Churches and rules: Not a typical conversation at coffee around The Home, but really fun. I love hearing people’s attitude toward church and their gripes about it. I could probably add my own. I sometimes feel like Groucho Marx’s (and I paraphrase) I wouldn’t want to go to any church that would accept me.
It started when Gladys mentioned she had gone to church with her daughter-in-law. Don’t know where her son was.
Gladys is around 80 years old and has beautiful white hair. She does a nice job with makeup. Not too heavy, it adds to her beauty. She wore a necklace, earrings, and a very attractive pair of slacks and top. She really looked very nice. When going out she always looks great. Guess what the sermon was about? Jezebel and her harlot ways! I knew this would be good, but Gladys was crushed. Everything she did to get ready for church was condemned as wicked. The sermon attacked everything about her as sinful. They might as well have put her on stage and pointed out what not to do to believe in Christ. Get that makeup off, remove that distracting ornamentation, don’t wear slacks or color your hair. She made it on one point. Her hair is not colored. She will never walk in that church again. Me either. I know it is not PC to condemn anyone or any believes, but they were just plain WRONG. Where did they get those ideas?
I know it’s not exactly unusual. If the church I attended as a child were holding to the same traditions I would have run away and joined the circus. I always liked the trapeze.
She looked around and only then realized she was the only one in slacks, She was also the only one with makeup and jewelry. She wanted to crawl under the bench. They might as well have put her on stage and pointed out what a good Christian should not look like. Many stared at her. She missed the sign that should have read HEATHEN NOT WELCOME.
This launched us into a discussion of church rules. So I asked if they required a hat. No. WHAT! They missed the only one that might be defensible. Mennonite women wear the white, net like caps to cover their matching buns. In some cases only married men have to have beards (not me. I like a goatee, but a full beard itches like crazy). Jewish men wear skullcaps and some even have their prayer shawls hanging under their black suit jackets and little boxes around their necks. No they are not for the pills they need later. Speaking of pills, some eschew doctors, others psychiatry. Then there are the groups with the multiple wives. Probably fun for the guys, but what about the women? And how can they afford all those wives and children? One family kept me broke.
How can so many come up with so many screwball ideas and hoops to jump through just for people to go to church? Because we are human! Because we want guidelines for acceptance and for exclusion! Because we have too much time on our hands so can sit around making up rules. May as well be politicians. They make lots of rules.
There are almost as many extraneous rules for the various churches as the government has useless laws on the books. With all the brilliance of mankind and the outstanding inventions we continue to create useless rules. Rules, rules, rules! Many churches seem to be determined to add extra steps to get to Jesus. I don’t know why they make it so hard. I don’t know why so many want to slam the door on seekers. “I know that you have had seven husbands and the one you live with now is not your husband.” “Go and sin no more.” But first remove your makeup, take off your jewelry, and get married before I can accept you. Get real. Open the doors and invite those in the highways and byways to come to the banquet. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.
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Hei Clyde,
Check out my blog where I posted a few pictures of Kari-Anne's graduation...
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