Issues with Legalism....

I have been burdened by things out there that many Baptist churches, mainly the independent fundamental churches recommend, and some require, their members to take part in. I myself grew up in a church where listening to rock music was wrong, girls couldn't wear pants or shorts, we could only use the KJV Bible, and a few more "odd" rules.
I am not exactly sure why I have been thinking about this in the last few days. I think much of it is because I have been looking at myself and asking, "are you serving God doing this or doing that?" I decided to investigate what legalism is. In a basic sense, legalism is following a law. To get the main definition, click here. There are blogs and articles out there on how "bad" IFB churches are, but the one author in particular that I am speaking of failed to mention that instead of focusing on what these other churches are doing, we need to be focusing on ourselves and follow God's leading. I read his page and I do agree that in some areas he was correct but I do think he went a tad bit to far.
My question is where do IFB churches get their basis for some of their standards? That's what I looked into. Lets start with Bible translation. I grew up in churches that were and still are KJV only or King James Version only. I had always wondered why. What is their reasoning? I was always told "its the closest to the original Greek and Hebrew texts." Ok. I can understand that but what about those who translated it? how knowledgeable were they with Greek and Hebrew? Did King James himself choose these translators because they knew Greek and Hebrew or did he choose them because "they were the best in the business"? While searching, I found a site called www.Bible.org, and I checked out their statement of faith. Green light there. I found some articles that were a series of lectures given at Lancaster Baptist College. There are 4 parts to the series called The History of the English Bible. Although I would love to make my points on here, I urge you to read the series yourself as my explanation here would take a lot of copying and pasting and quoting sources. Inserting hyperlinks is much easier. Now I am not trying to convince you to "switch versions." That is not the case at all! My main concern is that no version is "the closest" to the original due to different cultural as well as language barriers, after all, you can say something in French but if you wanted to translate something in English to French, you are not going to get an exact word for word translation. Not only that but back in Bible times, the language was "primitive" as in one word could have several different meanings and words that we have today (some of which are used in the KJV) there aren't even Greek and Hebrew words for! My advice is to not be afraid to take of the veil and to be open to reading and learning from other translations. I personally like NASB and NKJV. I still use KJV. In fact, its what I use in church and in my own Bible reading. If there is something that I don't understand, I am not opposed to opening up a different translation to read the verse. Maybe I will use two or three more translations. Then I go back to the KJV and re-read. Now I know people may try to use the Bible verse that tells us that God is not the author of confusion but of peace but I personally think that those who try to use that reasoning are doubting God's power. Why? Because my own experience tells me that because I went to the Lord and prayed for His help in understanding, He has helped me to understand. Now when I hear another translation being read from the one I am looking at, I don't get confused. I understand and I know that it is God's power that has helped me to do that. Another thing too, is that because I have "let down the wall" that prevented me from fully being able to enjoy God's Word, I have had a few people from my church tell me how blessed they are to see how God has worked in my life. I ask how they know this. They tell me that by my questions, they see God working in me. Isn't that a comfort and a blessing? Onto the next topic, women's clothing.
All while growing up I was told that I couldn't wear jeans because it was men's clothing and "God says women are not to wear men's clothing." Ok. That made sense. As I got older, and I saw people I knew, even people from my own family and church, wearing jeans or pants, I started to question this. Then there was the fact that I could find jeans in the girls/women's section of the shopping malls and other stores. If it was "men's" clothing, then why was it found among women's clothing. I started looking for answers. First, I want to share an article I found online that looks at what the Bible has to say about this. The article is called That Which Pertaineth and takes a look at Dueteronomy 22:5. What I found was truly interesting. The author takes the word pertaineth from the KJV and states the Hebrew word, keily, means an article or a vessel/utensil. Then they look at the word man and the Hebrew word for man that is used in this verse is 'geber' which means man or strong man/warrior. So if this verse forbids women to wear what pertaineth to a man, this verse is really talking about forbiding women to wear the gear of a warrior. Interesting. Now this article also explains that there is another word in Hebrew that also means man but it means man in the sense of 'male' as in not female. The article points out that Moses was targeting a specific kind of man in verse 5. Not a farmer, or doctor, but a warrior. I would love to explain this more, but the article says it so well you will just have to read it. Now I am not saying that those who do wear skirts and dresses only should wear jeans because the verse here is not stating women can't wear jeans. After all, the New Testament speaks about women dressing modestly and I can agree that many of the clothes made today including jeans really arent that modest. I mean, if a girl wears "skinny jeans" they may as well wear dark blue paint on their legs because this particular style of jeans are so tight. The New Testament (forgive me for not knowing the reference right off hand) also speaks about men lusting after women and in doing so are committing adultery in their hearts. So in defense of women wearing dresses and skirts only, this does decrease the amount of looking that men will do, unless the girl in question wears a very short dress or a skirt that is missing quite a bit of length. Wearing dresses and skirts of appropriate length and size (meaning not too tight as to draw the eye) is modest apparel but keep in mind that pants and jeans as long as they are not too tight and are very casual in appearance are modest too. Especially since the jeans cover more leg than a knee length skirt will. Another thing to consider is that in Bible times, their choices of clothing were very slim. Both men and women pretty much wore clothing that had very little to no distinction as to if it were for men or women so it would make sense that how a person acted had a lot to do with it. For example, a woman wearing jeans and a t-shirt and acting like a man. And the last thing to consider is the ministry that people are in. For example, a pastor's wife may wear pants at home but not out in public because she wants to portray a more ladylike appearance. Of course it goes a bit deeper than that and there are more reasons but I am going to leave it at that for now. Within the next week or so, I am going to talk about rock music or more specifically contemporary 'Christian' music and what the Bible has to say about that.
Please take a moment to read the articles that you find the links to above. Read with an open mind and also pray about what the Lord wants you to learn. Cast all previous opinions and beliefs aside.

