GrammarNazi:


It gladdens my heart whenever I come across posts like this; it shows we still have youths that think for themselves rather swallow religious doctrines "hook, line & sinker".

Every point you have raised is true, but I've got one more to add (actually, I've got more than one, but I'd only give one for now and save the others for later).

In Matthew 23:9, Jesus said “And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and He is in heaven". Obviously, we know he wasn't referring to our biological fathers here.

But what do we have today? Starting with Roman Catholics calling their priests 'Rev Fathers', we move on to pentecostals with titles like 'Daddy G.O.' 'Papa this' and 'Papa that'. When you ask why, they say these guys are their "spiritual fathers"
If your pastor is your spiritual father, then God is what? Your biological father?

thesicilian:
On the issue of tithes, a lot of people might disagree with you as you have already anticipated.
First tithing did not begin with Jacob, it began with Abraham, when he gave tithes to Melchizedek the priest of the Most High. (Genesis 14:20)
And we're somewhat bound to follow the acts of our great patriarch if we are to enjoy his blessings as ''seeds of Abram''

But the new testament views on tithing are issues of continuing research to me, one would think that for such an important issue as tithing (as our pastors make it out to be), the New Testament Bible would be pretty clear on its stand but this is not the case

Sanchez01:
This piece may be hard for dogmatic Christians to digest, largely because they, as dogmatic as they are, have never been encouraged to think on their own and in turn, find out the truth concerning some of the practices I'm about to mention. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who feels slighted or angry at any/every part of my write up which I consider a "hardball". Please be open minded as you take your time to read through this piece.

1. Statues, Symbol of Christ/Mary in Churches is a sin:
God, through Exo 20:3-6 makes His intention known. If you attend a church where symbols, statues of Christ, Mary or Angels are mounted within its premises or you have one at home, then know you're on your own. Christ never commanded this and every action put up in the Old Testament concerning this was purely condemned. You have no business with that statue! (Also read: 1 John 5:21; 1 Cor 10:14). If you have a cross, statue, rosary or image depicting Christ in your home or church, then you are in the congregation of the dead.


2. The Worship of Mary:
The worship or "honour" accorded to Mary by some within the Christian fold is nothing but a misleading. Mary WAS a fortunate vessel used by God to birth Christ. She was a virgin at the time, just like most ladies of then. God could have used anyone. In short, God used anyone and that person was Mary. The Worship of Mary or mentioning her during prayer is a sin. Why? Christ gave a template fro prayer through the Lord's prayer. Mary went on to birth several other children through sexual form with Joseph.

[/color]
Notice the Halo around Mary (especially her head). That is an idolatrous practice of Christians which symbolizes deity (that she is equal with God). The Babylonians practiced the same idolatrous worship to the Queen of Heaven. Mary is NOT deity, she was a normal every-day woman. God makes CLEAR in His Word that He will NOT share His glory with another (that includes Mary).
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/bowing_to_mary_is_a_sin.htm

3. Church Marriage:
This is perhaps a practice Christ would never be happy with. Why? The church from the onset has no right joining a couple together. Never! [color=#990000] When a man and a woman agrees to marry, as far as they have sought both parents' consent, then they have God's favour and not the church's. Unfortunately, most churches prioritize this practice even more than the traditional wedding which started with Abraham's family in the Old Testament [/color]. Most ladies even live for the moment of church wedding without realizing the practice is wrong. Does it not baffle us as Christians that the wedding at Cana Christ attended was neither conducted in a temple or on a religious ground? Does it not speak volume, that despite being Christ, He did not lay any example as to how weddings should be conducted in the Scripture? Western wedding tradition has crept into the Nigerian church and our pastors are even outdoing those who started it. Amazing!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding

4. Christmas:
Ah... Everyone loves this season. Who doesn't? Everyone feels it and breathes it when it is near. Unfortunately, the origin of December 25 is idolatry. Christ was never born on the 25th of December. Christ said, [color=#990000]. Christmas is not a command of God—it is a tradition of men. Christ continued, . Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that! Read more on the origin of Christmas here: http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm

5. Tithe:
At this point, I know many will come for me. Therefore, this may be longer to drive my point home. Tithing started with Jacob and not on God's instruction, contrary to the belief of many people. [/color]Voila! And it started. But what was the original tithing system before the popular Malachi 3:10 method.

