Chris' Christian Blog

March 17, 2017

"March 17, 2017"  ** Image ID #2113629 Unavailable **

The 30 DBC prompt for March 17, 2017 is "On this day in the year 461, St. Patrick died in Saul. Ireland celebrates this day in his honor. Share with us a story of St. Patrick's Day shenanigans you've gotten into in the past...or, if you prefer, share with us some of the traditions you take part in on March 17th. "

I

don't really take part in any St. Patrick's Day festivities, although I will write an occasional Limerick about it or poem about spring. Of course as a writer I engage in some fantasy writings such as leprechauns but in reality it's all just for fun. I don't care for St. Patrick's Day because I was taught a very strict Christian discipline that forbids engaging in any Christian practices not specifically taught by the Bible. I have gotten away from that a little bit but I can tell you that many in that discipline would firmly condemn me for doing so. In spite of the fact that I have relaxed my stance slightly, I still don't engage in many of the activities members of the church engage in. I see practices such as Christmas and Easter as pagan and choose not to indulge in the compromises that created these holidays. Christmas for example was adopted by the Catholic church to ebb the tide of recidivism to pagan practices. many converts in the church were content with Christianity until they found they could no longer engage in the traditions and practices of the winter solstice, which for pagans is a major holiday with feasts, gift giving, and all the trappings of our Christmas holiday. So they began dabbing in both worlds, which was fine by pagan polytheistic practices. By pagan traditions Jehovah was just another god among many gods. According to God though there is only one God and worshiping any other is idolatry. The Old Testament is full of accounts of God's people worshiping both God and idols and God's justifiable anger as a result. In fact the Assyrian exile for the Northern Kingdom in 721 BC and the Babylonian exile of the sixth century BC were results of God's people worshiping these forbidden idols. So adoption of pagan practices and dubbing them Christian does not mean God approves of them. If we engage in these practices we are just as guilty as the people who worshiped Jehovah and then went to worship under a tree or pole dedicated to pagans. I could preach a whole sermon about this subject but I'm not feeling well so I won't. Let's suffice it to say that St. Patrick's Day is another holiday with pagan roots and I simply choose not to indulge.



The Blog City Prompt Forum prompt for March 17, 2017 is "When we look at the bigger picture and all the things we wanted to accomplish and then just never found time it can be disheartening. Pick one thing that did happen and imagine how your life would be if you had found time for another one of yours dream instead. Would it be the same or totally different? Do things happen for a reason?

T

o be totally honest I wouldn't want a single second of my life to have been any different than it was. I do believe everything happens for a reason and that reason is the will of God. For me to have regrets about my life would mean that I am dissatisfied with the handiwork of my Creator and that I question Him. I can't speak for anybody else but I don't want to be guilty of that. I fear I may find myself facing God and hearing the words He spoke to Job "Who is this who questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man for I have some questions for you and you must answer them," Job 38: 2.

No. I'm perfectly content with things just as they have turned out. The only regrets I have are that I regret the many times I have fallen short of God's glory. The number of days I have done that are too numerous for me to calculate. However I can sum it all up by saying I was born into a sinful world, quickly succumbed to the power of sin myself, and of my own power can do nothing but sin. God however provided an escape for me by the death of His Son on the cross of Calvary as the one perfect sacrifice for my sin. Therefore I know that what God has started in me He will complete. I will never be sinless in this flesh but in the world to come I will share in His glory.



The Blogging Circle of Friends prompt for March 17, 2017 is "We've had five days straight of howling wind. I never thought about all the sounds the wind makes until this week.How many ways can you describe the sound of wind? Can you give it emotions?"

I

never thought of the wind in an anthropomorphic way. However I remember a very interesting story from my childhood in which the wind was the hero. I don't recall the specific details of the story but I do recall the artist's illustrations of the wind as being a cloud puckered up and blowing everything along. The wind often seems that way to me. I was out walking the other day and the wind was so strong I had to lean forward at a very odd angle in order to stand against it. I remember telling it "Now that's enough of that."

I don't know if I actually thought it would hear me or not but it must have because it stopped blowing until I got home. I do know that Jesus seemed to believe that the wind had personality because He openly rebuked the wind when His disciples awakened Him during a storm at sea. He then scolded the disciples for not having the faith to believe that they would be safe in spite of the wind or for simply not rebuking the wind themselves. After all He had given them the authority to do everything he was capable of doing. They, like us, just didn't practice that authority.