Question about worship service

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andie1492

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I know that in many charasmatic churches, it is perfectly acceptable to raise up your hands while singing, or praying during the service. But the Baptist churches that ive been do, dont encourage this at all. Im just wondering why?? I mean throughout the Psalms, David talks about doing it, and i believe its mentioned int the new testment as well, so why isnt it accepted in some baptist churches?
 

mlqurgw

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1. It tends to distract others.
2. It isn't necessary in order to worship.
3. It has the tendency to be a show of worship for others to see and think you are spiritual.
4. It tends to make worship an outward act rather than an inward devotion.
 
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andie1492

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okay, i understand your points. But what if you arent doing it to attract attention from others, or to appear more spiritual? And if you are genuinly worshiping God in your heart? Is it acceptable then? Because when i asked a friend of mine who is a member of a baptist church, he seemed to act as tho it was unbiblical or something
 
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lucypevensie

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In our baptist church people do it all the time. I'm sure some people out there do it for show, but who am I to judge how a person worships? Perhaps God is being honored there, and I'd be wrong for turning up my nose at that. It's none of my beeswax;). I don't normally do it because it does not come naturally to me. The body language is one of surrender which is actually a rather humbling thing, rather than a showy "lookitme! I'm dancin'!" attitude which some people seem to think it is.
 
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arunma

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I know that in many charasmatic churches, it is perfectly acceptable to raise up your hands while singing, or praying during the service. But the Baptist churches that ive been do, dont encourage this at all. Im just wondering why?? I mean throughout the Psalms, David talks about doing it, and i believe its mentioned int the new testment as well, so why isnt it accepted in some baptist churches?

The Reformed Baptist church I attended in college was rather charismatic. A lot of people raised their hands during the hymns, and we almost always had corporate prayers. At the Baptist church I currently attend, it isn't discouraged, but people just tend to be more reserved. It's important to realize that there's no such thing as "the Baptist church," so your experience will vary from church to church.
 
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yohney

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Heh...

In our church, there is like First and Second service... First service is more like "normal", while the second one is in English-Croatian language, mostly for foreigners... But I like second service much more especially because it is not so reserved, and I feel I can lift my hands freely, and people pray spontaneously more... I don't think it is when someone prays or lifts hands, that he is just showing off - I just like the feeling I am free to do what I want to worship our God... :=)
 
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SonOfThunder

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Interesting question.

As humans we conform to what others are doing, if we dont we draw attention to oursleves, even if our motive is pure toward God.

At the Knigdom Hall dress was important, so to dress down brought attention, to not follow the order of service and conform to the running of it also drew attention. We like to fit in and how we worship also follows the same human traits.

At The Baptist church we dress well for morning service jet dress in jeans and casual wear for evening service.
If someone is led to go to the alter they do so only at a given time and never in the evening service.

If someone was to fall to their knees I am sure a few (well meaning) eyes would raise.
Yet in some religions such practices would be deemed normal and would not draw attention.

we conform, and fit in when in local services with others.

At home if I am lead to sing, or to shout my praise to God or raise my hands or fall to my knees I am free to do so.

James
 
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IndyRider

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At my church people only raise their hands when the hymn tells them to. Like in "Let's Just Praise the Lord," they always raise their hands when the song says, "Let's just lift our hands towards heaven and praise the Lord." My wife and I find this very humorous that this is the only time the people don't stand stiff as boards.
 
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LilBoo

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In our Baptist Church people do it all the time too, we lift our hands, stand and worship out loud. We are free to worship Jesus in every way, as long as we worship him with all our hearts. If you want to check out my church pls visit our site.
http://www.myspace.com/communitychurchhayward
God feels happy when we worship him...Amen
 
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£amb

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In my church, you normally don't see people dancing around. Now I will say that people do raise there hands up or sometimes clap with the music.

