Legalistic Churches Has No Borders

This is not a photoshopped picture.  This is not a prank, joke or satire. This is a real church posting their “real” regulations outside the gates of their property. The denomination is the Seventh Day Adventist Church and it is a Jamaican-based one.  Hat tip to Facebook’s Former Seventh Day Adventists .I have known personally some Caribbean Adventists and yes, they can be very ultra-conservative in their approach and worldview to say the least. Here’s what the supporters of this decision had to say:

“Signs like that can actually help avoid a lot of hard feelings.”

“Some Nightclubs out in the world have a dress code and you have to conform if you want to get in, you wont get in with shorts and thongs. Why shouldnt we have a dress code to come into the sanctuary to meet with God. If you were coming before the Queen or Pope you would be required to be fitly attired.”

“Adventists used to be people who dressed modest. Now a days, everything goes. WE NEED TO REPENT.”

“I would like to see a sign like that posted at all our churches…wonder if ancient Israel allowed its people to enter the sanctuary dressed like that.”

Thankfully there are voices of moderation(and reason) out there to offer their sensible two cents on this matter. One person who is a former Adventist from a Caribbean background proposed this resolution on  the Former Seventh Day Adventist Facebook site: 

This gives another excuse for people to not go to church and I…hope people go to a Christian church instead of this one. That being said, I personally have noticed people in all denominations have become more casual, which is fine, but some people take it too far and it can be distracting to both genders to have people dressed like their going to a night club or on a date But there is a much better way to handle this and that is to speak with the people who regularly attend about the issue as it arises rather than have a sign at the door that would offend rather than draw people in(.)

And another participant had this to say, warning about fetishes about do’s and don’ts like that sign in the picture,

“The lists tend, I think to pop up where people are practicing a “Jesus plus” religion. Jesus plus proper thoughts and proper dress and so on. . . . When Jesus isn’t enough then folks start building fences between ‘real sinners’ and themselves to try to shore up their prospects to heaven.”

Sadly, legalistic churches have no borders.