tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post111170073495021699..comments2023-08-16T07:20:09.921-05:00Comments on Kineti L'Tziyon קנאתי לציון: Happy fertility goddess day!Judah Gabriel Himangohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10277699587853707632noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-75185064515292844382008-03-27T00:24:00.000-05:002008-03-27T00:24:00.000-05:00I appreciate your comments on this subject.I have ...I appreciate your comments on this subject.I have taken the bulk of your article to use in our church newsletter. We do not charge for the letter. I will not print it without your approval. But I agree with the things you said. Why reinvent the wheel. You can email me at vetorichj@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14790209684824662206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1145224906163712862006-04-16T17:01:00.000-05:002006-04-16T17:01:00.000-05:00Christian Americans do a lot of things that are un...Christian Americans do a lot of things that are ungodly and devilish. Christmas is not an ordained holiday at all. The Word tells us to celebrate His coming daily. Most of the stuff done in Christ's name is not. After all, Christianity has killed many in His name. The truth is to become more like Him in thinking and in deed. Thank you for the great blog about another holy day turned into Satan's lie. thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1144700370155769692006-04-10T15:19:00.000-05:002006-04-10T15:19:00.000-05:00Awesome article on Easter. We have recently found ...Awesome article on Easter. We have recently found out this is a pagan holiday and our family is freaking out about us not celebrating it any longer. We are Christians but feel that God is calling us to be set apart from the world and walk in holiness in these last days. Thank you for an article that explains and supports the truth about the history behind what Easter really means. Good job!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112628483519449502005-04-04T10:28:00.000-05:002005-04-04T10:28:00.000-05:00Hello again c0ach. I gotta say, you make a very co...Hello again c0ach. I gotta say, you make a very convincing argument and I'm really humbled by your awesome knowledge of Scripture.<BR/><BR/>If we are not doing the festival in honor of an idol or a false god, then it doesn't have the same implications as actually celebrating the festival in honor of a false god. Paul confirms this when he qualifies his statement by saying it applies to "those who have the knowledge" and to those who know "an idol is nothing at all in the world and there is but one true God."<BR/><BR/>You have convinced me. If we know that Easter is nothing at all in the world, and we know there is only one real God, then we are not in sin by observing Easter.<BR/><BR/>If it is not sin, should we continue on observing it? Following in your tradition, let me play a game of substitute the nouns:<BR/><BR/>"Some people are still so accustomed to Easter that when they celebrate it thinking of it as having been directed at an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But Easter does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if don't celebrate it, and no better if we do."<BR/>--1 Cor 8:7-8, after substituting Easter for food/meat.<BR/><BR/>To say we are "no worse if we don't celebrate and no better if we do" makes me believe Paul is hinting at something here. Indeed, if one looks at Acts 15:25-35, in particular verse 29, his statement in Corinthians conflicts with Paul & Barnabas' own assertion that new believers ought to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols!<BR/><BR/>So is there a conflict? No, I believe Paul is saying in Acts that we shouldn't eat meat sacrificed to idols, and in his letter to the Corinthians, he qualifies the idea by saying that while such is not a sin (as long as you know that idols are nothing in this world), there is no benefit in doing it.<BR/><BR/>Likewise I'll say that while it is not a sin celebrating Easter (knowing that the goddess Ishtar is nothing in this world), there is no benefit in doing it.<BR/><BR/>Now on Christian liberty, wow, there's a whole blog post (or blog post<B>s</B>) by itself. I was recently talking with another blogger about this very topic: see <A HREF="http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11753631&postID=111211166222623927" REL="nofollow">this blog post by Gary Kirkham</A>. Maybe I'll write some more on this later.<BR/><BR/>Good talking to you c0ach. God bless!Judah Gabriel Himangohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10277699587853707632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112597031128798082005-04-04T01:43:00.001-05:002005-04-04T01:43:00.001-05:00Judah, Christian Slashdotters are all too rare, my...Judah, Christian Slashdotters are all too rare, my brother. :)<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your thouhtful and civil reply. You correctly state that Paul is not encouraging meat sacrificed to idols. It's also important to note that he is not discouraging the eating of the meat, either (for those who understand its meaning). In vv 4-6, Paul tells us that we believers know that there is only one God and meat sacrificed to gods that do not exist is nothing. In other words, it is the same as ordinary meat.<BR/><BR/>If one takes part in customs that originated in a pagan holiday, knowing full well that the original object of the pagan holiday does not exist, he or she is doing nothing wrong. If I could take the liberty of using 1 Cor. 8:7-8 as I suspect Paul would have intended in our case:<BR/><BR/>"Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat an Easter egg they think of it as having been directed at an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But Easter eggs do not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat them, and no better if we do."<BR/>--1 Cor 8:7-8, after substituting Easter eggs for food/meat.<BR/><BR/>I will state, that 1 Cor. 8 warns of the faith of weaker brothers, who see our actions and are scandalized, even to the point that they are emboldened to worship the idols we know do not exist. Is this a potential problem? It could be, but I have yet to meet someone tempted to worship Ishtar because of Easter eggs and the day we are celebrating the Resurrection, have you?