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What's wrong with Christmas anyway???? |
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The "snip" below is a little part of an article I received a while back about why it should be ok to celebrate Christmas. The article admitted that The traditions kept today to celebrate Christmas are pagan in origin and have no foundation is scripture. I will not be addressing the pagan origins of Christmas in this article but I will link to some good websites that have articles on exactly where our traditions come from. I want to address the attitude of Christians in accepting such traditions and why that acceptance is so dangerous. |
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Snip But, pagan though they be, they are beautiful customs. They help to inspire us with the spirit of "good will" even as the sublime services of our Church remind us of the "peace on earth" which the Babe of Bethlehem came to bestow. May that spirit fill the heart of each of us on every Christmas Day!"snip |
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It was a good article. Every thing they have described about the origins of Christmas traditions are true and I sniped and pasted the end of it because this is exactly what I believed for over a decade and it is this mind set I want to address. I had the idea, as do most Christians, that just because the day and the traditions used to be pagan, does not mean we can't "rescue" them and put them in the service of Yahweh for His glory. It all sounds nice and proper until you read these scriptures (of which I had never read before I am ashamed to say). We must ask ourselves who is really getting the glory here. |
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Deut 12:30. and after they (the pagan nations that the Israelites dispossessed) have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same."
31. You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
32. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. |
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| Now you might say that "well, we don't sacrifice our sons and daughters, it is all just innocent fun," but in a way we do. We teach them lies and call them truth. Now... We all know that Yahweh cannot lie and Satan is the father of lies and yet we indoctrinate our own children into pagan forms of worship and lies and we thereby offer them up to the father of lies by doing so. Now read this one. |
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Deut 12:2Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.
3. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
4. You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. |
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Now, in direct violation of this command, the church made it it's practice of taking pagan articles, buildings and traditions and making them Christian. Don't believe me? Take a look at the Obilisk at the Vatican, look at the origin of EVERY Christian holiday and you will find them rooted in pagan holidays. Let me say that again. You will find that every holiday celebrated in Christian churches are not found in the bible anywhere but only found in the histories of pagan cultures. The Obilisk at the Vatican was brought from Egypt and now it is the template of every church steeple around the world. Now Yahweh told us to destroy those things yet in our arrogance, we take all these great "beautiful" pagan traditions and objects and tell Yahweh "now I know that you have told us how YOU want to be worshiped, but aren't these beautiful traditions and objects? What could be the harm in a little tree. Surely you won't mind if we do this with a loving heart for you. After all it is the thought that counts. Right?" Well lets see. I think you may be surprised. |
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Ex 32:4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
5. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." |
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| Now notice something very imprtant here.... This was a feast to the LORD...As in Yahweh. Not some other false god. They took the traditions they grew up with in Egypt and said, "Well, Moses is not here, and we don't know if he is ever coming back, so lets just take those traditions we know so well, because they really are beautiful and it is the intent of our hearts that counts not the way we worship Him and we will use those pagan traditions to worship Yahweh". Now look what Yahweh wants to do to them because of that in verse 10. |
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| Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I maydestroy them. Then I will make you (Moses) into a great nation." |
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WOW!!!! Now notice He did not say "How nice of them. They want to worship me and that is all that really matters, so I will just overlook this little indiscretion and accept it in the spirit it was intended." No!!! It says He wanted to destroy them!!! There is a reason Yahweh gave us strict instructions on how to behave and worship Him. He created the universe and he dictates how things should be done to honor Him and there is grave danger to us if we walk outside of His path. His instruction is for our benefit. Now, because the church has discarded the true biblical Holy Days of Yahweh and replaced them with holidays that came from the mind of Satan (and we must admit that if they came from the pagans then they were conceived by Satan himself right? We know he is the force behind false gods. What business do we have with Satan?) we have missed out on such richness, truth, blessings and understanding. Take a look at what the Holy Days are called... They are called Holy Days of Yahweh. That is an important fact. That means they are for all people who say they follow the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Whom do you want to follow????? |
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| Oh..... and by the way... one Christmas tradition is in the bible |
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Jer 10:3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. |
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Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. |
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This custom of a "Christmas tree" which was started before the birth of Yahshua, is called vanity and not accepted by Yahweh. It doesn't matter if it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside and don't worry about your kids missing out on a bunch of lies of the enemy that are all wrapped up in a pretty bow. It's not about you. It's about being obedient to the Creator of the universe and raising your children to honor truth and holiness. Lets not be hypocritical about Hollowe'en and it's paganism and yet accept the paganism of Christmas. |
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