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ltwin
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“Ask a [(name removed by moderator)ut your non-Catholic religion here]” threads seem popular. So, any questions that you want to ask about Pentecostalism?
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aidanbradypop
Guest
Why are you Pentecostal? What makes you believe in your faith and that it is the correct one? How is that for starters? lol
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Anthony_V
Guest
Do you believe there was grace present before the Fall? If not, do you believe it is proportional to man’s nature–natural–that he have a relationship with God?
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ltwin
Guest
For starters, my father and mother are Pentecostal and was raised in the Pentecostal tradition. Faith was always a big part of our family life, but it was only when I was 10 years old that I actually had a conversion experience. That was around the time that I began to internalize the faith I was taught and actually act on it.
A few years later I was baptized in the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, so I had moved beyond the typical evangelical Protestant experience.
It’s not so much that I believe Pentecostalism is somehow the “correct faith” and all other Christian churches are wrong. I don’t really think like that. There are many things I was taught as a child that I would disagree with today. One that stands out is the more extreme versions of prosperity/health and wealth gospel that was a big thing at my church.
I do believe that the basics I was taught were true to the Gospel and the overarching Christian tradition. I believe that what I was taught about God’s nature and his divine plan are accurate. The Pentecostal understanding of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection are accurate. I also believe that the basic experiential dimension of Pentecostal spirituality is faithful to biblical standards. Freedom of worship is something that I’ve come to love and value, and I get uncomfortable in other churches that impose to much control over the congregation or the move of the Spirit.
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aidanbradypop
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Nicely done. The only Pentecostal I know is my aunt. She was of the Oneness or non Trinitarian belief
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KendraDZ1902
Guest
What’s the deal with pentecostal women not being allowed to wear makeup or pants?
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ltwin
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I am Trinitarian. If there are questions about Oneness Pentecostals, I can try to answer those, but that is not something I believe.
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Daniel1Catholic
Guest
Whats are your two biggest problems that you see with Catholicism, and what parts of the church currently stop you from being Catholic?
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coachkfan1
Guest
Do you believe in the Holy Trinty? If so, then by what authority do you decide that your Pentecastal church’s beliefs are correct over “Oneness Pentecostal” congregations? Because it “feels right” to you or what? Also, St. Paul said that all things are to be done in an orderly manner, and that if there is no one to interpret tongues, then the people should remain quite so that a visitor would not experience total confusion as to what is going on. What is your response to that? Thanks, because I really want to know what your answers are.
meltzerboy
New member
Since ALL Pentecostals, I think, believe in the Holy Spirit as well as Jesus, what exactly do non-Trinitarian Oneness Pentecostals believe about G-d? In particular, what does the term “Oneness” refer to?
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ltwin
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You are speaking about a stereotype that has some basis in reality but cannot be generally applied to Pentecostals across the board. This stereotype is rather outdated to begin with.
Tammy Faye Baker was the wife of a well known Pentecostal pastor (notice the makeup)
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Christine Caine is a pretty well known Pentecostal pastor affiliated with the Assemblies of God in Australia (notice the pants):
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/p480x480/417830_10152790336060089_73258318_n.jpg
To answer your questions why Pentecostals in the past and some continue to have prohibitions on fashion and certain behaviors, it is about avoiding “worldliness,” “frivolity,” “vanity,” and “wasting time.” Pentecostals used to talk a lot about “redeeming the time”. One way to save more time for God is avoiding spending time on make up. There was also something about not needing to add anything to what God had created. You’re beautiful without putting stuff on your face.
The pants thing is just avoiding “worldliness.” Pentecostals in the 20s and 30s would have been reacting against the “flapper” type female.
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grannymh
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Hi Itwin.
This thread looks interesting. So many questions already.
Good to see you.
granny
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ltwin
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This sort of is going over my head. I’ll answer this the best I can, though I’m not sure what a Pentecostal pastor or theologian would say.
I would say that God’s grace as in unmerited favor was present from the beginning. And I think that we were made to commune with God, to have relationship with him. We are being invited to participate in the love and communion that the members of the Divine Trinity share.
