Sundays bring lots of memories, good and bad. I can't help looking back on Sundays past. Growing up the way I did, so many things in my life revolved around church, church attendance, and church people: along with all the rules and "false heresies" that came with being a big "F" fundamentalist.
Don't get me wrong, I did learn a great deal of God's Word, and my parents tempered things through great home instruction. But in our early days of church attendance, my parents were still relatively young in their salvation. So they did what many young Christians do, and followed their pastor's lead and trusted that he was led to do and say the things he did by the Holy Spirit.
Before I get too far I must credit a blog entry shared by one of my friends. Bob Bixby's blog entry "The New Fundamentalism." Many of the things he shared struck chords deep in my heart, and I knew I had to share his thoughts and mine.
In my time as a child and teen in church I believed that what you wore defined your spirituality at least in part. So as soon as I was old enough, I begged to wear hose and heels to church and school. I remember wearing hose to a camp meeting held in upstate South Carolina on the fourth of July because hose were what good Christian women wore to worship the Lord. Sawdust ruined said hose, so I had to have another pair for the next night, and the next and you get the picture. And the temperature was well into the 90's that week.
As for women in pants, they were acceptable only if you were out of town on vacation, and culottes were the preferred choice for the modest Christian woman. They still are for many. But after climbing up a steep grade to get to a waterfall at camp and seeing what the girl's culottes above me revealed, I changed my mind about that. Then, it became knee pants with a flap in the front and back to conceal the fact that I had two legs. According to the pastor and his wife, these garments had to look like skirts or they were sinful. I'm serious. "Women should never wear men's garments." Unless you weren't in your own town. You could wear them in someone else's city, but not yours.
A good friend of mine who grew up in the same area I did with very similar experiences was told that men did not wear wire-rimmed glasses because they were "worldly." Horn-rimmed glasses ruled the day for the church men in our area because they were acceptable and set them apart as Christians. We both also apparently heard the same sermon about having animals in the house as being wrong. "Bless God. If you want hair in your gravy, go ahead and have a dog in your house. Satan would just love for you to have dog hair in your gravy, but I won't be eating at your house."
There are many, many other similar things, large and small, that I remember from those days. I was taught to trust my authority. I was taught not to question-at least not out loud. I obeyed and judged others and lived in fear of displeasing God, my parents, the pastor, and the other church people. I did have one pair of pants I wore to elementary school so I could play on the monkey bars. I remember praying that God wouldn't return that day so I wouldn't go to Heaven wearing pants.
Many of you will realize how silly and wrong proclaiming these things as sinful really is. But some won't. There are still things proclaimed in churches today that are just as silly and foolish. You may get upset with me. But I'll say this: None of those things were wrong in themselves. But basing your own spirituality and the spirituality of others based on how they handled these items was and is wrong! These are preferences turned into "false heresies." False heresies make believers feel guilty for no reason, and Satan feel happy for their distracting properties.
That's all the stale tea I have for now. I'm grateful that God led me to seek out His truth and bring me into the light of his Grace. Search your heart and beliefs. Everything comes down to the Gospel, nothing more. Any additions or preferences lauded as indicators of true salvation and spiritual may lead you to swallow the lie of "false heresies."
In His Grace with fresh tea everyday,
Teapotjan
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