Granny feels she has to right to convert grandson to AOG

[yewchapel]

On the Anglican/Episcopalian communion thing, I think how formalized your first communion is depends on how "high church" your particular parish is. I grew up in a fairly middle-of-the-road parish, where communion was open to anyone baptized, and children were allowed to begin receiving basically at their parents' discretion. We didn't have a formal "First Communion" ceremony of any kind, and you didn't have to wait until Confirmation, but most kids started receiving around six or seven, I think. My grandmother, who was raised Episcopalian in what I assume was a very "high church" parish, used to have to go to Confession every week before taking communion the following day, which is very Catholic.

As for the communion at Catholic Mass thing, it's a big issue for a lot of Christians, I think because it's perceived as an implication that the Catholic church does not consider them "Christian enough" to be worthy of taking communion. I know that it rubbed me the wrong way the first time I heard of it, and it also became an issue for things like Girl Scout Sunday, which was traditionally held at a different denomination's church each year on a rotational basis. One year, when I was a kid, the local Catholic Bishop made a point of making a big announcement, saying, "Catholic Girl Scouts should not be attending Girl Scout Sunday services at other parishes, because it does not fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation. On the other hand, if Girl Scouts from other denominations want to come to our church, well, that's great!" I now recognize this more as a slap against the Girl Scouts (being the evil, feminist organization that they are- this must have been a particularly conservative Bishop) than Girl Scout Sunday in and of itself, but at the time, it was a big deal, because it split up Girl Scout troops into Catholics versus non-Catholics, and if the non-Catholic girls were roped into going to Catholic services every year, it also meant that they were all barred from taking communion, which was seen as sort of exclusionary, particularly when the whole thing was no longer a fair rotation amongst the various local churches. It had been a complete non-issue before, and it was a kind of shitty thing for the Bishop in question to inject this tension into a place where there had previously been none.

To be clear, I would never have dreamed of taking communion in a Catholic church as a kid, and my mother always made it very clear to me if I went with friends or something that I shouldn't take communion, because it wasn't respectful, transubstantiation, et cetera, but that argument becomes much harder to swallow if you're an Anglican and the Novus Ordo, Catholic services is almost word-for-word identical to your Episcopal service from the Book of Common Prayer. It was when I made that connection that I started saying, "Wait a second, what are they doing that's so special in their services when their services are exactly like ours?" Obviously, it's more complex than that, but for a lot of Protestants who aren't fully aware of the theological reasoning behind it, that's essentially how it comes off. Now I no longer care one way or the other, because I'm no longer a Christian, and I occupy myself with Jewish infighting, which has similar tensions (see also the Conversion Debate, egalitarianism and patrilineal descent).

This is a very good explanation. Being very 'high church' Anglican, the services at my church are pretty much identical to Novus Ordo RC services, we have statues of Mary everywhere and a Sacred Heart, our priest is celibate (out of choice) and we always use incense, bells and candles. I went to Mass at Westminster Cathedral (which is the RC Cathedral in London) on Tuesday and it was almost identical to my church's weekly services, including it being a sung service. While I am not Catholic because of church governance and teaching on sexuality, my views on what happens at the Eucharist is in line with Catholic teaching, so honestly it does bother me that I am not able to receive. I don't know if it's just a UK thing but I go up with my arms crossed over my chest for a blessing instead of receiving. I would never receive under false pretences because that's not fair on the priest but it does bother me. I understand those Christians with different Eucharistic theology not receiving, but why not those of us who have the same Eucharistic theology? It does bother me that the RCC does not view Anglicanism as a valid church when we are so similar.

[yewchapel]

My church doesn't use the BCP though because only the 1662 version is legal for use in England, we use Common Worship instead (but that's near-identical to the US BCP).

[louisa05]

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but does the Anglican church in the UK believe in transubstantiation as part of the consecration? I have heard Lutherans express the same complaint---that traditional Lutheran service is nearly identical so they should be allowed to receive the Eucharist, but their theological interpretation is consubstantiation which is (though subtly if you ask the average Catholic or Lutheran to explain either doctrine) different.

