What's The Dangers Of Staying In A Church With Wrong Teachings

Hi,

I attend a very strict teaching pentecostal church. Many teachings I don't agree with, as the Bible doesn't match with some teachings spoken, such as women not being aloud to cut their hair, and not being able to wear pants. If I attend this church, which I have for nearly 10 years, what dangers could arise for it. Most of my family attends this church, and I am over the youth outreach. Should I leave all of that, and find a new church? I've been praying about it, and I am aware that the church should all be in one mind and one accord, and not being so can be a hindrance. I don't want my relationship with God to become stalled in the church area because of this. Thanks for your advice.
 
You have not really given us enough information to advise you correctly. Are you being told that if you cut your hair or wear mens clothes you will go to Hell? If that is the case, then yes it is incorrect and wrong, if its just simply a thing that the church want members to do without the threat of hell or that Jesus will hate you for it or whatever, then its not really a wrong teaching as such. I would be concerned about what they are telling people about their salvation and the gospel message they give. Are they following any known theology or practices which are proven to be wrong, such as prosperity or embracing the ministry of known Wolves in sheep clothing, such as Tod Bentleys Fire ministry. That is the starting point of any scrutiny.

Problem is, people are too quick to shout "WOLF" and accuse a pastor or church of heresey and false teaching when for example, they simply promote a different interpretation to prophecy, lets say rapture, I know of churches and people who are literally at war with each other simply on timing of rapture, they call each other evil heretics who will send people to hell, a number of people have been thrown out of the churches for supporting different rapture timing, which is utterly stupid.

The danger is that you start to argue over trival matters but then ignore the important bread and butter of salvation, Grace of God and the divinity of God and CHrist and HOly SPirit etc, this is when the flock are led astray, the arguing over many points and topics is a smoke screen. People end up worrying about the leaking pipe flooding the basement, but then totally fail to see the 20 foot tsunami wave quickly approaching.
 
Hmmm....

I would examine the 'Statement of Faith' for the Church-they should have it in the public forum somewhere; and compare their doctrinal statements of the Church with scripture.

The #1 giveaway that you might be in trouble is how the 'Church' views salvation; and if they say you can loose salvation (which can be a touchy subject), you might be in trouble.

Ask questions like: 'How does one get saved?' and compare the answer with scripture. Many churches see salvation as a continuous 'work' which is not scriptural. Salvation is a one time sealed deal; our relationship with Christ is a daily walk.


...God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.


For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.


This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.


Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.


I am the way, the truth and the life.


Love

Jesus the Christ-Son of the Living God


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.But God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

With Love,

Paul-Apostle to the Gentiles
 
Hi,

I attend a very strict teaching pentecostal church. Many teachings I don't agree with, as the Bible doesn't match with some teachings spoken, such as women not being aloud to cut their hair, and not being able to wear pants. If I attend this church, which I have for nearly 10 years, what dangers could arise for it. Most of my family attends this church, and I am over the youth outreach. Should I leave all of that, and find a new church? I've been praying about it, and I am aware that the church should all be in one mind and one accord, and not being so can be a hindrance. I don't want my relationship with God to become stalled in the church area because of this. Thanks for your advice.

It seems to me that you are explaining "legalism". That is the process by which "you" must do somethjng to stay saved.

Christianity is not about keeping rules to be saved but keeping Christ in our hearts.

Only the Holy Spirit of God can lead you to stay or leave the church you are in. I can assure you that if you leave it will cause some problems in your family. The other side is that if you stay, you will have to deal with the conviction of the Holy Spirit as He is doing right now. I say that because that IMO is the reason you are seeking advice from others.
 
The commandments about hair and dress were to avoid vanity and crossdressing, and are taken out of context constantly by control freaks and legalists. The point is to dress as is normal and customary for your gender ands culture.
So, if you're Amish don't wear plaid, if you're Scottish, go right ahead and wear a plaid kilt.

If the pastor believes that your salvation is dependent upon your hair style he is in error.
 
Glomung, that is assuming they do think that. It could be they just follow these quirky things just because it seems right, but know its nothing to do with salvation.
 