[color=#990000]

The passage above was the proper way of tithing; use your money to buy what your soul lust after and eat before God. Why pastors don't preach this, I don't know. Greed, perhaps. Christ while on earth in human form taught man all he needed to know about God's worship and living with fellow men. From prayer, to fasting, to offering, to giving, to sacrificing, etc. What did He say about tithing? Nothing! What did the Apostles teach about tithing? Nothing! As a matter of fact, Christ paid tax to an earthly government, prayed, fasted, gave, sacrificed and so on, but did He pay tithe at all? No! [color=#990000][/color]

I know many will claim "we operate both the Old and the New Testament". If this is true, how come we don't practice some of the commandments in in Leviticus 15

1. As the Old Testament practice, a woman with her monthly flow MUST not come near the Temple because she's unclean. Do churches examine this? NO! Save a few (white garments).
2. When a woman is caught in the act of adultery, the Old Testament practice was instant killing by stoning her to death. Does it happen in Christianity today? No! If we operate both Testaments, how come we cannot carry out this act? Simple! Because Christ demonstrated the perfect example - forgiveness. Under Christ, some Old practices were abolished, including tithing which is an Old Testament practice to the then Israel. It is hypocrisy to pick some parts of the Scripture that suits you and dump the rest.

There, you know which is which. Which should be abolished and which should be done away with. Happy Sunday

Sanchez01:

We cannot call that the standard one tenth as commanded by God. Why? Because tithes are never meant to be given to given to priests and kings, which Melchizedek doubled as. As a king, it was more of a tribute. Abraham, at every turn acknowledged he was a stranger in every land he found himself in, despite being promised to be the one to inherit the earth through his offspring. Tithes are never to man but to God.

akaahs:
You shall not bow down to them or serve them (Ex. 20:45); Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold(Ex.32:31). It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling other Christians most especially Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and Saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues. God forbade the workship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!
In Ex. 25:18-22; 26:1; 31, for example, God commands the making of image of golden chorus. This heavenly image, of of course, is not worshiped by the Israelites. Instead, the image dispose their minds to the supernatural and draws them to God. God also command the making of broze serpent. One had to look at the broze statue of the serpent to be heale, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decoration s. The image of the bronze serpent is not an idol to be worshiped, but an article that lifts the mind of the supernatural (Num.21:. Solomon s temple contains statues of cherubium and images that were used in worship(1 Kings 6:23-36;7:27-39;8:6-67). it was only when the people began to worship the statuein 2 Kings 18:4 that they did incur Gods wrath, and the King destroyed it. The command prohibiting the use of graven images deals exclusively with the false worship of those images. The only image of God that Catholics worship is Jesus Christ, who is the "image" (Greek "eikon" of the invisible God (col.1:15).
God's commandment in Deu.5:8- "thou shall not make a graven image'' is entirely connected to the worship of false gods. God does not prohibit images to be worship, but He prohibits the images themselves to be workshiped as idols. Christions, especially Catholics use images in worship and devotions; we do not use ''idols''. The different lies in what we believe about them. An ''idol'' is something made that is not simply used in worship, but itself is the object of worship. Sacrifices and obligations are offered to idols, since sacrificed is the root of any true worship. An image is something that is used in worship, but is not itself the object of worship. Sacrifices and oblation are not offered to images.
I hope these write up 'll enlighten our Protestants brethren. I 'll be posting on the issue about Why do catholics venerate the virgin Mary, the issue of Tithe, How we got Chrismas, Christmas Tree and Santa Claus.

thesicilian:
On the issue of tithes, a lot of people might disagree with you as you have already anticipated.
First tithing did not begin with Jacob, it began with Abraham, when he gave tithes to Melchizedek the priest of the Most High. (Genesis 14:20)
And we're somewhat bound to follow the acts of our great patriarch if we are to enjoy his blessings as ''seeds of Abram''

But the new testament views on tithing are issues of continuing research to me, one would think that for such an important issue as tithing (as our pastors make it out to be), the New Testament Bible would be pretty clear on its stand but this is not the case

geraldhumphrey:
this op must be. a Jehovah's witness candidate . . . . .anyways let me sound dis note of warnings to u,no cum ma house cum tell me dis trash odawise u will not live to tell d tale to u fellow (devil's witnessers)

somegirl1:


How can you pay tithe to God directly? Suggestions please...

Sanchez01:
This piece may be hard for dogmatic Christians to digest, largely because they, as dogmatic as they are, have never been encouraged to think on their own and in turn, find out the truth concerning some of the practices I'm about to mention. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who feels slighted or angry at any/every part of my write up which I consider a "hardball". Please be open minded as you take your time to read through this piece.