Back in the dark ages when I was a Girl Scout, Girl Scout Sunday in our small communities was held separately at individual churches not as one large event. As for attending another denomination on Sunday, that bishop was not speaking out of his ass, only mass attendance meets the Sunday obligation for Catholics. The circumstance (Girl Scouts or any other) is immaterial to that. We attended another church on a Sunday for a family baptism a few years ago. We went to mass the evening before. That is not a huge difficulty as most parishes have multiple masses every weekend. Additionally, it should be noted that Catholic Girl Scouts attending another denomination for an event like that would not be allowed, by Catholic practice, to receive communion in that church--so a division based on denomination is inevitable if both Catholics and Protestants are involved in the event. Likewise, at Lutheran church for a family baptism, my husband and I remained in our pew during communion.

[yewchapel]

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but does the Anglican church in the UK believe in transubstantiation as part of the consecration? I have heard Lutherans express the same complaint---that traditional Lutheran service is nearly identical so they should be allowed to receive the Eucharist, but their theological interpretation is consubstantiation which is (though subtly if you ask the average Catholic or Lutheran to explain either doctrine) different.

Back in the dark ages when I was a Girl Scout, Girl Scout Sunday in our small communities was held separately at individual churches not as one large event. As for attending another denomination on Sunday, that bishop was not speaking out of his ass, only mass attendance meets the Sunday obligation for Catholics. The circumstance (Girl Scouts or any other) is immaterial to that. We attended another church on a Sunday for a family baptism a few years ago. We went to mass the evening before. That is not a huge difficulty as most parishes have multiple masses every weekend. Additionally, it should be noted that Catholic Girl Scouts attending another denomination for an event like that would not be allowed, by Catholic practice, to receive communion in that church--so a division based on denomination is inevitable if both Catholics and Protestants are involved in the event. Likewise, at Lutheran church for a family baptism, my husband and I remained in our pew during communion.

There is no one Eucharistic theology in the Anglican church in the UK. Consubstantiation is the most common but memorialism and transubstantiation are both common. I do feel that non-Catholics who believe in transubstantiation should be able to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass - after all, the Orthodox are able to receive and they're not Catholic.

[Mela99]

Dumb question, but is AoG considered a cult by some Christians? I knew a girl in elem school who was some kind of AoG church, and they got a lot of smack for it. I remember the word cult being thrown around

[Rainytown]

Anyone know why? I've been wondering about the AoG lately anyway.

I'm former Assembly of God. I'm happy to answer questions.

Shorter AOG: Fundamentalists who believe that legalism will get them to heaven. Very fond of "laying on of hands", "telling the truth in love", and controlling others in the church by judging their lives. Of course, anyone who's currently in favor with the pastor will escape the endless witch hunts for those who aren't "living their faith". They speak in tongues. When I was in the church, they were VERY fond of Gothard and his teachings.

[Rainytown]

"No, I can't." He blushed scarlet. "There's women's ... underthings in there."

:roll:

Do the folks you know in the AoG feel they can be defrauded by someone's uninhabited, clean underpants? Or was my classmate just being a tool?

I attended the former Northwest College, which is now Northwest University. Obviously, the school's administration believes nobody will ever, EVER know the school is AoG if they call it something else... :roll: My roommate Kim and I used to wear the peg-leg jeans popular when dinosaurs roamed the earth when we weren't in classes. This inspired an ENTIRE SERMON in chapel (and lots of pointed looks from other classmates) one morning from a pastoral ministries major. He called them "Jezebel pants".

Defrauded by a pair of (not tight or especially revealing) jeans. Yup.

[louisa05]

[

There is no one Eucharistic theology in the Anglican church in the UK. Consubstantiation is the most common but memorialism and transubstantiation are both common. I do feel that non-Catholics who believe in transubstantiation should be able to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic Mass - after all, the Orthodox are able to receive and they're not Catholic.