Hair: 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Clothing: Deuteronomy 22:5

www.bibletopics.com

Hmmm Dirty...these are correct, but are they useful for today? Many disagree. I mean, am I disrespecting Lord by wearing pants? What about women who cut their hair or shave their head due to cancer. Who was it here that mentioned there are no contradictions in the bible? Oh, it was KingJ. Well, I disagree but regardless, why do we abide by some things in the Word but not all? The scriptures you provided would be one example.

All input welcomed.
 
Hmmm Dirty...these are correct, but are they useful for today? Many disagree. I mean, am I disrespecting Lord by wearing pants? What about women who cut their hair or shave their head due to cancer. Who was it here that mentioned there are no contradictions in the bible? Oh, it was KingJ. Well, I disagree but regardless, why do we abide by some things in the Word but not all? The scriptures you provided would be one example.

All input welcomed.
No Tink, you are not being disrespectful of the Lord by wearing pants as long as you do not cause a weaker Christian to stumble. Same thing wearing a skirt with a hem above the knees (if you have legs that could attract inappropriate attention). I don't know much about women's clothing so I can't/shouldn't say too much. But I do know that in the good ol' days women's blouses buttoned up on the opposite way to men's. I always thought that was to differentiate betwixt male and female attire?
I assumed that there would be a similar difference in the button arrangement for slacks, but I have never checked.
 
Hmmm Dirty...these are correct, but are they useful for today? Many disagree. I mean, am I disrespecting Lord by wearing pants? What about women who cut their hair or shave their head due to cancer. Who was it here that mentioned there are no contradictions in the bible? Oh, it was KingJ. Well, I disagree but regardless, why do we abide by some things in the Word but not all? The scriptures you provided would be one example.

All input welcomed.
CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT.. yet again the context is ignored.
The whole point about those verses about women wearing mens clothes cutting hair etc and for men wearing womens clothes etc, was against the practice of passing ones self off as a member of the opposite sex. Trousers are now considered Uni-sex so nothing wrong with woman wearing trousers.

We see this practice in full swing today, is that person really a man or really a woman ? Even more so its becoming acceptable, we are told how in the last days, Good things are considered bad and the bad is looked upon as good.
 
Agricola PLEASE STOP YELLING. Especially when you are you writing with such conviction and yet, only using one interpretation of that scripture. You are now saying thaint your interpretation, or some other persons interpretation, is entirely correct. There are different interpretations of the scripture that don't necessarily coincide with your yours. I'm getting tired of people yelling on this site when they don't agree and/or have a difference of opnion! Many will interpret Scripture differently, unless it is utter fact. Please do not act as if it is so, or that someine does not know what they're talking about. Which I very well may not! There are different and nicer ways to state things (again, not necessarily directed at you).I'm just saying from what I've heard and from what I've read, that scripture has different applications. You mentioned one of them.


Sorry for the typos. I used my phone to write this.
 
Hmmm Dirty...these are correct, but are they useful for today? Many disagree. I mean, am I disrespecting Lord by wearing pants? What about women who cut their hair or shave their head due to cancer. Who was it here that mentioned there are no contradictions in the bible? Oh, it was KingJ. Well, I disagree but regardless, why do we abide by some things in the Word but not all? The scriptures you provided would be one example.

All input welcomed.

Well, when you look at the morale decay of society and culture in general over the last century; I would argue that 'ladies and gentlemen' do not exist as the did even 30 years ago. When it comes to dress, and hair-obey the Lord and you can't go wrong. If the the Lord says be modest-that is for both sexes. A male with a muscular physic wearing tight clothes is being immodest, so why should that be different for either gender or different body shapes? Most of the Amish we have around here are "fit" from physical labor-but there is a reason they cover themselves-modesty.

If you are advertising-expect buyers. In my opinion, the only person who should see anything other than your hands, feet and face and know what contours you have-is your husband or wife.

As far as the hair thing goes; I think the Bible is clear that women are not to have short hair, and men don't have long hair. Here's a test: if viewing someone from behind only seeing the neck up-do you know what gender they are? Then our human nature will argue on the definition of "short".

People will always argue against the Word of God no matter what the subject is because of our sin nature.

God doesn't change-so why do we expect His Word to mean differently than it did when it was written?
 