1. Statues, Symbol of Christ/Mary in Churches is a sin:
God, through Exo 20:3-6 makes His intention known. If you attend a church where symbols, statues of Christ, Mary or Angels are mounted within its premises or you have one at home, then know you're on your own. Christ never commanded this and every action put up in the Old Testament concerning this was purely condemned. You have no business with that statue! (Also read: 1 John 5:21; 1 Cor 10:14). If you have a cross, statue, rosary or image depicting Christ in your home or church, then you are in the congregation of the dead.


2. The Worship of Mary:
The worship or "honour" accorded to Mary by some within the Christian fold is nothing but a misleading. Mary WAS a fortunate vessel used by God to birth Christ. She was a virgin at the time, just like most ladies of then. God could have used anyone. In short, God used anyone and that person was Mary. The Worship of Mary or mentioning her during prayer is a sin. Why? Christ gave a template fro prayer through the Lord's prayer. Mary went on to birth several other children through sexual form with Joseph.

[/color]
Notice the Halo around Mary (especially her head). That is an idolatrous practice of Christians which symbolizes deity (that she is equal with God). The Babylonians practiced the same idolatrous worship to the Queen of Heaven. Mary is NOT deity, she was a normal every-day woman. God makes CLEAR in His Word that He will NOT share His glory with another (that includes Mary).
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/bowing_to_mary_is_a_sin.htm

3. Church Marriage:
This is perhaps a practice Christ would never be happy with. Why? The church from the onset has no right joining a couple together. Never! [color=#990000] When a man and a woman agrees to marry, as far as they have sought both parents' consent, then they have God's favour and not the church's. Unfortunately, most churches prioritize this practice even more than the traditional wedding which started with Abraham's family in the Old Testament [/color]. Most ladies even live for the moment of church wedding without realizing the practice is wrong. Does it not baffle us as Christians that the wedding at Cana Christ attended was neither conducted in a temple or on a religious ground? Does it not speak volume, that despite being Christ, He did not lay any example as to how weddings should be conducted in the Scripture? Western wedding tradition has crept into the Nigerian church and our pastors are even outdoing those who started it. Amazing!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding

4. Christmas:
Ah... Everyone loves this season. Who doesn't? Everyone feels it and breathes it when it is near. Unfortunately, the origin of December 25 is idolatry. Christ was never born on the 25th of December. Christ said, [color=#990000]. Christmas is not a command of God—it is a tradition of men. Christ continued, . Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that! Read more on the origin of Christmas here: http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm

5. Tithe:
At this point, I know many will come for me. Therefore, this may be longer to drive my point home. Tithing started with Jacob and not on God's instruction, contrary to the belief of many people. [/color]Voila! And it started. But what was the original tithing system before the popular Malachi 3:10 method.

[color=#990000]

The passage above was the proper way of tithing; use your money to buy what your soul lust after and eat before God. Why pastors don't preach this, I don't know. Greed, perhaps. Christ while on earth in human form taught man all he needed to know about God's worship and living with fellow men. From prayer, to fasting, to offering, to giving, to sacrificing, etc. What did He say about tithing? Nothing! What did the Apostles teach about tithing? Nothing! As a matter of fact, Christ paid tax to an earthly government, prayed, fasted, gave, sacrificed and so on, but did He pay tithe at all? No! [color=#990000][/color]

I know many will claim "we operate both the Old and the New Testament". If this is true, how come we don't practice some of the commandments in in Leviticus 15

1. As the Old Testament practice, a woman with her monthly flow MUST not come near the Temple because she's unclean. Do churches examine this? NO! Save a few (white garments).
2. When a woman is caught in the act of adultery, the Old Testament practice was instant killing by stoning her to death. Does it happen in Christianity today? No! If we operate both Testaments, how come we cannot carry out this act? Simple! Because Christ demonstrated the perfect example - forgiveness. Under Christ, some Old practices were abolished, including tithing which is an Old Testament practice to the then Israel. It is hypocrisy to pick some parts of the Scripture that suits you and dump the rest.

