Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Trees!!!

(Repost from Dec 2012)
Sooooooo i've been wanting to write a post about Christmas trees for seveRal years now, but NEVER end up having the guts thus faR to write it! Mainly cuz I don't want to be offensive or rude or sound condeming OR holieR tHAN THOU about it...buuuut I was telling a few of my friends a lil testimony God gave me about Christmas trees and they  said I SHOULD share it...soooooo....
.
FIRST OF ALL: I want to start off by saying THAT... this post is NOT to condemn anyone that has a Christmas tree!!! I do NOT think having a Christmas tree is a heaven or hell issue! This post is to help give understanding to those that have a pastor that teaches against having a Christmas tree! Its about having respect to others in the convictions they may have and its about preserving the things that we have been taught! Okaaaaaaaaay now, here we go!!! :)))
.
Sooooo growing up, my pastor, Bro. ABbotT, now Bishop, has ALWAYS taught us AGAINST having Christmas trees. Now we came from a church in NYC that did allow Christmas trees, so NOT having a Christmas tree was a HUGE deal fOR my parents!!! But, my mom was obedient and we NEVER had a Christmas tree.
.
 Weeeeeellll...as the years passed by and my grandpa, my mom's dad, was getting older and he needed more and more help around the holidays so that he could get all his decorating and baking done. So this also meant helping him decorate his Christmas tree! Now the first couple of years it was NO big deal! We just decorated it for him and had fun doing so! I LOVED lookin at all of his ornaments...he had some all the way back from when him and my grandma got married, stuff from the NYC police force, stuff from my mom and uncles when they were kids and so much more!!!
.
After decorating my grandpa's tree for several years I really started thinkin, MAN this is FUN! I was thinkin Hmmmm...I sure wouldn't mind having MY OWN tree one day...Maybe...THEN one day I saw it!!! A HOT PINK CHRISTMAS TREE, with feathers, glitter and shiny stuff all over it!!! Is that like soooooo a Mary tree or WHAT?!?!!
.
I was like OH thats it, ONE DAY, i'm gonna marry a guy that goes to a church that allows CHRISTMAS TREES!!! Its NOT a big deal!!! Now RIGHT AFTER thinkin this one day, I was in the news room at my college. I was a writer for the college paper and me and this other reporter would always get into these deep theological discussions.
.
My friend was a very intelligent guy who was agnostic. He said that UNLESS God himself came down from heaven and told him he was God, he would NOT believe it! Soooo of course this caused me to try and prove to him that God was indeed real and we were ALWAYS debating back and forth about it! I LOVE debate and am pretty good at it...LOL! Buuuuut....
.
He was sooooo STUBBORn that honestly, it really didn't matter what I said, he was NOT going to believe me!!! So one day, I was sitting in the news room, working on an article and he turns to me and says, You know whats ONE thing that I just DO NOT understand about Christians?! I'm just kinda like, what? cuz I was TRYIN to write and SOOOOO NOT in the mood to have a debate with him at the moment, since thus far he was adamantly refusing all reason!!!
.
He was like, One thing, that I just do NOT understand about you Christians is that you all do soooo many things that go AGAINST absolutely EVERYTHING, you as Christians believe in!!! I was like, Ok, like WHAT?!?!?!
.
He goes FOR EXAMPLE, take CHRISTMAS TREES!!! In my mind I was like WHAT??? God, are you settin this guy up or WHAT?!?! He goes on, Christians have CHRISTMAS trees!!! Do you EVEN know the history of Christmas trees?! He says, Christmas trees are PAGAN!!! People would worship them and they are like a god! Doesn't your Bible say something about them? (Jeremiah 10) He's just going on and on about WHAT a Christmas tree represents...NONE of which I had EVER bothered to study about...He was like, I thought Christians don't believe in all that?! He goes, A CHRISTMAS TREE goes AGAINST EVERYTHING a Christian believes! He says, now don't get me wrong, I HAVE A CHRISTMAS TREE...BUUUUUT I'm NOT a Christian!!!
.
