I left an IB church, after the pastor got up in the pulpit and stated, that many of these things are the rules of their church, and if you didn’t like it, find another church. I personally went to the Pastor after that, and told him that I thought that it was wrong to preach rules, and ignore the Bible. The response was, something like “you are telling me that we are too strict, and last month someone else left because we weren’t strict enough, What am I supposed to do?” To which I responded, “Obey the Bible, do what the Bible says!”

Funny thing was, I had a problem with the rules before that point, but refused to leave, because I didn’t want to over react on small issues. Who cares if they only want to sing hymns. Who cares if they want you to dress nice. But when I realised that the ‘rules’ took precedence over God’s Word, I had to raise the issue, and subsequently leave, because it wasn’t going to change. It was a shame too, because they were so good at doing church, that it was difficult to find other places so well established in well organised ministries.

The problem with following rules is, that the rules become more important than the Bible itself. This happened with the Jewish scribes. This happened in the Catholic church with their dogma. In the months before I left that church, the Sunday School teacher taught something that went against the ‘rules’ of the church, and was hounded, which shortly after caused the Pastor to get up and state the church ‘rules’.

So, although I can see your personal bias coming through here Daniel, I agree with your sentiment, because the Bible is more important than ‘rules’, and should always be given the highest priority.

I have been surprised over the years, about beliefs that I have had to shed, because it turned out, that it fundamentally disagreed with the Bible.

Doctrines are good and are there for our benefit, including that of biblical separation. Isn’t it wise, for example, to be thoughtful about which churches and speakers we recommend and attend? Especially when interacting with new believers and seekers.

However, I have been taught and believe that when do take a stand we should do so with humility. After all godly theologians throughout the centuries have held differing views – many of the doctrines we have today are with us because of controversy. Also we are human and you never know – we might be wrong :-)

I go to a Seventh-Day Adventist university. It certainly wasn’t my first, second, third, fourth, fifth or fiftieth choice, but God in His sovereignty and direction led me to this place. I firmly believe that there are SDAs there that are saved, and from what I’ve gathered, they do, more or less, preach the same gospel that we do. Sure, many preachers leave out the concept of judgement, but amongst the more conservative SDA elements, I believe that the true gospel is preached. I would never fellowship with them on a regular basis in a church, but I think that it’s not right to write them off completely. If you want a good study in legalistic thinking, just study some of the things the SDAs believe.

I could go on, but I shall stop there.

A number of the “rules” highlighted by Daniel would be partly supported by appealing to the need for Biblical separation, something I’d argue that just about all Christians endeavour to practice although there is often argument about where the line is.

Something that I have pondered recently is whether, in practice, there is a distinction between individual and corporate (church) separation. I can’t say that I’ve ever heard someone clearly address this concept, although I feel that the arguments are somewhat compelling …

A few examples …

I may have a Pentecostal colleague in the office who enjoy enthusiastically telling me of his weekend “experiences” and asks about how my services went. I, as a loving believer, who accepts that my colleague likely is saved by Christ, but holds a clearly different position on some doctrines, could enjoy fellowship with him over the Gospel and God’s love for us while we are sitting around the lunch table.

However, I believe that the church I attend is perfectly within its Scriptural bounds to choose to not fellowship with his congregation due to some significant doctrinal differences.

The same could easily be demonstrated when it comes to music. Often hymn books contain music published by many different musical contributors. I may choose to purchase a particular book and jam away (righteously) at home, however the church may decide, based on the principle of separation, that it will not purchase this book for use in its services, since there are a number of contributions from artists that as a corporate body they do not wish to endorse.

It’s not that churches have a higher standard to maintain – I think it’s more that they do not have the same opportunity for discretion in a case by case situation (as individuals do) and need to maintain some level of consistent “expected” standard. Naturally, this should always be done in a loving, and reasonable way, not simply because it’s been that way for 50 years and Pastor X says it’s right.

I’d be interested in other’s thoughts …

There is definitely truth to the ten points that Daniel has identified, and I believe that you would see these borne out to a greater or lesser extent in the majority of IFB churches.

The thing that I think is important to point out is that, for the majority of the list, it is not difficult to identify a sound Biblical principle that underlies it. However there can be poor exposition or exercise of this principle which can cause leadership and churches to become legalistic and insular.

From my observation there are two key factors in a church finding itself in this position:

1) authoritarian “black & white” (sometimes unloving) leadership that have favourite hobbyhorses and resort to cliches without really addressing the issues

2) ignorant / simplistic people (in both leadership & the pew) who find it much more convenient to pronounce blanket rules based on a principle (see some of the 10 points above) rather than understand the issues and practice Biblical discretion

Some on this forum have been quick to judge, but I believe that there are many in IB circles that are serving God passionately, often the best they know how, although in some cases a measure of maturity, love and discretion would reap more fruit.

My thoughts anyway …