There, you know which is which. Which should be abolished and which should be done away with. Happy Sunday

Sanchez01:

The same passages you gave as references to tithe is the same someone gave me just almost two weeks ago. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Was Christ teaching about tithe? No, He was highlighting the hypocritical nature of the Pharisees and Scribes who carry out the Mosaic Law thinking they are better than others when in reality they are not. Please re-read the passage to understand what Christ meant.

thesicilian:
On the issue of tithes, a lot of people might disagree with you as you have already anticipated.
First tithing did not begin with Jacob, it began with Abraham, when he gave tithes to Melchizedek the priest of the Most High. (Genesis 14:20)
And we're somewhat bound to follow the acts of our great patriarch if we are to enjoy his blessings as ''seeds of Abram''

But the new testament views on tithing are issues of continuing research to me, one would think that for such an important issue as tithing (as our pastors make it out to be), the New Testament Bible would be pretty clear on its stand but this is not the case

Sanchez01:
This piece may be hard for dogmatic Christians to digest, largely because they, as dogmatic as they are, have never been encouraged to think on their own and in turn, find out the truth concerning some of the practices I'm about to mention. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who feels slighted or angry at any/every part of my write up which I consider a "hardball". Please be open minded as you take your time to read through this piece.

1. Statues, Symbol of Christ/Mary in Churches is a sin:
God, through Exo 20:3-6 makes His intention known. If you attend a church where symbols, statues of Christ, Mary or Angels are mounted within its premises or you have one at home, then know you're on your own. Christ never commanded this and every action put up in the Old Testament concerning this was purely condemned. You have no business with that statue! (Also read: 1 John 5:21; 1 Cor 10:14). If you have a cross, statue, rosary or image depicting Christ in your home or church, then you are in the congregation of the dead.


2. The Worship of Mary:
The worship or "honour" accorded to Mary by some within the Christian fold is nothing but a misleading. Mary WAS a fortunate vessel used by God to birth Christ. She was a virgin at the time, just like most ladies of then. God could have used anyone. In short, God used anyone and that person was Mary. The Worship of Mary or mentioning her during prayer is a sin. Why? Christ gave a template fro prayer through the Lord's prayer. Mary went on to birth several other children through sexual form with Joseph.

[/color]
Notice the Halo around Mary (especially her head). That is an idolatrous practice of Christians which symbolizes deity (that she is equal with God). The Babylonians practiced the same idolatrous worship to the Queen of Heaven. Mary is NOT deity, she was a normal every-day woman. God makes CLEAR in His Word that He will NOT share His glory with another (that includes Mary).
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/bowing_to_mary_is_a_sin.htm

3. Church Marriage:
This is perhaps a practice Christ would never be happy with. Why? The church from the onset has no right joining a couple together. Never! [color=#990000] When a man and a woman agrees to marry, as far as they have sought both parents' consent, then they have God's favour and not the church's. Unfortunately, most churches prioritize this practice even more than the traditional wedding which started with Abraham's family in the Old Testament [/color]. Most ladies even live for the moment of church wedding without realizing the practice is wrong. Does it not baffle us as Christians that the wedding at Cana Christ attended was neither conducted in a temple or on a religious ground? Does it not speak volume, that despite being Christ, He did not lay any example as to how weddings should be conducted in the Scripture? Western wedding tradition has crept into the Nigerian church and our pastors are even outdoing those who started it. Amazing!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding

4. Christmas:
Ah... Everyone loves this season. Who doesn't? Everyone feels it and breathes it when it is near. Unfortunately, the origin of December 25 is idolatry. Christ was never born on the 25th of December. Christ said, [color=#990000]. Christmas is not a command of God—it is a tradition of men. Christ continued, . Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that! Read more on the origin of Christmas here: http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm

5. Tithe:
At this point, I know many will come for me. Therefore, this may be longer to drive my point home. Tithing started with Jacob and not on God's instruction, contrary to the belief of many people. [/color]Voila! And it started. But what was the original tithing system before the popular Malachi 3:10 method.

[color=#990000]

The passage above was the proper way of tithing; use your money to buy what your soul lust after and eat before God. Why pastors don't preach this, I don't know. Greed, perhaps. Christ while on earth in human form taught man all he needed to know about God's worship and living with fellow men. From prayer, to fasting, to offering, to giving, to sacrificing, etc. What did He say about tithing? Nothing! What did the Apostles teach about tithing? Nothing! As a matter of fact, Christ paid tax to an earthly government, prayed, fasted, gave, sacrificed and so on, but did He pay tithe at all? No! [color=#990000][/color]

I know many will claim "we operate both the Old and the New Testament". If this is true, how come we don't practice some of the commandments in in Leviticus 15

1. As the Old Testament practice, a woman with her monthly flow MUST not come near the Temple because she's unclean. Do churches examine this? NO! Save a few (white garments).
2. When a woman is caught in the act of adultery, the Old Testament practice was instant killing by stoning her to death. Does it happen in Christianity today? No! If we operate both Testaments, how come we cannot carry out this act? Simple! Because Christ demonstrated the perfect example - forgiveness. Under Christ, some Old practices were abolished, including tithing which is an Old Testament practice to the then Israel. It is hypocrisy to pick some parts of the Scripture that suits you and dump the rest.