<BR/><BR/>"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge."<BR/>--1 Cor 8:9-11<BR/><BR/>It seems to me that a fair exegesis of 1 Cor. 8 leads to the following:<BR/><BR/>* A man who participates in activities directed at idols is not sinning if he understands that there is one true God.<BR/><BR/>* A man who participates in these activities in full knowledge, but causes his brother to fall into worshipping this false idol is sinning against Christ.<BR/><BR/>In other words, we have Christian liberty, but we are not to parade our liberty around our weaker brothers who may fall into sin because of it (see 1 Cor 8:9). You seem to agree with this in your response, but I didn't see you mention that we have Christian liberty. I think an understanding of Christian liberty is vital to understanding 1 Cor. 8.<BR/><BR/>"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."<BR/>--Col 2:16<BR/><BR/>Colossions 2 has a very good description of Christian liberty. What are your thoughts on Col 2:6-23 with respect to Christian Liberty? What is Paul saying in Colossians 2:16, in your opinion?<BR/><BR/>God bless,<BR/>c0achPaul Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12828792117398282353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112596991191904752005-04-04T01:43:00.000-05:002005-04-04T01:43:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Paul Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12828792117398282353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112383567162484242005-04-01T13:26:00.000-06:002005-04-01T13:26:00.000-06:00c0ach, thanks for visiting, good to see a fellow s...c0ach, thanks for visiting, good to see a fellow slashdotter and believer in Christ.<BR/><BR/>Paul is saying here that some people chose to eat meat, even if that meat was sacrificed to idols! What does he have to say the practice itself?<BR/><BR/>"Eating food offered to idols gives us no advantage; we do not come short or become any worse if we do not eat"<BR/><BR/>That alone seems Paul is not encouraging eating the meat given to idols; in fact, the whole chapter is about being careful: those who do eat idol meat might make others go astray. The context makes it clear; Paul is warning those who eat idol meat not to make others go astray.<BR/><BR/>The story of Joseph in Genesis is a bit different from our Easter situation. Could God use a pagan festival for himself? Of course! He can do anything he wants to. While God certainly uses anything he pleased to do his will, we really have to ask ourselves, what is being accomplished when we celebrate Easter? Most of Easter has nothing to do with God: eggs, rabbits, all these things are not of God. The Catholic Church chose to modify it so as to include the Christian story; leaving us today with a mix of paganism and Christianity. I find the mixing of godliness and ungodliness hardly a work of God himself. If this were a work of God himself, we would throw off all the paganism and focus on God alone.<BR/><BR/>I think if Christians are truely interested in doing what God wants, we could celebrate Resurrection day on the correct day (Jesus was raised from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits), rather than on the day named after a fertility goddess. Additionally, we could do without the eggs, rabbits, and fertility symbols; for sure these are not being used by God for his own purposes.Judah Gabriel Himangohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10277699587853707632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112381027949154002005-04-01T12:43:00.000-06:002005-04-01T12:43:00.000-06:00timxpx, I understand where you're coming from. The...timxpx, I understand where you're coming from. The roots of festivals like these seem rather unimportant to most.<BR/><BR/>I would agree with you completely if Paul had said, "And to the Pagans, I became a Pagan and did Pagan things that I might save some."<BR/><BR/>Of course, he didn't say that; Paul is saying here how he, even in his Jewish nature, blended with gentiles so as to bring them to Christ. Does that mean he was going to the temples of Zeus and eating before idols of false gods? No, of course not.<BR/><BR/>You say brining up the truth about paganism would make people think you're boring, soured with religion, leaving you with "little opportunity to bring out more important things". I would say to you that if you're holding back because what people would think of you, then you are trying to please men over God. "More important things" seems to imply paganism is of little importance... I don't know, God seems pretty concerned about paganism and idolatry throughout the Bible: enough to scatter his own people for over 2 millenia because of their idolatry and paganism. To me, that seems pretty important.<BR/><BR/>"For I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil. Surely, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single dot or letter will pass from the Law. The man who teaches those to keep the Law will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven, but those who disobey the Law and teaches others to do so will be considered least in the kindom of heaven." -JesusJudah Gabriel Himangohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10277699587853707632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6836835.post-1112075247203394772005-03-28T23:47:00.000-06:002005-03-28T23:47:00.000-06:00Hi Judah, nice blog. I followed your link from sl...Hi Judah, nice blog. I followed your link from slashdot. You are a very good writer, and quite persuasive. I just had a few questions.<br /><br />What are your thoughts on Paul's statements about eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Cor. 8? Paul tells us not to focus on the origin of the meat (pagan worship) but on the intentions of those who eat the meat. Do the intentions of those who celebrate Easter come into play here, or should we focus on the origin of the holiday?<br /><br />Genesis 50:20 tells us that God uses evil to accomplish good. Is it possible that God can use a pagan holiday for Himself? Why or why not?Paul Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12828792117398282353noreply@blogger.com