Going too far...

[Windmill]

"FINDLAY, Ohio (May 11) -- A northwest Ohio teenager has been suspended by his Christian school because he attended another high school's prom.
Officials at Heritage Christian School in Findlay had warned 17-year-old Tyler Frost that he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the public school dance over the weekend with his girlfriend.
Frost says he didn't think going to the dance was wrong even though his fundamentalist Baptist school Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand-holding.
Frost didn't go to school Monday. Instead, he and his girlfriend are heading to New York for a Tuesday morning TV interview.
The teen says he's now getting Facebook and e-mail messages from around the world."



Ok, so now rock music, dancing, and holding hands are prohibited for high school kids? Man, this school, and probably the church affiliated with it, are way way legalistic here and out of their minds!

It doesn't technically bother me that the kid was suspended, because both him and his parents new the rules. If they had a problem with the contract of the school, they should have sent him somewhere else.

My problem is that the school has this as a rule in the first place. Trying to prevent kids from being kids and enjoying things that are NOT sinful is pretty lame.

Coach

Its a private school, they can set up whatever rules they like.

However, did he get a choice on what school to attend, or did his parents force him there.

Though I don't think that private schools should have powers over the kids that go there in what they do in their spare time. I think at school they can set up whatever rules they like but in their spare time, as long as they aren't wearing the uniform/associating themselves with the school they shouldn't be punished.

 

[CoachR64]

I am not arguing the church and school have the right to set those rules... I am just trying to figure out how churches and schools can still be so legalistic as to even make these rules up.

If they want to declare the kids must wear pink socks and wear 6 foot long bows in their hair, they can do just that.

Like I said earlier, the kid knew the rule. So did his parents. He pays for his actions. Now, I do think keeping him for graduating is way over the top.

I just can't figure out why people put legalism and rules above serving Christ.

Coach

 

[Windmill]

Well dancing can have sexual connotations.

And people do it for fun.

So it makes you look really holy and really self-sacrificing when you choose to ban it, even when theres nothing wrong with it by itself, doesn't it?



Legalism is, for most people, just a way to put themselves over others

 

[puffca]

Rules can be stupid and can be changed through proper means, but must be defended as long as they are still the rules.

JMO

 

[CoachR64]

Followed, yes. Defended, not a chance.

Should we have defended slavery and oppressing women simply because those were the laws of the time?

Coach

 

[puffca]

Slaves didn't agree with the stupid rules; women didn't agree with the stupid rules; the student (and his parents) did by attending the school. Therefore, the slavery and oppressing women's laws are on no ground to be defended, while the latter is an agreement that has to be honored, being stupid or not.

BTW, I'm not 100% sure this is a stupid policy. If the school officials are convinced the proms of other local schools are bad influences, I don't see why they can't make the policy. I have to admitt though that I don't have any prom experences.

Anyway, the point is, if somebody knowingly violates the rules that he has voluntarily accepted, he should be punished accordingly.

 

[CoachR64]

I am not saying he shouldn't have honored the rule. I am saying defending a silly rule like that is not necessary. Obeying and defending are NOT the same thing.

I feel any gun control law violates my 2nd amendment rights. But, why they are the law, I will obey them. I will never, however, defend the,.

Coach

 

[~Beauty_from_Pain~]

I don't think he was wrong in doing those things, although once I heard more about the story, there was something else that I had to think about: that he went to a school where he knew he couldn't do that. If he attends a Christian school and there are certain rules in place that are there then he needs to live with the consequences of breaking the rules.

I don't think that what he did was wrong in the sense that what he was participating in was wrong. But I do think that a private school can make their own rules for what they believe is right/wrong and if those things are broken, then there are consequences. If you can't do the consequences, don't do the crime so to speak.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[777Grace777]

Crazy school. Its not a sin!

 

[Luther073082]

Legalism is, for most people, just a way to put themselves over others

Ding ding ding ding ding Correct answer!!!

If God did not want us to do something, he would have said so in the bible. If he doesn't say so, and you add something, you have entered into the worst form of heresy. Its an arrogence of beliving that you have the right to add to the scriptures that God breathed. In otherwords you are claiming to be at the same level as God.

Also in the bible danceing is used, often as an acceptable form of worshipping God. Therefore this heresy goes completly counter to what God says is ok. God specifically says he's ok with this, that it is pleaseing to him as a form of worship. Therefore a complete ban on dancing is placing yourself ABOVE God.

Now are some forms of dancing bad?? Yes But this school doesn't have to allow those forms.

Beyond that churchs need to rely on the idea that their believers have intelligence to determine what is God pleasing and what is not. The churchs role is to proclaim the word. (God's word not theirs), pray for and comfort the afflicted, keep and administer the means of grace, and enhance the spiritual lives of all belivers.

The churchs role is not to attempt to regulate the lives of believers. The word itself regulates the life of a beliver, and the church proclaims that word.

 

[Blank123]

personally i think the whole thing is stupid. if the principal gave him permission to go then he should stand by his word and let the kid go, not immediately turn to the scool committee in an effort to have the boy suspended. If they cannot be consistent and stand by their word, how can they expect their students to be consistent in following their rules? And what sort of example do they think they're setting to begin with by lying about giving the boy permission to go?

I would totally understand if they chose to suspend had the principal not given his written permission to begin with because the kid *did* sign an agreement to follow their rules. but the way they handled it was not ethical in the slightest.

 

[Xen_Antares]

I agree with what most others said here. I do not consider those things evil, and its schools such as this that gives Christianity a bad name, and it does my heart good to see so many saying the school is wrong. Though I think the boy is a bit foolish, you sign a contract you must honor it. I couldn't have left the Air Force, or disobeyed their rules (and they had some pretty dumb ones too), the biggest difference is if I went AWOL or disobeyed the Uniform Code of Military Justice, I could have gone to prison.

This isn't the first time I've seen something like this, I went to a Bible Camp once and wore a Beatles T-shirt (I love the Beatles), and had a preacher stand up and give a sermon about the evils of rock and roll, and how a person who is a good and proper Christian would endorse it by wearing clothing advertising it. He went on to mention the Beatles by name later on by mentioning that little fiasco John got into in 1966 by saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. I left that day and never went back. I wasn't feeling guilty, still don't, but I was mad that I was singled out, and never seen anywhere in the Bible where God says Thou Shall not listen to the Fab Four, thou shall not hold my hand yeah yeah yeah.

Anyway Schools like this cause more harm than good, isolation from what they perceive as evil is no protection from it.

 

[cowboysfan1970]

None of this kind of stuff is new. I've heard of other highly fundamentalist schools that have banned dancing, listening to secular music, going to movies, all sorts of "worldly" things like that. What they teach is that you are saved through following this ultra strict set of rules and regulations. What they don't teach is that it's the sacrifice of Christ that gives you salvation. I've said that legalism is the spiritual version of living in North Korea. It's sort of like that movie Footloose too. What's really kind of disturbing is how some people will defend those kinds of beliefs as Biblical when there's nothing in the Bible that backs them up.