There, you know which is which. Which should be abolished and which should be done away with. Happy Sunday

ryom:
Except the tithe: Tithe is still relevant relevant, which is why Jesus said do it but more importantly do justice, mercy and faithfulness. Matt23:23, LK 11:42.
Wedding in church neither right nor wrong but tradition. In many places people don't marry in church anymore but you must have someone in authority and a few people as witnesses, and of course parental consent. So also wedding/engagement rings, these are not scripture but not necessarily wrong. So you can marry in court, by the beach, in your sitting room etc.

Christmas is tradition dating from Constantine. It is neither right nor wrong to choose a date to celebrate the birthday of Jesus. Whether it is right or wrong to do it on a day that previously was a pagan celebration is up for debate, but you not required to do it in Scriptures. The main New Testament ordinances are Holy Communion and Water Baptism.

There are a lot of traditions that get incorporated into faith practice locally. The important thing is to know what is scripture and what is not. What is scripture you are obligated to do, what is not, you're not. Trouble is, many people don't read their Bibles.

GrammarNazi:


It gladdens my heart whenever I come across posts like this; it shows we still have youths that think for themselves rather swallow religious doctrines "hook, line & sinker".

Every point you have raised is true, but I've got one more to add (actually, I've got more than one, but I'd only give one for now and save the others for later).

In Matthew 23:9, Jesus said “And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and He is in heaven". Obviously, we know he wasn't referring to our biological fathers here.

But what do we have today? Starting with Roman Catholics calling their priests 'Rev Fathers', we move on to pentecostals with titles like 'Daddy G.O.' 'Papa this' and 'Papa that'. When you ask why, they say these guys are their "spiritual fathers"
If your pastor is your spiritual father, then God is what? Your biological father?

Sanchez01:
This piece may be hard for dogmatic Christians to digest, largely because they, as dogmatic as they are, have never been encouraged to think on their own and in turn, find out the truth concerning some of the practices I'm about to mention. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who feels slighted or angry at any/every part of my write up which I consider a "hardball". Please be open minded as you take your time to read through this piece.

1. Statues, Symbol of Christ/Mary in Churches is a sin:
God, through Exo 20:3-6 makes His intention known. If you attend a church where symbols, statues of Christ, Mary or Angels are mounted within its premises or you have one at home, then know you're on your own. Christ never commanded this and every action put up in the Old Testament concerning this was purely condemned. You have no business with that statue! (Also read: 1 John 5:21; 1 Cor 10:14). If you have a cross, statue, rosary or image depicting Christ in your home or church, then you are in the congregation of the dead.


2. The Worship of Mary:
The worship or "honour" accorded to Mary by some within the Christian fold is nothing but a misleading. Mary WAS a fortunate vessel used by God to birth Christ. She was a virgin at the time, just like most ladies of then. God could have used anyone. In short, God used anyone and that person was Mary. The Worship of Mary or mentioning her during prayer is a sin. Why? Christ gave a template fro prayer through the Lord's prayer. Mary went on to birth several other children through sexual form with Joseph.

[/color]
Notice the Halo around Mary (especially her head). That is an idolatrous practice of Christians which symbolizes deity (that she is equal with God). The Babylonians practiced the same idolatrous worship to the Queen of Heaven. Mary is NOT deity, she was a normal every-day woman. God makes CLEAR in His Word that He will NOT share His glory with another (that includes Mary).
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/bowing_to_mary_is_a_sin.htm

3. Church Marriage:
This is perhaps a practice Christ would never be happy with. Why? The church from the onset has no right joining a couple together. Never! [color=#990000] When a man and a woman agrees to marry, as far as they have sought both parents' consent, then they have God's favour and not the church's. Unfortunately, most churches prioritize this practice even more than the traditional wedding which started with Abraham's family in the Old Testament [/color]. Most ladies even live for the moment of church wedding without realizing the practice is wrong. Does it not baffle us as Christians that the wedding at Cana Christ attended was neither conducted in a temple or on a religious ground? Does it not speak volume, that despite being Christ, He did not lay any example as to how weddings should be conducted in the Scripture? Western wedding tradition has crept into the Nigerian church and our pastors are even outdoing those who started it. Amazing!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding

4. Christmas:
Ah... Everyone loves this season. Who doesn't? Everyone feels it and breathes it when it is near. Unfortunately, the origin of December 25 is idolatry. Christ was never born on the 25th of December. Christ said, [color=#990000]. Christmas is not a command of God—it is a tradition of men. Christ continued, . Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that! Read more on the origin of Christmas here: http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm

5. Tithe:
At this point, I know many will come for me. Therefore, this may be longer to drive my point home. Tithing started with Jacob and not on God's instruction, contrary to the belief of many people. [/color]Voila! And it started. But what was the original tithing system before the popular Malachi 3:10 method.