Agricola PLEASE STOP YELLING. Especially when you are you writing with such conviction and yet, only using one interpretation of that scripture. You are now saying thaint your interpretation, or some other persons interpretation, is entirely correct. There are different interpretations of the scripture that don't necessarily coincide with your yours. I'm getting tired of people yelling on this site when they don't agree and/or have a difference of opnion! Many will interpret Scripture differently, unless it is utter fact. Please do not act as if it is so, or that someine does not know what they're talking about. Which I very well may not! There are different and nicer ways to state things (again, not necessarily directed at you).I'm just saying from what I've heard and from what I've read, that scripture has different applications. You mentioned one of them.


Sorry for the typos. I used my phone to write this.
Yes, people love to pick verses and come up with thier own little take on it in order to make themselves feel better and continue to live in the lifestyle they are accustomed.

It seems to me many people lack basic language skills and are unable to distinguish between things such as laws, prophecy, literal and metaphorical. This is also when problems arise.

I still stand by the obvious that it is speaking about changing the appearance of your gender to fool people into thinking you are the other. A practice rather common in homosexual relationships.
 
Hmmm yes well, I believe Tink was referring to your use of all capitals in the post that opens with a triple count of 'context'.
In netiquette parlance the use of all capitals is considered shouting or yelling.
 
Thank you Agricola..I was looking at the surrounding text and could not find where it refers to cross dressing or in the way you explained it. Could you please provide the scriptures which support your interpretation? Also, my use of the caps was an example, but not intended to actually yell. Thank you for understanding. :)
 
1 Timothy 2

Please explain 9-15 and why we do not abide by that today. I asked before, but people do not seem to be hitting on my concerns with why we follow some things from the bible and not all. As in the scriptures above. Thanks!
 
1 Timothy 2

Please explain 9-15 and why we do not abide by that today. I asked before, but people do not seem to be hitting on my concerns with why we follow some things from the bible and not all. As in the scriptures above. Thanks!

Well, my Church teaches it-but people will follow what they want to follow.

You either obey God's Word-or you don't; no grey area.

As I said before: God doesn't change so why should we assume His Word has changed over time. We do not allow women to preach from the pulpit-there are other leadership roles that are promoted within the home and the Church as God designed women to fulfill. Most women nowadays don't like that concept so it is not taught.

Then you have people who will throw out "legalism' and say that that doctrine is not "relevant". So who decides when doctrine becomes irrelevant?

You either obey God's Word-or you don't; no grey area.

Obeying the Word is a measure of your heart condition-if the Lord came down and told you to your face "wear a skirt to your ankles the rest of your life while in public"; would you do it? (Not saying that is a commandment.)The only person who diminishes your treasure your heaven is YOU with disobedience and rebellion.

Christians are SUPPOSED to be a separate and different people from those of the world. The difference is supposed to be obvious in our clothing, music, adornments, homes, attitudes, worship, prayer, speech, etc, etc, etc...

You either obey God's Word-or you don't; no grey area.

We are only here for a 'little while'. Whether male or female, God does not bless rebellion and disobedience. If it looks like the world, smells like the world, tastes like the world, sounds like the world, or feels like the world-than it probably is unGodly. And if we THINK like the world-maybe we need to reevaluate our relationship with Christ.

Do you understand we serve a HOLY God and He does have expectations for His children. You are given the gift of salvation-that gift is free to all who will accept it. The rest of your "treasure" is up to you and your level of obedience.
 
9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.


So women should not speak and be subjected to what men dictate? Is this what you teach your wife and children? Unless I am completely misinterpreting the text.
I'm confused why Christians abide by some of the bible and not all.
 
There are 2 issues here in my opinion.
The first is the misapplication of dictates that were tailored to another culture, an older and very patristic culture.
In the first century it would have been very disrespectful for a woman to speak out among a group of men. Women were largely uneducated and for the most part were to be "seen and not heard", and completely obedient to there husbands.
Some may not have noticed, but we do not live in that culture. Some may say that we should, but that's a moot point.
Woman these days are as educated as their male peers and have been completely emancipated. If you don't think so, just ask my wife.

The second issue is that Jesus himself treated women with as much respect as he did men, and as our guide, we should do so also. God is "no respecter of persons", and that goes for gender also.
 
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