"Pagan- Shmagan...WHAT'S the 'Big Deal' ??"
Yea, Yea, Yea... Yack, Yack, Yack... Yada, Yada, Yada... Talk to the hand-- because *I'M* not listening!...
Hmmm.... Since when did it all become about "US", HOW *WE* feel, WHAT *WE* think, or WHAT it "means" to *US* ?? Friends and family-- strangers--... We had BETTER *start* listening... It has NEVER been about US, nor will it EVER be. We had BETTER start considering what YHWH has said about it, HOW YHWH *feels* about it, and WHAT it "MEANS" to YHWH. It's THAT SIMPLE.
Let's put things in a little clearer perspective, shall we? --How about we start *celebrating* and having *fun* activities, parties, songs, decorations, meals, and traditions/rituals on November "something" (1938), January 22 (1973), and September 11 (2001) every year... to *CELEBRATE* Adolph Hitler and the *splendid holocaust* :D *YEAH* and the day *abortion* became *LEAGAL* WooHoo!!! :D Oh... and, of course, the day America was *terrorized* and so many were *innocently murdered* C'mon... let's hear it-- 3 big cheers for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden: *Hip hip hurray!! Hip hip hurray!! Hip hip hurray!!* :D It'll be *SO MUCH FUN*...
Oh, don't be ridiculously offended... it will be *harmless fun*... and in a few years and a few generations from now, no one will remember OR CARE "WHY" it's being celebrated-- but the festivities and *fun* can continue on and everyone will have a *wonderful* time :D What do you say?? Is everyone agreed?...
*CELEBRATING* PAGAN holidays dedicated to PAGAN "gods" makes about as much sense as commemorating the Holocaust, Abortion On Demand, and 9-11... or ANY other horrible, wicked devastation. It is simply NOT "okay" or "righteous". To mimic horrible rituals, chants, "belief practices", etc. of those abominable nations that were the enemy of YHWH *IS* abominable to YHWH-- even TODAY. Do "we" REALIZE that? WHY would we continue to "hang on" to these practices and TEACH THEM to our CHILDREN when YHWH SAID CLEARLY NOT to?? It is NOT about "how WE FEEL in our HEART"... it is about OBEDIENCE to YHWH. Besides, if our LOYALITY and LOVE lies with HIM-- then WHY would those PAGAN rituals even appeal to us?? Would you want to celebrate the MURDERER of a loved one?? NO!!! THINK about it...
Let's put things in a little clearer perspective, shall we? --How about we start *celebrating* and having *fun* activities, parties, songs, decorations, meals, and traditions/rituals on November "something" (1938), January 22 (1973), and September 11 (2001) every year... to *CELEBRATE* Adolph Hitler and the *splendid holocaust* :D *YEAH* and the day *abortion* became *LEAGAL* WooHoo!!! :D Oh... and, of course, the day America was *terrorized* and so many were *innocently murdered* C'mon... let's hear it-- 3 big cheers for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden: *Hip hip hurray!! Hip hip hurray!! Hip hip hurray!!* :D It'll be *SO MUCH FUN*...
Oh, don't be ridiculously offended... it will be *harmless fun*... and in a few years and a few generations from now, no one will remember OR CARE "WHY" it's being celebrated-- but the festivities and *fun* can continue on and everyone will have a *wonderful* time :D What do you say?? Is everyone agreed?...
*CELEBRATING* PAGAN holidays dedicated to PAGAN "gods" makes about as much sense as commemorating the Holocaust, Abortion On Demand, and 9-11... or ANY other horrible, wicked devastation. It is simply NOT "okay" or "righteous". To mimic horrible rituals, chants, "belief practices", etc. of those abominable nations that were the enemy of YHWH *IS* abominable to YHWH-- even TODAY. Do "we" REALIZE that? WHY would we continue to "hang on" to these practices and TEACH THEM to our CHILDREN when YHWH SAID CLEARLY NOT to?? It is NOT about "how WE FEEL in our HEART"... it is about OBEDIENCE to YHWH. Besides, if our LOYALITY and LOVE lies with HIM-- then WHY would those PAGAN rituals even appeal to us?? Would you want to celebrate the MURDERER of a loved one?? NO!!! THINK about it...
So....WHAT *DID* YHWH say about it??
Leviticus 18: 1-5
And YHWH spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am YHWH your Elohiym.
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye NOT do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye NOT do: NEITHER SHALL YOU WALK IN THEIR ORDINANCES.
Ye shall do MY judgements, and keep MINE ordinances, to walk therein: I am YHWH your Elohiym.
Ye shall therefore keep MY statutes, and MY judgements: which if a man DO, he shall LIVE in THEM: I am YHWH.
Leviticus 20: 22-24,26
Ye shall therefore keep all MY statutes, and all MY judgements, and DO them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.
And ye shall NOT walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am YHWH your Elohiym, which have separated you from other people.
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I YHWH am holy, and have severed you from other people, that you should be MINE.
Leviticus 22: 31-33
Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and DO them: I am YHWH.
Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am YHWH which hallow you,
That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your Elohiym: I am YHWH.
Deuteronomy 6: 14
Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
Deuteronomy 12:30-31
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire NOT after their gods, saying, HOW did these nations serve their gods? even I WILL DO LIKEWISE.
Thou shalt NOT do so unto YHWH thy Elohiym: for every abomination to YHWH, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deuteronomy 20: 16-18
But of the cities of these people, which YHWH thy Elohiym doth give tee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely,....
That they teach you NOT to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods: so should you sin against YHWH your Elohiym.