In practicality, no one is going to check. Seriously. When people set about deeply complaining about this issue, it bugs me because if you really truly believe that you should be allowed to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic mass and you are not Catholic, you can just go up and get it. There is not a "password" (I had Protestant friends who actually thought there was) or secret handshake and no one is checking baptismal certificates at the door. It may not be what the church wants you to do and it may not be entirely respectful, but there are no communion police enforcing the rules. And I'm not saying you indicated that there are, but the conversation inevitably begins to sound as such. In reality, Catholic parishes are very laid back about some aspects of mass. My Protestant mother was shocked to learn that we don't have to sign some sort of attendance register every week. At my aunt's Lutheran church, you are not only expected to sign one, you are supposed to check if you are taking communion and if you are a visitor, you are supposed to indicate if you are baptized Lutheran or otherwise. Meanwhile, over in the average Catholic parish, you could have last been to church last week or six years ago, no one is checking. My previous parish had people listed in their last directory who have been dead for over a decade because they never check on such things.

On the AoG--the Christian school I taught at had many families and staff members from the two largest AoG churches in the city. From that experience, I would say that AoG varies by church to a huge degree. Those two churches were at odds with each other on many issues of doctrine and practice with one being far more conservative than the other in regard to less serious things like music, dancing, clothing, and lots of disagreement about more doctrinally serious matters like "manifestations of the holy spirit". All in all, though, both were the least legalistic in most matters compared to the many other fundie lite denominations in the school.

[yewchapel]

In practicality, no one is going to check. Seriously. When people set about deeply complaining about this issue, it bugs me because if you really truly believe that you should be allowed to receive the Eucharist at a Catholic mass and you are not Catholic, you can just go up and get it. There is not a "password" (I had Protestant friends who actually thought there was) or secret handshake and no one is checking baptismal certificates at the door. It may not be what the church wants you to do and it may not be entirely respectful, but there are no communion police enforcing the rules. And I'm not saying you indicated that there are, but the conversation inevitably begins to sound as such. In reality, Catholic parishes are very laid back about some aspects of mass. My Protestant mother was shocked to learn that we don't have to sign some sort of attendance register every week. At my aunt's Lutheran church, you are not only expected to sign one, you are supposed to check if you are taking communion and if you are a visitor, you are supposed to indicate if you are baptized Lutheran or otherwise. Meanwhile, over in the average Catholic parish, you could have last been to church last week or six years ago, no one is checking. My previous parish had people listed in their last directory who have been dead for over a decade because they never check on such things.

On the AoG--the Christian school I taught at had many families and staff members from the two largest AoG churches in the city. From that experience, I would say that AoG varies by church to a huge degree. Those two churches were at odds with each other on many issues of doctrine and practice with one being far more conservative than the other in regard to less serious things like music, dancing, clothing, and lots of disagreement about more doctrinally serious matters like "manifestations of the holy spirit". All in all, though, both were the least legalistic in most matters compared to the many other fundie lite denominations in the school.

Oh I realise that I *could* receive the Eucharist and no one would be any the wiser (and I have been to masses where the priest has all but said that everyone was welcome to receive, regardless of being Catholic or not). But I don't know, I feel uncomfortable about what is essentially lying. But you are right, of course.

That is strange about the Lutheran church register thing but I feel like American churches seem to be more insistent on membership anyway? Over here the only churches with a membership list as such are closed Brethren and related groups. In the Anglican church we have the electoral roll but that only relates to who can vote on church business matters (like electing church wardens), and everyone can join if they live in the parish or have attended the church for 6 months or more. It doesn't have anything to do with being part of the church. Communion is open to all baptised Christians (I think technically it's those who have been baptised and confirmed but that excludes Christians from denominations that don't have confirmation so very few Anglican churches enforce it).

