Why do we disagree with each other so vehemently? It seems that it doesn’t matter what religion or race or political party you belong to at the time, our differences of opinion and culture divide us so much that we can’t seem to find any common ground to work on!
Why!?
As a species and as actually ONE race being human beings or Homo sapiens if you want to get scientific about it, our skin color and our hundreds of different cultures divide us to the point of barely being in any kind of collective community! It seems that, if you ask a question on one side of a room and then ask the same question on the other side, you will come up with many, many different answers to that same question…even if it is a simple one!
We just can’t agree on much at all, except what color the Sun is and that grass is green when it has water.
Is it possible for us to work around those differences or maybe work through them in order to find a way to get along long enough to NOT kill each other over ideology or religion?
Truly…in the world today, with all of the “politically correct” police all over the place, I doubt that we would ever fix any of the problems which are in our society now! When people are being told that they can’t say certain things or they will be put in jail for using the improper pronoun in reference to a person, regardless of their “born gender”; I don’t see any possible way of getting our world into a more compassionate and tolerant world.
Search the scriptures to find the wisdom of God in all of this. Because His Word is the only truth which is actually True. I understand that is a statement which is intolerant and narrow-minded but consider the same restrictions from Islam toward many of our freedoms and the lifestyles of people in the world? They don’t just preach and tell unbelievers that their sins according to Allah and the Holy Koran are wrong, in many instances the infidels are shoved from a rooftop or in some other way killed!
Has a Christian or Jewish church or temple ever done such a thing? I realize that during the 1500’s and 1600’s there were beheadings and wars and things such as that by the “church” of the time, but I am speaking of now…today!? No, the church of today doesn’t condone any kind of killing because you are sinning against God, because Jesus said that we are to love our fellow-man as He loved the people around Him. You cannot love someone and kill them!
Seek Jesus out in your situation and in the lives of those around you. Tell them about His love for them and that it is available to all who will believe in Jesus! Do this while there is time and breath in our bodies, because when the Trumpet of God sounds it will be too late.
The Living Message of Christ 
There are so many Christians who disagree about whether or not to celebrate certain traditions or holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas. As a father of many kids, do you have any ground rules on specific holidays or what your kids can watch or read, like Harry Potter? What is your reaction to Chriians that tell others not jo read magic, play poker, or celebrate holidays such as Halloween or Valentine’s Day?
I watched all of the Harry Potter series with my son and we truly enjoyed them. I know there are some who don’t celebrate Halloween and that’s fine. I don’t celebrate it because in ancient times it was considered the witches most “holy” day.
I respect your decision. After all, it’s your faith journey that counts. My family is lenient in terms of what we can watch and celebrate, although taking precautions in light of age and the nature of each. I celebrate Halloween just to get candy and dress up during choir practice, although we haven’t gone trick-or-treating because of Covid. We do not partake in the pagan portion, nor do we use the day to hail the dark side. Just because me and mom share candy at home together does not mean we are actually devoted our lives to Satan. That is just my opinion, but feel free to interject if you disagree. I am not very fond of the Harry Potter series myself; it’s just not my cup of tea.
But, I will say that some Christians take their convictions way too far and convince people, especially young Christians learning the basics of the faith, that watching films with fantasy is equivalent to doing witchcraft or joining the occult. Among one of these Christians is a blogger I have followed for quite some time now. His culture is highly pagan, so I can see why he rejects such things as a follower.
Here is one of his presentations on Halloween. Feel free to reply with your feedback on his post. He lists your reason for #1, the one on paganism.
The only thing that I would totally object to is any kind of occult type game or anything to do with the occult.
Right. What do you think of Joshua’s presentation and his stance?
His reasons are good to follow
Again, I kindly respect his stance on something like that. The only critique I have for him is that he seems to push his opinion down people’s throats. I believe he has good intentions to expose these hard truths, but I think sometimes he steps over his boundaries and allows no room for open discussion.
I will say that it would not be right or Christlike to judge him based on the many things he rejects, rather it is best to learn from him. I understand that Joshua came from a highly paganistic region in the Phillipines. At first I thought he was a legalist tearing everyone down until I looked into his culture in detail. I do not know how long he has been a Christian, but I do have an epiphany that the pagan roots within his culture have greatly played a role in his moral convictions and his behavior. There is another side of me that believes that he probably has a weak area where he is vulnerable to certain temptations, or he had an encounter that left him to reject it. For instance, such practices (like Halloween) connect to pagan rituals held back in ancient times, and by observation, Joshua could have been tempted or drawn away through another situation or revelation. Satan is very slick, so you never know what could have been Joshua’s motivation behind not celebrating such things. I was going to block him, but I believe God is leading me to seek this opportunity to learn about the spiritual paths of others, and gain insight rather than shut then down immediately. And the same goes for you, Tracy!
True, maybe he will see some of your articles and tone his ideas down a bit.
