While the Armstrong Churches of God focus on separating themselves completely from God-fearing Christianity, spewing hateful "Bah-Humbugs" towards those they condemn as pagan and sinful, let's take a moment to look at Christmas through the eyes of a Christian.
These are some of the things a Christian focuses on during the Christmas Season:
JESUS CHRIST
- A time to honor, reflect, and meditate on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ (regardless of date).
- A time to sing songs of celebration and honor of the birth and life of Jesus Christ.
- A time to bring the warmth and beauty of lights in the darkness of winter in honor of the Light of Life.
- A time to love others, and show others the miracle of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
- The Opportunity to spend time with distant relatives rarely seen.
- A time to enhance, develop and strengthen emotional bonds and relationships
- A time to bless others with gifts in honor of the gift of Christ's gift of salvation to us.
- An opportunity to create positive, lasting memories.
THE WORLD
- A time to share the Gospel Message of the Coming of Jesus Christ into the World.
- A time to share to Gospel of the Kingdom of God through the dwelling of Christ within you.
- A time to bring attention to the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.
- A time to give the gift of joy, laughter, and love - and the message of peace on earth and goodwill towards men.
Tell me what in the above is "sinful" in any way shape or form.
The Churches of God relish in their own deep hypocrisy:
- Condemning ornaments, decorations, and the tree while constructing idolatrous temples of gold and silver.
- Condemning Christmas as pagan and evil, while trampling on the Biblical commands of how to keep Holy Days.
- Condemning Christmas songs about Christ, while singing songs that have nothing at all to do with Christ.
- Condemning Churchgoers who worship Jesus on Christmas with pure hearts - while single-handedly extorting their own members for sordid gain in wickedness all year.
- Blasting those who observe Christmas while (UCG) holding the Winter Family Weekend at a Christmas Holiday Hotel.
- Condemning those who give gifts to others on Christmas, so they can gain that money themselves, regardless of what needs are being filled or what blessings are being administered.
YES, there are legitimate concerns about Christmas that Christians of ALL faiths care about.
Christmas is a highly commercialized, monetarily driven day for many non-believers.
Christmas can be centered on myths and falsehoods for many believers. (Who are the COG's to talk about myths and falsehoods, by the way? ??)
Christmas can be a time non-believers to engage in drunkedness, illicit behavior, parties, and all of the things Paul preached against over and over again, and Christ condemned.
Christmas can be a day of selfish, get-driven philosophy if approached wrongly.
YET, let us not forget:
- The Feast of Tabernacles can be a highly commercialized, monetarily driven festival for Feastgoers.
- The Feast of Tabernacles can be centered (and usually is) on myths, outright lies, and falsehoods.
- The Feast of Tabernacles can be a time for Feastgoers to engage in drunk behaviour, illicit behavior, parties, and all of the things Paul preached against over and over again, and Christ condemned.
- The Feast can be a festival of selfish, get-driven philosophy if approached wrongly.
When it comes down to it, it all comes down to what is in a person's heart, mind and soul - whether it's Christmas or the Feast. Both can be abused. "But one's in the Bible, and one's a man-made pagan day!" I can hear echoing through COGdom. What is important is what is in the heart - whether you are observing a day celebrating Christ's Birth, or a festival celebrating Christ's reign. That - and that alone - is what God looks at, and always has looked at - even in the days of paganism, in the days Christ walked the Earth, and now in the age of grace and reconciliation. It's all about one's relationship with Jesus Christ. Because both a tree - and a Podium Church Seal - can be idolized in exactly the wrong way. It depends on your heart, not on what's made of stone or plastic, or wood, or glitter, or garland.
As the scripture says - against LOVE, there is no law. Because LOVE is the fulfillment of the Law.
submitted by SHT
22 comments:
Some food for thought, for sure.Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......................
From my own experience, I know that the highlights of the FOT involved pizza parties, dances, go-karts, swim parties, arcades (1980s), steak dinners, continental breakfasts, toys (as a child), sports, etc. All this and other activities, in addition to hour-long sermons, were to make us look forward to the "World Tomorrow."
