A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away in another lifetime a young boy asked his grandfather about Baptists. He wondered if they really did and said the things he’d heard about. Do they really sing America the Beautiful in services? Do people jump up and give witness to the day the Holy Ghost entered their body and told them they were saved? Do they really teach this TULIP thing that he’d heard so much about?

His grandfather, wise in the ways of such things, simply reminded the boy that his own Sunday night services were from 6 to 7 – and theirs were from 7:30 to 8:30. In other words, don’t skip our meeting times but why not go see for yourself? So the next Sunday he went to “temple” with his then girlfriend (ah ha! There was some motivation besides just knowledge!) to see these strange folks.

Sure enough, they did sing patriotic songs. They did tell wild, silly stories about the Holy Sprit “saving them” (one person said it came to him while he was in the bathtub – he thought it was indigestion and a gas lock but later understood it was the Spirit purging him of sin so he could be saved). They did have a fine lesson about obedience preached, and then voided the whole thing by saying it wasn’t important to obey because if God had predestined you to be saved you just needed to know and believe that and nothing else was required – nothing could keep you from being saved.

Yes, our young boy heard and saw all these strange things – but he also saw something else. When they prayed, they expected the eyes of everyone to be shut tightly. And the boy’s girl didn’t close hers. Teenage rebellion? Hard to say, but after services the “pastor” came to take her to task about it. And he made a huge fuss over it, and her parents were embarrassed and also made a fuss about it. Finally after quite the berating the girl calmly asked how they knew she had her eyes open – were their eyes open too? At which time every adult pair of eyes rolled and said her keeping bad company was leading her away from God – and they all looked at our young boy. Ooops!

It’s interesting to see we have so much in common with other religions. It seems on occasion we also have those who pick at others, and we have those that want to get “in your face” about “the rules” and upset others on purpose. I know sometimes it’s not so black and white, that many times it’s out of ignorance such things happen, but consider a few I’ve seen in my lifetime. Telling folks with kids to sit in the back. Refusing to wear a dress/suit. Refusing to stand when requested. Reading books. Not wearing shoes. Kids older than 3 eating meals, drinking juices, talking and playing. Going in and out during the lesson. Talking on cell phones. Handing out political flyers. Turning your back towards someone. Listening to radios. Not singing when someone howls up “your part.” Running out the back when the Lord’s Supper is served Sunday night.

Shall I list some more? I easily could, but the point is this. Do we pick because we think someone should behave a certain way out of personal opinion? Do we do things to annoy others on purpose, to “make a point”, because “I have a right!”, to “teach them a lesson”? Don’t get me wrong – some of the things I’ve listed are WRONG and show a SINFUL ATTITUDE even if they seem harmless on the surface. If we’re picking just because we’re intolerant of people being different, then we need to get over it. And if we’re doing things because of attitude, or selfish reasons and have no regard for what others think about it, then we need to get rid of that, too. Immediately and forever!

Brethren, consider carefully how you behave in services. It’s really just a few hours of your week – it may seem like an eternity, but what about when it really is?

Randy