Author: fundyreformed

Long Pants, Basketball, and Modesty in the News

~ fundyreformed ~ 21 Comments

Recently, ESPN.com highlighted a small Christian school that required their boys to wear pants, when playing basketball [HT: Seth McBee]. For a couple years when I was in high school, I encountered the same thing. Check out Seth’s post, or the original ESPN article for the entire interview, as I’m sure many of my readers will have had some firsthand experience with this kind of standard. Let me give an excerpt from the interview, and then my own reflection that I shared at Seth’s blog.

reporter: Please forgive my ignorance on this point, but is there a specific verse of the Bible that addresses this?

school principal: There is, but I’d have to look it up — I don’t have it handy, but it’s definitely in Scripture. And I don’t know if you know this, but our girls’ basketball team dresses in skirts. [And the school’s cheerleading squad wears long skirts.]

reporter: From a layman’s standpoint, it seems like maybe you’d want the girls to wear pants as well, so they wouldn’t show any skin. But I’m guessing you don’t want the girls wearing pants or dressing the same as the boys, right?

school principal: Yeah, because the Bible says there should be a separate distinction between a man and a woman in terms of their apparel, so that’s what it’s all about.

Okay, some are laughing right now. Some can’t imagine this. But the sense of loyalty to the standards of a strict fundamentalist school is quite strong. Consider my own reflections (shared at Seth’s blog).

That brings back memories for me! I was one of those long-pants-ers.

Our school ran about 50-70 or so and we had a very low budget, so we bought uniforms but didn’t order the shorts. The plan was to order them a few years later, or so we were told. So we played in warm-up pants.

But because of this we were able to play one or two other schools that would not play against any team that did not wear pants. We did have a cheer-leading squad and their skirts went down to the knee or below.

We were independent fundamental Baptists, not charismatics.

Looking back on it, we sure looked stupid. And they were uncomfortable.

The college I went to did not allow men to wear shorts except for in the gym, pretty much. Women had to wear skirts/dresses all the time (even in the dorms). And no, there is no verse in scripture about the shorts thing.

There was even a time I wouldn’t wear shorts in the dorm because I just wasn’t sure whether it was sinful or not to wear them.

Boy, God has brought me a long way! And opened my eyes to His grace along the way.

[Just] thought I’d just share my perspective on this interesting story!

Anyone else have any memories about anything similar to this?

Against Spiritual Abuse

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

Spiritual abuse is a sad reality. Churches, pastors, and others can perpetuate it. I’m sure among cults it is common, but unfortunately in many independent Baptist circles, it is too.

I don’t want to say that everyone who claims to have been spiritually hurt this way, really was. Nor do I impugn evil motives on the leaders and churches where this has occurred. All I know is that the results can be painful.

Some of my readers have moved out of a spiritually abusive church. Some aren’t sure if they would classify their past experience as spiritual abuse or not. I’m not sure if I can regarding my story or not, either.

I’m not really trying to define the term here, I just want to talk about the damage that can be done (perhaps unknowingly) by certain forms of fundamentalist Christianity. This post comes out of my recent perusal of some comments at a facebook I joined that is “against abusive churches”. Since it is a closed group, some of the people there felt free to share how they were harmed by their past church experiences. Here is some of what they said:

There was a time when I rebelled against everything the Bible taught because I had a hard time separating stupid “Christians” from the Christ of the Bible.

I dealt with this, too. To the point of questioning the very existence of God.

I haven’t been to church in 2 1/2 years since i left. I guess i am afraid every church will be the same way. I have been having a really hard time putting the past behind me, so I am really glad this group was started, so I can begin to get over everything that has happened.

We have gone to church for years not really liking it nor wanting to go. It is really difficult to get past all this especially when there’s no admission of wrong doing. Good news though! God does know its wrong and he does want to heal your heart….I would encourage you to start looking for a healthy church. There are many out there.

I was out of church for a year or so, too, back before I got married. I had a real hard time figuring out who God was, once I sort of split from my parents’ and church’s rules. Since then I’ve been in a few different churches. I found some I knew I didn’t agree with, and found one that felt like a good fit. It takes time, because you do have a feeling that a church is either going to be too strict or too wishy-washy…very hard to define what is exactly right for you, but I would encourage you to look.

As I read these comments I am saddened in one sense for those involved. On the other hand I am angry at the religious system that could have caused this. I hope fundamentalists take notice. If you stand for what you think is right without a certain element of Christian love, you can produce this. I fear the number of people who have actually dropped out of church and will never return is quite high. How many are innoculated against the true gospel of God’s grace, by graceless carnal manipulation.

This reminds me that I need to continue to post on this kind of topic. For now, let me encourage you to check out churchabuse.com and spiritualabuse.com. These sites seem to have some useful information. And I’m sure I can’t agree with everything on them, but they might be able to help someone recover from spiritual abuse.

I also welcome any of my reader’s thoughts on this point here. Some of us share a similar background, perhaps you can share how youwere able to work through these kinds of issues in your own life.

Chronological Study Bible — Book Giveaway

~ fundyreformed ~ 9 Comments

With the completion of my review for the Chronological Study Bible (NKJV) by Thomas Nelson Publishers, I can now announce my book giveaway. Compliments of Kate Etue, publicist for Thomas Nelson, I was given a second copy of this excellent study Bible.

I will send this copy out to a US resident, who can answer the following question correctly.

Which is the only event from Jesus’ ministry preceding his last week in Jerusalem, that is reported in all four New Testament Gospels?

Only one answer per person. I’ll draw a name from a hat, to decide the winner of this contest. That drawing will take place Tuesday night, so be sure to enter and spread the word.   Update: please enter using this contact form, thanks (so we don’t give away the answer).

Video for Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: "I’m Holding a Miracle"

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

Jason French, a member of my church, created this video last year. I remember how greatly moving it was the first time I watched it. This year, in time for today, the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, he has it posted on YouTube.

Take the time today to watch this touching video. There’s no gruesome pictures of mutilation, just a celebration of the glories of life. I hope Christian pro-lifers would propel this video into the top ranks of YouTube videos. Only a few hundred have watched it as of right now.

Clarifying Calvinism

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

5pointPhil Johnson (of Pyromaniacs fame), just finished a superb series of posts entitled Clarifying Calvinism. The series is posted over at Grace To You’s blogizine Pulpit Magazine.

He starts out by exhorting younger, web-savvy Calvinists to get their theology from books not blogs (a wise piece of advice, I’d admit). Then he discusses hyper-Calvinism and gives a balanced treatment of Arminianism.

The best part of the series are his last three or four posts which center on one little verse which encapsulates Calvinism’s doctrines: 1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.” If you have some time, I’d encourage you to give the series a quick read.