To Christians: If you stay away from all that is Pagan, why incorporate some things in wedding ceremonies?

The ring, the rice, the honeymoon, the flowers, the best man and maid of honor, the dinner before and the reception after, etc...

To Christians: If you stay away from all that is Pagan, why incorporate some things in wedding ceremonies?
Interesting points!



Now it is a question how far do you go and how much do you stress yourself to be "pagan free"?



Even elements of our alphabet is pagan. The "T" is from Tau, the "S" is from the shape of the serpent, and the list goes on. Other writing system in other languages symbolism borrowed from pagan origins too.



So consider the wedding ring. Shall ancient Egyptians hold a forever monopoly on an apropos symbol of unending love? I don't think so!!!



So it boils down to this:



NIV John 17:15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Reply:Some thing's are universal. (personally I'd dump the rice, it's bad for the birds, I hear)



~OM~

SFCU
Reply:These are no more than the traditions man has placed upon that particular celebration. It might interest you to know that I consider myself a Christian, but do not ascribe to many of the "things of man". This includes Easter, Christmas, Lent, the Sabbath, and far more. In fact, we are cautioned to be wary of those very things by God Himself. You would be surprised at how far from the real truth many Christians have come, but that is being addressed at this very moment. I pray that you have the desire to get beyond what man has added to these things, and pursue the real truth found in the Bible, which is our real authority. Be well, and be blessed.
Reply:Yeah I tried to incorporate a hand binding part into my wedding instead of the unity candle (blah boring- so overdone and cheesy) and my baptist fiance's family FREAKED. I got lectures from the uncle who was a minister, my mother-in-law called me a pagan witch, tacky, blah blah. And there I was thinking, hello, dont you see what all the rest of this stuff is? The rings, the honeymoon, the flowers etc.

It was funny to me in a way that they just didnt get it.
Reply:Nothing is wrong with having a "life"! It is what is in your heart that He sees. (It is the "motive" for any "ceremonies"!) "Easter bunny" for example, is no different than takin' your kid to an arcade, or a movie!)
Reply:You are right and you can see how mixed up it all is.
Reply:Nobody can escape all the things handed to us by the ancients . There are far too many . Civilization is an ongoing process . We can't start in the middle of a journey . We must always start at the beginning .

We owe a great deal of what we have become , to all who came before us , all the way back to the stone age .

Tomorrow is Easter . All of the Easter customs , decorations , traditions , etc are taken almost intact from the ancients . It was called The Rebirth , because flowers bloomed , chicks and other birds hatched , bunnies were born , etc . The church stole the holiday , and declared it to be a Christian holiday . They even stole the Rebirth idea , and had Jesus come back to life ( rebirth ) on that day .
Reply:Don't worry about how old traditions started; just rejoice that Christianity is gaining control and more perfection of all old things. Even major Christian dogma-practices are being now questioned and modified and improved ! This all all good.



We rejoice in the spiritual liberty of our Master Jesus Christ here with us in Spirit ! (John 16:7-16)



On diamond wedding rings, the new, laboratory made diamonds are now BETTER than the real ones, and are much cheaper. Newer is usually better.



Peace and progress,

Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian

http://www.PureChristians.org/ Gospel enlarging website,

proclaiming worldwide the True Religion

OF JESUS and ABOUT JESUS and IN JESUS

and Christian-Philosophy Yahoo group

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Come and share !
Reply:Since most holidays are based in paganism, why would matrimony be celebrated anyway else...
Reply:Then why celebrate Christmas and Easter???



They are pagan holidays celebrating the winter solstice and spring equinox as well!



If you are going to stay away from Paganism, go the whole way!!!
Reply:I didn't incorporate that stuff, you got the wrong person
Reply:those things are not pagan but any way jc even enjoyed a wedding feast that's when he turned water into wine so if we followed jc example in all things u would see the difference between pagan customs and just what is excepted by god
Reply:Christianity %26gt; Paganiantiy THATS WHY!
Reply:Why not just live on a far-a-way Island with just the two of them and God, if that's the case? No, God wants us to enjoy our lives and have entertainment, fun and laughter. You people need to get a life and realize that Christians are only obligated to do what God shows us in HIS Words, but as long as they do not offend HIM, HE has no problem with us doing some of these traditions/antics. And as for the ones that are wasting of monies and over the top, God allows us to Repent of all and any sins that HE places on our souls as a burden. No one is telling you what to do in your life and how to live, so why threaten others with their efforts? Shame on YOU!
Reply:...the celebration of easter on the 1st full moon after the spring equinox...
Reply:Tip of the iceberg my dear!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianit...
Reply:I am a Christian, and I follow the laws of the New Testament and worship in a church that Jesus Christ established. I don't know anything Pagan, nor do I follow any Pagan practices.



You can call it Pagan, Satanism, or moon-worshipping for all I care. Show me anywhere in the New Testament that anything you listed as being "Pagan" is against scripture. Until you do, you're post is moot and irrelevant.



(Oh, and we didn't use rice. Not many people do anymore because if the birds eat it, they can't digest it well and it can kill them.)
Reply:You can't generalize like that about Christians.

The only thing most of us have in common is a belief in Christ.
Reply:Please, refrain from accusing ALL CHRISTIANS when you are looking for a fight!!!!! This Christian feels no need to fight with you or any Athiest or appologize in any way for my faith and my beliefs. Thank you!?
Reply:Some of it was incororperated because it could be interpreted in scripture.

They changed the meanings though, so in my mind they might have pagan origin but they are no longer pagan. The wedding ring to the older Christians (not so much now but still sometimes) was symbol of ownership where for pagans it was a symbol of an oath (heathens today still have oath rings). It has now come back to its original meaning but for many Christians they still believe that women must answer to men which is still a form of ownership, just in more PC terms. It's now something far more romantic that has to do with eternity or something (Thank DeBeers at the turn of the century for that one)

To pagans it was a symbol of an oath, a social agreement. Not a link of a chain, which yes was the orginal symbolism to early Christians.

I used bubbles. I am a sad pagan. ;)

The honeymoon was for practicle reasons. It was to get your bride pregnant. Pretty easily intpreted from the Bible. That was always the goal of marriage. To continue the bloodline. It was as important to the Jews as it was the pagans.



My point is that though pagan in origin, the Christians changed the meanings of many of the traditions and in my mind they are no longer pagan. I could care less what they do.
Reply:I am a follower of Christ.

And I agree that christianity today actually paganism in disguise.



I stopped taking my family to church for that very reason 7 years ago.

And in all honesty... we are followers of Christ now... more than we ever were.
Reply:They talk about bridal attendants in the bible, there is a whole parable about them.



I think most people do it for tradition's sake.

But any question that makes a person analyze why they do something is a good question.
Reply:Serena, JWs are afraid of pagan origin. Still they wear a wedding ring, and that has a pagan origin.



JWs are not Christians. They do not read the Scripture, they read into it whatever the WT wants them to.
Reply:Not to mention Christmas and Easter....