Yes, I suspected things were amiss in many ways too, such as not being able to sing with instrumental music during “church” yet it was fine to sing with instruments everywhere else. No knocks on any who hold those beliefs. It’s just troubling when you see them become laws contrary to what you see in Scripture.

Don’t even get me started on the long hair… Samson, Samuel, Absolom, even Paul at one time…

I think when we’ve seen a variety of approaches, we learn to appreciate so many different styles. It can be a blessing that we may not realize at the time, but can appreciate later! Thanks for sharing your experience, Betsy.

Yes, the heart (which we can’t see!) is the thing that God sees and cares about the most. Thanks, Kristi.

I wonder if more people in general are getting accustomed to raising hands. ? Perhaps people are a little more comfortable with it since there is a greater variety of churches, lots of music videos online with people doing it, etc. (Just thinking out loud. lol) In the church of my youth, we didn’t even raise hands when the song suggested it (and sometimes the words were changed to not suggest it!). 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience, Ruth!

You were ahead of the game early on in being exposed to other styles compared to me, Michele. It was well into adulthood before I saw anything other than my own little conservative church. I even thought my conservative neighbors were likely lost because they were conservative Baptists. 🙂 I’ve since apologized to them for being so judgmental at the time. Thankfully they didn’t hold it against me.

Reading the comments here, it seems that many of us had that same experience of growing up in more conservative churches. It makes me wonder how the next generation will view things if they’re starting out where we are ending up. 🙂 Even more freedom to come? Praise God. Thanks for sharing, Mary.