Marcee,

My mother, a Baptist pastor's wife, is also a simple but godly lady. In the months when she was trying to persuade me not to become a Catholic, she said, "You know those Catholics have an awful lot of rules you have to follow."

I would suggest a couple of points to make with your husband.

Jesus left Peter (and his successors) in charge of His Church. When we honor and obey them, we show our love for Jesus ("If you love me, keep my commandments.") It's a matter of the heart's being changed. I obey because I love. I love Christ. I love Christ's representatives on earth. I love Christ's Church. I accept the Authority of the Church and trust in Mother Church's loving concern for the welfare of my soul. When the heart is right, when there is love, one does not "see" rules. One does not feel oppressed. Obedience becomes a profound joy and a means of being in union with God.

Baptists have quite a few "rules," actually. They differ from church to church and from pastor to pastor. Here are a few I grew up with (not all "rules" applied at all the Baptist churches at the same time---that's the problem, isn't it?); some have been abandoned as worldliness has invaded the churches.

1. Really first-rate Christians attend Sunday School, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, Sunday evening Training Union/Discipleship/Journey classes, Wednesday evening prayer meeting, Wednesday evening mission activities, and choir practice. (That's a lot.)

2. Members should tithe
3. No use or sale of alcoholic beverages
4. No dancing (including school proms)
5. No gambling (including Bingo)
6. Dress modestly always but especially for church
7. No bad language
8. Show respect for women
9. Never date a Catholic. Never marry an unsaved person.
10. Create your own prayers. Don't use "canned" prayers.
11. Don't believe it if it isn't in the Bible.
12. When a revival (evangelistic campaign) is held, attend every service unless ill.
13. Help in Vacation Bible School.
14. Visit the unchurched
15. Evangelize the unsaved
16. Be very friendly to the new pastor for about three months.
17. If you have a complaint, grab a deacon and twist his arm.
18. Take your turn keeping the babies in the church nursery.
19. No sex before marriage. No sex outside marriage. No gay sex.
20. No gossip.
21. No feuding.
22. Give sacrificially during a church building program

23. If you really "mess up," go forward during the invitation and rededicate your life. Be prepared to stand beside the pastor and say a few words before the congregation about your sins and your remorse (or at least to stand beside the pastor while HE briefly tells the folks that you messed up, you're sorry, and you're going to try to do better now).

24. Keep the ten commandments. Follow the principles of the beatitudes.

25. Live your life according to all the teachings of the New Testament--- includes sexual behavior, marital behavior, rearing children, obligations to parents, obligations to the government, relationships with neighbors and friends and fellow church members, reactions to suffering. In other words, every aspect of a good Baptist's life is ruled by the New Testament. Lots and lots of "rules" or expectations.

I would stress the importance of "rules" 1, 23, 24, and 25 for good Baptists and assist him in recognizing how much they cover. He will get the idea that every church has expectations, though they may be different and though the methods by which they are communicated may differ and the consequences for "disobedience" may differ.

And, of course, the poor Baptist has to figure out what the expectations are, which Baptist church is right, which of that church's various pastors was/is right --because there is no Holy Father, no Magisterium, no Catechism of the Catholic Church.

By the way, one of my favorite church "rules" was that no child is allowed to run in church. One dear lady who had taught the 4-5 year-olds forever saw to it that no child got away with that. If young mothers did not correct their children, the dear teacher did the correcting. There wasn't an unfilled seat at her funeral. Nearly everybody there (and their kids and grandkids) had learned not to run in church from that lady. -- a good "rule"

Becky

Last edited on Sun Jun 1st, 2008 08:38 pm by Intercessor

Last edited on Sun Jun 1st, 2008 04:45 pm by BodRod

24. Keep the ten commandments.

What about the 4th one? 

Last edited on Sun Jun 1st, 2008 09:05 pm by BodRod

Last edited on Mon Jun 2nd, 2008 12:45 am by Intercessor