Big Bubba - The Holidays Threads Merged

[Mommytoa3rdgradeboy]

I think it's important too to define what people mean by "celebrate".

For us at Easter, we don't do any easter egg hunt or chocolate bunnies, we attend church (on Easter Sunday) and our church usually has a play about Christ's death and resurrection. We thank the Lord, sing songs of praise and worship and then usually have an Easter dinner with family. That is our "celebration" of Easter....I'd say we remember more than we "celebrate".

For Christmas, we have a tree yes.....dressed with beautiful colours and an angel on the top of it. We travel to my parents' home for the holidays. As for gifts...the 3 wiseman came bearing gifts at the birth of Christ so in our family, we buy 1 gift for each person (there are only mom, dad, sister, 2 nephews, my husband and 2 boys). Again, we attend Sunday service and again the church does a play to remember the birth of Christ (the Nativity play) and once again we have dinner with family....so again we remember more than we "celebrate".

If someone wants to judge me for the way I "celebrate" my Christmas and Easter because they were traditionally pagan holiday's, by all means, cast the stones. I don't care about the pagens traditions, I don't care about sun gods and sunrise services...God knows our hearts when we remember Him and there is nothing pagen about our rememberence of our Savior at these times.:hug

Same here, Christina. That is how my family celebrates or "remembers" those two holidays.

[Evangelist16]

I love you as a dear brother, but the bolded line is offensive to me to everyone who holds the resurrection of Christ as something wonderful to celebrate.

Joy, I do believe in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrate it at the Feast of Passover. But I do not celebrate it on the day of Easter, for that is the holiday designated as a pagan ritual. Jesus was the Passover lamb, and until we as Christians, see that our Savior, he who knew no sin, died for our sins. His blood was spilled. JUST LIKE, when Moses, told the Hebrew's to take the blood of the Lamb, which bones would not be broken. And put it on the door post, so their first-born would be saved. Hmmm, well what is a door post made out of? Wood. Okay, so take the blood of a Lamb, then wipe it on the door post (made of Wood), then for those in the tabernacle would be saved. That sounds like exactly what Jesus did for us right? Okay, well that was the first Passover, ever in the history of the Bible.


Your analogy fails. And yes, you are judging.

Isong, this is very sad to be condemned by my own sister. You are falsely accusing me, of judging you. When all I am showing you is the truth. You get offended by the truth, then you falsely accuse me of judging you? This is wrong Isong, you say these are cultish and heretical things? How do you say so? Have you done your research? Yes, again the birth of our Savior is an amazing thing. It shoud be celebrated and praise should be given to God often, for he himself became man. But when celebrated in the surroundings of Christmas, it is influenced by pagan traditions. Regardless. Again, I am not saying we shouldn't celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ's birth and resurrection. Everyone who calls themselves a Christian, should be celebrating these. But all I'm trying to show, is that sometimes we do things incorrectly, and when we realize we have done something incorrectly. We change our ways, and do it the right way. My family and I used to celebrate Easter, until we learned the true significance, of celebrating under Easter. And now we celebrate the Feast of Passover. But the point we are missing here, is that we should be celebrating, his birth and his resurrection everyday of our lives. For that is the only reason why, we are here today. I'm done debating with you, obviously the truth will be shown. But some will not see it or oblige to it. I was excited when I had learned of these Feasts (Jewish Holy Days) a few months ago, and as well the pagan tradition and influence of most Christian holidays.

Sorry for those who I have offended, but I encourage you to do the research over the Feasts. As well the pagan influence in Christian Holidays. But this is truth, and Jesus was our truth. He who is the Author and Finisher of our Salvation.

[LisaJo]

It's very sad that a discussion about Holidays comes to this.:ohno
Evangelist16, I agree with you. Christina and Isong, I don't agree with you. That's ok. I :pray that we continue to fellowship with each other on RR.

[lyngraphics]

So is Good Friday supposedly pagan as well? We had such an awesome service this year on Good Friday... very moving and emotional for me.

[Joyb0218]

Joy, I do believe in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrate it at the Feast of Passover. But I do not celebrate it on the day of Easter, for that is the holiday designated as a pagan ritual. Jesus was the Passover lamb, and until we as Christians, see that our Savior, he who knew no sin, died for our sins. His blood was spilled. JUST LIKE, when Moses, told the Hebrew's to take the blood of the Lamb, which bones would not be broken. And put it on the door post, so their first-born would be saved. Hmmm, well what is a door post made out of? Wood. Okay, so take the blood of a Lamb, then wipe it on the door post (made of Wood), then for those in the tabernacle would be saved. That sounds like exactly what Jesus did for us right? Okay, well that was the first Passover, ever in the history of the Bible.

Evangelist16, you have a dear heart. I understand what you are saying. And that is wonderful that you want to study the OT and what the feasts represent. It truly is a fantastic thing that our Father has done for us, isn't it?

But do you understand how the scales can get tipped and before you know it your sliding headlong into the whole Hebrew Roots Movement? This is EXACTLY how it happens right down the line.

Trust me in this. My closest friend has been under the Law of Moses for over 20 years. And you know what? It ALL started with the discovery of, "Wait a minute! We've been celebrating Christmas! We've been celebrating Easter! And it has pagan origins! Oh no... we must do it "the right way"!

