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Post by Watchman on Nov 4, 2006 14:42:24 GMT -5
What about the special days? Honoring the memory of our loved ones on Memorial Day could turn into ancestor worship such as practiced in China. Remember the first commandment -- "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," Exodus 20:3. If done in the context of the fifth command "Honor thy father and thy mother . . . " (Exodus 20:12) then it is a different matter.
As for Mother's and Father's Day, haven't they been grossly over commercialized? Again in the context of the fifth command, such days could be justified. However, adoration such as that given to Mary should not be done. In recent years no Sabbath-keeping church appears to have taken a stand on these days. Recently Raymond C. Cole of the Church of God, the Eternal, stated that he had strong doubts about Mothers' Day. However, because Herbert Armstrong continued to observe this day "because we should do something for our mothers," the Worldwide Church of God never took a stand on this issue.
Perhaps Mr. Cole's concern is this quote from the American Book of Days by Douglas:
The custom of holding a festival in honor of motherhood is very old. It dates back in the Western world to the times of the ancient Greeks who worshipped Cybele, the mother of gods, and honored her with rites in woods and caves. The custom was introduced into Rome from Greece about 250 B.C., and on the Ides of March the festival of Hilaria in honor of Cybele was begun and continued for three days. But these celebrations were entirely different from that in honor of the human mothers on the second Sunday in May.
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