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| Plain clothes and speech | obedience to the Holy Spirit | Yearly Meeting Sessions |
| Son of God | Sin |
| the Holy
Spirit I have a Quaker heritage and I have been raised and still live in Southern Illinois where there are no Friends. My roots go back to Virgina, North Carolina and some of the family went to Ohio and Indiana. Indiana is where my family went and then my GGGrandfather moved to Illinois. Through my hobbie of genealogy, I learned of my Quaker roots. I didn't know what a Quaker was, and my daughter found a book on Quakers in the school library. As I read the book I was moved as to what I was reading of early Quakers was also my convictions, I taught youth in church and was always in trouble with the Pastor for not following the "Baptist faith and message". I taught the Word as led by the Holy Spirit, but the Pastor disagreed with me on my faith. Sorry for rambling on, but I know I am a Quaker without a Meeting to worship with. However I do have Christ and He is all I need. I do have a question. Do any Quaker women still wear head coverings and men wear jackets with no lapels and the quaker hats? I know most don't wear them anymore, but I wasn't sure about Conservative Friends. From what I have read on your web site, OYM Conservatives strive to be as the early Friends. R.D. |
| Dear RD, Welcome back to Friends! As you have discovered, it is the Light, Christ, present and accepted within you as your teacher and Lord which makes you His friend, not your genealogy. I am happy that you have found a connection to others who share your experience and convictions. Some members of Ohio Yearly Meeting use "plain" dress, as you have described. Some use "plain" speech and some use the numbered, rather than named, days of the week and months of the year. It is as Christ leads us. It is too bad that there is not a meeting near you, but you could be considered as an affiliate member of Ohio Yearly Meeting. We are working on improving the ministry that we provide to Friends at a distance, for we have members in Greece, Great Britain, Chile... Illinois is not THAT far away. If you are interested, perhaps you could send me a letter that you have read through our discipline, that you feel you are in unity with it, and that you would like to join. I would then pass your request on to the appropriate monthly meeting to take you under its care. The main obligations of affiliate members besides striving to follow Christ would be to pray for the yearly meeting as you are lead, to answer monthly queries, and to consider other ways in which you might contribute to the building of the body of Christ. Whether or not you choose to apply, please feel free to write at any time. Your Friend in Christ, C.L. |
| Plainness Are the Ohio Conservative Meeting members committed to plain clothes or speech? My family considers itself conservative- Christocentric, plain clothes, living simply... yet we have only liberal FGC meetings to attend. We are looking for other conservative Friends to communicate with. S.M. Dear S.M., Ohio Yearly Meeting has no formal definition of a dress code. We emphasize simplicity in dress, and many of our members accomplish this through wearing "plain clothes." Many also use "plain" speech, with thee and thou. I will look through our membership list and send your note on to those I find near you. You may also want to attend our Yearly meeting, on 8/18-21/2004 in Barnesville, Ohio. If this interests you, let me know and I will send you more information. I would be interested in learning more about how you and your family were lead to your current witness - please write more! Your Friend in Christ, C.L. |
| Yearly
Meeting Dear C.L., Thank you for responding. My wife and I will discuss the possibility of attending Yearly Meeting in Barnesville. Please send us information concerning the event. My wife and I were led to Quakerism by chance (or by the spirit) about six years ago, and were called to express our faith in terms of plain clothing three years ago. We live and work at an inner-city homeless shelter while I attend school. I am planning on attending seminary in a year or so, and then we want to look for a conservative Quaker community to live and work in, though the Lord may have other plans. I would enjoy keeping in touch with other Christ centered Friends, and look forward to hearing from you again. God's Peace,S.M. |
| Dear C., Grace abundantly and peace to you with joy in THE LORD. Many months have passed since I last heard from you, but you have been in my thoughts often. I was especially in prayer for you after learning you had altered the perjury statement on your tax return. If I could be so nosey, I am wondering if there were any repercussions? It has been with much weakness that I have struggled through many difficult situations these many months. However, THE LORD'S mighty power has been over them all. As it is written, "HIS power is made perfect in weakness." So my weakness was great, but GOD'S grace toward me was infinitely greater. ... May we do all things through CHRIST WHO strengthens us. M.H. a servant of JESUS THE CHRIST, SON of THE LIVING GOD Dear M.H., Dear M.H. Thank you very much for your prayers! I feel embarrassed to say that the IRS processed my return and sent my refund without batting an eye. What is more important, I brought your concern to our Yearly Meeting in 2003, and the wording of our Discipline is being changes. I will let you know when the new wording is official, but it takes out all references to perjury and gives much more positive advice on how to proceed in such instances. I and all of Ohio Yearly Meeting owe you many thanks for turning us to the Light and away from an error! I hope that some time soon there may be some opportunity for you to worship with us in one of our meetings, or perhaps you would want to consider becoming an affiliate member. I understand exactly what you mean in embracing weakness - how else can we let go of ego and our focus on the prince of this world? May the Lord's power continue to work in and embrace you! Your Friend in Christ, C.L. |
| Where would I send an application (to the Overseers) for
affiliate membership and what information should be included? Thanks, J. R.