On Rocks...

They are pretty. Some of them. But something that happened to me a few years ago made me want to put trust in them. Yes. I had officially lost it. Thank the Lord, He pulled me out before I could go under and as I reflected back on that, I am totally amazed at how much I was ready to put my trust in the "healing power" of something that had no power. It was created. It was a decoration. It was a paperweight. It was a rock! A pretty colored rock more commonly known as a crystal or a mineral rock.
I had been having pain in my knee and I was told that a green crystal/mineral called malachite had the "power" to heal my knee. I got a ring from a craft show that had some malachite in it as the stone and I started wearing it and oddly enough my knee stopped hurting and swelling. I was having bad dreams so I got a piece of amethyst and put it under my pillow. The dreams went away. I started looking for information on the internet on meditation and relaxation and stuff like that. Once I did, I started feeling very weird. Almost like I was being watched. Long story and a few really good sermons later, I realized that God, the Creator of all things, was the only one who could heal. I stopped wearing the ring and I took the amethyst from under my pillow. My bad dreams went away and my knee didn't hurt or swell. I have learned from this experience that to want something like a rock to put faith in to heal was a reflection on just how little faith I really had. How can someone, anyone, not have faith in God to heal but can have faith in a rock that just sits there doing nothing but looking pretty? I guess that is how Satan works. He does not want people to believe in God so he used God's own creation to draw a person's faith in God away.
I am so thankful that I am a child of God. If I had not been a child of God, He would not have spoken to me and protected me from what could have amounted to be a very dangerous situation. As He says in His word, "My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me."

Forgot to mention this

So again on the book series I am reading...I forgot to mention one interesting detail. Whats unique about the vampyres in the story is that they are just regular people who are suddenly "marked" meaning they are tattooed out of the blue which shows that they are marked to be vamps and they have to go to a special school in order to learn about being a vamp and while their body completes the vamp change. Some "fledglings" as they are called, don't complete the change. Their body rejects it and they die. Weird, huh? Yeah, I thought so. Anyway, what I am getting at is these newly marked people get a tattoo of a crescent moon on their forehead! yes, on their forehead. Isn't it interesting to note that Revelation 4:20b says, "and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands." Is it just ironic that the vamps are marked on their forehead's or was the author trying to make a statement here. Especially since this mark was to let others know "what side they were on" so to speak. Another thing I noticed is that all the vamps activities took place at night. Their school day started at 8pm and ended at 3am. That brings me to another verse, John 3:19 says,"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." I knew those vamps were up to no good!

Love to read but....

Ok, I love to read. Who doesn't? That's a rhetorical question so you don't have to answer that....
Last month, I took an unexpected trip to Indiana. My dear grandfather passed away and I was able to go to the funeral. There was a conflict with Michael's schedule which resulted in my having to change my return flight from Monday to Thursday. It was while I was there that my sister introduced me to a book series called the House of Night. Sounds a little spooky. She insisted, much like she did with the Twilight series, that I had to read this series. She had them so I started with book number 1. I did get hooked, I will admit that but I have to say that this will be series that I will not be collecting at home. Sure the story is interesting and entertaining but it has a few, ok, more than a few areas that are more than questionable.
The story is about a world where vampyres (notice the spelling) exist with humans and humans know they exist. There are some other non-traditional facts about the vamps in this series but what I noticed which sent up red flags was the amount of wiccan influence. These vamps would have special powers or some of them did and some of them would have "affinities" for the "elements" of wind, fire, earth, water, and spirit. This story also has a goddess who the vamps worship. Wiccan beliefs often center around goddesses and nature. This story also slams God repeatedly (makes my blood boil just thinking about it) and states things like "terrible Bible verses." I have never known, nor will I EVER find a Bible verse to be terrible. Something else I noticed was how much 'trust' the characters put into their goddess (and no, I will not capitalize the spelling). I am currently reading book 4 and I read this statement, "Nyx is working strongly in Aprodite's life. Do you trust Nyx's judgment?"
Interesting how the characters and more than likely the author are putting their faith and trust into a figment of their imagination. Its like they are putting the faith that Christians should have for God on a daily basis into something that isn't real. Its sad to see their faith so strong and the faith of many Christians so weak. Ironically is this: how many people in the real world are failing to see God working in their lives or trust God's judgment. And He is real! People are quick to believe in a rock to have healing powers or to believe in a goddess that doesn't even exist but they don't want to believe in the one true God.
Ephesians 2:2 says, "Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
Notice it says "the prince of the power of the air" and I previously mentioned the affinities for earth, fire, water, spirit, and AIR! Interesting. Now look at the latter part of the verse "the spirit what now worketh in the the children of disobedience." Hmm...children of disobedience....James 4:7 says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So if a spirit works in the children of disobedience and these children know to do good and don't then clearly this spirit is Satan. This makes it clear that this 'goddess' who is named Nyx in the book, isn't a goddess at all but Satan. These vamps worship Satan. Their "circle calling" and even making like these affinities are separate entities clearly show the wiccan beliefs and wicca is another word for witch. Exodus 22:15 says, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." I guess if the story were true about vampyres existing with humans I guess this verse would ring true for them as well.
overall, I am not going to purchase this series because of the increasing reference to what is nothing short of satanic practice and also because of the repeat slamming remarks against God. I guess the question is why am I continuing the series? I just want to know what happens at the end.