Unwritten, yet commonly understood rules/standards/beliefs that your church has?

[steve-in-kville]

I think I may have started a thread like this in the past, just cannot find it. Lots of new members since then, so time for a refresh.

What rules, standards, or beliefs does your church have that are not really in writing, yet commonly understood and followed?

Ones that immediately come to mind are dress code type stuff that made no sense, yet was a big deal.

[LaughingMyAnabapOff]

I was once put under church discipline for having a radio antenna on my car. We had no specific "ruling" about antenna's (albeit, radios were STRICTLY forbidden). The argument was that I had the "appearance of evil".

Does that count for what you're looking for?

[LaughingMyAnabapOff]

Oh.....and another "commonly understood" was that the top botton ONLY on the men's suit coat was to be buttoned. The other buttons were merely decoration. Buttoning any other buttons was considered to be "out of order" and/or "out of church uniform".

And the women's covering strings MUST be tied snug beneath the chin. Hanging/dangling strings, loosely tied strings, or the absence of strings altogether were all disciplinable offenses.

[Ernie]

Anything above the ankles, above the elbows, and below the neck should be covered.

Wearing a piece of cloth on the back of the head is not considered covering the head.

Bright colored cars should be avoided if something else can be purchased instead.

Anyone coming our direction and wants to have church like we do is a good person and should be integrated into the church. Anyone who differs with us and wants to switch to a different sort of church is not all they should be. (This is a dominant belief in our church, but not everyone thinks this way. However, I have found this belief to be well entrenched in just about every church I know of.)

[mike]

Button that top shirt button in church, gentlemen.

[steve-in-kville]

Button that top shirt button in church, gentlemen.

That one always kept pondering where this stuff originated.

[steve-in-kville]

Does that count for what you're looking for?

That'll work

[Sudsy]

Many in the Pentecostal church of my younger years -

- no TV
- no attending county fairs, bowling alleys, pool rooms
- no playing sports on Sunday
- no dancing (except in church )
- women's dresses at least knee length
- no jewelry, makeup
- no cutting hair for women

Just a few that popped into my head. These were all unwritten and when it comes to these kind of 'holiness' expectations, I haven't attended a church with written rules in this area. This includes Mennonite Brethren, Pentecostal, First Baptist, Evangelical Baptist and Salvation Army. I think the Salvation Army has some that are written with regard to their uniform for it's members.

Most of those Pentecostal ones I listed are treated as personal convictions today and left up to the individual as they are convicted by the Holy Spirit to live. Only very extreme practises (i.e. extreme immodesty in a leading role) might be challenged.

[Josh]

I was once put under church discipline for having a radio antenna on my car. We had no specific "ruling" about antenna's (albeit, radios were STRICTLY forbidden). The argument was that I had the "appearance of evil".

Does that count for what you're looking for?

It would seem it would be much easier to simply remove the antenna and avoid church discipline. (My church doesn’t bother removing radios at all anymore, but we are expected to choose not to listen to the radio.)

[steve-in-kville]

I was once put under church discipline for having a radio antenna on my car. We had no specific "ruling" about antenna's (albeit, radios were STRICTLY forbidden). The argument was that I had the "appearance of evil".

Does that count for what you're looking for?

It would seem it would be much easier to simply remove the antenna and avoid church discipline. (My church doesn’t bother removing radios at all anymore, but we are expected to choose not to listen to the radio.)

Are you allowed recorded music? There for a bit the Horning church frowned on it, preached against it, but it was never a test of membership.