Dear J. R., |
| the Son of
God M. wrote: I have been to two churches, now that we have moved to Ohio, and found very little of love one to another. I have lived here 6 years in feb. I have read what you believe, and it is what I also believe and know as truth. But did not see if you believe Christ Jesus is the only begotten of God? I would very much like to know. Thank you Dear M., Thank you for your note. We Friends do believe in Christ Jesus as the only begotten by God, but our emphasis goes forward from there to how He works in the world and in us; our focus is not as much on what we have read or been taught happened 2,000 years ago, but on what is happening TODAY, in our own experience. We experience Christ in all His offices - Light, Word, Priest, Shepherd, Redeemer and so on! Christ Jesus is the Seed of God, planted in our hearts, to conceive and bring forth a new being - our re-born selves, sharing with Christ in His inheritance to the extent that it is He, not we, who truly live in these bodies/temples. The fact that Christ Jesus was begotten of God, and born of the Virgin Mary, and all those other "articles of faith" are of no value if they are only a recitation of ancient history. To Friends, as we make our pilgrimage to the New Jerusalem, we come to experience these facts personally in our own time in our own souls and lives. Please tell me more about your experience. In what part of Ohio do you live? Please accept this invitation to join Friends in worship soon, at one of the meetings listed on the web site. Let me know if you need more help in getting to one. Your Friend in Christ, C. |
| Sin B. wrote: Is ‘Sin’ literally passed from one generation to the next in genetic DNA? Dear B., Our physical natures are inherently self-centered and short-sighted, giving us all a propensity to act on impulse, to indulge our lusts, to disobey our Lord. But this propensity in itself is not sin, it is just vulnerability to temptation. And our physical natures are not our true selves. Who we really are is our souls, our immortal, spiritual beings, made in the image of God. In our souls, there is not "original sin." In fact, we are all originally Holy. When we sin, it is because we have shifted our center from our souls to our bodies and yielded to temptation. Each sin is an individual act or thought. Scripture makes it clear that when we are judged, we are judged for all our own deeds and none of any one else's. A man who has been good all his life may be condemned for one slip at the end. (Ezekial 3:20) Or a man who has been evil all his life may be restored by making amends. (Ezekial 33:14-16) But the father is not judged for the son's sins nor is the son judged for the father's. (Ezekiel 18) Be ware, B. There are those who would gain power, money or influence by talking up sin, by claiming that it is inescapable, that we are all damned unless we toe some mark which people have made. Christ came not just to bring us the message of forgiveness and atonement for sins past but to stand between us and temptation in the future, that as our past sins have been offered up and our sinful nature killed on the cross with Christ (though He never sinned) so we also NOW can live with Him in purity. We Friends do not profess, individually, to have succeeded to have maintained this state for ever, but we have experienced being in that state and we proclaim our commitment to God's command that we reach it and stand in it as we live, day by day. This is a two edged sword. When we acknowledge the power of Christ to keep us from yielding to temptation, we free ourselves from the law and it requirements that maintain the job security of the priesthood to intervene for us. But when we enter into this freedom we also take upon ourselves a level of expectation some would try to avoid. For there are many who acknowledge Christ in all His offices to get us off the hook with God for sins, but who want to stop there, claiming that sin is inbred, that they cannot stop doing it and therefor have no alternative but to keep stumbling through life anticipating that by repeating the mantra, "I accept Jesus Christ as my savior," they will be saved. They refuse to submit to His power to deliver from the power of sin. They even would deny that it exists. They do not believe that the Power or Christ is greater than the weakness of man. This is an error. I do not condemn any one who does succumb to temptation. Like Paul, I have not yet reached the mark of being forever on the solid ground of perfection. But as a Friend of Christ, I know that it is my fickleness, my turning back, like Lot's wife, not the Lord's weakness or inattention, that leads to backsliding. So recognize your true spiritual inheritance - original holiness. Cast off, one by one, the skins of animals which clothe you and the yearning of animals which tempt you, and join us in striving to return to that state that Adam and Eve were in at the first - all ourselves totally visible and found to be totally pure and clean, with no need for shame! Your Friend in Christ C. L. We need to depend on the Lord for the power to overcome sin. We cannot accomplish that merely by thinking we can be sinless, by merely wishing to be good. To the contrary, we can become prideful merely by assuming we have that natural power. Christ has come to teach us righteousness inwardly; we need to receive that teaching willingly. In Christ, A. B. |