[color=#990000]

The passage above was the proper way of tithing; use your money to buy what your soul lust after and eat before God. Why pastors don't preach this, I don't know. Greed, perhaps. Christ while on earth in human form taught man all he needed to know about God's worship and living with fellow men. From prayer, to fasting, to offering, to giving, to sacrificing, etc. What did He say about tithing? Nothing! What did the Apostles teach about tithing? Nothing! As a matter of fact, Christ paid tax to an earthly government, prayed, fasted, gave, sacrificed and so on, but did He pay tithe at all? No! [color=#990000][/color]

I know many will claim "we operate both the Old and the New Testament". If this is true, how come we don't practice some of the commandments in in Leviticus 15

1. As the Old Testament practice, a woman with her monthly flow MUST not come near the Temple because she's unclean. Do churches examine this? NO! Save a few (white garments).
2. When a woman is caught in the act of adultery, the Old Testament practice was instant killing by stoning her to death. Does it happen in Christianity today? No! If we operate both Testaments, how come we cannot carry out this act? Simple! Because Christ demonstrated the perfect example - forgiveness. Under Christ, some Old practices were abolished, including tithing which is an Old Testament practice to the then Israel. It is hypocrisy to pick some parts of the Scripture that suits you and dump the rest.

There, you know which is which. Which should be abolished and which should be done away with. Happy Sunday

GrammarNazi:


It gladdens my heart whenever I come across posts like this; it shows we still have youths that think for themselves rather swallow religious doctrines "hook, line & sinker".

Every point you have raised is true, but I've got one more to add (actually, I've got more than one, but I'd only give one for now and save the others for later).

In Matthew 23:9, Jesus said “And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and He is in heaven". Obviously, we know he wasn't referring to our biological fathers here.

But what do we have today? Starting with Roman Catholics calling their priests 'Rev Fathers', we move on to pentecostals with titles like 'Daddy G.O.' 'Papa this' and 'Papa that'. When you ask why, they say these guys are their "spiritual fathers"
If your pastor is your spiritual father, then God is what? Your biological father?

akaahs:
You shall not bow down to them or serve them (Ex. 20:45); Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold(Ex.32:31). It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling other Christians most especially Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and Saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues. God forbade the workship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statues. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!
In Ex. 25:18-22; 26:1; 31, for example, God commands the making of image of golden chorus. This heavenly image, of of course, is not worshiped by the Israelites. Instead, the image dispose their minds to the supernatural and draws them to God. God also command the making of broze serpent. One had to look at the broze statue of the serpent to be heale, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decoration s. The image of the bronze serpent is not an idol to be worshiped, but an article that lifts the mind of the supernatural (Num.21:. Solomon s temple contains statues of cherubium and images that were used in worship(1 Kings 6:23-36;7:27-39;8:6-67). it was only when the people began to worship the statuein 2 Kings 18:4 that they did incur Gods wrath, and the King destroyed it. The command prohibiting the use of graven images deals exclusively with the false worship of those images. The only image of God that Catholics worship is Jesus Christ, who is the "image" (Greek "eikon" of the invisible God (col.1:15).
God's commandment in Deu.5:8- "thou shall not make a graven image'' is entirely connected to the worship of false gods. God does not prohibit images to be worship, but He prohibits the images themselves to be workshiped as idols. Christions, especially Catholics use images in worship and devotions; we do not use ''idols''. The different lies in what we believe about them. An ''idol'' is something made that is not simply used in worship, but itself is the object of worship. Sacrifices and obligations are offered to idols, since sacrificed is the root of any true worship. An image is something that is used in worship, but is not itself the object of worship.

Sacrifices and oblation are not offered to images.

I hope these write up 'll enlighten our Protestants brethren. I 'll be posting on the issue about Why do catholics venerate the virgin Mary, the issue of Tithe, How we got Chrismas, Christmas Tree and Santa Claus.