Time will tell whether his convictions will change as time goes by. I can only do so much, but God is the one who initiates change in the heart. I will do whatever I can to encourage him and alleviate his fears.
Please continue to pray for me. Sweet dreams!
I am actually working on a blog post in which I analysically assess Joshua’s 2016 post about music and the song of fools. I recently led an open floor discussion on his arsicle, in which he argues that certain songs actually glorify sin and promote Satan. What I did is to read through his article, take what I learned from Lil Nas X last year, and combined it into a series of questions. I currently do not have access to these questions because it is in my school account, which recently got hacked. However, I do have some of their viewpoints written down and memorized, so it should be good. I will send you the final version when it is published.
Here is the link to his presentation.
Prayers would be greatly appreciated. Pray that God will give me insight through my writing, and to challenge current viewpoints on such topics as sin and Satan. Amen!
To followup with our conversation last week, I understp you do not celebrate Halloween due to its assciation with Paganism. Are there other traditions or entertainment aenues you personally reject to maintain your fath in Jesus and not give to certain temptations?
I do not ask you these questions to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want to get a better picture of you and what might constitute as grounds for strong temptation for you and your Christian journey. As I mentioned last week, for some people, there are certain things that may steer them toward temptation to sin, or, create a stumbling block in their faith, which for some people, have no effect on their faith. For one person, some things may strengthen their faith, but for some, it would be a sin, or to an extent, displease God. I am not condemning you, nor judging you for your weakness. Rather, I just want to come to a knowledge on areas that raise red flags in your life so I know how to modify or chaqe things to meet your own personal and spiritual needs. I don’t ever want to lead you in a path towards sin because we do not agree on certain things. I do not intend to lead you to suppect that certain things would contradict your own convictions and/or glorify Satan. Scripture commands us to consider the temptations and the weak areas of our brothers without judgement or contempt, and to not place a stumbling block between them.
Your comments don’t cause any problems, just encouragement.
Awww! Thank you! If I ever step out of line, please do not hesitate to correct me. Your critique is always welcome!
I just followed up with Joshua (the one who posts these presentations I showed you last week) about his recent piece condemning Easter. According to him, it seems as though his convictions were not rooted in his pagan culture. Rather, it is rooted based on Scripture, primarily the Old Testament. Some of the 613 compandments forbade the Israelites from partaking in Pagan traditions because at that time, the country was suceptible to idolatry and witchcraft. However, he seems to apply this principle to modern times, thus avoiding such practices as Easter and Halloween. At some point this week after the SAT, I will conduct further investigation into this, and hopefully ask Joshua more questions to get to know whether there is a hidden factor to this sort of thinking, other than the citation of these passages. To me, it seems more like a scenario of Joshua working to not mingle with temptation rather than taking a legalistic approach. I acknowledge I do not have the answers to every question, so it could possibly be a more complex situation that is beyond human comprehension, and that only God will reveal one day. However, I have noticed that there is a phase of distrust that happens when a Christian is overcoming a huge sin or temptation in their lives. I have certainly been a victim to this back in 8th grade. I believe this is largely due to the believer coming to a greater understanding of the gravity of his temptation, and the crafty nature of Satan. However, it is essential we don’t confuse alarmism with caution. It is a matter of “not playing with fire” rather than being afraid of fire.
So, if he does not celebrate Easter, what should I tell him instead of “Happy Easter” or “Happy Holy Week”?
I’d tell him “happy Easter” anyway.
This might be risky, but I guess it’ll be worth a shot.
Then you can explain what Easter means to you.
hello Tracy,
In light of an investigation into Joshua’s argumentation on the Easter tradition, I followed up with him regarding the prresentation, and found some inconsistencies in his citations of Scripture in his presentation. Primarily the reference to the queen of heaven and Peter’s persecution in Jeremiah 7:18 and Acts 12:4. Here is a gist of what I wrote down. He hasn’t replied yet, but I fealt the need to forward to you my findings.
1. Jomua’s interpretation of the “Queen of Heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18 is inconsistent. He bases his argument primarily on translations and the ways in which words were phrased in Greek and Hebrew rather than looking deep into the context of the passage and its practical application. The Queen of Heaven was actually known to be the wife of Baal, one of the false gods that Israel worshipped at the time Jeremiah wrote this rebuke. Mainly, the chapter is a warning to the Israelites about their idolatrous lifestyle, and the punishment that would await if they didn’t repent. If you look into the historial background, there is no reference to the modern-day celebration of Easter. The queen of Heaven is also applied to as Mary, and how Catholics view her as the queen sharing the same lordship as God, which is false. This article from GotQuestions should help break it down.https://www.gotquestions.org/Queen-of-Heaven.html
2. He does the same thing again in Acts 12:4, relying purely on translations rather than the broader concept and application of the passage through historical and spiritual contexts. The passage is actually referring to the persecution of the disciples, and when Peter is arrested and sent to prison, not of Jesus. Here is a link to a commentary that can help break this down.https://www.bibleref.com/Acts/12/Acts-12-4.html