A Shame?

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On Thu, 10 Sep 1998 12:27:48 -0400 brian_berger@juno.com writes:

>Hmm, I thought the list only a few days behind. It is even further 
>than I believed, or Bro Jerry Welch needs to check his system time...

It's Bill Gates fault!  <G>

>Jerry-
>>Please tell me what you think I mean so that I know if you are 
>>understanding me correctly.
>
>You keep quoting this phrase in this discussion "Biblical Authority". 
>I maintain that not all that Moses, Samuel, even Peter and Paul were 
>Biblical. 

You mean all they did?  I agree fully.  

>Ok, I know I just gave NT and OT examples. In Acts I believe 
>the question of uncircumcised believers was addressed. "Biblical 
>authority" required this, but the council said it was not needed. Who 
>then was correct? 

Your example is not applicable, since the issue at hand at that time was
one of a requirement from the OT into the NT of grace.  Matter of fact,
if used, it would probably support my side better than yours.  Paul
basically said that we were delivered from such things.  We are not under
the Law any longer.

>Would you have been sinning had you NOT submitted but honestly told 
>>him that you didn't have a personal conviction on the matter?
>
>I guess I did not question why he did not want me playing Donkey Kong, 
>Asteroids, Centipede, and Pac-Man games. I just stopped.

You did not answer my question; Would you have been sinning had you NOT
submitted but honestly told him that you didn't have a personal
conviction on the matter?

>He did not give a answer, just asked me to stop. 

Since it is obvious according to your own example that he asked and you
stopped without questioning him, that Pastors need to have a good reason
to ask their Church to do anything like that.

>Some of these games were manufactured by the Bally company 
>who was the largest maker of slot machines at the same time. 

And Sears is mostly owned by the Mormons.  Should that mean that we
shouldn't shop at Sears?

>I hear you that the link of evil empires vs. Christian companies 
>cannot be a good argument. I used to work for a division of Phillip 
>Morris, as they used to own Kraft-General Foods. It is amazing how 
>huge these companies are these days. 

You ain't kidding!

>>You can't spend money ANYWHERE these days where the company's 
>>interactions are "Pentecostal Pure".
>
>Pal, we have not had the money to spend anywhere lately. ; )

But you see my point, right?  Just because Bally made slot machines
doesn't automatically mean that video games are bad.  And if your Pastor
was making THAT point, then it would have been alright to play any video
game as long as it wasn't manufactured by Bally, right?  But I bet that
somehow that video game ban was carried over to all video games.

Am I right?

In which case, I would have asked the Pastor why the other games were
banned.

>>Do you change such a stand whenever a different person visits and 
>>preaches in the pulpit?
>
>Nah, I am thick skulled and need to have a 2x4 sometime thunk me four 
>or five times. (I have over smileyed already but here is another :>)

Is your nose really that pointed?  =8' )

>>SPECIFICALLY, why have you NOT kept some of them?
>Rings, I got married to a gal who wanted a wedding ring, and did not 
>feel a compelling reason not to wear one. 

But why did you "disobey" on that one occasion?  And do you consider
yourself living in sin since you have not repented in violating that
standard?

Come to think of it, do you think it is a sin if you are going to a
Church that DOESN'T preach against wedding rings to wear one because you
used to go to a Church that did?

>I still do. When I visited my former church I took my ring off out of 
>respect, but the white skin mark must have looked odd. 

If I were in that same situation, I would not have removed it, because
Sister So-and-So in the back that met you last summer sure glued her eyes
to your ring finger and, using the foundation that violating local
standards was an indication of backsliddeness, she no doubt told her
friends to pray for you and when you didn't wear it to Church, why, then
they knew that you knew better and praise God, there could still be hope
for you, because you felt conviction and didn't wear it in Church.

Do you see how local standards can blow these things out of proportion?

>Some other convictions over the years (now over 20) I have kept. 

But I want to get to the bottom of the matter; what is the exact reason
that standard A has been kept but standard B been defied?

>One is that when there is a fellowship dinner/lunch/party/BBQ/whatever
in 
>the church, I do not eat nor drink in the sanctuary. If I am working 
>in the church, I eat my lunch out of the bldg, hallway, etc. Not a 
>heaven or hell idea, but one that I feel strong enough that I don't 
>even drink coke in the auditorium.
>
>Brian Berger

I believe in that myself, but that is out of respect for the House of God
(another subject, since WE are literally the Temple of God and God
doesn't live in a House built of men).  Churches should be called "Places
of Worship" probably.

Jerry Welch

www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2810/

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