What part of Pentecostal....

[JasonMP]

I heard Pentecostal has many regulations that were "added" to the gospel. What are these things? I know the dress-code regulation is one of the few. I just want to know what else was added to the gospel by man (The New Testament). Because I don't want to focus on those things, but rather set my focus directly on Jesus and the gospel alone.

Thank You!

 

[MPaul]

I heard Pentecostal has many regulations that were "added" to the gospel. What are these things? I know the dress-code regulation is one of the few. I just want to know what else was added to the gospel by man (The New Testament). Because I don't want to focus on those things, but rather set my focus directly on Jesus and the gospel alone.

Thank You!

I'm not aware of any regulations the Pentecostals add. Regarding dress codes, Pentecostals attitudes toward dress are quite more relaxed than most denominations.

 

[moreruthlessjezebel]

The answer is to read the gospel and figure out what it says.

Now, I do know that "that part" about dress code is in Corinthians, Paul's letter's to the church of Corinth, who were previously predominately Venus worshipers. I am, at this exact moment in time, too tired to look up the scripture, but basically it says that a man should not dress as a woman and a woman should not dress as a man. That a woman should not cut her hair because it is her covering (or veil). Female followers of Venus would offer up their hair as sacrifices to the goddess. Also, one of the signs of a prostitute (or priestess of Venus) was a shaved head.

On one hand, I can see the logic of the dress code of long skirts, long hair and no jewelry. In Peter (7 something? Again tired) he writes about the true beauty of the gentle and quiet spirit over the braids and gold of outward beauty. Even from a not exactly scriptural standpoint, setting yourself apart from the world visually as a show of your faith is nice (is that the right word?). But on the other hand, if the hair is supposed to be a covering, it should be down and not in a ponytail, bun or braid, because it reveals more than a short hairstyle normally would. Jesus also spoke on praying with a door shut, not to stretch out your prayers like the pagans do (strength of prayer v length of prayer), not to announce that you are fasting. There must be a distinction of living in the world and as a part of it, and it's the spirit of religion and legalism that can drive a truer wedge between your relationship with God. It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of it, since what comes out of your mouth is a direct result of what is in your heart.

... And I think I'm rambling. If God speaks to you and says for you to not cut your hair or to grow a beard or to go into the wilderness to eat locusts and wild honey... But if man speaks to you and says for you to not cut your hair, then, well, who should you really be listening to? Man or God?

(That isn't to say that God doesn't speak through people. You just have to check the source.)

 

[stormdancer0]

The only one I know of is my denomination (CoG) does not permit the use of any alcohol, and frowns on smoking.

 

[James 1:27]

We don't have a dress code. Some people dress up and some people have on jeans or shorts. God focuses on the heart.

 

[BereanTodd]

Many pentecostals believe that any drinking is sinful/wrong which is clearly not biblical. Drunkeness is a sin, drinking is something Jesus did every day of his physiccal life on earth beyond infancy, and He turned water to WINE not grape juice.

 

[stormdancer0]

I can understand why they did it, though. Jesus drank wine because it was dangerous to drink the water - the same reason they still drink wine in France so much.

There are too many people who cannot drink just one or two. It is much safer just to stay away from it. The problem is, the ones who have a problem with it are usually the ones who think they have it under control. Therefore, (especially for someone like me, who has a lot of addiction in my family), it's better to stay away from it.

 

[BereanTodd]

That's fine to make a personal decision to stay away from it. But Jesus gave 3 giant barrells of wine to a bunch of wedding guests. Drinking is not frowned upon Biblically, and if it wasn't wrong for Jesus we can't make blanket statements that it's wrong for all of us today.

Even Biblically there were some who did abstain ... John the Baptist is one great example. And if you are convinced that is what God would have you do - total abstinence - that's great. But don't judge other people by your personal standards ... because abstinence is NOT a Biblical standard.

 

[realc4ever]

sometimes God deals with a person about certain things. then the overzealous person thinks this is what God wants everyone to do and they teach it as if it is a command.