Now, they are bound to the laws, rituals and feasts and can't seem to get out. They are entangled with the yoke of bondage that Jesus came to set us free from! :ohno

We have great liberty in Christ! But not liberty to sin or use our liberty to cause another brother to stumble.

I only caution you to please, use great spiritual discernment. The enemy is so so so sneaky. Disguised as an angel of light, he always mixes in a little truth to a LIE.

Being sealed with the Holy Spirit means, that when our Father looks down at us, He SEES HIS SON and what He did on the cross!! I've said it before and I'll say it again, is there anything that measures up to that????

I find it comical and sad that Paul struggled with this very same thing almost 2000 years ago in the church of Rome. And here we are STILL debating it! You have this mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles, new baby Christians, new creatures in Christ and they were so entangled with what to "keep", what NOT to keep.

Paul broke it down simply. Let every man be persuaded in his OWN mind. God is our judge, observances were only a shadow, let us not make another brother stumble, do the will of God, etc. etc.

Can you picture it? The Jews had grown up with all these rituals and ceremonies, circumcisions, and sacrifices and here come the Gentiles, the "dogs" and all they had to do was simply-

Believe.

Can you see how the Jews could barely fathom this? "Well, why don't THEY have to do this? Or why don't they have to do that?" Knowing what to do and what not to do caused a huge furor between the Jews and Gentiles. I can't go into much more due to time, but you can read what happened in the book of Acts.

But do you see how that took place and it's still taking place today? Only it's kind of backwards? If we aren't doing the things God commanded Israel, we must be doing something wrong, right? Not true.

Like I said, learning is ALWAYS good, studying to show yourself approved unto God, ALWAYS good. Just be spiritually discerning! Be careful of erroneous doctrine that tells you you *have* to do anything or keep something or you are displeasing God. :hat

[Joyb0218]

It's very sad that a discussion about Holidays comes to this.:ohno

I agree. Celebrating certain holidays is a non-salvation issue. When something comes up like is and it starts to divide, the thread needs to close.

We've all made our points. Let's keep Romans 14 in mind and just continue to fellowship like LisaJo said.

:thumb

[OnceWasLost]

I agree. Celebrating certain holidays is a non-salvation issue. When something comes up like is and it starts to divide, the thread needs to close.

We've all made our points. Let's keep Romans 14 in mind and just continue to fellowship like LisaJo said.

:thumb

Best post I have read in a while.

:hank

[carolina_guy]

The feasts are not for the church. Quit looking in the Old Testament for hidden truths, Christ is the Truth. This message is very relevant to what's being discussed about the old versus the New:

This link works for the next few weeks: http://www.centralchurchofgod.org/video.cfm?vidPath=http://s3.amazonaws.com/ccog_video/071209video_Central2.flv&vidTitle=Sunday,%20July%2012,%202009


Or watch the video here:

v18757734ax3AQ6Np

[iSong6:3]

Isong, this is very sad to be condemned by my own sister.

:hug I love you like my little brother because you are my little brother in the Lord. I am sorry if you felt condemned: that was not what was in my heart. I love the sheep of the Lord here and I hate with great passion wrong theology that's only purpose is to entrap His dear ones.


It's very sad that a discussion about Holidays comes to this.:ohno
Evangelist16, I agree with you. Christina and Isong, I don't agree with you. That's ok. I :pray that we continue to fellowship with each other on RR.

I agree, but to a point (not a million pages) it's worthy to discuss and explore where the ideas come from that cause us to make our choices. Some are built on foundations that do not stand, and in love for one another as people of the Lord, we point those out.

Of course we continue to fellowship in love and joy with each other on RR. We have eternities of eternities together in the worship and life of our Lord!! I can barely wait for that.

[CecilHarvey]

The Occult is any sort of supernatural power used to glorify anything other than God. I once experienced levitation in my house and I remember being too confused to know where it came from. I don't thinks it's a gift and I don't know, to this day, whether this occurence was evidence of occult activity in my life or not. (I was never involved in any.) However I prayed for God to help me and I consider the matter settled, since I want nothing to do with occult power.

But what I do know is that occult activity, all occult activity, is a sin that God hates. There is no White Magic or Black Magic. The only difference between the two "arts" are the degree of sin involved, and God hates all sin. The Occult is spiritual adultery to God, and rebellion against his authority.


2 Corinthians 6:14 (New American Standard Bible)

14(A)Do not be bound together with (B)unbelievers; for what (C)partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Having NOTHING to do with witchcraft, horoscopes, or psychics.


1 Samuel 28
Saul and the Witch of Endor
1 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, "You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army."
2 David said, "Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do."
Achish replied, "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life."

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her."
"There is one in Endor," they said.

8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name."

9 But the woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?"

10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As surely as the LORD lives, you will not be punished for this."

11 Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?"
"Bring up Samuel," he said.

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"

13 The king said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?"
The woman said, "I see a spirit [a] coming up out of the ground."

14 "What does he look like?" he asked.
"An old man wearing a robe is coming up," she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

15 Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?"
"I am in great distress," Saul said. "The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do."

16 Samuel said, "Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? 17 The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. 19 The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines."

Please take Saul's punishment from God as a warning. Even though all sins are the same to God when it comes to Salvation, God considers plain old adultery worse than other sins. How much worse then, must spiritual adultery be to our relationship with our heart broken Father God?

Please take God's word as a warning for yourself, listeners, because he is always right.:preach:preach:preach:preach:preach