Reply #47: They're not the only ones.

[knitter4democracy]

Most non-denominational churches say the same thing, as well as evangelicals, other fundamentalists, and most pentecostals. This isn't unusual at all--the issue is whether they enforce it, which (in my experience growing up in the Church of the Nazarene) they usually don't.

Abstinence churches, as I call them, have issues with sin. They really feel that anything even close to maybe possibly sinning is extremely dangerous, so they prohibit all sorts of things that are fine for the vast majority of people. Drinking, face card playing (leads to gambling), gambling, dancing, sex outside of marriage, smoking, drug addiction of any kind (but almost always leave out food and caffeine for some reason)--they're all off-limits, or at least they were when I was a Nazarene. It makes you get creative on having fun. ;)