If it isn't in the Bible clearly and plainly, then there isn't any support for what someone may be teaching.

if someone believes a certain style of dress is required, this is fine for them and isn't wrong. paul spoke about these types of things. Where eating meat may not be wrong, but if someone thinks it is wrong for them this is ok. Yet they shouldn't make it wrong for another person.

Either person is not wrong in this case. Paul said one believes that only herbs may be eaten, another believes that meat may be eaten. They have this faith before God and not to let one judge the other . (paraphrased)

 

[Yitzchak]

They may have changed it now , I'm not sure. But for many years the Assembly Of G-d had a policy that a person could not be ordained as a minister if they were divorced and remarried.

I think that all of these types of "rules" are actually interpretations or applications of scriptural teachings and not simply additions to what the word.

For example , the scripture teaches modest dress. But the following scripture is interpreted and it's principles applyed by each church a little differently. So making a rule about dress is not adding to the bible. It is applying and interpreting the bible.

1Ti 2:9 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;
1Ti 2:10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
1Ti 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

If we actually followed the bible literally in all cases, we would have some strange and sometimes destructive customs. No one follows the bible to the letter and that is a good thing. The passage about people cutting their hands off and gouging their eyes out comes to mind.


Some passages are obviously meant to be interpreted as principles to be applyed rather than being taken literally. The types of rules that you mentioned are man's attempts to apply biblical principles. Not man's attempts to add to the word of G-d. Pentecostals have not always gotten it right , but they do not have a history of adding to the word. they actually have a history of the opposite. They made up these rules out of a zeal to follow the word.

If a person reads the history and some of the writings of the original founders of the Pentecostal church, their attitude shows through as wanting to please G-d in every area.

 

[stormdancer0]

I know the Church of God is rather strict on divorced and remarried ministers - I am divorced and remarried, but my first husband was abusive, and the divorce was before my conversion. The only other acceptable reasons are abandonment by a disbelieving spouse, and adultery.

 

[Yitzchak]

I know the Church of God is rather strict on divorced and remarried ministers - I am divorced and remarried, but my first husband was abusive, and the divorce was before my conversion. The only other acceptable reasons are abandonment by a disbelieving spouse, and adultery.

Divorce is a difficult issue for many in the church. Some churches are silent about it and just work around it. The Pentecostal churches have made an honest attempt to follow the word and do what is right. But obviously there is some room for honest difference of opinion on some of the details.

I think this is where the reputation came from that the opening post refers to. There were some cases where there was not very much grace offered to one another over these types of issues.

 

[dayhiker]

Things that are different from the early church are a lot, These can't regulations but to speak to how different the church meetings are today.

There weren't church buildings, no sound system, no orcastra, no chour, No song books, no bibles in the pew. no pews, during periods of persecution they meet in secret. Few had the money to dress in fine clothes. Walked to church. No meetings with large numbers of people, but small home churches.

dayhiker

 

[lilmissmontana]

Many pentecostals believe that any drinking is sinful/wrong which is clearly not biblical. Drunkeness is a sin, drinking is something Jesus did every day of his physiccal life on earth beyond infancy, and He turned water to WINE not grape juice.

That's where I'm at ... balance in all things ... wine included. The verse about a couple glasses of wine for what ails the stomach comes to mind ...

Something I've witnessed a number of times ... spirits not of the Lord using the drunken one. I think we forget that it's not always about raw invited sin ... it's often about sin coming in the back door. Sometimes it's about what and how the enemy can use us ...

When the Lord taught me about spirits not of Him, I learned that confusion is not of Him ... but a spirit He uses. King Nebuchadnezzar is an example that comes to mind. I watched one person be taken over by the spirit of confusion at a birthday party where there was plenty of alcohol ... I wondered at it, but know better than to speculate. This person is one of those pot stirrers ... going here to there ever, stirring the pot ... after a while as he got drunker just in an instant he started speaking babble the rest of the day ... and I don't mean like drunk babble ... just plain babble.

