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Christian versions of worldliness

Classik

Classik

Member
The topic might indeed be confusing. So, in the world today there are a lot of awful things going on everywhere. Sinful activities. And when you don't join them you are considered old-fashioned and ridiculous. You may lose members.

So some churches kind of adopt the system of the world and try to make them appear Christian. So, is it proper to attract people to our Christian stuff this way?
 
Depends on the reason you are using the thing, whatever that thing might be. Physically, we live in the world and everything we have available to us if from the world. There is no prohibition in scripture against using the things we have available to us. There is nothing wrong with using those things to spread the gospel and build discipleship. As long as the thing itself isn't prohibited in scripture and you are using it for God's glory there's nothing wrong with it.
 
What would be considered examples of sinful worldliness in the church? There are a lot of different opinions on that.
 
A Church here had a "beach" service where everyone was invited to wear swim wear. ( including bikini's, budgie smugglers etc ) What do you think ?
 
agua. said:
A Church here had a "beach" service where everyone was invited to wear swim wear. ( including bikini's, budgie smugglers etc ) What do you think ?
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I'm sure there's always extreme examples of anything, but we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. If you are talking about your normal Sunday morning worship service it's hard to imagine how this in an of itself promoted the gospel or gave glory to God. I also don't think it's a normal practice of "the world" to show up to formal indoor settings dressed in swimwear. But if this was, for example, a youth group on a beach camping trip having a worship service that would put a totally different light on it.

Edit: To be honest, I had to look up "budgie smugglers". Thanks. That image will give me nightmares tonight. :lol
 
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agua. said:
A Church here had a "beach" service where everyone was invited to wear swim wear. ( including bikini's, budgie smugglers etc ) What do you think ?
Click to expand...
Interesting.What does that have to do with a Church service and Jesus Christ?
 
I feel like a flower in the desert in this world we live in.Very,very few people except me.I do my best to be a representive of Jesus Christ around others.So others can see Christ through me.Jesus Christ is with me all the way.That is all that matters to me.
 
Obadiah said:
Edit: To be honest, I had to look up "budgie smugglers". Thanks. That image will give me nightmares tonight. :lol
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Ops yeah well you can imagine the sermon probably wasn't about modesty. :D

Kathi said:
Interesting.What does that have to do with a Church service and Jesus Christ?
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It was a grab at the local beach culture but I didn't attend the service so I'm not sure how it went and if Jesus was presented relevantly.

Kathi said:
I feel like a flower in the desert in this world we live in.Very,very few people except me.I do my best to be a representive of Jesus Christ around others.So others can see Christ through me.Jesus Christ is with me all the way.That is all that matters to me.
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You must be doing something right.

1Jn 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
 
One negative example I've seen a few times that's probably more common where I live is the "Bring someone to church" contest where everyone is encouraged to bring people on a particular Sunday with the promise of a prize to the one who brings the most people. This is a concept from the world, and I have a problem seeing how this is what God intended to be done in church when the people that were invited find out the only reason they were invited was to help someone win a prize. I suppose this could be done in a proper way, but every time I've seen it done, the focus was mostly on the prize, not on any kind of ministry to the new people who were brought in.
 
Obadiah said:
One negative example I've seen a few times that's probably more common where I live is the "Bring someone to church" contest where everyone is encouraged to bring people on a particular Sunday with the promise of a prize to the one who brings the most people. This is a concept from the world, and I have a problem seeing how this is what God intended to be done in church when the people that were invited find out the only reason they were invited was to help someone win a prize. I suppose this could be done in a proper way, but every time I've seen it done, the focus was mostly on the prize, not on the salvation of the new people who were brought in.
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First of all it is too bad that they had to throw in the prize.Why not do the Christ like thing and bring as many people as you can to your church?Why do they have to be bribed by a prize?Of course the focus is on the prize.We are talking about the world here.
 
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Obadiah said:
One negative example I've seen a few times that's probably more common where I live is the "Bring someone to church" contest where everyone is encouraged to bring people on a particular Sunday with the promise of a prize to the one who brings the most people. This is a concept from the world, and I have a problem seeing how this is what God intended to be done in church when the people that were invited find out the only reason they were invited was to help someone win a prize. I suppose this could be done in a proper way, but every time I've seen it done, the focus was mostly on the prize, not on any kind of ministry to the new people who were brought in.
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I agree that that would be a problem.
Although at my church during VBS the little kids were encouraged to bring some tithe money, and they made it into a competition between the boys and girls. Is that wrong? There was no prize involved that I remember.
 
questdriven said:
I agree that that would be a problem.
Although at my church during VBS the little kids were encouraged to bring some tithe money, and they made it into a competition between the boys and girls. Is that wrong? There was no prize involved that I remember.
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I personally wouldn't do something like that to a child. It instills the belief that money is important and the more you have the better. It breeds a spirit of covetousness.

That's just my take on it.
 
At my church we have a "youth take over" morning service every few months. We have one again coming in April for Easter.
For that the youth group prepares a message, which may be presented in the form of a skit, a video they put together, or even just sharing testimonies. They also lead worship part of the service.
Often we do some fun things, such as have a music intro and come in dancing. It was fun to participate in. (I've been a member of the youth group this past year and participated in the youth Sundays.)

In the church I grew up in, that would have been considered too worldly, that doing all that takes the focus off of God. IMO it was just harmless fun. The focus was on God.

We've also been doing Sunday evenings once a month. But in that case we just lead worship and then one of the youth leaders prepares a message.
 
Obadiah said:
One negative example I've seen a few times that's probably more common where I live is the "Bring someone to church" contest where everyone is encouraged to bring people on a particular Sunday with the promise of a prize to the one who brings the most people. This is a concept from the world, and I have a problem seeing how this is what God intended to be done in church when the people that were invited find out the only reason they were invited was to help someone win a prize. I suppose this could be done in a proper way, but every time I've seen it done, the focus was mostly on the prize, not on any kind of ministry to the new people who were brought in.
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That's bad.

questdriven said:
I agree that that would be a problem.
Although at my church during VBS the little kids were encouraged to bring some tithe money, and they made it into a competition between the boys and girls. Is that wrong? There was no prize involved that I remember.
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That's really bad. So let's make it a competition to see who will give God the most. That's real grace( from the heart) giving, NOT.

Of coarse that is just my opinion.
 
Deborah13 said:
You're not joking. That's not good.
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I wasn't really surprised though because this particular Church group was an offshoot an another Church I visited for a bit. They used to ask people who had "tithed" to stand and receive a blessing. :D
 
questdriven said:
At my church we have a "youth take over" morning service every few months. We have one again coming in April for Easter.
For that the youth group prepares a message, which may be presented in the form of a skit, a video they put together, or even just sharing testimonies. They also lead worship part of the service.
Often we do some fun things, such as have a music intro and come in dancing. It was fun to participate in. (I've been a member of the youth group this past year and participated in the youth Sundays.)

In the church I grew up in, that would have been considered too worldly, that doing all that takes the focus off of God. IMO it was just harmless fun. The focus was on God.

We've also been doing Sunday evenings once a month. But in that case we just lead worship and then one of the youth leaders prepares a message.
Click to expand...

David danced before the Lord,
He danced with all his might.
His heart was filled with holy joy,
His spirit was so light.

:yes
 
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