My response to the Joe Crews question

[mva1985]

Not wearing a wedding ring is asking for temptation and is being a stumbling block for others. At least in today's culture, forcing people to not wear them is doing the work of the devil.

JM

I would say that is a little extreme.

 

[JonMiller]

A cheap piece of metal on ones hand does not dissuade a potential admirer. It is the energy that one puts out that tells the opposite sex if you are available or not. Besides, is the sin in the 'hit' or the acceptance of that invitation?

You might be causing someone to sin just like Abraham did when he said his wife was really his sister. Christ said that hatred was a sin, not just murder. Apply the same to marriage.

JM

 

[JonMiller]

I would say that is a little extreme.

Yeah, probably. But the forcing very well could be.

JM

 

[StormyOne]

First, in my work environment it is common for people to NOT wear their wedding rings because they can be easily damaged.

Secondly, I am not married, I don't wear a wedding ring and I don't get hit on - So what is wrong with me!?!? I must suck!!!

you said it..... we didn't....

 

[mva1985]

you said it..... we didn't....

LOL !!!

 

[moicherie]

Not sure if its a myth but I read somewhere back in the pioneer days the anti ring/jewelry in Adventism arose cos someone donated their jewelry to the church for missions or said it is better to spend the money on missions rather than jewelry and the trend then took on. Even if its true perhaps that person never considered that members are able to do both plus we are no longer a new church starting from stratch taking anything we can get from the members to pawn for fund raising from jewelry to the kitchen sink.
Would like to know where the idea entered the pioneers heads that jewelry is one the roots of evil-lol
And don't quote Peter cos that chapter is about modesty and mentions clothe and hair braiding but we don't tell people to stop wearing clothes or dressing their hair now do we (roll eyes)

 

[JonMiller]

jewelery is cheaper than clothes often now anyways. Now a 1000$ pair of earings might not be modest, but a 10$ of earings only concern is with being tacky.

JM

 

[Sophia7]

You know, at the meeting where they asked me to take off my little inexpensive wedding band I was wearing an $800 suite and a $200 pair of shoes, a $75 shirt and a $60 tie, and had a $150 leather planner. I drove there in a rather expensive car. But their legalism caused them to only notice the cheap wedding band on my finger that symbolized the union between my wife and me. Pretty sad!

Yes, that is sad. My engagement watch, which I wore to church all the time, cost a lot more than my wedding band, but if I had worn a ring in any of our churches, I would have been condemned by our more traditional members, even though our conference's policy allowed ministers and their spouses to wear wedding bands.

 

[freeindeed2]

First, in my work environment it is common for people to NOT wear their wedding rings because they can be easily damaged.

Secondly, I am not married, I don't wear a wedding ring and I don't get hit on - So what is wrong with me!?!? I must suck!!!

I qualified it with a statement that it was a while ago (before I started losing my hair!).

 

[happywiththelord]

I believe if you are not willing to give something up, there stands a problem. Since we are discussing wedding rings, i will speak of that. When i joined the church, my husband and i had only been married about a year. I had a beautiful, huge marquee cut diamond on my finger. You think i wanted to give that up? You gotta be kidding. But the more i "fought" and tried to find reasons why i should be able to keep it, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and basically asked if the ring was more important than the Lord. I was making it an idol. Something i wouldnt give up.

That spoke very loudly to me. After that, i gave it up and havent looked back. There is nothing i wont be willing to lay down for my Lord if he asks!!

 

[happywiththelord]

Secondly, I am not married, I don't wear a wedding ring and I don't get hit on - So what is wrong with me!?!? I must suck!!!



hahahaha! that made me laugh!
I bet your a great guy! The Lord will bring you the right one! Just keep watching for her!

 

[Sophia7]

ahhhh ok... and do they wear socks? underwear?

I haven't checked personally, but I suppose they do. I once read part of a book by a historic, independent-ministry guy, though, who said that we should wear wool socks and underwear because Ezekiel 34:3 talks about being clothed with wool. Not surprisingly, that verse was taken completely out of context:

EZE 34:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
​

 

[tall73]

I believe if you are willing to give something up, there stands a problem. Since we are discussing wedding rings, i will speak of that. When i joined the church, my husband and i had only been married about a year. I had a beautiful, huge marquee cut diamond on my finger. You think i wanted to give that up? You gotta be kidding. But the more i "fought" and tried to find reasons why i should be able to keep it, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and basically asked if the ring was more important than the Lord. I was making it an idol. Something i wouldnt give up.

That spoke very loudly to me. After that, i gave it up and havent looked back. There is nothing i wont be willing to lay down for my Lord if he asks!!

Just wondering but what do you do with a ring like that once you take it off?

 

[happywiththelord]

i tried to take it several times to jewelry stores and have them buy it from me for the gold or whatever. Most werent willing. Some was going to give me peanuts for it. I was going to donate the money to missions. I still have it, it lays in a drawer of mine. I never think of it or look at it.

