We talked about something interesting in Sunday School this morning. It was based on Romans 15:7

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
or the version they read said;
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

I do have alot of issue with alot of the holiness denominations, which I do belong to, as they do tend to be very rigid, and feel as if their way is the only way. Sometimes if others dont measure up to our standard of dress, we think they just cant be a Christian. Or if their doctrine just doesnt match up to our own, they are most certainly lost. It is a very unchristian attitude to have. We tend to forget where Christ brought us from, and forget some of areas we maybe didnt "line up" at times, yet we were still Christians. We forget that we hold up different preachers and teachers from the past as authorities of our doctrine--yet alot of them didnt "line up"! John Wesley had long hair, Samuel Bringle smoked a pipe, etc... And might I dare to go on and say some of the things preached against in holiness churches today, are NOT in the Bible! Yet so often we feel we are the ultimate authority on who is going to make it to Heaven or not!! This scripture tells us to recieve one another, or to accept.

Greek translation of recieve--

to take to, take in addition, to take to one's self
to take as one's companion
to take by the hand in order to lead aside
to take or receive into one's home, with the collateral idea of kindness
to receive, i.e. grant one access to one's heart
to take into friendship and intercourse
to take to one's self, to take: i.e. food

The point was made that Jesus did not go around saying, "you are wrong" continually. He did alot of loving and reaching out to others. He did alot of condemning those who were self righteous, that were basing their religon on their works, and rituals. He did alot of accepting. He did not straighten out the woman caught in adultery--frankly, he didnt care what she had done. He wanted her to quit sinning now, but he loved and wanted her. However, he did put to shame the pious church people that brought her in to Him. They left in shame. Jesus had arms outstretched to the unloveable and unwanted, and the ones that didnt "line up".

However, having said all that, there is times He did stand up for what he thought was right. There was times he did straighten people out. He loved the rich, young ruler, and yearned for him, but Jesus did set some ground rules for him. We can make it all easy and "let's accept everyone", but where are our ground rules supposed to be according to God's Word(not according to holiness people's rules)? I found this very concerning to me this morning--is this where some of the churches of today have become of little depth? Have they taken this too far? And yet, holiness people are not taking it serious enough. What is the answer? I dont know.....