After our early morning walk on the track a couple of mornings ago. I asked
my husband of almost 50 yrs what are standards for. He told me that every-
thing has a standard. Time, clocks are set to a standard. Gold has a standard.
He told me that when the standard of anything is lowered, it loses value.
To lower standards is to lower the quality. When the stock market is down,
and the value is lowered, everyone wants to buy because they can buy it
cheap. But when the market is up, people want to sell because the value is
high.
If lowering the standards causes the quality to be lowered, and value to
be lost, why on earth would anyone desire to lower their standards.
Moses set the bounds for the mountain.
My father and mother together set some standards of what they wanted
their home to be. They set high standards. Some through the years have
thought they set them too high. Guys in high school thought my dad was
too strict because they couldn't date me. Their standards didn't measure
up to our family values or worth that my parents had placed on their family.
When we started to school, we already knew the standards set for OUR
family and home. No one was to touch our family values. They were ours
and they were precious for the safety and protection of our home. All 11
of we siblings graduated, some with honors, all with respect, because of
the high value system put in place by our parents. They relied on their God
to help them raise their family in the fear and admonition of the LORD!
In 1958, when Dad took the family alter to a small storefront building just
off main street, the standards didn't change. For over 30 yrs. he preached
a high standard to those who chose to come and listen. Today our family
and extended family are highly respected and the memory of our parents
are revered in the hearts and minds of the people of our city.
As we became young adults, of course we had the choice to set the
standard for our own homes and families.
For the life of me, I cannot perceive WHY anyone would want to lower
the standard in their homes and families, and churches. To lower the value
and quality of something SO dear. Many people do not respect those who
lower their standards, quality and value.
Just some thoughts as there has been a lot of discussion on the subject
of standards. Why would anyone want to "drop" the standards. especially
if good strong values were instilled from the beginning with godly parents.
Jesus is the Standard God set for the Family of God. His Son was the
standard set for His Family. HIGH and LIFTED UP, SHINING IN THE LIGHT
OF HIS GLORY!!!
As always, my words are not to offend, but to provoke thought.
After our early morning walk on the track a couple of mornings ago. I asked
my husband of almost 50 yrs what are standards for. He told me that every-
thing has a standard. Time, clocks are set to a standard. Gold has a standard.
He told me that when the standard of anything is lowered, it loses value.
To lower standards is to lower the quality. When the stock market is down,
and the value is lowered, everyone wants to buy because they can buy it
cheap. But when the market is up, people want to sell because the value is
high.
If lowering the standards causes the quality to be lowered, and value to
be lost, why on earth would anyone desire to lower their standards.
Moses set the bounds for the mountain.
My father and mother together set some standards of what they wanted
their home to be. They set high standards. Some through the years have
thought they set them too high. Guys in high school thought my dad was
too strict because they couldn't date me. Their standards didn't measure
up to our family values or worth that my parents had placed on their family.
When we started to school, we already knew the standards set for OUR
family and home. No one was to touch our family values. They were ours
and they were precious for the safety and protection of our home. All 11
of we siblings graduated, some with honors, all with respect, because of
the high value system put in place by our parents. They relied on their God
to help them raise their family in the fear and admonition of the LORD!
In 1958, when Dad took the family alter to a small storefront building just
off main street, the standards didn't change. For over 30 yrs. he preached
a high standard to those who chose to come and listen. Today our family
and extended family are highly respected and the memory of our parents
are revered in the hearts and minds of the people of our city.
As we became young adults, of course we had the choice to set the
standard for our own homes and families.
For the life of me, I cannot perceive WHY anyone would want to lower
the standard in their homes and families, and churches. To lower the value
and quality of something SO dear. Many people do not respect those who
lower their standards, quality and value.
Just some thoughts as there has been a lot of discussion on the subject
of standards. Why would anyone want to "drop" the standards. especially
if good strong values were instilled from the beginning with godly parents.
Jesus is the Standard God set for the Family of God. His Son was the
standard set for His Family. HIGH and LIFTED UP, SHINING IN THE LIGHT
OF HIS GLORY!!!
