A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Trinitarian Pentecostal Organizations
“all unnecessary jewelry, such as rings (not including
wedding rings), bracelets, earrings, stick-pins, and flashy
breast pins . . . showy colors in dress, attractive hosiery,
short dresses, low necks, short sleeves (that is, above the
elbow), and bright ties.” 178 In recent years, however, there
has been greater variation among many of these groups.
The PAW, for example, has many members who wear jewelry
and makeup and many others who do not. To some
extent, this trend has extended to doctrine, with a few
PAW ministers espousing unconditional eternal security
and even elements of trinitarianism.
Many early Pentecostals, especially those who came
from the Holiness movement, opposed all remarriage
after divorce. The wife of J. H. King, IPHC leader from
1900 to 1946, left him shortly after their marriage in
1890. Because of his conviction against divorce and
remarriage, he remained celibate until she died, remarrying
only in 1920. While the AG allows divorce and remarriage
in the case of marital unfaithfulness, it will not
license anyone who has divorced and remarried and has
a previous companion still living. The UPCI allows remarriage
for the “innocent party” and will grant ministerial
license in such a case, although it recommends that ministers
do not remarry after divorce.
Most of the early Pentecostals were pacifists. For
example, the AG, PAW, and UPCI adopted official statements
supporting the government but opposing the taking
of human life in warfare. 179 The AG eventually
abandoned this position, however. The UPCI retains this
view in its Articles of Faith but treats the matter as a “conscientious
scruple,” and today many ministers and members
are not pacifists.
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