Comments on: Kleenex At The Altar

By: Papa Bear

Papa Bear — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:34:15 +0000

I grew up in a GARB church in Indiana, and while we had altar calls three times a week, and at every special event and revival service, and there were often tears when someone came forward, Missouri was the first place I saw Kleenex set out ahead of time. Maybe it’s a more southern tradition. It all seemed so contrived to me. “We’re going to make you cry, so we’re setting the Kleenex out now.”

Reminds me of the time I visited a small Bible church in Michigan, and the soloist, before beginning her “special” told us about how convicting the song was going to be and said that if, during the song, we felt a need to get right with God, “walk, don’t run to the altar.”

By: Papa Bear

Papa Bear — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:26:57 +0000

I always took the “altar” in “altar call” to mean the place where people “sacrificed” themselves to God, as in Romans 12:1. So it seems some churches have removed Christ’s sacrifice for us from the front and center, and replaced it with our (hardly worth mentioning) sacrifices for HIm.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:54:26 +0000

One of my fundy friends recently posted the above photo to his Facebook page. Thankfully he’s the type that can laugh at himself and fundy traditions, so I don’t think he posted it seriously. But it was still a surprise to see an SFL picture on his site.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:46:08 +0000

Well, speaking from experience, if you wanted to do a lengthy prayer, this was the only way to sit without all the blood leaving your legs and you not being able to stand up. Because, the alternative is to sit geisha style which only works for short prayers and…. well, geisha.

As far as the frontside. This is why you must never lean over. If you do, put your hand on your chest where your shirt is or make sure your head/hair is covering yourself.

Can you tell that I was an uber-fundie?

By: Don

Don — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:13:38 +0000

I missed it originally but I just caught the modisty grip on the skirt and side-saddle sit at the Altar.
Now tell me is she really able to do business at the altar if she is having to worry about her modisty that much? Now if the M-O-g is on the stage and she is bowed down what kind of view is he getting?

No matter how you present it the so called altar is not conducive to modisty. And the position of the body is not the issue anyway… it is the position of the heart. So what is the so-called altar for?
Headcount for sermon/pulpiteer manipulation effectiveness.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 23:53:00 +0000

And, all we wanted to do was get to K&W or C&H or J&S. I mean, we’d already picked out our entree, sides and dessert and that pecan pie was screaming our name.

By: phil

phil — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:20:54 +0000

Wait a minuet. There is actually a demotivational picture for this from despair.com? Cooool.
I got to visit there some time.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:50:36 +0000

I was generally the one at the piano playing 15 verses of Just As I Am, and pleased as anything that it got me off the hook of “going down front”. Even when I wasn’t playing, I never went to the old fashioned altar. There were times I felt that I wanted to talk to God about whatever happened to have impacted me that day, but I was NOT going to trot down the aisle just to please people. I knew I would be more concerned about what people were thinking than anything else. I would pray in my seat and start by apologizing to God for being stubborn and prideful and not going down front. Turns out God didn’t care where I was, only that He and I were communicating. This guilt has really bothered me in some places, especially the small church I was in in Arizona. The pastor’s wife was at the altar every Sunday just to pray. We were, are still are, great friends, but I still could not go there when it seemed that it would be more for my own personal PR than to talk to God. They did not pressure me, but I still felt guilty.

Once again, SFL has helped me lay to rest an imposed guilt. Thanks, folks!

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:09:56 +0000

But yeah, it’s definitely not about “doing” something here at my church… and we have plenty of faithful people who are happy in their service to the Lord. Of course, our church isn’t perfect, because the people aren’t perfect, and we’ll never have a perfect church till we get to Heaven.

Oh, and you know who I am btw… as long as you’re the same “exIFB” that’s posted here before. Remember kjbonly.com? I still appreciate that you started that forever ago… even if the site went nowhere. I believe the Lord really used you in bringing my husband and I together. If it weren’t for that, I probably would’ve headed off to GSBC to get an MRS degree… since it seemed like there were no other options in the Fundy church I was in at the time.

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:06:01 +0000

I guess I should’ve explained what I meant by “practical.” It’s not the kind that makes you feel beat up and guilty as you head home. Actually, our pastor teaches us how NOT to feel defeated, and how a Christian is supposed to live a victorious life. This is the first church I’ve been in where the pastor taught that you shouldn’t feel guilty for not reading “x” amount of pages in your Bible, because if you’re reading your Bible at all, even if all you can handle is a chapter a day, you’re doing good and the Lord is pleased.