[ems]

On the Anglican/Episcopalian communion thing, I think how formalized your first communion is depends on how "high church" your particular parish is. I grew up in a fairly middle-of-the-road parish, where communion was open to anyone baptized, and children were allowed to begin receiving basically at their parents' discretion. We didn't have a formal "First Communion" ceremony of any kind, and you didn't have to wait until Confirmation, but most kids started receiving around six or seven, I think. My grandmother, who was raised Episcopalian in what I assume was a very "high church" parish, used to have to go to Confession every week before taking communion the following day, which is very Catholic.

As for the communion at Catholic Mass thing, it's a big issue for a lot of Christians, I think because it's perceived as an implication that the Catholic church does not consider them "Christian enough" to be worthy of taking communion. I know that it rubbed me the wrong way the first time I heard of it, and it also became an issue for things like Girl Scout Sunday, which was traditionally held at a different denomination's church each year on a rotational basis. One year, when I was a kid, the local Catholic Bishop made a point of making a big announcement, saying, "Catholic Girl Scouts should not be attending Girl Scout Sunday services at other parishes, because it does not fulfill their Sunday Mass obligation. On the other hand, if Girl Scouts from other denominations want to come to our church, well, that's great!" I now recognize this more as a slap against the Girl Scouts (being the evil, feminist organization that they are- this must have been a particularly conservative Bishop) than Girl Scout Sunday in and of itself, but at the time, it was a big deal, because it split up Girl Scout troops into Catholics versus non-Catholics, and if the non-Catholic girls were roped into going to Catholic services every year, it also meant that they were all barred from taking communion, which was seen as sort of exclusionary, particularly when the whole thing was no longer a fair rotation amongst the various local churches. It had been a complete non-issue before, and it was a kind of shitty thing for the Bishop in question to inject this tension into a place where there had previously been none.

To be clear, I would never have dreamed of taking communion in a Catholic church as a kid, and my mother always made it very clear to me if I went with friends or something that I shouldn't take communion, because it wasn't respectful, transubstantiation, et cetera, but that argument becomes much harder to swallow if you're an Anglican and the Novus Ordo, Catholic services is almost word-for-word identical to your Episcopal service from the Book of Common Prayer. It was when I made that connection that I started saying, "Wait a second, what are they doing that's so special in their services when their services are exactly like ours?" Obviously, it's more complex than that, but for a lot of Protestants who aren't fully aware of the theological reasoning behind it, that's essentially how it comes off. Now I no longer care one way or the other, because I'm no longer a Christian, and I occupy myself with Jewish infighting, which has similar tensions (see also the Conversion Debate, egalitarianism and patrilineal descent).

I was baptized Roman Catholic but was never confirmed as my parents became "lapsed" right about when I would have been. I now attend an Episcopal Church, but I went to a Catholic high school for all 4 years and was confused the whole time about whether I should have been taking Communion. I did on and off. Today I don't really feel right taking it when I go to Mass with friends and family, but my still "cafeteria Catholic" aunt told me to just go ahead and take it.

It gets confusing for people in my situation. I see it as a matter of respecting the rules of the RCC even though I don't agree with them, but to be honest the way the RCC has used Communion as a political weapon angers me. It feels sometimes like I know I'm not welcome in their eyes (they being the Magesterium, not any 'ol average parish priest) so I won't bother.

[Savoring Samsara]

Additionally, it should be noted that Catholic Girl Scouts attending another denomination for an event like that would not be allowed, by Catholic practice, to receive communion in that church--so a division based on denomination is inevitable if both Catholics and Protestants are involved in the event. Likewise, at Lutheran church for a family baptism, my husband and I remained in our pew during communion.

Interesting. I don't know what the Catholic perspective is on taking communion at other denominations, but I know that in ELCA Lutheran churches at least, any baptized believer of any denomination is welcome to take communion there.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I'm former Assembly of God. I'm happy to answer questions.

Shorter AOG: Fundamentalists who believe that legalism will get them to heaven. Very fond of "laying on of hands", "telling the truth in love", and controlling others in the church by judging their lives. Of course, anyone who's currently in favor with the pastor will escape the endless witch hunts for those who aren't "living their faith". They speak in tongues. When I was in the church, they were VERY fond of Gothard and his teachings.

