I Thessalonians 1
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom HE raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
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Two Baptist women were going to the cemetery to decorate graves.
When I learned of this I said, "Why would you do that? The spirit of that person is sleeping in Christ, not in that grave. Why do that which the pagans do who have no hope?"
Paul says:
I Thessalonians 4
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with HIM.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (awake first and arise in new spiritual bodies: I Cor. 15:48-53)
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(At the point of death, the spirit leaves the body. That spirit is the person we know. The dead body is equivalent to a lock of hair from a dead person. That is not the essence of the person. I never see my dead parents in graves in the ground. I see their spirits as risen from that fleshly body. So I do not go to graves. My image is of that Christian person leaving the dead body at the time of death, but sleeping in Jesus as Paul said in this scripture in 1 Thessalonians 4:14.)
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead
(At the time of death, the spirit leaves the body.)
I Corinthians 15:48-53 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
(At death, the spirit leaves the body ... Those in Christ who live on the earth when Jesus returns will be changed in the blink of an eye and given their new spiritual body which goes into heaven.)
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
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My cousin's husband died. (She was not a church goer.)
When she told me she was planning to go visit Thurman's grave, I said to her, "Why? Thurman is not in that grave. Who are you trying to impress? Thurman is sleeping and cannot see you standing there at his grave. So who are you trying to impress?"
She thought for a few seconds and then she said: "Then it doesn't matter where we are buried."
"Right!" I replied.
(I believe she was born again with this truth.)
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After we are Christians, we learn to think about those things we are doing from the way of the world and we make changes to that which we do as a Christian.
I went to dinner with two women from the Bridge Center in Lubbock, Texas, when I lived there.
When their drinks were served, they raised their glasses to click them together.
(For what reason people do this thing I'm not really sure but I often see this in movies.)
I just sat there and made no attempt to raise my glass.
They went on in their worldly way without my participation and without a word said.
2 John 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
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Mark 7:13 (Jesus says) Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Genesis 14 (Concerning Abraham)
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
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There are many superstitions that have no power which are passed down from the world to humans through sayings of man and traditions.
I would not participate in such as a Christian.
* I've seen football kickers cross themselves before kicking, I suppose for "luck". If they miss the goal, I've seen them come back again from time to time and cross themselves "for luck" again. They don't evaluate that which they are doing "doesn't work". They just continue to worship their idea of what they should do, their own god, even when there is no power in that action.
* I was shocked once when I saw a bit of a College World Series baseball game on TV.
The Arkansas fans were wearing bananas on their head "for luck." They lost the game but didn't change the idol and their action toward the idol.
* Some people in USA eat black-eyed-peas "for luck" on New Year's Day.
After you become a Christian, think about that which you choose to do.
Measure your actions in churches and in the world by that which the Bible says to do and not to do.
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