Now, as a Catholic, Christmas highlights include music about the Nativity, about God humbling himself to become man in order to save us; spending time together with family without the distractions of everyday life; exchanging low-cost gifts to show love and kindness; helping those in financial need; watching movies such as "It's a Wonderful Life" and a number of "Jesus" movies; reading Christian books and reading Scripture aloud together; singing songs about our Savior; etc. And of course there's Midnight Mass. All this brings our attention to the Word, who through his Incarnation makes salvation freely available.
There's no comparison. One is a church-sponsored convention with seminars and an activity schedule; the other is (if done right) a holy celebration of "God With Us."
Christ IS the reason for the season. I feel really sad for the kids trapped in that Armstrong mess. They don't get to have any fun in their young lives with that cult stomping out any enjoyment. I can see why the suicide rate is so high in that demonic nonsense.
spewing hateful "Bah-Humbugs"
Not true. I was never told to say that. We were never hateful. Not at all. But such comments do seem hateful.
But is it bad to hate lies?
yeah, ideally christmass is supposed to be Christ centered, but in reality, at least in this nation, its all about retailers getting in the black, people getting gifts from others, partying, time off work, and frankly sadness and depression, etc, etc, etc...but we cant talk about whas real...
c f ben yochanan
Comments such as 8:35 seem to be by someone with a very narrow-minded view of Christmas. I hope during this holy day season the Lord will open their eyes to the meaning of Christmas, a day of love, thankfulness & celebration of the birth of our saviour.
Attending a get-together and time off work are negative things? Speak for yourself on that one.
Of course there were the humbuggers in the ACOGs. In order to elevate Armstrongism to only true church status, and then to maintain that status, other groups and their ideas had to be depicted as being in error, or less than. So, the leaders eliminated the inherently huge numbers of variables, and reduced all the other groups into simplistic strawmen. These strawmen were constantly held in front of us through sermons and articles, and regularly attacked as part of reselling Armstrongism. Rod Meredith was especially adept at creating strawmen, many of which have entered into the annals of Armstrongism cliches and shibboleths.
Do we perpetuate a bad heritage by turning, and now making strawmen out of Armstrongites? I can see where some might come to that conclusion, but the reality is that we're simply returning fire, speaking the same basic language and methodology. It's further education, and it can occasionally sting. But, what's important is the lesson. From what I hear, COG-7 didn't exactly dig on being reduced to the Sardis strawman. HWA was absolutely notorious for selecting baaaad dinner music!
BB
in matters of civil discourse i notice that people in the wrong always resort to making some degree of disparaging, and or personal comments to people with whom they disagree, even when such a person has said or done nothing against them personally...
clearly the spirit of chrismass (and the spirit of scoffing in general) is a vain spirit, all show and no substance...the Spirit of God, and obedience to His actual Commands is about love EVERY DAY...
c f ben yochanan
and, it is a widely observed and lamented fact that Christ has been taken out of christmass long ago, amd i would add rightfully so...
we live in a world where there are people what believe donald drumpf is a good potus despite the evidence, so it stands to reason people would delude themselves into believing Christ has anything remotely to do with a non biblical, manmade holiday instead of the actual biblical Holy Days He Himself personally Ordained...
c f ben yochanan
the fact is that christmass is a fabrication of mankind and it stands to reason that eventually Christ has been removed from it...He simply was not supposed to be a part of it in the first place...
there is no documented evidence that He was born on dec 25th; His birthdate is not recorded in the bible, although the dates that are meaningful to God are plainly recorded and Commanded to be observed...
the keeping of christmass is simply yet another instance of human beings in the western world dumping on Gods actual Commands while bending over backwards to keep the. commands of men...
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:8-9
c f ben yochanan
"Because LOVE is the fulfillment of the Law."
You can't fulfill a law if there is no law to fulfill.
On the other hand, Ben, isn't it just awesome that mankind would have come together spontaneously and on his own (without being commanded) to commemorate Jesus, who died so that all of mankind's sin debt, past, present, and future could be wiped out in one magnanimous and magnificent sacrifice? Wouldn't you be pleased with your children if they displayed initiative and went beyond your orders to them, and set up an awesome celebration for you out of gratefulness that you were their parent? Or, is that something for which you would curse and punish them?