I have to admit I've always been curious about AOG. Growing up in a reformed fundie church, pretty much all I knew is that all the AOG kids in my school disapproved of makeup and dancing, and that the reformed crowd looked down on their church because their theology was "wrong." (cause, ya know, Rushdoony is so right! :lol: ) However, I never really knew what they believed. Goodness knows reformed land can be pretty legalistic, so I guess I'm just curious to know what the major things are that AOG believes.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I feel like I am missing something here. I went to an assembly of god church as a teenager and was married there. It's just like every other church except yes sometimes people speak in tongues but that is not unique to aog. Women wore pants and I never heard anything about dancing. I was even pregnant when I got married but never was shamed or anything. The pastor was so nice and his wife used to work. This is southern CA so maybe it's different elsewhere.

[Rainytown]

I have to admit I've always been curious about AOG. Growing up in a reformed fundie church, pretty much all I knew is that all the AOG kids in my school disapproved of makeup and dancing, and that the reformed crowd looked down on their church because their theology was "wrong." (cause, ya know, Rushdoony is so right! :lol: ) However, I never really knew what they believed. Goodness knows reformed land can be pretty legalistic, so I guess I'm just curious to know what the major things are that AOG believes.

Here's their "statement of fundamental truths". I broke the link; I hope this was the right thing to do.

ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_fundamental_truths/sft_short.cfm

The thing that will trip you up in the Assemblies of God, IMHO, is not the "statement of fundamental truths". It's the lengthy and never discussed list of unwritten rules. Another poster mentioned attending an AoG church and not having problems with this. Here are a few of the things that would put you front and center on the prayer chain/land you in the pastor's office for a little chat at the least.

No dancing

No drinking

No smoking

No fornicating

No porn. Allegedly.

No R-rated movies. PG was suspect as well.

No "non-Christian" music. This includes classical, believe it or not.

No questioning the pastor's pronouncements on any subject.

No women serving on the church's board

No pants for women in a Sunday morning service

Questioning the "faith walk" of others is accepted and subtly encouraged, especially if you are not close friends with the pastor or did not give a large "gift" to the latest building fund. Others in the church would not only confront you, they would feel free to meddle in your private life as well.

I actually had a pastor in my teen years that gave up rollerskating. He believed it wasn't "Christian".

One of the board members' late teens daughter got pregnant while engaged. They "moved up the wedding because she already had her dress." The church secretary's late-teens daughter got pregnant about the same time. The family was publicly embarrassed by the pastoral staff and others in the church as a result.

There are many other unwritten rules. It's exhausting. Mostly, the AoG is heavily into legalism.

[clone]

Here's their "statement of fundamental truths". I broke the link; I hope this was the right thing to do.

ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_fundamental_truths/sft_short.cfm

The thing that will trip you up in the Assemblies of God, IMHO, is not the "statement of fundamental truths". It's the lengthy and never discussed list of unwritten rules. Another poster mentioned attending an AoG church and not having problems with this. Here are a few of the things that would put you front and center on the prayer chain/land you in the pastor's office for a little chat at the least.

No dancing

No drinking

No smoking

No fornicating

No porn. Allegedly.

No R-rated movies. PG was suspect as well.

No "non-Christian" music. This includes classical, believe it or not.

No questioning the pastor's pronouncements on any subject.

No women serving on the church's board

No pants for women in a Sunday morning service

Questioning the "faith walk" of others is accepted and subtly encouraged, especially if you are not close friends with the pastor or did not give a large "gift" to the latest building fund. Others in the church would not only confront you, they would feel free to meddle in your private life as well.

I actually had a pastor in my teen years that gave up rollerskating. He believed it wasn't "Christian".

One of the board members' late teens daughter got pregnant while engaged. They "moved up the wedding because she already had her dress." The church secretary's late-teens daughter got pregnant about the same time. The family was publicly embarrassed by the pastoral staff and others in the church as a result.