I saw another person the Lord showed me had no spirit residing have a spirit go right through him when he was drinking and enter into someone else who for a period of time was completely blinded and barely hanging on ... his eyes rolled back in his head and when he looked at us they were snow white ... totally trippy ... and he had actually had maybe three beers over a good while ... I prayed over him with my hand on his knee with my right hand on his left knee facing me ... I just knew it would stop the spirit from moving to the next person ... for a very long time while he kept saying 'I can't see' ... when the spirit left he was completely weak and listless and had to be taken home ...

another I witnessed came to a camping trip ... he was in his late twenties and had been really struggling and had a bit of an attitude ... some kids that were camped at another camp had a lot of hard alchohol and pretty rowdy and had wrecked their vehicle. The cops were coming and they asked him if he wanted their alcohol ... he took it and as he began drinking it he became a totally different person ... completely out of control and angry before he barely got started ... I will always maintain spirits came attached to the booze ... in short order he could have been one of the other group ... just bizarre

the enemy always knows who to send and at just what moment ...

anyway, there are more but the picture is what happens when we do get drunk ... and it's not always about committing sin as in the drunkenness, itself ... it very often is a wide open door to spirits running amok ... and the coat of armor is usually the last thing on the embibers mind ...

so while the door is open many will show up ... seduction ... pride ... ego ... perversion ...infirmity ... fear .... divination ... jealousy ... lust or whoredom ... bondage ... lying ...depression or heaviness ... anti-christ ... the list is very, very long ...

we should never reach a place that leaves our minds wide open ... drunkenness is one of those ways that happens ...

 

[stormdancer0]

I think this is one of the reasons alcohol is forbidden in the CoG. Too many openings are created for the enemy to attack, directly or indirectly. When we drink, we lower our inhibitions, including the ones that keep us from allowing others (human and spirit) to control us. Our hold on who we are gets loosened. It's safer just to stay away from it.

It's like those silly horoscopes. I think they are pretty much useless. But they are not of God. They try to tell the future with non-Godly sources, and that can be dangerous. Psychics, spirit-walks, stuff like that, all are pulling power from sources other than God, and there IS only one other source. Best to stay away from all of it.

 

[BereanTodd]

The problem is that alcohol IS from God, and it is specifically spoken of as a blessing. It is something GOOD. Just as food is good, but in excess is bad (both for your health and as it is sin), the same is true of alcohol.

Jesus has no qualms with not only drinking, but creating a great deal of win to give to a wedding party where plenty of drinking had allready been going on.

 

[kerr4y]

all this about dress, drink, and other things.

Let me ask you, Does the Bible say it is a shame for a man to have long hair? Yes, it does. Now the Bible does not speak about the length of a woman's hair - it says its her glory. Seems to me Paul was not referring to women with their hair shorn off... somebody's been reading into Paul's words. I do not believe that this word was cultural in any sense but, if you wish to interpret it that way, suit yourself.

Wine actually covered grape jiuce in Jesus day, that's a bad division to make. Do I drink? No. Would I encourage you to drink? No. Quite frankly I have found that many who excuse drinking alcohol do so because they like the feeling that is associated with it - that's drunkedness. Now the Bible says, "Don't be drunk with wine." However, drink if you wish. I won't stop you but I won't provide it either so you'll have to do it at home as Paul suggests.

What to wear? well that's been mentioned before. The Bible does give guidelines so its not unscriptural as has been suggested.

Tell me, If God asked you, would you? If it meant the difference to your brother or sister - or that one who needs encouragement to believe, would you?

Let us be ruled by love - that's the greatest commandment.

 

[JC_Crust]

That's where I'm at ... balance in all things ... wine included. The verse about a couple glasses of wine for what ails the stomach comes to mind ...

