Joyful Giving

I am sure most of us have heard the parable about the woman who gave all she had to the Lord and how He said she gave more than all the others (Mark 12:41-44). I think most of us know that we are supposed to tithe to the Lord 10% of our wages. I have heard some get technical about 10% of what? Wages pre-taxes or wages that you take home? My opinion would be pre-taxes because the Lord wants the first 10% of your wages -- I would imagine this to mean even before the govenrment gets their share...

2 Corinthians 9:6-8 states that God loves a cheerful giver... okay, I have to admit, I am not one to be happy about "giving" my money away, so how do we go about being cheerful in our giving? I think the most important step is to pray for God to work in your heart so that you can be cheerful in your giving to Him. Then of course we have to allow Him to work in us. Simply praying will not do anything if we do not allow Him to mold us into what He wants us to be.

Does giving to Him mean just at church? I don't think so. I probably haven't given to a church in almost a year because I have been looking for a "home" church. I have given to some local Christian charities as well as saving up some of my tithe to give to a church when I do find one to attend.

I have heard a tithe be called an offering quite a bit and an interesting point was brought up in church last evening. The tithe is the 10% of our wages that most of us give, an offering is anything over that 10% that we give. Are we really making an offering then or are we simply tithing?

Blessings in Christ,

The end times are coming?

This all started last night because I was on the Amish America website and my roommate glanced at the title of the post 'Amish leading the way in clean energy?'. In it, there was a statement from the State of the Union address by President Obama saying by 2035, 80% of the USA's energy will be clean energy. My roommate read that and said "I don't think we'll be around then". She went on to explain that she believes the end times are much nearer to us than many people think... I'm truly not sure about this as I have not read Revelations.

The church I grew up in discouraged the reading of Revelation and it is one thing that I have obeyed and still haven't done. In part, the discouragement was due to not wanting children to read it and not have anyone to ask questions to, thus if we had read it with our Pastor, it would have been fine, but I never pursued that. Right now we are studying Revelation in Sunday School and truth be told I'm not a fan of it.

In some cases I am a person who wants to know what will happen before it actually happens, but in other cases, I would rather not know what is going to happen. This is one of those cases. I do not care to know what the end times will be like or how I will die.

The conversation went on last night about how some people are comparing our current president to the Anti-Christ as written in Revelation. Apparantly, the events in Revalation leading up to the end times are something that she sees in our world here right now. I cannot speak on this too much as I have only limited encounters with the Book of Revelation.

But, what do you think? Are things in our world similar to what is said in Revelation?

Blessings in Christ,

The Dangers of Technology

In Sunday School this past week, we got side tracked a bit :) Not uncommon for the group! We got talking about technology (or rather the teacher and a few of the boys did) and how technology itself is not dangerous. It is what we do with it that is dangerous. I was so glad to hear that coming from someone who was raised conservatively.

Think about it, the iPod itself is not dangerous, it is what we put on it that could potentially be harmful. If we put sermons, an audio Bible, or Christian music on it, is that dangerous? No. I myself have quite a few sermons and Christian music on mine that I enjoy listening to occasionally. Is the internet itself bad? No, again, it's what we do with it. If we use it to further ourselves in our Christian life and to help others, that is a good use for it.

Quite a few Mennonite Churches around me have gone to if you plug it in then it is okay (ie. computer programs, cd's), but otherwise it should not be used (ie. tv, radio, internet, etc).

I think as the saying goes, anything in excess is bad for a person, is true in this case as well. But in this case we must be vigilant not only in how much technology we use, but also how we use it. I listened to a sermon (from a Conservative Mennonite) about the dangers of modern technology and his stance was that we should use no technology. I had to chuckle a little bit because this sermon was distributed on cd's...how would we listen to the sermon if we did not have a cd player, or an iPod in my case? If we didn't use technology then there would have been no way to record his sermon and spread it to others who would be blessed by it. I agree that too much of techology can inhibit our growth in the Lord, but I also think that some technology could help us, depending on how we use it.

So...how can we hold one another accountable on such a vast scale? Prayer is a good start. Then if we notice someone who may be beginning to stumble, we could talk to them and ask them if they need help. Do not let the use of technology hinder you in your walk with God, if it has, then ask someone you trust to help hold you accountable. Do not let technology take up so much of your time that you forfeit your devotions and prayers. But then again, shouldn't we span this to be don't let anything take up so much of your time that you forfeit prayers and devotions? I think so.

Blessings in Christ,

Sunday Activities

In keeping with the Lord's commandment of remembering the Sabbath Day and keeping it Holy, I'm wondering, what are some of your favorite activities for Sundays?

