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But we don't change the word to songs praising pagan gods to praise Him, that would be wrong. Thats a good idea. No, that is like saying that G-d invented child sacrifice. G-d created days, but He did not create pagan holidays. The only religious holidays I celebrate are the ones G-d gave us. Why do we need more? Moreover why do most seem to be so gung-ho about rejecting those He gave us in favor of those man gave us? No, as I have stated multiple times already, we are supposed to be set apart. No, I stopped celebrating Christmas years before I met them.

But they DId start it. Christmas ain't in the Bible, bro.

Wow. I just couldn't stop laughing when I read this. What a ridiculous idea! Were these people never school-aged themselves?

Actually Artsylady, I have about a half dozen friends who are pagan. They think that Christians who DO celebrate Christmas are kinda messed up. And I do celebrate the birth of Messiah, just not on Dec. 25. I do not want ot do away with anything christian, I want to bring Christianity to what it is supposed ot be, a group of people set apart for G-d, not a bunch of people who adopt pagan practices. Ronald You have not offended me, bro. I do not say these things to make myself appear righteous or to point fingers. I say them because I think it is something people need to hear. It really confuses me that the majority of Christians reject G-d's appointed times, his festivals, and celebrate man made festivals instead! Can you not see the illogic in that? Can you not see that the pagans use it against us saying "Look Christianity celebrates their G-d like we celebrate ours, but we started the celebration, clearly we are correct."? That passage is an admonition not only to not worship other gods, but to not worship G-d like the pagans worship theirs. It should be clear on the most basic level that we are NOT them. Having a holiday on the same day as them that they started (to celebrate the birth of the sun.....) and celebrating it in much the same way is NOT doing this. If you wish to celebrate Christmas, that is on you. I grew up celebrating it, and believe me I fully understand that it means a lot to people. I fully understand the implications of not celebrating it. I understand that many do it earnestly celebrating the Messiah, and not concerning themselves with paganism or commercialism, difficult though it may be these days. However, we are to be set apart for Him, and, to me a part of that is staying as far away from pagan practice as possible.

You don't recall what being a Christmas tradition? Burning ones children? That isn't the point of the passage. He is saying don't do these things, these people are detetible to Me, they even burn their children! StrayBullet Gal 3 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Deut 12 Do not inquire about their gods, asking, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I'll also do the same.' You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practice for their gods every detestable thing the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

No, G-d says "I will curse those who curse you" really, its a matter of putting 2 and 2 together, not speculation.

I think it is G-d's punishment also, praised be His Name.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5082301227.html Xtreme Defense Lightning guns, heat rays, weapons that can make you hear the voice of God. This is what happens when the war on terror meets the entrepreneurial spirit By Sharon Weinberger Sunday, August 28, 2005; Page W18 "This is very clandestine," Pete Bitar whispered, as his red Dodge Caravan idled in the parking lot of a Burger King near Fort Belvoir. "They called last week, and they wanted delivery this week." It did feel a little clandestine, if a bit unlikely. Yet there, in the Burger King parking lot, a small transaction in America's war on terror was about to take place. In the minivan were Bitar, the president and founder of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), Edward Fry, the company's research coordinator, and George Gibbs, of Marine Corps Systems Command, who two years ago plucked Bitar's obscure company out of its paper existence and provided it with more than half a million dollars in Pentagon funding. They were waiting for Superman. Bitar had battled start-up disappointments and even ridicule -- not to mention January cold and Beltway rush-hour traffic -- to seal his first Pentagon deal. The procurement order had gone through so quickly that the Indiana-based Bitar, who was in town for a conference, agreed to make his final delivery at the Burger King to avoid the hassle of getting onto the Virginia Army base. Bitar flipped open a case containing his first sale: the "dazzler," one in a line of about a half-dozen "nonlethal" weapons that XADS is marketing to the military. It looked like an executive pen: slick, green and flecked with gold. But the pen was really a green laser designed to disorient and temporarily blind an enemy. Sale price: $1,100 apiece. It looked, to use one of Bitar's favorite phrases, really cool. Bitar glanced up. "There's Superman." Sure enough, a broad-shouldered man materialized in front of the Caravan. He was wearing a leather jacket embroidered with the familiar "S" emblem and a matching tie. Superman stuck out his hand and introduced himself: Shane Gilmore. Pentagon folks seem especially fond of quirky nicknames and are not above cultivating that mystique. Asked about the Kryptonian symbols, he'd say only, "I'm Superman." But today he wasn't saving the world, just trying to protect it as part of an Army task force buying equipment for troops in Iraq. They had placed an order for 13 of Bitar's dazzlers. Supercharged versions of commercial laser pointers, dazzlers are the lowest-tech of Bitar's weapons, and they're not what initially caught the Pentagon's eye. Rather, it was his concept for a gun that could shoot bolts of artificial lightning to paralyze, but not kill, an enemy, like a "Star Trek" phaser set on stun. to read the rest of this article click the link, its kinda long

The fig tree was a symbol, trees are symbols in the Bible. And Gerioke , why is it that you single me out and say I want to ban Christmas when others on here have said they don't celebrate it? Yet you zero in on me, and compare me with a "lefty" whatever that is, but I am sure it wasn't a compliment. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Admit it Zayit, we all know you're a lefty. You write with your left hand, eat with your left hand. I'll bet you even try to drive on the left side of the road! Admit it!