Something I've witnessed a number of times ... spirits not of the Lord using the drunken one. I think we forget that it's not always about raw invited sin ... it's often about sin coming in the back door. Sometimes it's about what and how the enemy can use us ...

When the Lord taught me about spirits not of Him, I learned that confusion is not of Him ... but a spirit He uses. King Nebuchadnezzar is an example that comes to mind. I watched one person be taken over by the spirit of confusion at a birthday party where there was plenty of alcohol ... I wondered at it, but know better than to speculate. This person is one of those pot stirrers ... going here to there ever, stirring the pot ... after a while as he got drunker just in an instant he started speaking babble the rest of the day ... and I don't mean like drunk babble ... just plain babble.

I saw another person the Lord showed me had no spirit residing have a spirit go right through him when he was drinking and enter into someone else who for a period of time was completely blinded and barely hanging on ... his eyes rolled back in his head and when he looked at us they were snow white ... totally trippy ... and he had actually had maybe three beers over a good while ... I prayed over him with my hand on his knee with my right hand on his left knee facing me ... I just knew it would stop the spirit from moving to the next person ... for a very long time while he kept saying 'I can't see' ... when the spirit left he was completely weak and listless and had to be taken home ...

another I witnessed came to a camping trip ... he was in his late twenties and had been really struggling and had a bit of an attitude ... some kids that were camped at another camp had a lot of hard alchohol and pretty rowdy and had wrecked their vehicle. The cops were coming and they asked him if he wanted their alcohol ... he took it and as he began drinking it he became a totally different person ... completely out of control and angry before he barely got started ... I will always maintain spirits came attached to the booze ... in short order he could have been one of the other group ... just bizarre

the enemy always knows who to send and at just what moment ...

anyway, there are more but the picture is what happens when we do get drunk ... and it's not always about committing sin as in the drunkenness, itself ... it very often is a wide open door to spirits running amok ... and the coat of armor is usually the last thing on the embibers mind ...

so while the door is open many will show up ... seduction ... pride ... ego ... perversion ...infirmity ... fear .... divination ... jealousy ... lust or whoredom ... bondage ... lying ...depression or heaviness ... anti-christ ... the list is very, very long ...

we should never reach a place that leaves our minds wide open ... drunkenness is one of those ways that happens ...

a sip of jager will settle an upset tummy as well. and thats all u need is one little drink of it.

 

[BereanTodd]

Wine actually covered grape jiuce in Jesus day, that's a bad division to make.

There was no such thing as grape juice in Jesus' day. It did not exist. There was no way to stop the grapes from fermenting. Wine in the Bible is ... WINE. In the OT God told the people that they were to take a portion of their money from one of the tithes and go buy both wine AND strong drink and to enjoy it. Wine is spoken of throughout the OT as being a blessing of God. This ridiculousness of abstinence from wine did not really begin and was not really known until the 19th century.

 

[kerr4y]

There was no such thing as grape juice in Jesus' day. It did not exist. There was no way to stop the grapes from fermenting. Wine in the Bible is ... WINE. In the OT God told the people that they were to take a portion of their money from one of the tithes and go buy both wine AND strong drink and to enjoy it. Wine is spoken of throughout the OT as being a blessing of God. This ridiculousness of abstinence from wine did not really begin and was not really known until the 19th century.

You would have a hard time sustaining the first part of your argument. Could the disciples be mocked as "new wine drinkers" if all wine was strongly alcoholic? You are right, but fermentation takes time... if you drink it before its fermented... is it not grape juice?

However your reference to the OT is correct, pity you didn't give the reference. You can also find references in the OT where God commanded abstinence of individuals.

I'm not your judge. Obviously you're unhappy to abstain, perhaps you'd better drink your alcohol then. I'm happy to abstain. In fact I'm loving it.

I'm happy to encourage others to abstain cos I think its a better option.

Perhaps you would like to prove that there was no such thing as grape jiuce in Jesus' day? Fermentation is not sustainable.

God bless you & please enjoy your beer.