There are many other unwritten rules. It's exhausting. Mostly, the AoG is heavily into legalism.

Yeah, I feel lucky because my church was not so strict. I mean definitely a lot of the things on your list were frowned on, but people still did them covertly, and there were no witch hunts. Most people I knew saw R rated movies, listened to non-Christian music, smoking wasn't considered a sin. Drinking was considered a no no, but you would just get the side eye if someone found you out at a restaurant or something. Some people were okay with dancing. People were having sex outside of marriage all over the place, and several of my friends had pregnancy scares as teens. But no one was ostracized. Their was a social hierarchy of sorts, but more like high school with the rich/popular crowd and then everyone else.

I think these types of things really can vary from church to church, because my experience just wasn't the nightmare I know a lot of people went through. We got lucky with our senior pastors, I guess or something. I'm not sure. I do think society as a whole is going through an uber conservative phase and that's reflected in the harsher legalism that seems so prevalent today.

That being said, despite my softened experience, I'm still resentful about the things that I was taught and the insidious indoctrination from birth. It colored my life even after I'd given it up. Right now, I mostly loathe organized religion of all kind, at least the branches that seek to impose their worldview on other people.

[FearLyss]

I used to attend an AoG as a kid, most of my family still does. My mother started becoming very uncomfortable there and left for a UCC when I was in my early teens.

Trinity is huge. They do speak in tongues. It was very scary for me as a child.Every service just seemed the same to me, save your soul . . . blah, blah, blah. My sister was 7 when she went up to the altar to beg for jesus' forgiveness of her sins. They considered her born again, at 7. I remember saying "Born again, she was just born!" and receiving a few looks. When I was "saved" I was 12. I was terrified. I had people surrounding me, speaking in tongues, laying their hands on me, praying over me, and just acting nuts. I was crying, because while I did genuinely want to be a saved Christian, I was terrified by the actions of these adults around me. I did not feel safe around these people. People would convulse during services. One time, I remember thinkng that people were having seizures, but apparently, the holy spirit can do that to.

They had some strict rules, but I did not follow most, nor did my mother. No dancing, drinking, fucking unless married, sort of the usual stuff I think. Halloween was bad, and easter was too if you had anything to do with the Easter Bunny.

They wanted us to evangelize all the time. I remember being taught how to talk to my classmates about saving their souls, which I never did. Politics was brought up often in church, abortion being #1. Gays were evil and I was told not to associate with any.

I do not know if this is how they all are, as I only went to one regularly and another as just visits. I went to an AoG funeral for my aunt about a month ago and felt just as uncomfortable as ever but at least there was no altar call at this funeral.

[takers401]

Interesting. I don't know what the Catholic perspective is on taking communion at other denominations, but I know that in ELCA Lutheran churches at least, any baptized believer of any denomination is welcome to take communion there.

It's a no-no. Catholics are supposed to only take communion at Catholic churches due to the belief in transubstantiation.

[yewchapel]

It's also to do with non-Catholic clergy not being valid priests and therefore communion presided over by non-Catholic priests just won't actually be the Eucharist to Catholics.

[Katiebug]

Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but does the Anglican church in the UK believe in transubstantiation as part of the consecration? I have heard Lutherans express the same complaint---that traditional Lutheran service is nearly identical so they should be allowed to receive the Eucharist, but their theological interpretation is consubstantiation which is (though subtly if you ask the average Catholic or Lutheran to explain either doctrine) different.

Back in the dark ages when I was a Girl Scout, Girl Scout Sunday in our small communities was held separately at individual churches not as one large event. As for attending another denomination on Sunday, that bishop was not speaking out of his ass, only mass attendance meets the Sunday obligation for Catholics. The circumstance (Girl Scouts or any other) is immaterial to that. We attended another church on a Sunday for a family baptism a few years ago. We went to mass the evening before. That is not a huge difficulty as most parishes have multiple masses every weekend. Additionally, it should be noted that Catholic Girl Scouts attending another denomination for an event like that would not be allowed, by Catholic practice, to receive communion in that church--so a division based on denomination is inevitable if both Catholics and Protestants are involved in the event. Likewise, at Lutheran church for a family baptism, my husband and I remained in our pew during communion.