There happens to be one lady who sits at the very front of the pews and she tends to jump up at certain songs and raises her hands. Then everybody behind her feels that they need to stand too. It's kinda funny in a way. :)
 
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Imblessed

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We have fairly lively musical worship, but not everyone raises hands. Some do, but most don't. Most will clap along with the music, though, and everyone seems to be enjoying it, but not all of us are bent toward outward expression when worshipping through music. I've noticed that slowly, the church as a whole has become more relaxed about it, and more people tend to engage outwardly during the music. When I first started attending, it seemed that the only time the congregation would stand was when they asked them too, and not too many people seemed to be 'involved', but they've really encouraged people to be themselves when worshipping, and not worry about what others around you are doing(or not, as the case usually was). As a result, a few people are much more free in their worship, but it's the kind of people who are just like that, you know? There are a few people who you know will stand up when certain songs come on, or will get more involved in certain songs. But it's not anywhere near what I've seen or heard about in charasmatic or pentecostal churches.

As others have mentioned, you can't pidgeon hole a baptist church. They can be very, very different from each other.
 
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OptimisticSmile

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my church has nothing but old people . I play teh drums and we do contemporary music and hymns but rarely is there any outward signs of worship because noone has really seen it before being that my church's members have been life long members.

after going to many diferent college baptist services and contemporary baptist churches Ive come to really not like hymns and the traditional services.

to answer the questions.

yes we do raise hands , depending on the individual church you go to.

we do not do the prayer thing if you refering to everyone praying at once or everyone praying in tongues. that is because those things are more confusing than they are edifying and would not make sense to a non-believer who was in the service
 
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DeaconDean

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We do in our church.

If a hymn makes the Spirit well up in you, I believe with all my heart that if you don't do something, jump up, lift your hand, shout out to the Lord, give Him the praise, it would seem to be borderline quinching the Spirit.

"Quench not the Spirit." -1 Thes. 5:19 (KJV)

God Bless

Till all are one.
 
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holyrokker

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We have two services on Sunday morning. The first is a "contemporary" worship service where the singing is led by a band. The music is light-rock oriented. Those who attend are generally younger (40 years old and under).
Many people raise hands. There are frequent displays of emotion (clapping and chearing on occasion, tears on other occasions, etc.)

The second service is more "traditional" and features hymns and older worship choruses. Those who attend are generally over the age of 60.
Displays of emotion are rare, (though the choir occasionally receives applause) with very little hand-raising.
 
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MrJim

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Our baptist church is pretty traditional. There is one guy that raises a hand when he sings, and sometimes one of the lady elders, and that's about it.

Sometimes I feel like it, but it would seem awkward, so I don't...yeah, Dean I guess it would be like quenching something...but on the other hand maybe I would only be drawing attention to myself when attention is supposed to be toward worshipping God. The one fellow that does sit up front and I always see heads snapping in his direction when his arm goes up...shame it has to be this way.

I remember being at a Brethren in Christ revival meeting. They can be a bit towards the charismatic end. I was there with a friend and his girlfriend. It was a real arm waving deal. Now my friend was like me, not given to outward displays of worship. But I jumped into it much to his surprise. Afterward he asked me about it and I said "Dude, I didn't know anyone there, so I didn't feel backward about it, and everyone else was doing it"...peer pressure strikes again, but in a good way I guess :)
 
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ig3L

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IN our church there are some who get more into the music and worship than others. There really doesn't seem to be a right and a wrong way, although I am always surpised at how many people who come every week stand stiffly and lipsync along with the music.

There are some things that I think some of our more charistmatic members abstain from in accord with one of the missions of out church. Ususally, people may put their hands in the hair, but we don't have a lot of people who dance around or anything like that. I am sure that some of this is out of seeker-sensitivity. Worship ceases to be fruitful if it scares away seekers (See 1 Cor. 12-14). Therefore, I think that it is discouraged in our church to take our outward expressions so far that it begins to look weird or freaky to outsiders. This is at least part of the reason we don't sing hymns (although I sometimes wish we did), why we don't self-identify as Southern Baptist, and why we don't do any sort of chanting or reading in unison (like the Methodist church that I was at before).
 
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