Perfect. My response. You're there to learn about Christ. Is it bad to remove distraction then, including things that are more entertaining than educating?
Personally, I've never had the gender split in any church, but I have heard of it, so I know that it isn't typical.
--As I said, anything not of faith is sin.--
I'm a bit confused here. Are you saying separation is sinful? That separation is not used in the Bible for His purposes?
--When leadership takes it upon itself to prevent sin, it's not acting in faith.--
What of a parent who takes those precautions? What of the verses concerning how someone goes out into the world and returns worse than he did leaving? What of the verses speaking of avoiding temptation, avoiding false doctrine?
Now, I obviously do not see the worry as far as simple separation to a degree, but by the description you used for those, which have complete separation and fear being the main factor of Biblical obedience instead of honor and love and faith, I can see what you mean. My question is: Do you have a problem with partial separation as long as it does not stunt social growth and understanding.
--(For the record, God establishes the governmental authorities. Authority in the church rests in the Bible and never in a man or group of men.�
Which they have come to be the latter and thus why a lot of people don�t like many of them.
--Under such madness, one has only to forget that only Jesus makes you holy before Almighty God; and then the division makes sense.�
Bush, they are trying to encourage proper behavior. If a parent said for a teenager not to go to a brothel so they will avoid temptation, that parent is not being sinful. You are replacing the desire to follow the Word with sinfulness. Most Christians avoid murdering people and would stop those that try, not because they think it will save them from Hell but because they wish to obey and keep others from sin. You have one group that sins regardless of the Bible because they think they are saved and you have another that attempts to obey the Bible even though they know it won�t save them. There is certainly another that thinks that their actions will save them, but are you saying that this church is doing that? How about all other churches with this separation?
--If temptation arises to commit sin, the church is not tasked to be your moral police to prevent your disobedience.�
The Bible gives the family of God the task to prevent, assist and discipline sin throughout all factors of life. If you do not consider a church to be a part of that family, then I can understand where you are coming from. However, last I checked we are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.
I am not arguing that God�s will on our hearts doesn�t change us to do right. I�m arguing that this is an example of their attempt. They may be going about it too zealously, but it is not sinful for the separation, again as long as it does not stunt discerning development and social bonding.
--Jesus words were not "by your obedience to wisdom of purity the world will know you as my disciple".�
You will know them by their fruits. I think that verse would disagree with you.
P.S. Why was the spelling choice intended instead of �impure�?
Only if they are blood-related family and even then not too far between the branches of the family tree.
Temptation may not be an act of sin on our part, but feeling tempted is. Lusting after another you are not married to is a sin; the Bible calls it adultery. Putting yourself into that situation to begin with is also not encouraged. As always, there are circumstances.
If one have no place to live with just a few bucks on and a tropical storm coming his/her way, priority has shifting to caring for the temple the Lord gave you. That's an exaggerating the situation, but you get what I mean. The goal is to avoid, but not to the point of doing more harm than good. Don't walk into a sandstorm to avoid the bar.
Is this that scientology mess? I don't think they said that in the videos, but just making sure. I watched one of the vids for scientology. It seems like they made a poster boy of someone who did not appear to wish a religion made out of his discoveries.
Can you tell me how their separation disagrees with the Faith?
--Discipline follows wrong doing and only for the parties involved in the sin.--
You consider the separation punishment?
--To make a preemptive strike is to say that God and His ways are flawed.--
God establishes authority, whether that authority is wrong or right, & from what I have read encourages a preemptive strike. To not read false religions and so on is an example of avoiding the temptation to stray.
--For example, if you lived in the Deep South after the Civil War, would it have been acceptable to segregate out the black members of your church because you worried it might entice the KKK to burn down the church? To be certain, it has the appearance of wisdom to remove temptation; but it does not address the sin in the heart of the tempted member and it sets a wrong standard to other member.--
You're being unfair in that example. Comparing a church that is in fear of attack on them verses a church that is afraid of sin among them. One is a coward and one wishes to obey the Bible. One says that they do this out of fear for their building and physical attack, and the other says that they do this to protect the youths from sin. One encourages the mentality that giving up to the sins of others is fine and the other encourages others to not sin. One creates distraction from the Word and the other removes distraction from the Word, as long as it is not done in a way to put down one gender or the other.
--In the same way, if you want to encourage men and women to have healthy, Christian relationships then help them build such relationships. Otherwise, you promote the opposite behavior, that if such young men and women meet, they expect to get physically intimate.--
I had to reread your post and do agree that they should provide instances in a Christian atmosphere to mingle, or at least a chaperoned time. Would you feel the same if they were teaching Christian principles concerning courting, providing chances for them to mingle at times and allowing those who have married to stay together?
They are probably worried that too much interaction will encourage familiarity and quicker exposure to sex. I wouldn't call that type of worry a sin, since there are kids as young as ten having sex with others their age now.
However, separating the married partners seems a bit over the top.
According to Mike, that's what conversations are for, but I'm with you. First coming on here it seemed like only three denominations were on here. *shrug* Thank God that it wasn't true and wish you the best in your search.
