To Be Plain or Not to Be Plain

[Ernie]

I then asked John why institutions like Faith Builders, that are providing some of the best attempts at helping people understand their history, philosophy, and culture, are losing so many of their alumni to other faith traditions or no faith tradition. He lauded Faith Builders for what they have done and are doing, but he believes that the rhetoric from outside of Plain Anabaptist settings (and that influences many Plain Anabaptists) is so strong that once students get back to their home communities, the worldview that they have been developing gets overpowered by the rhetoric that they hear from the surrounding culture as well as the rhetoric they hear from people in their own churches.

A rough draft of a hypothesis:
The core values of Anabaptist faith and practice cannot be fully taught or learned in an academic setting. Humility, self-sacrifice, love, patience, long-suffering, fellowship with God - these are learned only through their practical application in everyday life as one works with his family and neighbors, cares for the children at all hours of the night, lends a helping hand to a church brother even when there is an overwhelming workload at home.
In an academic setting, there is a tendency to measure a person and their teachings based on eloquence and logical argument. When we consider that God says that he reveals His truths to babes and the unlearned rather than to the rich, sophisticated, and wise perhaps it should be no surprise that attempts to build up the Gospel by using the world's methods of rational thought and inquiry have consistently fallen flat.

This is true, but Faith Builders is not only focused on the mind, but also the heart and hands. I will be the first one to say that the servanthood they instill in their students goes beyond about anything I've seen in the Plain Anabaptist world... And they are doing a decent job with humility, self-sacrifice, love, patience, long-suffering, fellowship with God, etc. Now maybe the student's parents didn't demonstrate these things... and maybe their churches don't demonstrate these things very well... so when they return home... maybe they revert to their communities' values. But my observation about Faith Builders the last ten years is that they do very well in cultivating these things. So much so that a Chinese friend wants to send his children to Faith Builders instead of to college. He has seen the character of some Faith Builders students who have come to serve in State College, and wants the same thing for his children. He even drove me up there a few months ago for a speaking engagement because he wants to start preparing for spending time there himself and wants to be able to prepare his children to attend there in 10 years from now.

[mike]

This is true, but Faith Builders is not only focused on the mind, but also the heart and hands. I will be the first one to say that the servanthood they instill in their students goes beyond about anything I've seen in the Plain Anabaptist world... And they are doing a decent job with humility, self-sacrifice, love, patience, long-suffering, fellowship with God, etc. Now maybe the student's parents didn't demonstrate these things... and maybe their churches don't demonstrate these things very well... so when they return home... maybe they revert to their communities' values. But my observation about Faith Builders the last ten years is that they do very well in cultivating these things. So much so that a Chinese friend wants to send his children to Faith Builders instead of to college. He has seen the character of some Faith Builders students who have come to serve in State College, and wants the same thing for his children. He even drove me up there a few months ago for a speaking engagement because he wants to start preparing for spending time there himself and wants to be able to prepare his children to attend there in 10 years from now.

This is one of the best compliments of FB I've ever heard. Very good to hear.

[the-real-steve]

This is one of the best compliments of FB I've ever heard. Very good to hear.

I started reading that quote thinking it was about Facebook. I was mistaken

[Thomas_muntzer]

O

Though I'm not usually one to defend evangelicalism, I want to offer a perspective here. This "only enforce what's in the Bible or what can be clearly implied from the Bible" mindset has its reasons. A big one is how much Jesus had a problem with the Pharisees "fencing the torah". Paul also took issue with the heavy influence the Pharisee party had in the newly forming churches he planted, which comes out a lot in his letter to the Roman's, and even stronger in his letter written widely to all the churches in the region of Galatia. There is also the spot where he tells his recipients to "have nothing to do with" people who try to get them to adopt extra rules about food, festivals, etc. He says they are useful for building asceticism, but fruitless for true heart growth. It's a big theme in the New Testament, and it's taken seriously in many evangelical churches.

Now, my opinion on evangelical churches isn't so much what they choose to enforce, but how they choose to enforce (or not enforce) the convictions they DO have. It's a slippery slope from:
"all attendees will observe this"
to
"all members will observe this"
to
"anyone presenting something to the church (praying, preaching, choristers, etc) will observe this,"
to
"ordained people will observe this"
to
"we'll teach this, but not enforce it"
to
"we won't teach it, but if pressed about it, we'll admit that some Christians do make a choice to follow that teaching, but it's not a salvation issue,"
to
"okay, just forget it."

