(After the Bible, this little booklet is what the members live by).I mean, I guess I could join, but I wouldn't be truly happy I don't think. And I don't want to join only to be a hypocrite.
Let me start out that I love this church. It's a great place to worship and find fellowship. I love the people, gosh do I love 'em. =) I will still be attending here, as a non member because I feel no need to look elsewhere. I just can't be a member.
I do agree with alot of their standard of practice more than I disagree with it actually.
What I don't agree on:
* The holy kiss, footwashing and communion is only for members. I disagree. It should be for all members of the body of Christ, a.k.a. Christians. To segregate other Christians from partaking of those ordinances because they aren't a member of said church is just wrong in my humble opinion.
* They believe in shunning amusement parks, pleasure seeking and other flesh satisfying recreational activities. Sorry, I love me some amusement parks and country fairs. I don't see it as 'flesh satisfying', I see it as going out and having fun on rides and playing games with my family and friends. Hubby and I, Yah willing are planning a trip next year to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in May for his graduation present. He's earned it and would like to go. I'm not sure what other 'flesh satisfying recreational activities' they are referring too though. Concerts maybe? Sorry, don't see anything sinful or unholy about going to a concert (depending on who it is and what they stand for I reckon).
* I'm a bit on the fence about not having life / health insurance. I can see it from their point of view about putting all your trust in God, but what will happen if / when the church runs out of money and they cannot support you anymore? You're screwed. I am ALL for having health insurance. I wish me and Robert had it. If your job or your hubby's job offers it, take it without guilt otherwise you and I both know your doctor's bills / exams / hospital stays will be astronomical and let's face it, none of us have thousands of dollars saved up for things like this. I am not sure what their view is on social security for the older members. I have heard some have it and some don't. Whatever, it's not a salvation issue. Neither is it wrong to be on food stamps if you need to be. Just don't abuse the system. Take what you need till things get better then stop taking it. That's what my mom did when she lost her job. Now she's back on her feet and no longer needs the help. We pay the government all the time, why not use some of the money / resources we've paid them? It's our hard earned money after all.
* Bullet 8a says: Avoid dancing, drama, carnivals, public sporting events, races, rodeos and other gathering places for carnal pleasure. Now I don't go to clubs or bars, but I do like to dance...in my own house or at wedding receptions. Just can't resist when a tune comes through the speakers. =) Drama I suppose may be movies / television? I don't watch TV, but I do watch a few movies. I love end of the world movies, always have. But I also love watching Little House movies, Amish themed movies, Harry Potter, some Disney films, and once in a while some chick flicks like 13 Going on 30 or Juno. I even liked watching Batman: The Dark Knight. It was well done. That's just me. =) We don't attend sporting events, races, or rodeos.
* Bullet 8e says to avoid sensual music in any form (rock, jazz, bluegrass, country, etc). The only music allowed in this church is Acapella (Mennonite style). I love Acapella, it's beautiful. But I also love instrumental music (with just a guitar or piano and the ocean in the background). I enjoy 80's love songs / soft rock (best music era ever!!!), and I do love a few singers in the country music realm, but not many. I love hymns as well. That's me. The booklet states that there are dangers and abuses of instrumental music and gave these verses in the NT as to why they don't allow it in their homes, church or vehicles (Eph. 5:18-21, Col. 3:16-17). When I looked them up, none of them referred to musical instruments. In fact they are widely used throughout the OT and even in the Psalms and Proverbs. I don't see anywhere in the NT where that has changed...
* Bullet 8g says to not buy, sell, conduct business, patronize restaurants on Sunday and that's it's also a day of rest. I'm sorry but man cannot make their own Sabbath day. The Bible tells us not to buy, sell, conduct business, make others wait on us, on the Sabbath day (Friday evening - Saturday evening). The Bible says nothing about those things concerning Sunday. In fact, the 1st day of the week (Sunday) is a working day in the Bible. The Sabbath didn't go anywhere in the NT. It was still being kept by Believers, Jew and Gentile alike. You can't say you believe in the 10 Commandments and only obey 9 of them. Like I said, man cannot make their own day of rest. It was instituted in Genesis by our Creator for crying out loud.
* This church, not all, doesn't allow the option for homeschooling. Children attend the church school. Which I find nothing wrong with that. But I believe the option should be there for the parents to decide. It's their children, not the church's children.
And on that note. A new rule has been placed that members can no longer do foster care (adoption is okay) because they wouldn't be able to discipline the children properly. With all due respect, I believe it's up to the husband / wife and Yahweh whether to foster or not, not husband/wife, church, and God. So because of this silly rule that man has placed, foster children are thrown to the wolves. Isn't that nice? =/
That's pretty much it. Everything else, I am okay with.
You know, I have been saved for 10 years already. In these 10 years I listened to men tell me what was sinful, acceptible, holy, unholy, what a good Christian woman ought to look like, act like, etc, what to listen to, what not to do, what not to say, you get the drill. I am sure it was all in good intentions because when you've been in this type of denomination your whole life, that's all you know.
