Obviously, you shouldn't let your feelings tell you when to obey, you should just obey.YorkandAdams wrote:At the end of the day, I am responsible for myself and my account to God. If I don't live out the applications in the way that God has convicted me, then I will be held responsible. Now rejecting commandments is a whole different beast. Throwing off the covering because you don't feel a "conviction" is not acceptable. I think most on the board would agree with me on this. We must follow biblical commandments, but how we follow them will depend on our convictions. These convictions lead to the application.
But the same chapter that talks about covering the head talks about communion, describing it as something that is done whenever we get together, involving wine. Yet there are groups that usually do not have communion when they meet, and never have wine when they do have communion. And this communion also seems to involve a meal. Few groups have communion in a setting that also involves a meal. Paul describes the section on communion as "instructions". Some groups believe that celebrating communion in every worship service is an important part of our obedience, and that you must use real wine. Others believe that this is not something we need to do the same way they did.
That's just one example - but I bet we could make a list of passages that Mennonites traditionally apply less literally than some other denominations. As Mennonites, we tend not to focus on these. Other denominations focus more on the passages they apply more literally.
So how do we decide which things we should do the same way they did, using the same cultural application, even though the culture and setting has changed? How do we decide which commands directed to other people or groups are also commands for us now?