{"id":721,"date":"2010-09-14T03:42:31","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T03:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aaronmatthew.com\/thoughts\/?p=721"},"modified":"2011-07-30T19:13:01","modified_gmt":"2011-07-30T19:13:01","slug":"accept-all-substitutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aaronmatthew.com\/blog\/2010\/accept-all-substitutes\/","title":{"rendered":"Accept All Substitutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I really hope I don\u2019t offend anybody with this article, I am really   do mean this very tongue-and-cheek. Lets face it, for those of us who   grew up in these environments, we have all asked the same questions at   one time or another. The point of this article is to show that creating a  law against a vice to manage a heart issue, does nothing to change the  heart because our nature is to simply find another vice as an outlet for  our issue. True change is only by changing the heart through the power  of the cross and having the faith that Jesus can change your heart.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I grew up in a environment that advocated outward holiness. These   outward standards typically varied from church-to-church and   year-to-year. Growing up I had many questions about the various changing   standards, which often just didn\u2019t seem to make sense to me. <strong>NOTE: <\/strong>None  of these examples below are in reference to any specific church or  organization, like I said, all churches and organizations had something a  bit different, so this is just an accumulation.<\/p>\n<p>They say a picture is worth a thousand words\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"watch-vs-bracelet\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watch-vs-bracelet.jpg\" alt=\"watch-vs-bracelet\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Many churches wouldn\u2019t allow the luxury of wearing jewelry because it  was considered vain and immodest, however an expensive watch was OK.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"watch-vs-weddingring\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/watch-vs-weddingring.jpg\" alt=\"watch-vs-weddingring\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Depending on what church you went to, wedding rings were not allowed, however you could get your special lady an \u201c<strong>engagement watch<\/strong>\u201c.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"noknees-vs-knees\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/noknees-vs-knees.jpg\" alt=\"noknees-vs-knees\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The ever illusive knees and their visibility differed  church-to-church; that little body part got more girls in to trouble  when they went to camp because every church seemed to set that bar  differently.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"pajamas-vs-pants\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pajamas-vs-pants.jpg\" alt=\"pajamas-vs-pants\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Many churches did not allow women to wear pants because they  considered pants to be men\u2019s apparel, however pajama pants were OK for  many groups.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"elbows-vs-noelbows\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/elbows-vs-noelbows.jpg\" alt=\"elbows-vs-noelbows\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I never understood the deal with elbows, maybe it is because most guys don\u2019t lotion their ashy elbows?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"easter-vs-beard\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/easter-vs-beard.jpg\" alt=\"easter-vs-beard\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>No comment\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"dvds-vs-theaters\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/dvds-vs-theaters.jpg\" alt=\"dvds-vs-theaters\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Depending on how strict your church was, you might have been able to  watch movies on DVD, but you were not allowed to go to the movie  theater; at least not officially (wink, wink).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"books-vs-movies\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/books-vs-movies.jpg\" alt=\"books-vs-movies\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you went to a stricter holiness church, you could not go to the  theater and you could not watch movies on DVD, however reading the book  about the movie was OK.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"clown-vs-makeup\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/clown-vs-makeup.jpg\" alt=\"clown-vs-makeup\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Girls always seemed to try and sneak on \u201cnatural\u201d make up or color  \u201clip gloss\u201d. For the most part women could not wear make up, however  make up for clowns was OK.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"baldness-vs-shorthair\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/baldness-vs-shorthair.jpg\" alt=\"baldness-vs-shorthair\" width=\"550\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I once had a pastor sit a drummer friend of mine down from playing  because he got a bad haircut (his hair was too short); note that the  sound guy was bald.<\/p>\n<p>Well, I hope you enjoyed this little journey. Basically the message  of this article is this. We can trying to manage our sin and our issues  or give them to Jesus Christ. When we try and manage our own sins we  just create laws and <em><strong>laws have no power over the heart<\/strong><\/em> because there is no change in the heart or mind; all we are really  doing is covering it up, only to create a substitute or outlet to fill  the desire that is still in our hearts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I really hope I don\u2019t offend anybody with this article, I am really do mean this very tongue-and-cheek. Lets face it, for those of us who grew up in these environments, we have all asked the same questions at one time or another. The point of this article is to show that creating a law &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aaronmatthew.com\/blog\/2010\/accept-all-substitutes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Accept All Substitutes&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Accept All Substitutes - Talking About Jesus<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aaronmatthew.com\/blog\/2010\/accept-all-substitutes\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accept All Substitutes - Talking About Jesus\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I really hope I don\u2019t offend anybody with this article, I am really do mean this very tongue-and-cheek. 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