Yes it's hard to stay in the middle term. But i think plain dress usually comes with many positive things like no alcoholism, humbleness, no music with bad letters, no drugs

[JohnL]

This is one of the best compliments of FB I've ever heard. Very good to hear.

I started reading that quote thinking it was about Facebook. I was mistaken

Don't worry. I'm still learning what Faith Builders is and what "Plain" is. New stuff for me to learn.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

This is one of the best compliments of FB I've ever heard. Very good to hear.

I started reading that quote thinking it was about Facebook. I was mistaken

Don't worry. I'm still learning what Faith Builders is and what "Plain" is. New stuff for me to learn.

I recently started dressing Plain, in my own way. Long sleeve button shirts, simple pants, not jeans, nothing with text on it or really anything that could suggest I was trying to assert an identity through my clothing.

I was punching out at work one day and someone commented "Wow, you're dressed fancy!"

"Fancy" is the opposite of "plain" in the older laws designating what sort of clothing certain people could wear. I was taken aback at first. But to be honest, most people come to and from work in jeans and a graphic t-shirt, and anything button-down is only worn for formal events. It's ironic that what has traditionally become known as "plain" is seen as "fancy" in the common culture.

[Bootstrap]

"Fancy" is the opposite of "plain" in the older laws designating what sort of clothing certain people could wear. I was taken aback at first. But to be honest, most people come to and from work in jeans and a graphic t-shirt, and anything button-down is only worn for formal events. It's ironic that what has traditionally become known as "plain" is seen as "fancy" in the common culture.

Kind of like what happenened with "you" and "thou", isn't it?

[JohnL]

I started reading that quote thinking it was about Facebook. I was mistaken

Don't worry. I'm still learning what Faith Builders is and what "Plain" is. New stuff for me to learn.

I recently started dressing Plain, in my own way. Long sleeve button shirts, simple pants, not jeans, nothing with text on it or really anything that could suggest I was trying to assert an identity through my clothing.

I was punching out at work one day and someone commented "Wow, you're dressed fancy!"

"Fancy" is the opposite of "plain" in the older laws designating what sort of clothing certain people could wear. I was taken aback at first. But to be honest, most people come to and from work in jeans and a graphic t-shirt, and anything button-down is only worn for formal events. It's ironic that what has traditionally become known as "plain" is seen as "fancy" in the common culture.

So "plain" is to do with how someone dresses? It's not driving a horse and buggy? Well if that's the case I guess I'm kinda sorta plain in my clothing. I just wear what's cheap but I don't like tacky tees.

[Ernie]

Don't worry. I'm still learning what Faith Builders is and what "Plain" is. New stuff for me to learn.

I recently started dressing Plain, in my own way. Long sleeve button shirts, simple pants, not jeans, nothing with text on it or really anything that could suggest I was trying to assert an identity through my clothing.

I was punching out at work one day and someone commented "Wow, you're dressed fancy!"

"Fancy" is the opposite of "plain" in the older laws designating what sort of clothing certain people could wear. I was taken aback at first. But to be honest, most people come to and from work in jeans and a graphic t-shirt, and anything button-down is only worn for formal events. It's ironic that what has traditionally become known as "plain" is seen as "fancy" in the common culture.

So "plain" is to do with how someone dresses? It's not driving a horse and buggy? Well if that's the case I guess I'm kinda sorta plain in my clothing. I just wear what's cheap but I don't like tacky tees.

"plain" means... well... plain

"Plain" refers to a subculture among Anabaptists that regulates anything from clothing, vehicles, housing, carriages, to agricultural equipment according to local church orders and constituency values.

[JohnL]

I recently started dressing Plain, in my own way. Long sleeve button shirts, simple pants, not jeans, nothing with text on it or really anything that could suggest I was trying to assert an identity through my clothing.

I was punching out at work one day and someone commented "Wow, you're dressed fancy!"

"Fancy" is the opposite of "plain" in the older laws designating what sort of clothing certain people could wear. I was taken aback at first. But to be honest, most people come to and from work in jeans and a graphic t-shirt, and anything button-down is only worn for formal events. It's ironic that what has traditionally become known as "plain" is seen as "fancy" in the common culture.

So "plain" is to do with how someone dresses? It's not driving a horse and buggy? Well if that's the case I guess I'm kinda sorta plain in my clothing. I just wear what's cheap but I don't like tacky tees.

"plain" means... well... plain

"Plain" refers to a subculture among Anabaptists that regulates anything from clothing, vehicles, housing, carriages, to agricultural equipment according to local church orders and constituency values.

Wow. That’s a lot of regulations!