Right now, I really enjoy sewing or knitting or even working on a puzzle. I understand some may not agree with those being completed on a Sunday (I was once told in response to knitting 'Some would call that work'), but I believe as long as I am enjoying the activity then it is okay. If I start to get frustrated I walk away :) One Church I attended believed that fellowship and napping were the only two activities for Sundays...and occasionally reading (that one depended on who you talked to).

If I want to stay away from work then I would not cook on Sundays! Oh how I do not care to cook :)

I think I may go sew a little bit and then maybe work on the puzzle I have out right now. What are you going to do with your afternoon?

Blessings in Christ,

Which is right?

It was brought up in Sunday School two weeks ago how many different denominations of Christianity there are. I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere around 35,000 if I remember correctly. The question was brought up of how can we say that we are the "right" denomination? Obviously 35,000 people (or so) thought that they were right too, in order to start each of the different denominations.

Do I believe each denomination is right? Not completely, but nor do I believe the denomination I fall in line with is completely correct either. I would not be willing to say "Conservative Mennonites are the only right denomination", nor would I be willing to say that any other denomination is the only right one. I pray that each of those people who started the denominations prayed and meditated before breaking off from their previous group, but can I say that truly happened? No. I believe it is up to us each individually to pray and mediatate before we align ourselves with a specific denomination. God will lead us to a church He believes is right in the Bible and that we will fit into.

I feel that it is a red flag if a denomination is willing to say it is the "right" one. I try not to judge when I hear that, but I want to blurt out "how do you know you're the right denomination?" Hard to refrain sometimes :)

Bottom line is that based in scripture, there is no right denomination, we should focus not on what denomination we follow, but rather if the church we attend is a Bible teaching church. Someone once said to me, God is not going to ask what denomination you belong to when you die, but rather 'Do you believe in My Son, do you believe My Word, and did you keep My Word?' and I believe that is so true.

Blessings in Christ,

Further Education?

I just realized that I wrote about this topic last year, but this keeps coming back to me so I think I will go ahead and post a second one on it :)

I have often wondered if we should limit children to the amount of formal education they receive. As many a times as I have thought about this, I have concluded that I do not believe we should limit. I understand certain groups take a stance that an 8th grade education is all one needs and I respect their decision, although I do not understand it. To my knowledge, there is nothing in the Bible that states an education hurts the child, and there are some things that only a book can teach. I by no means am against hand-on training, as I am a hands-on learner, but I do think that if I did not have the book learning to go along with it, the hands-on training I have received would not be as effective. Of course this may differ person to person.

The church I attend now leaves it up to the parents on how long the child attends school or is homeschooled for. This church would also consider the possibility of further education past the 12th grade if a member was interested in it. Although I have been told the member would most likely have someone who would "chaperone" them and hold them accountable to the church standards at all times.

A church I attended earlier stopped education after the 8th grade. There was one mom who homeschooled her children and said "We go through the 8th grade but I continue an extra year so that we can get in more material, but it is only an 8th grade education".

In the past I have tried to ask a man who was very adament that any education above an 8th grade education would inhibit the child from staying near to the Lord why he believes so and unfortunately he could not answer me. As I told him, it was college for me that brought me closer to the Lord and where I eventually learned of covering. Not that I learned it from a class, but being on my own gave me my own time to study the word and read what I felt led to read and then study the material. From the little that he did eventually mention, it seemed that he believed an 8th grade education was all that should be pursued out of fear that some of the children might leave the church for a more liberal church. To me it seems that if a child really has a yearn for learning, he or she might leave the church anyway to pursue their passion, but if a church were to allow the learning while under close supervision of an elder would that almost not be better? The child could learn while being guided by the Lord and an elder from the church.

I have a Bachelor's degree and started working on my Master's degree. If I cared for either of the areas of study, I would probably be working in the field of my degree (Mechanical Engineering), but I learned that although I love the math and design components of the degree, I do not care for some of the other aspects. I have considered getting a degree in either teaching or nursing because I know I would love both of those fields, but I have yet to pursue either one.

Blessings in Christ,

The Perfect Christian

A newcomer to headcovering posed the question (paraphrased), how do I transition to covering because my husband, kids, and co-workers know I am a Christian but they see my flaws?

I thought about this and read some of the responses to this woman and I really hope she was blessed by what she read. None of us can be a "perfect" Christian. The only one who was is Jesus our Lord and Saviour, we can only emmulate His actions and follow His word and hope that we are doing good by Him. Just because we are not perfect does not mean that we should not follow His instructions. If that is the case then it does not matter if we go around breaking the 10 Commandments or other commands in the Bible.

Yes, others will see our flaws and maybe some will hold us on a higher pedastool than others because we cover our heads, but it does not mean that Jesus holds us any higher. He knows that we will sin and the greatest thing is that He has already forgiven us bearing that we forgive those who sin against us. He has already given Himself for us so that if we follow His commands we may have eternal life.

