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Post by strangewind on Mar 21, 2008 13:34:57 GMT -5
Well, there you go. I imagine the documentary mentioned how St. Patrick took the common three-leaf shamrock to explain the Trinity to folks. The shamrock certainly had a pagan meaning to the people he witnessed to, but...
...who made the shamrock?
Christ, co-eternal with the Father, was engaged in the creation of the first shamrock. For thousands of years, bad copies of religion developed over time in pagan circles, eventually "losing" the important themes of God's true call to his creation. But how could the shamrock "speak" the gospel to people if it hadn't had some element of the gospel intrinsic to its creation?
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Post by scintor on Mar 22, 2008 22:56:52 GMT -5
I grew up in a church that taught that the major holidays should not be thought of as sacred because of their man made origins. We celebrated the holidays as family times rather than religious. The outcome of this has both good and bad elements.
No one around me was influenced toward God by these special times, except possibly by example. On the good side, I had no faith in these things and therefore it could not be shaken by revelations of their origins.
My current feelings on celibrating holidays comes from two scriptures. Whatever you do in wor or deed, do all in the name of the lord. Col 3:17 and the other is paraphrased as Some members think some days are special, and others see all days as the same. You should not look down on each other just because of this. Rom. 14:5-6
Scincerely,
Scintor@aol.com
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Post by Divides the Waters on Mar 23, 2008 23:30:01 GMT -5
Of course, the Bible itself has a long history of incorporating and redefining pagan concepts and literature. From the Old Testament to the New, the believers in the one God would explain Him in terms that were relevant to the culture. If that meant simply re-writing a piece of pagan literature and substituting the name of Yahweh, that would be done. If it meant explaining that the Creator God was the Unknown God the Greeks work, so be it. I used to be one who thought that it was a bad idea to celebrate Christian holidays on the backs of pagan ones, but now I think it's one of the most appropriate things in the world, and certainly in keeping with the historical traditions of Scripture itself.
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