Hopefully someday i can get a decent price for it and like i said, donate to missions.

 

[StormyOne]

I believe if you are willing to give something up, there stands a problem. Since we are discussing wedding rings, i will speak of that. When i joined the church, my husband and i had only been married about a year. I had a beautiful, huge marquee cut diamond on my finger. You think i wanted to give that up? You gotta be kidding. But the more i "fought" and tried to find reasons why i should be able to keep it, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and basically asked if the ring was more important than the Lord. I was making it an idol. Something i wouldnt give up.

That spoke very loudly to me. After that, i gave it up and havent looked back. There is nothing i wont be willing to lay down for my Lord if he asks!!

that is what you feel he asked you to do.... he may not ask others to do as you do... the issue is simple, as long as we are willing to follow wherever he leads then we will be fine... but we cannot dictate to others how God leads... I am not saying that you are doing that, I am just saying that we ( generic we) cannot tell people how they should follow God....

 

[mva1985]

Secondly, I am not married, I don't wear a wedding ring and I don't get hit on - So what is wrong with me!?!? I must suck!!!



hahahaha! that made me laugh!
I bet your a great guy! The Lord will bring you the right one! Just keep watching for her!

Happy,

I'm glad it made someone laugh, and I'm sure she will come along at the right time too!

 

[Sophia7]

Not sure if its a myth but I read somewhere back in the pioneer days the anti ring/jewelry in Adventism arose cos someone donated their jewelry to the church for missions or said it is better to spend the money on missions rather than jewelry and the trend then took on. Even if its true perhaps that person never considered that members are able to do both plus we are no longer a new church starting from stratch taking anything we can get from the members to pawn for fund raising from jewelry to the kitchen sink.
Would like to know where the idea entered the pioneers heads that jewelry is one the roots of evil-lol
And don't quote Peter cos that chapter is about modesty and mentions clothe and hair braiding but we don't tell people to stop wearing clothes or dressing their hair now do we (roll eyes)

Actually, anti-jewelry sentiment was common in several other churches during the nineteenth century (including Methodism, which Ellen White came out of). I think Adventism adopted it from traditions and cultural influences and never moved beyond those ideas, as other churches did, because they were confirmed by Ellen White and thus given lasting authority in the SDA Church.

Joe Crews in some of his arguments against wedding rings even made note of the anti-jewelry teachings of other Christian churches at the time. Of course, he condemned them as apostate for abandoning those teachings.

 

[mva1985]

I qualified it with a statement that it was a while ago (before I started losing my hair!).

LOL! Sorry about your hair. I keep mine cut really short just in case I start to go bald I'm already half way there!

 

[NightEternal]

This lame excuse is just that. A lame excuse to decorate ones body.

You have got to be kidding me.

I used to wear an earring, lip piercing, bracelets on my wrists, chains on my leather jacket and metal buckles on my boots when I was playing in a rock band! Believe me, my small silver wedding band hardly comes close to qualifying as 'decorating' my body compared to what I used to look like!

A wedding band is a functional piece of jewelry IMO, just like a wristwatch or tie-clip. I have never been without it since the day I married, nor was I required to remove it by the pastor for my baptism. Had any such preposterous, rude request been made, I would have merely searched for another minister who actually lived in the 21st century to do the honors.

I love how so many Trads think they have the divine gift of reading minds as well as being privy to a person's innermost intentions and motivations. It seems to be a gift many of them think they possess.

 

[NightEternal]

I had a beautiful, huge marquee cut diamond on my finger. You think i wanted to give that up? You gotta be kidding. But the more i "fought" and tried to find reasons why i should be able to keep it, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and basically asked if the ring was more important than the Lord. I was making it an idol. Something i wouldnt give up.

That spoke very loudly to me. After that, i gave it up and havent looked back. There is nothing i wont be willing to lay down for my Lord if he asks!!

Now did you actually believe these assertions or think this way to begin with? Or was it only once some right-wing author, pastor or evangelist placed the idea in your head that you felt you had to give it up and began to entertain notions that you considered your ring was more important than God?

I often wonder about this. Is it really conviction speaking to a person, or is it just an emotional, natural reaction to propaganda that is being hammered into a person's psyche? If one is told enough times that something is wrong by a person they consider authouritative, even when there is nothing remotely morally wrong with it, a person can be convinced quite easily if it is drilled hard enough into them. This tactic is quite efective, especially when the person condeming something claims to be speaking for God. It is a tactic commonly used in cults also.

Seems to me that once you can change a person's moral outlook on non-essentials and get them to regard them as tests of Adventist integrity, you have exerted quite a bit of control over them.

I don't think I even want to know how much spiritual manipulation has been allowed to and is allowed to go on in Adventism. The statistics must be mind-boggling!