Expressions of Praise & Worship?

There's nothing wrong with the way your church praises but I know there are people out there that abuse it. Lots of people go around saying that if you don't speak in tongues you can't be a real Christian and that is not true Then there are those who fake the tongues, then there are the pastors that go around pushing people to the floor and saying that the holy spirit is doing it, when it is just them pushing.

Templar81 said:

There's nothing wrong with the way your church praises but I know there are people out there that abuse it. Lots of people go around saying that if you don't speak in tongues you can't be a real Christian and that is not true Then there are those who fake the tongues, then there are the pastors that go around pushing people to the floor and saying that the holy spirit is doing it, when it is just them pushing.

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-- I am sure this is true, but I do not think this is widespread. Over the last 30 years I have been a member of or visited scores of Pentecostal churches.

I have seen this only once. Repeat: once.

But if you go somewhere and find this to be the case, know that God will deal with those people individually in His way.

In the place that I encountered it, it involved a number of individuals and a representative of church leadership, but the others I knew personally in the church were not that way.

You should be concerned specifically about your heart and your worship practices.

Leave the worship practices of others to them and to God.

I've heard of at least two charismatic chuches that push people over when they should not.

I heard about a guy who got tipped out of a wheelchair because the preacher said he could walk and he really hurt himself.

Nevertheless, I now that for every 1 of these fakers there are 10 that do it right.

My experience of worship has always been very sedate in comparison. We have liturgy which is bery structured and you always know what is going to happen next. We don't throw ourselves about, we just sit, stand and kneel at the appropriate moments. Some of us genuflect and make the sign of the cross but that is optional.

I have no objection to experiencing a more lively style of worship, so maybe I wil visit a charismatic church to see what it is like.

While I do attend a Pentecostal church and have witnessed the dancing, hand waving, jumping, etc., I must confess that I too prefer a more sedate form of worship.

I find myself sitting with hands folded, kneeling, raised hands, etc., but I speak in a normal voice. I am talking to God, not the people around me.

My eyes are generally closed so - other than the noise - I am mostly unaware of the activities around me.

That is the one thing I like about the Catholic chuch. You would come in - kneel on the "kneelers" and prayed for however long you are moved to until you sat down waiting for Mass to being. It was a nice, peaceful way to worship, focus, drain away the outside world and prepare for the service.

UHCAIan said:

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.--Psalms 150:6

Does it matter how you praise God?

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3 But he answering, said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said:
4 Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But you say: Whosoever shall say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.
6 And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition.
7 Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying:
8 This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.
9 And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
10 And having called together the multitudes unto him, he said to them: Hear ye and understand.
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.


The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate. 2009 (Mt 15:3–11). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

It does matter how we worship and praise God. Firstly, it must be genuine praise. It must be done so as not to puff up one's self image in the congregation. There have been some who have already voiced about the "fakers" who actually harm others in their boasting that God has healed them when in fact God has not healed them. While I agree with Foreigner's comments about the sort of reverence and meditative expression within the liturgical services based off the Catholic form of worship, there is never going to be any place where temptation is not present. We must realize that real praise may start from hearing the Word, but its end is the actually doing of the Word. The best praise we can express is not in the service or at Mass, but when we are among our coworkers, our neighbors, the needy in our community, and to those who we may not necessarily like or even dislike us. The visual sings we take in at Mass is suppose to help dispense grace to build us up. If we are not in full communion by our sinfulness, by wrong belief that is contrary to the teachings of Christ and his Apostles, then that grace through the visual signs is not dispensed. We must be self-reflective, we must not cast the first stone, we must take the beam out of our own eyes before we take care of the specks in others.

St. Columcille said:

3 But he answering, said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said:
4 Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But you say: Whosoever shall say to father or mother, The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.
6 And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition.
7 Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying:
8 This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.
9 And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
10 And having called together the multitudes unto him, he said to them: Hear ye and understand.
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.


The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate. 2009 (Mt 15:3–11). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

It does matter how we worship and praise God. Firstly, it must be genuine praise. It must be done so as not to puff up one's self image in the congregation. There have been some who have already voiced about the "fakers" who actually harm others in their boasting that God has healed them when in fact God has not healed them. While I agree with Foreigner's comments about the sort of reverence and meditative expression within the liturgical services based off the Catholic form of worship, there is never going to be any place where temptation is not present. We must realize that real praise may start from hearing the Word, but its end is the actually doing of the Word. The best praise we can express is not in the service or at Mass, but when we are among our coworkers, our neighbors, the needy in our community, and to those who we may not necessarily like or even dislike us. The visual sings we take in at Mass is suppose to help dispense grace to build us up. If we are not in full communion by our sinfulness, by wrong belief that is contrary to the teachings of Christ and his Apostles, then that grace through the visual signs is not dispensed. We must be self-reflective, we must not cast the first stone, we must take the beam out of our own eyes before we take care of the specks in others.

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I agree. Our worship in a community setting should be a reflection of our lifestyle of worship throughout the rest of our days/weeks/etc. That rests on the heart of every believer. Also, if there is an authority who directs the church and there is chaos that goes against the "flow" of the service as directed by the leaders God has placed in authority, then I think there is a problem.

I think of the Psalms. The psalms were written out of one moment of time of one person's complete vulnerability before God then made public.