In the church I got saved in (Pentecostal Holiness), hellfire and brimstone were preached on the ladies if we dared to even cut our split ends off. We were to walk around with our uneven ratty hair. Can't you just picture all these Jewish women in the Bible walking around like that? Please.... My hair hadn't seen a pair of scissors in over 10 years. But this past April, I went and had my nasty, tangly, ratty, uneven split ends cut off (Oh no Dawn...you sinner you!!!!). They took a whole whopping inch off. WOW!!!! My hair was still long and flowing, but it looked 200% healthier. And now my hair is growing normally at the ends. The Mennonite church is the same as not even trimming split ends off (for ladies), which is fine, but I just couldn't stand to see my hair's rats nest at the bottom anymore.
I know it will be frowned upon in the Mennonite church, but yes, I like Hello Kitty, Harry Potter, body glitter, doing crazy things like dying my hair red before a Judd concert, I love to sing, dance, play guitar (and soon to be learning keyboard once guitar is mastered), travel, go out to eat, wearing colorful knee hi socks with my skirts, maybe putting on a light shade of lip gloss or painting my nails a silver glitter just for the heck of it. I love doing spur of the moment things where nothing is planned. Heck when my hubby met me, I had a rainbow colored steering wheel cover and dice in my mirror and was wearing black/red tights underneath my Tinkerbell shorts. That was me! =)
I missed being ME these past 10 years. Me has been squelched by man and their ridiculous rules.
No more. I don't want to look back 10 years from now and have regrets that I didn't 'do this' or 'do that'. Life is too short for that.
Why can't I serve Yahweh and sing / play guitar?
Why can't I serve Yahweh and wear just my comfy clothes (long skirt and t-shirt, bandana headcovering, black socks/shoes).
Why can't I serve Him and just...be...Me.
Me...who loves to dance around the house to Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' or the B-52's 'Love Shack'.
Some may read this and think I have 'gone back into the world'. Well, so be it. You must be so proud of yourself with your nose stuck in the air thinking you're so much better than me. Congratulations. =) I don't really care. Then you were never really truly a friend of mine. Love me for me, not for what my outside looks like. I love you, regardless if you are in a cape dress or pair of jeans.
I am going to be me and just be free. Something I haven't been in 10 years.
Freedom has never felt so good.
I LOVE YOU YAHWEH \0/
15 comments:
hugs :)
Good for you. :)
Good for you girl:) Be who you are!! Your still a good christian girl. Im tired of man made rules as well!! Good post!!
I will be praying for you that you find what is right for you. Huggles.
I'm glad you're able to look through this and make an informed decision. You're absolutely right that it's what God says that matters, not what men say. I lost many of my extremely conservative friends when I made choices to let some of the traditions of men go, but there's just something to be said for living!.
YAH bless you! I hope you're enjoying your newfound freedom to love the music God gave us, enjoy fresh, pretty hair, and whatever else the Lord is leading you to rediscover.
Amusement parks, music, health insurance, dancing, movies, plays, operas, rodeos, "gathering places for carnal pleasure"...
You are exactly right: these things are not salvation issues. They can become sinful things if you attend like... strip clubs and whorehouses and attend "gathering places" to tok a bone ~ but a mature Christian is perfectly capable of discerning what is good entertainment and what is evil entertainment.
"avoid sensual music in any form" well, that is a no-brainer. What Christian wants to listen to that "let's hump each other's legs" boom-chacka music?? But just because *some* music is sexy doesn't mean *all* music is sensual and leads to the temptations against chastity. (Even married people practice chastity ~ they don't go out to clubs and hump legs!)
Far too many rules of men in this book.
If any of these things were forbidden by God then He would have made this very very clear in His bible. It would be right there in black and white! (And sometimes in red and whilte as well hehe)
Dawn,
I've gone through the same kind of inner movements myself over the past six years.
I came into the really super conservative Christianity thinking that it was the most pure and true form of the faith.
I read the books, the tracts, got involved in the forums, the yahoo groups, everything. I corresponded and visited and this and that. But even as I was in the midst of these things I always felt as if many of the things that I was being taught were like square pegs being jammed into round holes.
But I'm sorry... after a while I began to realize that in this form of Christianity let's face it: "Woman" was being made into a second class citizen, **inferior** to women.
Yes, we are called to submit to our husbands. And our husbands are called to be the heads of our households. But not in such a way that we women have to abandon our entire identity, our needs, our desires, our ***everything*** and turn ourselves into A) basically his slave and B) basically his clone? "I only like what he likes, do what he does, and dream his dreams and abandon my dreams..."
Just when I was hitting this crisis of "what on earth is a Christian woman????" I came across Kimberly Hahn's new trilogy and she was fantastic ast defining "christan womanhood" ~ in a very balanced, healthy way that was biblical and not "rules and ideas of man"
I tossed all of the other "christian women" books except "Created to be His Helpmeet" but I read Created with a grain of salt and I am careful now to no longer be sucked into that whole unhealthy soul-killing idea of, "I only like what he likes, do what he does, and dream his dreams and abandone my dreams..."