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KendraDZ1902
Guest
I didn’t mean to offend. I promise! There were some girls in my high school who never wore pants or makeup. They went as far as to fail PE because they wouldn’t change into appropriate gym attire. It wasn’t that long ago. I graduated high school in 2007.
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ltwin
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You didn’t offend. I just think using visual aids are cool!I didn’t mean to offend. I promise! There were some girls in my high school who never wore pants or makeup. They went as far as to fail PE because they wouldn’t change into appropriate gym attire. It wasn’t that long ago. I graduated high school in 2007.
There are those types of Pentecostals around. My great aunt is like that. She wears dress, and she says that she would never be caught dead in a movie theater.
Oneness Pentecostals seem to have preserved these holiness standards (also known as taboos in scholarly literature) better than most Trinitarians.
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FabiusMaximus
Guest
It should be noted that a majority of Pentecostals do not believe in the “Holiness” standard, in which is included women not wearing makeup or pants. That is supposed to promote a righteous standard of living. Other Pentecostals encourage abstaining entirely from alcohol for the same reason. The pants and makeup, though, from what I’ve seen, is mostly associated with the Oneness Pentecostals.
Oneness Pentecostalism developed around 1914, with divisions among Pentecostals regarding the Trinity and the mode for baptism. The movement was beginning to grow within the Assemblies of God (the largest Pentecostal denomination today), and caused a rift in which the majority of the leaders were Trinitarian, and Oneness theology was gaining ground. The issue was decided in 1916, at the Fourth General Council of the Assemblies of God, where Oneness theology was rejected and Trinitarianism affirmed, leading to the Oneness to splinter off and form their own organizations. I suppose you can call it a “Pentecostal Ecumenical Council.”
Oneness Pentecostals essentially believe that God is not a Trinity, but that Father, Son. and Holy Spirit are manifestation or “modes” of God, whose name is Jesus Christ. They completely reject the Trinitarian understanding of God. This is also why they perform the baptism with the formula “in the name of Jesus.” They believe that the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, was referring to Jesus - that is “the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit is Jesus.”
I would encourage anyone who hasn’t to witness a gathering where there are tongues and interpretation.
It should be noted that Pentecostals do not reject Paul’s command, but embrace it. Pentecostals generally believe there are tongues for private prayer, which do not require interpretation (because it is for private prayer), and that there are tongues for public exhortation, which are to be interpreted. Occasionally one person can do both - exhort and interpret. It’s a magnificent experience.
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ltwin
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Let me start off by saying that there are things I appreciate about the Catholic Church. I do like the fact that Catholics have history and they know who they are. Pentecostals don’t appreciate their own history enough. Too much we focus on the “new thing” God is doing in our lives and in the church and not enough looking back to give God thanks for what he has done in history. I also appreciate that the Catholic Church has never fallen into the trap of believing in cessationismWhats are your two biggest problems that you see with Catholicism, and what parts of the church currently stop you from being Catholic?
That said the biggest problems are beliefs that don’t appear to be warranted in scripture: Apostolic Succession, the pope’s unique role, Mariology, prayers to the saints, purgatory. It’s claim that other churches are simply “ecclesial communities” and somehow less than the Catholic Church is something that troubles me as well.
Another thing I’m not comfortable with is something that I perceive from my very limited interaction with the Catholic Church (mainly discussions on this forum). This is the lack of correlation between the rites of Christian initiation and the experience of Christian conversion. From my Pentecostal heritage, the performance of any sacerdotal or ecclesiastical rites is useless unless their is a Christian experience that accompanies it.
I also believe that Catholic liturgical worship is too routinized and the authority structure is too top heavy. But that has more to do with my own Pentecostal background than it does with whether the Catholic Church is “correct” in all its beliefs.
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landon13
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You mentioned something about speaking in tongues, can you speak in tongues? How do you know that they are really led by the Holy Spirit and not just gibberish?
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Nicea325
Guest
Pardon the ignorance,but is it true certain Pentecostal communities only baptize in the name of Jesus?
God Bless
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coachkfan1
Guest
So we’ve heard a lot about pants and makeup. If you are getting to my previous questions then I apologize, but I am curious about how you respond to Paul’s assertion that there must be orderly worship and the no one should speak in tongues unless there is some one to interpret. Thanks.
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