Hrm, perhaps you could elaborate Zayit. It is a difficult question as to have Yeshua say something like that IMHO is kinda silly. It is not a realistic scenario, being the only person in the world. Though I do understand the attempt to demonstrate that He loves not just people as a whole, but the individual as well.

*edit* I give up. Keep whatever festivals you want. Here's a list mebbe you can find some more to "take over." http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/pa...als/index.shtml

...... Um...

They're laid out pretty plainly in scripture. There are plenty of days set apart for Him, by Him. It is not our place to tell Him that the days He set aside are not good enough, to reject them and not keep them in favor of a man made tradition! Lev. 23 The LORD said to Moses, "Give the Israelites instructions regarding the LORD's appointed festivals, the days when all of you will be summoned to worship me." If you love me keep my commandments.... Why don't we just "take over" every pagan custom and incorporate it into our religion? Apprently the commandments traditions and festivals handed to us as a gift from our Wise and Loving G-d are not good enough.

He who does not have Christ does not have the Father, and vice versa. You cannot know Christ except by the Holy Spirit's leading. You MUST know ALL THREE PERSONS to know the ONE TRUE GOD. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You just proved my point by proxy. The factor of your salvation being Christ means that Christ brings with Him the Father and the Spirit. No one comes to the Father but through Christ, and it is through Christ that the Father and the Spirit reside within the believers (John 14). Since you cannot separate the Son from the Father or the Father from the Spirit, us being in the Son (and the Son in us) naturally implies an intimate fellowship with the entire Triune God. When the question is asked, "Is belief in the Trinity essential to one's Salvation?" the answer must be no, for the belief in a flawed doctrinal explanation of a profound spiritual reality has absolutely nothing to do with genuine salvation. It only muddies the waters. In short, if you have Christ, you have the entire Triune God. There is no need for a belief or a confession. I don't need to know how many essential vitamins or nutrients are in a glass of milk, nor do I need to believe in them for that glass of milk to benefit my body. My belief or unbelief in a glass of milk will not change the fact that it's going to do its work. Therefore, it's not essential. All I need to do for that glass of milk to benefit me is to drink it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (emphasis mine) Well said. We shouldn't try to put G-d in a box.

Click start ---> control panel -----> display Click the settings tab at the top, there should be a slider bar that will allow you to adjust your resolution (1024x768 is the most common). You can change the wallpaper on the desktop tab.

Hrm, difficult question, perhaps you could rephrase? What do you mean by "natures"?

Well, I can assure you that if your computer was off noone was hacking it If someone did manage to get onto your network, odds are that you would not be able to tell unless they wanted you to know. Your router should be logging any incoming connections, you could review those and see if there are any unaccounted for, but again it is unlikely that you would be able to tell.

Well, you might as well cross Easter off your list to, because it's as pagan as Christmas, again having to do with the resurrection of the Sun. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I speak for myself, but I do not celebrate Easter, for the same reasons I do not celebrate Christmas. Were I a bettin man I'd wager that the others here who do not celebrate Christmas also do not celebrate Easter.

I'm not going to touch on your whole post as I agree with much of what has been said about it already. G-d deals with Israel the same way today as He did in the OT. He does not change. Now about their land. Yes, they did give up the Gaza. However, very soon, for the fist time in ~2000 years Israel will be home to the largest population of Jews in the world (right now it is the USA). So yes, they are giving up land, land that I beleive they will have back in the not-too-distant future. But at the same time more and more are making aliyah every year. I think that people have been asking that for quite soem time now. Pray, pray pray. I think that G-d working in their hearts is the only way that they will see the truth at this point, and they WILL see it, its just a matter of time.

Ya know, Yod just after I posted I realized that my statement was incorrect, but thanks for pointing it out.

Good to see you're comin around SJ

Yod, ya roped me into this one. I'm not gonna touch on Christmas though, as I said I would not. I think I have said what I need to say on that particular matter. I never said that there was such a commandment. Yeshua celebrated Hannukah, it is not the same thing. Well, we're gonna disagree on some things. Thats fine, so long as we do not resort to name calling and callouness. We also must take care that it does not interfere with our walks with G-d or our friendships. Certainly, so what's so hard about 10% more? And there we have it, why I'm not commenting on this topic any longer. I do not mean to be judgemental, but due to the nature of this (and any other) forum it is inevitable that I will come off that way.

This will be my last post on the matter. It isn't about getting people to church, its about getting people to the Truth. We shouldn't water down our faith to make it more palatable for unbelievers. How can every day be holy? It means set apart, what is it being set apart from? "Gee, G-d I don't see why you're gettin so freaked out about this here golden calf, we made it with things you created."