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Singing Christmas tree

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by SaggyWoman, Dec 5, 2009.

  1. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    Tonight, I was shopping at Walmart with one of the girls I work with, and we ran across someone from the church the girls attend here in the community. They had just gone to a local production of a Singing Christmas Tree. Having never been to one, the man explained that basically they reanacted the "christmas story" of Christ's birth, and as in years past, they ended with the crucifixion and Christ's subsequent return to heaven.

    Mind you, I don't mind shows. I can deal with them. I don't much choose to go to many of the holiday productions at other churches, but if my church chooses to sport a holiday production, I will certainly support one.

    But what really cracked me up and tickled my funny bone was that the man said that one year, they had Jesus rise out of the top of the Christmas tree and ascend back to heaven from there.

    Seriously? Are you kidding me? Really? I bet the shepherds were happy!!
     
  2. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    Years ago my home church had a Singing Christmas Tree-----------as we were building it--it looked like Charlie Brown's tree--you know, that scraggly one he picked out---but when it was all erected---it held a hundred of us-----that was back when the living christmas tree thingy was a new idea and had to be "Home Made"----but there are companies that build them now and you can buy them and assemble them from a kit
     
  3. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    I typically don't go to pageants. Can't stand them unless their performed by children. They're too much spectacle, and the actor unfortunate enough to play Jesus never does capture the character.

    But, if one is going to have a singing christmas tree in the first place, what you described is an eminently artistic way to portray His ascension.
     
  4. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    Well, it seems the "STAR" of Christmas was in the right place!
     
  5. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    I recall when even movies did not show the face of one playing Jesus Christ. I believe that it is sacrilegious for one to imitate Jesus Christ. I believe it is blasphemous for one to imitate the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross.
     
  6. John Toppass

    John Toppass Active Member
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    I try to imitate Jesus Christ (I do rather poorly). I think that is the only way I can love some folks.
     
  7. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    We are to imitate Jesus Christ in our behavior. The word imitate was probably a poor choice. I perhaps should have said pretend to be Jesus Christ. I think for mortal man to attempt to portray the suffering of Jesus Christ when He took our sins on the cross is blasphemous. We have no concept how it was for one who was perfectly righteous to even dwell among sinful man much less bear our sin. As the Apostle Paul said: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. [2 Corinthians 5:21]
     
  8. Mexdeaf

    Mexdeaf New Member

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    We did a 'Swishing Christmas Tree' one year. OR wouldn't have liked it.:laugh:
     
  9. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    Too bad that Jesus didn't ascend to heaven at Christmas from a Christmas tree!! :tongue3:
     
  10. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    No, but I am sure glad he hung on an old tree! Aren't you?

    :love2: :wavey::godisgood:
     
  11. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    Jesus Christ told the woman at the well:

    John 4:23. 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.
    John 4:24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

    Scripture records an earlier incident in the life of Jesus Christ where He drove the money changers out of the Temple:

    John 2:15. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
    John 2:16. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

    The Old Testament records time and again the pollution of the worship prescribed by God for Israel and God's punishment of Israel for that pollution. Eventually the Northern Kingdom went into captivity never to return because they made two golden calves [one at Bethel and one at Dan] and consecrated those not of the tribe of Levi as priests. The Southern Kingdom [primarily Judah] went into captivity some years later for similar pollution of the worship of God but were returned that the Scripture prophecy of the birth of the Savior would be fulfilled.

    Scripture records the pollution of the worship of Holy God as shown:

    2 Chronicles 36:14. Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

    2 Chronicles 33:9. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

    Psalms 106:38. And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

    Since 1973 50 million unborn children have been sacrificed on the altar of convenience, that slaughter has been embraced by many so-called churches of God.

    1 Kings 3:3. And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

    2 Kings 17:9. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

    Jeremiah 3:2. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

    Christians are to worship God in spirit and in truth. There is only one passage of Scripture where any order of worship for the Church is given, 1 Corinthians 14:26-35. I certainly cannot prescribe just what a worship service should be like but I can certainly say what it should not be.

    1. Churches are not to be like road houses where the sound of music has a pagan and voluptuous beat, with women clapping their hands and shaking their behind in time with the beat.

    2. Neither are churches to be theaters where the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross is mimicked. The suffering of our Savior on the cross was not simply physical. He took upon himself our sins. How can sinful man begin to comprehend the impact on the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ of not only leaving the portals of Glory to dwell among sinful man but to take their sin upon himself.

    3. Neither are churches to be theaters where the ascension of our Savior is portrayed as coming out of a Christmas tree or riding up to the balcony on a cable.

    4. Neither are churches to embrace the latest culture mores where the` music is rock , heavy metal, death metal, or hip hop, or where the dress of some young women would embarrass street walkers, or where the dress of some men look as if they just mowed the yard.

    One thing I can say about a worship service. If it does not glorify the Triune God and edify the believer it is not worship.

    Now I have no doubt that some of you are thinking to yourself: That doddering old fool OldRegular wants to take us back to the stone age. However, Scripture tells us two things that you should think about before jumping to conclusions:

    1. Malachi 3:6. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

    2. Jeremiah 6:16. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

    I am old [ But not as old as Jim1999.]and I thank God that I am; just as I thank Him for each day He allows me to live. I have seen the church die in Western Europe with that region rushing to succumb to Islam. I am witnessing the decline of the church in this country as certain heresies flourish, those churches that are not heretical heartedly embracing the cultural mores of the day, and special privileges being doled out to adherents of Islam. I fear that this country will in time succumb to Islam unless the Lord returns first. So you see there is some advantage to being old.

    One thing is certain. God will never leave Himself without a true witness in this world, it just probably won't be in this country. Also the Lord will not return and bring all things to an end with the general resurrection and Great White Throne Judgment until the last of the elect is within the household of faith. Only He knows when that will be.
     
  12. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    uh... OR.... did you post this in the wrong thread? Nothing about Christmas trees....
     
  13. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!!!!! An old, rugged, crooked, snarled, twisted one!!!!!!

    Now, THAT'S a Christmas tree!!!!!!!!
     
  14. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    I think you're right, though I wouldn't go as far as calling it blasphemy. We sinful men cannot in any way imagine how a sinless man would inflect his voice, when he would laugh or chuckle, etc. And there is absolutely no way the Cleansing of the Temple could be accurately portrayed. Not even close.

    Putting a man in the role of Christ in a play only tarnishes Christ's glory.
     
  15. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    Jesus gave up his glory when he became human.
     
  16. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    TT

    You need to read it more carefully! And this time don't :sleep::sleep::sleep:
     
  17. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    I agree that God the Son gave up his Glory at the incarnation. However, He did not become human. The Second London Confession of Faith [1677] the model for the Philadelphia Confession of Faith speaks of the Incarnation as follows:

    “The son of God, the second Person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s Glory, of one substance and equal with Him; Who made the world, Who upholdeth and governeth all things He hath made; did when the fullness of time was come take upon Himself man’s nature, with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman, of the tribe of Judah, of the Seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparable joined in one Person; without conversion, composition, or confusion; which Person is very God and very Man; yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.

    The Lord Jesus in His human nature thus united to the divine, in the Person of the Son, was sanctified, annointed with the Holy Spirit above measure; having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell.”
     
  18. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    I have never heard anyone say that before. I think this was a heresy invading the early church called Gnosticism. Here is an article from John Piper.


    http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/965_jesus_is_fully_human/

     
  19. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    It's simple and yet unexplainable. Jesus is bothfully God and fully human. It's not a 50/50 thing but 100/100 allthe way.
     
  20. Amy.G

    Amy.G New Member

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    Exactly.........................
     
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