As always, my words are not to offend, but to provoke thought.
Falla39
__________________
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
Very good post! I think the controversy lies not in the true definition of standards, but in the buzzword that our organizations use to describe something much more superficial. Regarding true standards of living, I completely agree with your post.
__________________
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. — André Gide
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds... - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Very good post! I think the controversy lies not in the true definition of standards, but in the buzzword that our organizations use to describe something much more superficial. Regarding true standards of living, I completely agree with your post.
I agree with you.
True standards are not the same as a list of rules for people to live by.
As far as true standards of living based on biblical principles.... I have more in my life today than I ever had... in fact, true holiness comes from a heart of love for the Lord.
I will never change my standards. I may, however, let go of some rules that others have imposed upon me. Especially if they are the opposite of productive in my life.
Lovely post sister. I was deeply moved and can sincerely see the loving spirit with which you submitted it. But I do want to share my thoughts as a 33 year old man who has only walked with the Lord 20 years.
I think the "fuss over standards" comes from our being able to read God's Word for ourselves. For example, my previous pastor taught us that if we had facial hair we'd go to Hell. I remember crying my eyes out at the alter feeling like something was deeply wrong with me because I thought some facial hair looked good and in my heart, as a baby faced young man, I wanted facial hair because I thought it would make me look more masculine. I was horrified that my feelings for something so sinful indicated a deeper problem and it left me weeping at the altar more than once. All of us young men were dangled over Hell because our pastor didn't believe in facial hair. Yet when I was on the minister's team and I was searching my heart and searching the Scriptures to find where I stood regarding standards... I found no such standard in the Bible. It was a tradition of man. I spent time weeping over my desire for facial hair and failed to address some of the deeper issues lingering in my own heart. I was being distracted by the superficial, majoring in minors, and was failing to really "grow in God". I made a comprehensive list of all the standards I had been taught, standards I believed I would preach as a preacher and decided to find Scripture for them all. Because if I was going to preach... I had to know in my heart that I was preaching the Word of God not just my elder's, elder's opinion. I found that the vast majority of our standards, regarded emphatically as Heaven or Hell issues (I attended an ultra conservative UPCI church) were not necessarily in the Scriptures. I was shaken to the core when I realized that all I had to preach about were man made standards and opinions passed down from two generations back. I realized that my enemy wasn't necessarily sin (Christ dealt with sin on the cross) but it was the poison of Pharisaical religiosity... the very same enemy Christ faced more than once.
I think that as people search the Scriptures with commentary and resources becoming ever so plentiful via software and the internet people are discovering how so many of our standards aren't explicit commands of Scripture. Those who study the Scriptures independently without a denominational/organizational filter are typically the one's voicing their dismay at some of our standards. Those who proudly wave the banner of a denomination or organization rally around said standard in the name of preserving the way as filtered and defined by their denomination or organization.
In a way it's sad because so many elders and old timers who bought into the traditional standards lock, stock, and barrel are watching their standards be abandoned. But in a way it's also a blessing because we see more and more of us turning to the Scriptures alone to define our faith and practices. In a way... being sold out to human standards lowers the value of our Christian walk... because our walk is based on the rules of man... not necessarily the Word of God.
I loved the story you presented. It was very warm and heartfelt. I felt a tinge of guilt for some of the standards that I've abandoned because I couldn't find them in the Word of God. But then I notice something about this story.... it contained no Scripture. It was an emotionally driven statement, powerful, and provoking... but it doesn't address the crux of the problem... so many of our traditional standards aren't Scriptural. From standards on facial hair, the belief in magic hair, absolutely not jewelry (not even wedding bands), to no television, radio, or internet. None of these things are commanded in Scripture.
We were taught that if we had a question... "find it in the Bible"... well... now we're reading the Bible and some things we just ain't findin'.
Of course we're on dangerous territory. When believers started reading the Bible in previous centuries the Catholic Church decided to ban the private reading of Scripture without the proper interpretation from their established religious authorities and chained the Bible to the pulpit in a dead tongue, Latin. Thank God we live in America.
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