Hi Kit,
I understand you were just making an example for comparison sake and that you're not implying that we can have any kind of object we want in our garden, or anywhere else. But I wouldn't agree that in all cases an object remains just an object until you worship it.
I mean, I could be a musician or a biker or someone that wears a satanic pentagram around my neck because I think it looks or makes me look cool. And even if I don't think of it as any more than just a cool trinket that enhances my bad image, nonetheless I would be aligning myself with what it represents, even if I believe that symbols are powerless and that I am not worshiping anything, that it's all harmless fun, etc.
I don't think it would be correct for me to tell myself that it is nothing more than a piece of metal in a certain shape - a powerless object - and that as such I can wear a pentagram, as along as I just think of it as a decoration and don't worship it.
There are lots of Hollywood stars and musicians that think it is "in" and cool to wear 666 on their clothing, and I am sure 90% of them are just doing it for attention. But I don't think their intention has as much weight as what it represents.
Cheers!
Aye.........what something represents is important. And if you hand me a little metal devil decoration, I will hand it back to you. Tell you to throw it away.
It becomes a situation of tolerance. Surely this is harmless, just a piece of metal. But one thing leads to another and one thing accepted causes another to be accepted.
So common sense, applies. What is the object intended for?? God says I am God, you will worship me, and I am jealous if you worship another, this is very silly anyway as there are no others, so when you mold a calf out of gold and worship it or go cut yourself a tree out of the woods, and fasten the trunk to the ground, carve it out as an idol and decorate it with gold and worship it with all manner of perverted ways, I will hammer you says God.
The Christmas tree situation is in its meaning and intent harmless. It is a tradition of man. A way for man to relate to things and is for man but if done out of respect for God, and with the intent to honor God, it is cool. If the tree is erected in front of a business and has money saving coupons hung all over it, to solicit business, then this is use in a sinful way.
Traditions of man, over time have become corrupted, and they do acquire the ways of man, from want, greed, the need to have money to buy presents, the wish to not feel left out, the way you see a child expect a toy or device seen on T.V, and when they get a warm coat they throw a fit and act bad and it is allowed. Money is the evil behind the tradition, the commercialization of it all.
But God knows all the hearts of all. Anything done with the right intent and for the correct means, is cool.
Such as in the Catholic religion, many worship Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is fine to give her honor and respect, but worship is for God. To honor her and tell her Thank You would be cool, but to bow down and worship her is not.
People take so many things our of context. They read into them the wrong things, in both directions, both toward good and toward evil.
It is all so very simple, anything you do if it honors God, it is cool.
But God never had a birthday, he has always been, always will be, he is eternal, and outside of time.
Our next discussion will be coming up soon about Easter Egg Hunts, I have never seen an Easter Bunny lay an egg......especially pink and blue ones Lol!! But children having fun and laughing and so on is harmless. I remember my daughter when she was little, could not find any eggs, so she would sneak up behind another and grab and egg out of their basket, she was like 4 years old. Yes it is wrong, but it is us, how we are, no one has to teach us, we just do.
That has gave me many a smile over the years, it shows me how we are born, and how God molds us when we allow it. And shows me the funny and the harmless. It taught me to look for the good, and avoid the bad.
But I understand the entire debate, about the Christmas tree thing. The wearing of a Cross, the ownership of one, and Easter and Halloween and so on. To me the cross is a symbol and tradition of man for man to represent honor to God. Used in this way it is cool. Used as long ago as worship to the sun God is not. Forgive me for addressing all these subjects of confusion in one post. I just see people living in fear of things that are really silly. If you wear a cross to honor God, cool. If you worship the cross and expect it to provide anything, it is not cool. It is the intent, and the inner truth.
But the wise lesson is for us, parents, all to teach the truth of things, the inner truth and not let objects of the world cause us to give them false meaning. To let tradition cause us to enter into the wish for things and money and make this more important than honor to God.
Kit
