Mark 7 Jesus says:
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,
9 And HE (Jesus) said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
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:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
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:
11 These things said HE (Jesus): and after that HE saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
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The world does many traditions of men which we avoid after we are born again.
* The world participates in toasting each other, in lifting their drinking glass to wish the other person "luck".
When I am at their table and they begin to lift their glasses, I make no attempt to lift my glass. I've found they just ignore me and go on with their tradition.
2 John
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:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
(I rarely wish another person well when that person is a stranger to me. He might be planning to go out and commit fornication that night after he leaves. If I wish him well, the apostle John tells me I will be partaker of this evil doer's deeds.)
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* Eating things like black-eyed-peas on New Year's Day "for luck."
The world has many pagan traditions involving eating food.
After I became a Christian, I noticed such things as this and stopped doing such. I want my "luck" to come from God. And I know that doing that which is right in the sight of God often causes us to appear to be wrong in the eyes of this world and often brings me persecution from those who do not follow God.
God showed me this scripture:
Genesis 14
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:
When I saw this scripture as a new Christian, I said to God, "I want to be like Abraham. I want my 'wealth' to come from YOU."
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
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 (go before) them which are asleep (dead).
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:
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.
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* Going to cemeteries and decorating graves:
I believe the spirit leaves the body at the time of death. I don't believe my Christian relatives and friends who died in Christ are in that grave. Their spirit leaves that dead body at the time of death.
And I believe the following scripture testifying of the resurrection of the dead through Jesus.
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 (go before) them which are asleep (dead).
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:
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.
When a person believes in God and Jesus Christ and he dies, I see that person sleeping in Jesus as it says in I Thessalonians 4:14. I do not picture the dead in Christ as being in graves under the ground.
Therefore I do no go to graveyards, for to me that testifies of death rather than of sleeping in Christ.
I see it as pagan acts of the flesh of man rather than truth of God by the scriptures.
I would not sit at a grave and talk to a dead body for I know the dead are asleep and cannot hear me. (Jesus teaches us this in John 11.) It would, to me, be a fruitless act of flesh to do this.
John 11
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
(Jesus shows us those who die are asleep. They cannot hear the living nor see us who still live. They are sleeping.)
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After becoming a Christian we view things by what the Bible shows us and we put away pagan things done by this world. There are many man made holidays that are not presented in the Bible but have been made to seem religious by men. I avoid these for they have a semblance of truth but they are not of God. If you cannot find such in the NT Bible, then it was made up by man and added to the church by man and not God.
I choose not to participate in religious things that are set up by men and are not commanded by God in the Holy Bible.
Jesus said:
John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship HIM.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.
Where is that in the NT Bible? We ask? Building ourselves in the Word of God by the New Testament Bible.
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