How can we be the "perfect" Christian? We can't :) We can only try and hope that Jesus will guide us down a better path.

Blessings in Christ,

1 Tim 2:11-12

1 Timothy 2:11 Let the women learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

What exactly does this mean? To what extent should a woman not teach?

I take it to mean that in church a woman should not give her interpretation of scripture or ask questions when in the presence of men her own age or older. The church that I have attended the past couple weeks separate the adult women and men for Sunday School so in that case I do believe it would be okay for a woman to give her interpretation or ask questions (the teacher is a woman as well). This church also has the teen and adult women to teach the young children up to the age of 8 approximately. I believe that is okay because in a home setting, the wife/mom is still the primary teacher up until this age. I think 8 is usually the time then when the man/husband takes over the scriptural teaching for the boys of the family but the woman/wife still leads her daughters. Do I think it would be wrong to have a man teach all ages of children? No, but I also know that sometimes younger children are more likely to shy away from a man they are not familiar with than to shy away from a woman they are not familiar with. Although, most of the people in this church are so close that they know everyone... but it does not mean that the children understand who someone is :)

Blessings in Christ,

The purpose of an apron

My roommate and I have been discussing clothing a lot, hence my posts trending that way for the time being :)

She is an absolute fan of aprons, one that is a full apron like below.



She wears these over dresses that do not have capes on them and feels "more covered" as she says :) Another reason she gave is that it makes her look not Amish and not Mennonite (but really people just look at the kapp she wears and think that she's Amish without looking at her clothes, just like they look at my kapp and think I am Beachy Amish). Last night we were talking about how she would rather wear an apron to church than a cape dress but she wants a black dress without a cape to wear the apron with (it's a nice teal color). I told her I don't feel aprons are appropriate for church because the purpose of an apron is to protect your clothing while you work. At church, we are not working so why do we need an apron? I do not wear aprons, even when I am working or cleaning. If I get something on my dress I just clean it, but I was not raised in a family that wore aprons for anything -- not even while cooking or baking.

I know many groups do wear aprons to church and I am not criticizing them as I am sure they have "reasonings" for wearing an apron :) But I do wonder why it would be worn to church if the purpose is to keep clothing nice while working. Maybe someone who knows could share with me :)

Blessings in Christ,

Separate Dress

One thing I have become to wonder about is the dress of Conservative Mennonites, more so of the men. The church wants the women to dress differently than the world everyday of the week, which I understand and agree with wearing a dress or modest skirt and shirt as that is how the Bible teaches a woman should dress. This makes her stand out against others in her community as a Mennonite (or some may think an Amish especially when wearing a cape dress), but either way she is known to be different. During the week, I can look at a group of men, mixed with Amish, Conservative Mennonites, German Baptist, and "English" men, and I can pick the Amish and German Baptist men out. The Conservative Mennonite and the "English" men appear the same. I wonder, how is this okay? A Mennonite man would not be known as Mennonite if he is out alone without his wife, she is what makes them look different. He typically would wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt during the week (unless his work specified otherwise).

I think this is one thing that I definitely appreciated at the Beachy Amish church that I attended for a while. The men expected the women to dress differently than the world, but they also dressed differently every day of the week. Not just on Sundays. Even some Mennonite men are going away from wearing the Plain dress coats on Sundays and even away from the white shirts. I really am curious as to how they feel it is okay when the Bible directs all Christians to be separate of the world. But for now I will most likely keep my wonderings to myself :)

Blessings in Christ,

Assured Salvation?

Happy New Year to everyone :) I am off to a rather slow start this year, hopefully I will find the words to say and thus pick things up a bit.

A recent post on Amish America's website responded to a reader's question of whether the Swartzentruber Amish (one of the most conservative groups of the Amish) believe in assured salvation. The answer to that is, the Swartzentruber do not, the New Order Amish would as well as the Beachy Amish.

But my question to you is do you believe in assured salvation? I personally do not. I was raised in a protestant church that did not teach that we will for sure make it to heaven if we do A, B, and C. I was taught that until we go knocking on Heaven's pearly gates, we do not know whether God will allow us to enter or not. However, I do believe some of the members of that church do believe in assured salvation, my mom included. In attending a Mennonite church and previously a Beachy Amish church, I think that is one of the hardest things for me to grasp. How can anyone know for sure that what they are doing on earth is exactly what the Lord wants, even if we are doing our best to follow His instructions? I also have the tendancy to believe if we go around spouting that we will be going to Heaven when we die, we overlooking God's Will. Are we telling Him what to do by telling others with such assurance where we are going when we die? Are we being prideful when we state that rather than humble? Also, could we do harm to new Christians or those who we are trying to share the Word with by being so outspoken? Just a few thoughts that run around in my head.

Blessings in Christ,