolic and not Christian?
__________________
Psa 119:165 (KJV) 165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
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