BB
It may be true that Christmas isn't in the bible nor does it say not to keep it. Jesus celebrated the festival of lights but it isn't commanded either. If one can bring some enjoyment to another, help them feel better, be a little kinder why not? I don't believe Christmas is a "command" by anyone either so the "commandments of men" thing goes out the window as well. I think Christ's birth is important, if no birth, then no savior. Dismissing this is another way to say He isn't important and by telling others that it is pagan or we shouldn't honor it because it isn't documented is a way of getting others to dismiss it as well. So yeah, lets continue to take him out of the picture and let everyone know how unimportant the event was.
BB
Christ's death doesn't 'wipe out' peoples sins, at least not completely. There are always natural consequences of sin that never go away. Christ death is not a magic wand that wipes away reality.
yeah, according to my russian ex wife, Christ was born in january, and its awesome that weztern europeans were willing to kill eastern europeans regarding this mere difference in opinion...
c f ben yochanan
C.F. Ben Yochanan, judgemental much?
in the garden of eden satan also reasoned around the commandments, and the authority behind his reasoning was satan...
c f ben yochanan
so, help me understand: the explicit Command by God to keep the Sabbath is wrong, but the command by western european men to keep christmass in december (or, if you are from eastern europe, january) is right and proper just because we say its in the name of Christ?
so, man is the ultimate arbiter of what is holy and sacred, not God?
c f ben yochanan
Is the Pope a better Christian than any of the COG leaders?
He calls for us to get along with each other despite opposing views.
Sounds like a good application of love your neighbor as yourself.
http://news.trust.org/item/20181225110915-ylfkw
Pope delivers Christmas message in St Peter's Square
* Security tight after man threatened to bomb churches
* Francis urges people to respect those with different views
* Calls for reconciliation in Middle East, other war zones
VATICAN CITY, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his Christmas message to the world, urged people on Tuesday to see differences as a source of richness instead of danger and called for reconciliation in places torn apart by conflict.
Francis delivered the traditional papal "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in a sunny St. Peter's Square from the same basilica balcony where he first appeared as pontiff shortly after his election on March 13, 2013.
Security has been tight around the Vatican for the Christmas season, with military jeeps stationed at key access routes and tourists undergoing metal detector and bag searches.
Last week police in southern Italy arrested a Somali man suspected of having been a member of Islamic State and who had threatened to bomb churches in Italy, including St. Peter's.
In his address, in what appeared to be a reference to the shrill political climate in a number of countries, Francis called for "fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another".
Francis, the first pope from Latin America, alluded to polarisation over migration, saying God wanted "love, acceptance, respect for this poor humanity of ours, which we all share in a great variety of races, languages, and cultures".
"Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness," he said.
Francis, 82, called for the resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians to "undertake a journey of peace that can put an end to a conflict that for over 70 years has lacerated the land chosen by the Lord to show his face of love".
He urged the international community to work for a political solution in Syria and said he hoped a truce brokered in Yemen's civil war could bring relief to a population exhausted by violence and famine.
The Argentinian-born pope also called for social harmony in Nicaragua and Venezuela, both racked by internal political conflicts.
The millions of refugees or displaced people in Africa who are in need of humanitarian assistance and food security should not be forgotten, he said.
In Ukraine, he called for "a peace respectful of the rights of every nation". Ukraine's relations with Russia have been locked in a downwards spiral since Moscow annexed Crimea 2014 and backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (Reporting By Philip Pullella Editing by Gareth Jones)
8:04, I get that. Removal of a spiritual penalty is completely different from the accumulation of natural penalties or rewards which result from our daily actions and decisions. Most practicing Christians do take that into account as they live their daily lives. Sometimes, in the interest of brevity, I don't post everything I know on a given topic. What you posted is indeed of value for the greater reading audience here on Banned.
BB
Forget the pope. Go to the Church Militant website and find out what real Catholics think. The pope is a liberal. He's not really Catholic. The Church has been totally infiltrated.
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