Featured What is a legalist?

I would have never thought of the peeping ability gained with patent leather shoes, nor would I imagine the length of a necklace chain as being immodest.

Were there any similar restrictions on men's clothing?

 

When i was in the AOG, hada couple from the deep south movejhere to Mi, they were aghast that the teens were allowed to mix bathe, but were OK with smoking cigars and chewing tobacco...

 

Yes, Men couldn't wear shorts, go without shirts or preach in a Hawaiian shirt or preach without suit and tie.

 

Men couldn't wear shorts, ever? Or men couldn't wear shorts to church?

Sent from my Moto Droid Turbo.

 

In my view, Paul did a good job of addressing this question in Romans. First, he stated that we are either under the law (Adam) or we are under grace (Christ). The first covenant was completely replaced by the second covenant. We can obtain salvation and a better life on earth (not necessarily a more affluent one) by grace through faith in what Christ provided for us on the cross, his death and bodily resurrection. He fully met the requirement to reconcile man to God which was necessary after the fall. He beautifully stated this in one of my favorite verses:
Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But Jesus never talked about just believing on Him. He talked about following him. We are NOT saved by good works but are saved FOR good works. For the born-again Christian this is not a duty but a joy! But even for the genuine Christian there is another serious consideration. All that we do for the Kingdom must be for the glory of God and He does get glory when we in following Jesus begin to live more and more like Him. IF we do good works for our own glory e.g. I'm a deacon and look at all the people I've lead to Christ, that is of filthy rags to God. To Him be the glory great things He has done as the great old hymn says.

Many things cited by legalists like not drinking a glass of wine are not a problem unless we are in the company of someone that would suffer harm by us doing that. So having a glass of wine with a recovering alcoholic is not acceptable because that might cause your brother to slip back into alcoholism. Many times legalists like to point at the sins of another person or group and say like the Pharisees "thank God I am not like that person over there who drinks or is on the street without a job" while ignoring their own sins. As the Bible says we must:

Mat 7:5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Hypocrisy is the one thing that really angered Christ. he could work with prostitutes or tax collectors and loved to walk with and teach His disciples but just couldn't stand the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.

This is an important topic and could be discussed in much more depth but I think this summarizes my understanding on it.

 

Why would a man want to wear shorts? Tell you what, my knees are too ugly to inflict on the surrounding world.

 

I like this description.

Monroe Parker used to make the point that we are separated to God more so than being separated from the world. In other words, as we follow the Lord and learn more of His holiness, the corrupt things of the world will pass away. So, for example, filth on the Internet will repel someone who is walking with the Lord. He or she won't even need to make a "rule" per se. It's okay to tell a congregation, "I don't do that," but the rationale has to be, "Because I'm busy walking with the Lord," not, "Because I want to be righteous."

In other words, loving the world and loving God cannot exist in the same person. 1 John 2:15--"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

 

I was looking for the reasons that legalists would give to prohibit men from wearing shorts. Was is immodesty? Worried because it might create lustful thoughts among the ladies?

 

Were I personally to insist on this standard, it would probably be in fairness to the ladies who might be prohibited from wearing shorts due to the modesty passages. (My wife has wonderful knees, which I selfishly wish her to display to no one but me--with which she agrees. )

Not these ugly knees for sure!

 

Reminds of when there were certain older ladies in my former church who liked to tell me as an Elder about a fellow Elder caught smoking, wondering ehy the saw me in line for movies, and I asked them what was worse, those acts or their gossiping?

 

Oh help! How can I delete this image from my brain?!?

 

I could not agree more with your list. I'll never forget the first time I saw this attitude passed down from a church hierarchy to the youth. I was a visitor at a church/school that is quite well known for this in my area. It was youth Sunday and many parents who send their children to this church/school rarely darken the doorway and are there to see their child participate. A sixteen year old boy takes the pulpit and in less than 10 minutes begins throwing out everything he's been indoctrinated with while attending there, specifically, women wearing pants. At that moment, a woman wearing a very nice pantsuit that I was somewhat acquainted with, rose and exited. He "preached" her out the door. My guess is she was never going to enter another church. I was personally hurt by this but not surprised. This attitude, mindset, or lifestyle, is damaging. It wreaks from lack of Christian love and sincerity. I could go on, but it continues to eat at me as it's a very personal issue I deal with in some family members and I don't wish to appear hateful.

 

A legalist. A person who asks after you say grace if your feet were washed before grace. And no, he does not ask if he can wash them.