Standards & True Sanctification

Being told you have to dress this way or that, do this or that because it’s a church rule to me hinders that persons own spiritual growth, and keeps them spiritual babes. A person needs to have time to grow in the Lord, with God working with them and guiding them. It is God who changes the heart not man and his man made rules.

 

I remember reading one of Francis Schaeffer's books (True Spirituality, I think). In one section he wrote about getting fed up with all the external rules imposed on people that didn't have clear Scriptural support. So, he gave all of them up that didn't have clear Scriptural support. Then, over a period of time the Holy Spirit led him back to most of those same standards. But then they were his own convictions and not something imposed on him from the outside. We need to let the Holy Spirit work in people's lives.

Maybe we should make the distinction between what the Bible actually says about standards and good Spiritual advice. I think that would help in this matter.

 

I can see a tension between two things here. First, that there are basic standards is a good thing. Bikinis and church do not go together. The idea is to encourage worship, not distract from it!

Standards are not a bad thing. I raised my kids with the knowledge that in this house certain standards were to be met or there would be consequences. Basic courtesy, basic modesty, basic respect, basic cleanliness, basic information about whereabouts and what was going on. There was plenty of room for individuality in there, but I still needed to train them.

If my home is like that, and applauded for being so, what is wrong with some basic standards where God's house is concerned? Basic modesty, basic respect, basic clean living -- what is wrong with this?

The problem is when these are so tightly defined that it's 'my way or the highway' where some ministers or other church leaders are concerned.

Still, standards are imposed from the outside and sanctification is a process on the inside. Now, what is on the outside is often considered to be a mirror of what is happening inside (true or not), and what is on the inside will eventually show up on the outside, but these two things should not be confused with one another. No one can stop the sanctification process of a born again Christian. Perhaps we can slow it down, however, by forcing the person's concentration on things external rather than on Christ Himself.

So yes, I see a tension here, and I think we need to be careful about our words and way of going.

 

I believe in having basic standards as Helen said. But when I first got saved, I turned my life completely around...for the church.

I was doing all the right things, but for the wrong reasons.

I believe it hindered me in that I did not HAVE to seek God to find out what my own personal convictions were, it was so much easier to just go along with everyone else.

As I grew in the Lord, I found the difference in preferences and convictions and I acted accordingly.

I am in no way rebellious to God, although, I'm sure some people at church think I am because I don't always follow their convictions.

I am right with my Lord and my husband...how much more right can I be?

Blessings,
Sue