A Merry Christmas to one and all!
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Absurd and Fanciful Excuses the Churches of God Come Up With To Not Keep Christmas
Redfox has great patience to sit and read through the drivel that the Philadelphia Church of God prints as if it were well researched and educated theology. Ive never been lucky to get past the first two pages. This time he has highlighted the fraudulent booklet printed by the PCG: The Truth About Christmas.
He writes:
It is important to understand that the reasons presented by HWA for abandoning Christmas are wrong and often quite badly misinformed. Both booklets, for instance, insist that Christmas is a continuation of the Babylonian religion deifying Nimrod and Semiramis. It is never admitted in either booklet that this idea comes from Alexander Hislop's book, The Two Babylons, which was made in the 1850s. It was an anti-Catholic polemic designed to vilify the Catholic Church and the Papacy. That book has been proven to be nonsense.
As Bereans Did has done great work in documenting just how absurd and fanciful many of the justifications for shunning Christmas are. Here is some of what As Bereans Did has said on this matter.
Over the years, As Bereans Did has done some great research on Christmas. Like "The Plain Truth About December 25th" which makes the case about why the December 25th date likely did not originate in paganism after all. "Jeremiah 10 and Christmas Trees" which makes the case on why Jeremiah was referring to idol worship, not Christmas trees. "On Nimrod and Christmas Trees" part 1, part 2 and part 3, which make the case on how the origin of Christmas Trees has been distorted. "Nimrod's Birthday Was January 6?" which makes the case that the claims on Nimrod's birthday are faulty. And "Quotes Before Christmas" which makes the case that most of the claims the COGs make about Christmas' pagan origins are based on questionable research. And we haven't even found the time to explain how winter was a great time of year for sheep to be in the fields of Bethlehem (see point 5 of the linked article).So there is no good reason for a Christian to shun Christmas. In fact this teaching in effect served mainly to socially isolate HWA's followers from mainstream society in order to make them socially dependent upon the group of HWA's followers. The abusive way this teaching has been used to isolate followers from family and friends is just one of many persuasive reasons why the COG groups are often identified as cults.
HWA's Christmas ban was also a way to get more money from his followers who no longer spent money on Christmas, as HWA obliquely reveals himself in his booklet.
But I can say by years of experience, as I believe most pastors and ministers can say, that when the month of December rolls around, nearly all professing Christians forget to give gifts to Christ and His cause [HWA's group, Radio Church of God renamed in 1968 as Worldwide Church of God] almost altogether. December often is the most difficult month to keep Christ's work [HWA's cult] from dying. People are too busy trading gifts back and forth among themselves to think of Him and His Work [HWA's cult], it seems. Then, in January and even into February it seems they have to catch up from what they spent for Christmas, so they seldom get back to normal in supporting Christ and His Work [HWA's cult] before March. (HWA, p. 19.)That is the real reason HWA banned Christmas. Herbert Armstrong wanted more money.
You can read and follow Red's blog here: No Good Reason to Ban Christmas for Christians: Reading PCG's Plagiarized Denunciation of Christmas
Sunday, December 21, 2014
UCG, LCG, COGWA And Their Annual 'It's Not A Christmas Party" Weekend
Christmas with COGWA at the Galt House where UCG used to meet every year till COGWA apostatized and usurped the facility from under UCG.
They book these weekends in resorts that are decked out for Christmas from trees, to garlands and millions of lights. Yet through it all, not one single UCG member, LCG member or COGWA member looks at any of those decorations, listens to the Christmas music playing, or marvels at the beauty of the lights. When they walk into these places the blinders go on and the ear plugs go in. Then once they are sequestered in their meeting or play spaces they click their tongues at the poor uneducated, deceived, pagan worshiping, filthy heathens outside the doors bowing down to Christmas trees decked out with Lucifer testicles, dead babies and Satan's snakes.
The hypocrisy of these groups know no boundaries.
I would like to inform you about North West Weekend which you are accusing to be a Christmas party in one of your blog's. Do you even go to our church? Have you ever been to our church? North West Weekend is not a Christmas party yes we have a dance Saturday night but we only use that weekend because everyone has it off we would gladly use another weekend but that one is easiest we don't have Christmas trees or wreaths or any of the fixings of a Christmas party this year our theme for the teen dance is a night in old morraco we also have volleyball on Thursday day this year we have our ski day. Christmas has no part in your weekend we usually forget it's around Christmas unless someone brings it up. Also it is not the only weekend we do stuff. We have church Saturday and after sundown we set up we do it in winter time because sunset is early and we have time to set up and have a three hour dance, and then have time to pack up and leave. As a fourteen year old I'm ashamed that you as an adult don't have enough reasoning power to realize this.
Apparently sunset is a rather inconvenient thing to work around the rest of the year.
Christmas with UCG at the Great Wolf Lodge and not a Christmas decoration in sight!
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