Quote:
Originally Posted by Digging4Truth
What is your question?
The conclusion that the holiday is adapted paganism is foregone.
But some, apparently, feel that after a certain amount of time is past then this is no longer an issue.
Is there more info you need beyond that?
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I think missourimary thought you contradicted yourself in the two quotes she made from you that she emboldened.
I thought your response to me earlier, saying you thanked me for my point that if the accusatory demeanor against those who have no intention of worshiping a false god is not in your assessment of us, then our words against such legalism did not apply to you. But now you mistaken our point with a strawman argument and claim we believe pagan practices are fine after a few centuries, when that is not our point at all.
It is not a matter of time passing that makes the activity moot in our minds. If that was true, then we are taking conscious effort to worship a false god and think we can still worship this false god after so many centuries, but not when the false worship was new, which is not what we are doing. This clearly shows you miss our point entirely.
It is the intentions of the people involved that make it moot when there is no inkling of worship or honour of false gods. Why does the Lord discern our thoughts and intents if He could care less what we intend, and judges us as pagans when we do something similar in activity for which we have no intention of honouring any false god?
The common denominator between Paul's allowance for eating meats offered to idols and it being a moot point when people have Christmas is the intention towards any false god is fully absent, and our hearts are solely focused on pleasing the one true God alone while we simply enjoy giving gifts, which is not even worshiping Jesus by doing so! How can it be false worship to a false god when the heart absolutely sees no such thing in it?
It is the same thing as speaking "MONDAY" on the second day of the week, when such a thing ORIGINATED in paganism. Try as one might, they cannot make any difference between christmas and the days of the week. (But I guess we can excuse things like that since it is allegedly impossible to avoid. So when it is impossible to not worship a false god, you folks claim it is okay to do so, for there is no difference in the lack of intention towards idols in speaking the days of the week any more than involvement in activities at Christmas, but you claim such activities at Christmas make us heathens.)
Refraining from holidays is not legalism, but declaring that one is worshiping a false god when the heart has simply no intention towards such a thing is indeed extreme legalism. What could be more extremely legalistic than accusing someone of idol worship when one's heart has been fully directed towards the one true God but did something physically, without intent to do so, that looked similar to what pagans did to their false gods, and equating them as one and the same with that pagan worshiper? Hooboy!
How many other things do we do on a daily basis, without any intention to worship a false god, that are reminiscent of activities from pagan worship? Maybe waving a hand on Thursday at 3pm was done in honour to the god thor. We better find out! Otherwise we could be judged for honouring thor when we wave at someone on a Thursday afternoon at 3pm, whether we only waved at John Doe or not. Oh, and we better change the names of the planets, for they're named after false gods as well. Then there's the months! False god names as well!
If these myriad of other things we do unconsciously, that are reminiscent of false god worship, will not see us judged for idolatry, then what is the difference between that and giving gifts under a decorated tree without any intention whatsoever of worshiping any god?
There's still some more legalism some folks need to come out of.
'Nuff said. No sense saying any more.