Ernie wrote:Neto wrote:I think that a corporation can obviously have dress standards. But in a partnership, those issues should have been handled at the beginning.
I don't think anybody on MN is disputing that this should have been talked about before the partnership went into effect so I don't think we need to keep talking about this.
I think the differences on this thread are...
1. What kind of expectations are reasonable for plain businessmen to expect of their business partners?
2. What kind of expectations are reasonable for plain businessmen to expect of their employees and customers who come to their place of business?
3. What kinds of expectations are reasonable for plain people to expect of people who frequently come to their home?
4. What values discussions and requests are plain people free to address with non-plain people and which ones are unreasonable?
1.) I come back to the same thing - whatever was decided upon when the partnership was formed.
2A.) For employees, what ever the stipulations were when the person came to work for them, unless the employer institutes a change to something more lax.
2B.) Customers - Generally, only what is commonly accepted in general society, such as "No shirt, No Shoes, No service." You can attempt to establish a standard, and I think that it is within your right to make additional stipulations if they are clearly posted at the entrance, like I mentioned previously in reference to the government offices in Brazil.
3.) If they are believers, I would talk to them about any really flagrant immodesty, but if I was seeking to reach the person or family for Christ, then I would say very little, or meet them elsewhere, if I did not want my children to be exposed to their clothing choices.
4.) It seems to me, if I understand the question, that the answer would vary depending on the setting (i.e., home, business, or a public place).
This sort of ties in with your previous post, addressed to Sudsy, if I understood correctly. (See below.) But because we lived in this sort of setting, I will give my thoughts.
Ernie wrote:
I assume that at some point in your interactions with natives in foreign missionary settings, you would encourage them to be kind to their neighbors, deal honestly, and not steal from others, even before they were committed Christians.
Just because God would give you the power and grace to interact with them while they are mean and dishonest, does not mean a person should wait till they are a Christian to teach them what God wants.
Just curious if you would wait till after they were Christians to start talking to them about modesty or if that is something you would talk to them about before they became a Christian?
We didn’t do any of these things. There is the witness of the Holy Spirit, both by example, and also by the image of God in their own life & culture. They already know that being unkind, dishonest, stealing, fighting, raping, killing – all of these things – they already know that these things are wrong (at least in relation to another person of their own tribe). Maybe some will think that our approach was off, but we didn’t see any benefit in trying to make them live like Christians before they had Christ in their life. Seems to me that creates false Christians.
Edited to add: Or is this the sort of example you are thinking of:
We did not allow other children to play war games at our home on the mission base. If they insisted, we sent them home.
Congregation: Gospel Haven Mennonite Fellowship, Benton, Ohio (Holmes Co.) a split from Beachy-Amish Mennonite.
Personal heritage & general theological viewpoint: conservative Mennonite Brethren.