I grew up and still am Lutheran in an area where the majority of people are at least nominally Catholic. Yes, it's a no-no for a Catholic to commune outside of a Catholic church but it's still pretty prevalent in my experience.

While I've never tried to receive communion at a Catholic mass, out of respect for that church's doctrine and the fact that there are differences between transubstantiation and real presence/sacramental union, I've seen Catholics take communion in a Lutheran church many, many times. Since our denomination practices an open table, any baptized Christian is welcome to commune - the restriction for a Catholic would not be on our end, it would be the choice of the Catholic in question. If you don't know them personally you can usually peg the Catholics right off the bat when they genuflect on their way into the sanctuary. :lol:

Some of the less devout Catholics in our lives have been confused about why we haven't gone up to receive at their mass. It's usually an argument on their part of, "The priest would never know." It gets into a big theological discussion to explain WHY what they have as communion is not really the same as what we believe communion to be so we usually just change the subject. Seriously, my husband got chewed out for not going up for communion at a relative's funeral mass. When we explained to the sister of the deceased that we're Lutheran, we were informed that the rest of the nominally-Catholic pallbearers hadn't graced the door of a Catholic church in years (much less been to confession) and his decision to remain in the pew "looked bad" in front of everyone. Um, OK...that's not really a reason to do something that isn't really in accordance with either our beliefs OR theirs!

[redcurls]

I feel like I am missing something here. I went to an assembly of god church as a teenager and was married there. It's just like every other church except yes sometimes people speak in tongues but that is not unique to aog. Women wore pants and I never heard anything about dancing. I was even pregnant when I got married but never was shamed or anything. The pastor was so nice and his wife used to work. This is southern CA so maybe it's different elsewhere.

See, this is why I asked.

The AOG people I know are no different from anyone else. No legalism, no patriarchy, no judgement, etc. They're basically the kindest, funniest family I know. The only difference seemed to be the whole "speaking in tongues" thing, which I've heard them mention once.

It also appears that the AOG ordain women to pastor. http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200102/ ... loring.cfm

[oil]

Another Christian claiming persecution. This is a great essay.

http://www.politicususa.com/grandmother ... ndson.html

Where is she claiming persecution? I dont see this word persecution said by the grandmother. Why all the accusing these christians of saying theyre persecuted when they didnt even say it??

If you can find it in the article for me I will take back all the above. Thanks, the article is difficut for me to read.

[Black Aliss]

I'm former Assembly of God. I'm happy to answer questions.

Shorter AOG: Fundamentalists who believe that legalism will get them to heaven. Very fond of "laying on of hands", "telling the truth in love", and controlling others in the church by judging their lives. Of course, anyone who's currently in favor with the pastor will escape the endless witch hunts for those who aren't "living their faith". They speak in tongues. When I was in the church, they were VERY fond of Gothard and his teachings.

Rainytown, you and I must have attended the same AoG!

[GodsKnickers]

My dad was raised AOG and it was exactly as FearLyss describes her experiences. Along with what she describes, you didn't go to movies because the movie house was a den of iniquity; there was to be no card playing of any kind because that would lead to gambling which was VERY BAD. When we moved to Canada, Dad went to the Pentecostals, because I think it lined up fairly similarly, at least back then.

We didn't go to movies. We had no cards in our homes. No drinking, dancing, no celebration of 'worldy' versions of holidays - so no egg hunts, no Easter Bunny at Easter, no Santa, that sort of crap. On Good Friday we were dragged from our beds at stupid o'clock to go to a "sunrise service" - I hated it, lol. Church twice on Sundays and every Wednesday night was bible study and Fridays were youth or kids club type shit. Plus, we got to do all the stinking church cleaning. Hated that too.