Al Sabado
Shared publicly - 12:01 PM
Shared publicly - 12:01 PM
I was a college freshman in 1989, and a devout Catholic at the time, when our theology professor in Miriam College assigned our class to read the Ten Commandments and to bring to class our Bibles. Our family has a super huge and heavy Bible at home, so I thought I'd drop by National Bookstore and buy something handy (a King James version, which I still use to this day, now with its brown and crumbling pages).
Little did I know that homework would turn my life around, as I first read through Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Exodus 20:4-5, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-20/#4)
My eyes were opened, because nearly all my younger years, I prayed and bowed down to the images in our home and everywhere else I found them. I've stopped doing all that.
I've also stopped praying novenas and the rosary, because God's Word says, we should not use vain repetitions in prayer:
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
"Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-6/#7)
I've also stopped praying for, and to, the dead, such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the countless saints that the Roman Catholic church has taught its followers to venerate. For the Lord Jesus has said,
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-14/#6)
The Lord Jesus is the only way. And if all that is what God's Word says, then
"... We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts-Chapter-5/#29)
I've also stopped celebrating Christmas. My reason for that is similar to why I'm no longer celebrating birthdays and other similar occasions ("Un-celebrating birthdays, a liberating experience," http://alsabado.blogspot.com/2014/04/un-celebrating-birthdays-liberating.html). God's Word says,
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4:9-11, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Galatians-Chapter-4/#9)
Note in that passage a stress on "weak and beggarly elements."
Some people say it's wrong to read the Bible as it is written, literally. But if God means something else other than what He says in His Word, then what a mean God could He be! But no, God is not mean, for us to misunderstand His Word. God has freely given us the Bible so that we may understand Him, His will, His promises, for all who hear and abide by Him.
The God of the Holy Bible is the Living God, who created life and all that is in it (http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-God-Creating-The-World/). He hears us. He loves us so much that He doesn't even make us guess where we go once we die. Our eternal destiny has an ultimate security, if we choose to trust in His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you made that choice? If you haven't, I pray that you will ...
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-3/#16)
Little did I know that homework would turn my life around, as I first read through Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Exodus 20:4-5, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-20/#4)
My eyes were opened, because nearly all my younger years, I prayed and bowed down to the images in our home and everywhere else I found them. I've stopped doing all that.
I've also stopped praying novenas and the rosary, because God's Word says, we should not use vain repetitions in prayer:
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
"Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-6/#7)
I've also stopped praying for, and to, the dead, such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the countless saints that the Roman Catholic church has taught its followers to venerate. For the Lord Jesus has said,
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-14/#6)
The Lord Jesus is the only way. And if all that is what God's Word says, then
"... We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts-Chapter-5/#29)
I've also stopped celebrating Christmas. My reason for that is similar to why I'm no longer celebrating birthdays and other similar occasions ("Un-celebrating birthdays, a liberating experience," http://alsabado.blogspot.com/2014/04/un-celebrating-birthdays-liberating.html). God's Word says,
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4:9-11, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Galatians-Chapter-4/#9)
Note in that passage a stress on "weak and beggarly elements."
Some people say it's wrong to read the Bible as it is written, literally. But if God means something else other than what He says in His Word, then what a mean God could He be! But no, God is not mean, for us to misunderstand His Word. God has freely given us the Bible so that we may understand Him, His will, His promises, for all who hear and abide by Him.
The God of the Holy Bible is the Living God, who created life and all that is in it (http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-God-Creating-The-World/). He hears us. He loves us so much that He doesn't even make us guess where we go once we die. Our eternal destiny has an ultimate security, if we choose to trust in His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you made that choice? If you haven't, I pray that you will ...
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-3/#16)
Evaluation of Christmas Selections in the LIVING HYMNS Hymnal ...The LIVING HYMNS Hymnal was used as a base for this evaluation because it is the one used by the church
