Praise the Lord, I am a believer and wish to take water baptism, however the church I go to follows a pentecostal belief. Its been their belief that a believer should not be wearing ornaments, if however they wear it after their baptism then they will not be given communion. This rule has made me step back on my decision I am confused. My argument is why does man have to fall under the human laws when God’s one and only one condition to receive baptism is to have faith. There happens to be a few who forgo communion after baptism since they wear ornaments. To favor the new generation kids and the above mentioned category of people the commitee has come up with modified versions of their law, saying that sunday’s its a must to follow traditions and the rest of the week is not the church’s responsiblity. I need I answers I have been worried about all this hypochrisy. I will be grateful if you could convince me. thanks regi
You are right! No one should be subject to human laws when it comes to God’s religion, Christianity. The group with which you are familiar is biblically astray in a number of ways, some of which you announce in your question.
First, it is a misunderstanding of Scripture to forbid the wearing of jewelry. The passage of Scripture to which Pentecostals appeal and misapply to dismiss jewelry would also dismiss wearing clothes. “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (1 Peter 3:3-4). The contrast is between the extravagant, lavish (notice me) jewelry (and clothes) and the inward spirit of mankind. The passage does not address the ordinary adornment with jewelry and clothes.
Second, New Testament baptism is the point at which one’s sins are forgiven (1 Peter 3:21; Acts 22:16), preceded by Bible faith derived from the Word of God (Romans 10:17; Mark 16:16), preceded by repentance (Acts 2:38) and preceded by acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37). This baptism is immersion (a burial) in water (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12) and places one into Jesus Christ where are all spiritual blessings, including salvation (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3; Ephesians 1:3). This baptism places one into the church for which Jesus Christ died and over which he is the head (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians 12:13); however, the Pentecostal Church is not the church of the Bible to which one is added by New Testament baptism, because the Pentecostal Church (1) does not worship the same way the first century church worshipped, (2) is not organized and governed the same way the New Testament church was organized and governed, (3) has doctrines and a creed unknown in the first century, (4) was founded in the wrong place by the wrong person at the wrong time, whereas the Lord’s church was established in Jerusalem by Jesus Christ in A.D. 33, and (4) the Pentecostal Church purports to perform Bible miracles today that the Bible says were to cease when the revelation from God provided through the miracles was complete, whereby we have the Bible (Mark 16:20; 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:11-14; Hebrews 2:3-4).
I respectfully suggest that you contact a congregation of the churches of Christ. The churches of Christ endeavor to be identical to the New Testament church for which Jesus Christ died and for which he will return to take to heaven. They are not a part of denominationalism; they have no human creed, but use the New Testament alone as their creed. There is no human headquarters with a human form of government. Every congregation is independent and associated with other congregations through common regard for the authority of the Word of God. The unadulterated Word of God when planted in honest hearts produces Christians, who then comprise local congregations; the seed of the kingdom or church (Matthew 16:18-19) is the Word of God (Luke 8:11).