I'm sorry too but I noticed a frightening trend of conservative women: almost every single one of them is fat, unhappy, and suffering from chronic fatigue and/or fibromyalgia!! This was getting to the point of being downright scary!!
I can't help but see the elephant in the room here: the "laws of men" are hurting christian women even to the point of physical illness. Just look at me! I'm a physical mess! But it only started when I began to kill the real Michelle and stifle her and smother her and bury her alive in order to become that artificial false "Ideal Christian Women"...
Re: The "don't cut your hair" thing.
God wants us to bring honour to our husbands so that he is "praised at the city gates" ~ how on earth are we going to manage that with nasty ratty hair??
That is sooooooo not a salvation issue!
And yeah, I've gone through the same thing as you, remembering how colourful and fun I was and how this just isn't compatable with the "rules of men" found in these conservative christian books about how us women should be. I got the feeling that we are supposed to be kinda invisible, with no real identity. I mean, why else is there a "christian women uniform" of matching dresses and matching head coverings?
I love my patchwork jeans and my flowing gypsy skirts, my bright striped or tie-dyed tights! I'm artistic! And musical! My bible cover is made of funky colourful dots and I have hippie shoes and I go to yoga and weaving classes and my art gallery is almost like being inside of a rainbow. I love to read "Country Living" and "Mollie Makes" magazine and I keep in touch with friends and family thousands of miles apart from me through Facebook and I read Transformers comics...
I don't see how any of that is going to send me to hell?
Dawn, I think it's great that you are seeing you can still follow God without changing yourself to conform to a bunch of man-made rules. I went through some of the same changes over the past couple years.
It can be hard because sometimes it is easy to lose ourselves in this image of what we think a Christian woman should be and look like. I had gotten others' expectations, God's expectations, and my own convictions all jumbled up for a long time and it was so freeing to just shed the external rules and get back to following God and letting my personality shine through.
I'm hoping everything works out for the best for you and that you will find more happiness and contentment from freedom in Christ than from trying to fit the man-made idea of a Christian woman.
Most refreshing post that you have ever written. Amen and amen.
Jennifer
Dawn, follow that small still voice inside that tells you what God requires. We learned early on that being Mennonite was a whole lot easier if you were born into that church. I don't like rules for the sake of being rules, if they are made in fear, just to keep you far away from being near the rules God has made for our own good.
salvation is dependent only on one thing. The only thing the thief on the cross knew for sure, and it didn't have to do with even keeping one day holy
We do have to obey the Word once we become a Believer.
The Bible tells us which day to keep holy. It's really really simple.
We can't just "accept Jesus" and then do nothing afterwards.
I do agree, it def. is much easier to be raised Mennonite and then join the church. That's all they know. Several families there have joined from the 'outside' so to speak and you'd have never have known unless they told you.
But I just can't do it I don't think. I want too, I really do. But I know I would be miserable because I wouldn't be able to be myself and I've done enough of conforming to everyone else's standard these past 10 years.
I realize I don't want to miss out on anymore of my life.
Don't want to look back with regrets.
So, now it's me, Yahweh, the Bible and visits to Grandview (which am back to being treated like a visitor again. Before the sisters and I exchanged the holy kiss) but after I stopped the instruction classes only the handshakes began again).
Whatever... =)
I think you and I have a lot of similar beliefs. I go to the Church Of Christ. They allow music, ball games all that. I am more conservative than anyone in my church. I wear only dresses, and keep long hair. I am wavering on the head covering, because I know nobody that wears one. I do trim my hair, only the ends. Our church says you have to be baptized to do communion, but they also teach us that communion is between us and God, and that we should not be worried about what someone else is doing during communion. In the end, our church teaches "we all fall short of God's grace". It is true, we do, we are all sinners no matter how hard we try. But that is why Christ died for us. He died, because of the sins of man. How wonderful that we were given such a sacrifice? In the end, we are the children of a very loving God who gives us free will to not follow him. But you HAVE chosen to follow him, singing and dancing will not stop his love.
Hey sis Dawn... I LOVE YOU, cut hair, funky socks and all...lol..I too am tired of the man made rules taught as law..I am tired of my faithfulness being judged on my attendance or participation in church activities, I don't like to let me right hand know what my left hand is doing..I love YHWH, I love Yeshua, I am a work in progress, I think theres nothing wrong with being an idividual in him...and still being one with him and his people, ones a foot, ones a hand afterall right? they don't look the same...he will write in on our hearts...we know..we just need to stop listening to others and listen to him, I'm gonna trim my split ends right now...maybe even paint my toenails too, ,I love taking my kids to carnivals and seeing their eyes light up on the rides, I want to take my kids to the new Smurf movie too, I sometimes skip church activities in favour of tea parties with my lil girl, fishing with my hubby, carnival in town that weekend only, family bbq's with family from out of town, and I don't feel bad at all, I take my God and Savior with me wherever I go, and hes with me when knowone else is looking. AND GUESSE WHAT? I AM FAITHFUL, YES I AM, TO HIM!!!!!! AND THATS ALL THAT MATTERS...AMEN!!!!!!
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