Soooo i was just kinda silent for a moment, really NOT even sure what to say, then I confidently say, yeah, I guess thats why me and MY FAMILY do NOT have a Christmas tree!!!(It WAS A total  AHa mOMENT FoR Me...like Oooo sO THATs WHY hE PREACHES THAT!) He just stopped and stared at me, really surprised and then he says, FOR REALS?! I was like, yeah!!! He didn't say NOTHING, then he just says, WOW!!! YOU are the FIRST CHRISTIAN I have EVER MET, that doesn't have a Christmas tree!!! I could tell, he was just really astounded by it...he wasn't being fake...he REALLY truely was surprised! He said it again, your the ONLY Christian I have ever met...
.
Now I had been talking to this guy forEVERRR about the things of God! I would tell him  about church, the Holy Ghost, EVERYTHING, he was NEVERRRR impressed, NEVER blinked an eye about my previous witness, buuuut he found out that I didn't have a Christmas Tree and FINALLY, something stood out to him!!! I WaS tHE only ChRiSTian hE knEW...that didn't have a Christmas tree!!!
.
I havn't seen that guy in YEARS, buuuuut I hope that he never forgets my witness...that HE NEVER forgets THE ONLY CHRISTIAN he has ever met, that does NOT have a Christmas tree!!! I told God that day, Okay GOD, I got it!!! I vowed to him that as long as I had control of it, I would NEVERRRR have a Christmas tree in my house!!!
.
I know that may seem ridic...buuuuut you can NOT tell me that God didn't use that agnostic guy that day, to give me a CONVICTION!!! It happened RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of my questioning...RIGHT when I was thinking, ya know...Maybe I'll get one...God showed me up!!! 
.
I know that sometimes we THINK we know better!!! We THINK its NOT a big deal!!! But really, I had NEVER even bothered to take the time to fine out WHY my pastor was taking a stand for something!!! I didn't realize that he was tryin to PRESERVE something!!! I know i've heard people talk about it before, Oh well you know, we just do it out of respect for our pastor and he is just doing it out of respect for what he was taught...buuuuut...I don't think its a big deal...I think thats how standards get LOST...because it STOPS becoming a CONVICTION for people and instead it just becomes a TRADITION!!! Traditions pass...buuuuut CONVICTIONS LAST!!!
.
Someone told me once, well i don't want a Christmas tree to be pagan, I just want one because they are just SOOOO pretty!!! I was like, weeeeellll yeah, buuuut SO IS JEWELERY!!!ya know, "Jus sayin!" 
.
I mean, sometimes we look at other Apostolic people that won't do certain things and we think OH they're NO FUN! They're soooo holier than thou! We used to be like, OH we're NEVER gonna marry one of those guys that goes to a church that doesn't believe in Christmas at all!!! AHAHAHA!!! But we don't stop to think or find out WHY someone may refuse to do something!!! Maybe God talked to them about it...I remember hearing someone preach against Nativity Scenes at WCC one year...it was like waaaaaay BACK IN THE DAY...when it was still PSR...we were like...wow...buuuuut idk...sometimes I think about it in my mind...what does GOD really think about it??? What does THE BIBLE say??? I mean, i'm NOT sayin that you should just go and do EVERY single thing that OTHER pastor's preach against...buuuuut if God shows you...
.
I have two other close friends and we decided, when it comes to marriage, if the guy is okay with Christmas trees, we're just gonna say, "Look, its ME or THE TREE!" Hee, hee!!! Yes!!! I feel just that strongly about it...cuz GOD showed me...not just outta respect to my elder pastor in my life...BUUUUUUUT.... because GOD HIMSELF opened my eyes and gave me revelation...CONVICTION!!! I mean really, WHAT guy, that is totally smitten and in love with a girl is gonna choose the TREE??? (weirdo!!!)HAHAHA!!!
.
 Okaaaaaaay now people that do have Christmas trees, don't be all like worried that your gonna offend ME by posting pics or that you have to take the tree down if I come over to YOUR house...LOL...I could CARE LESS...if YOU have one!!! Its NOT about offending ME...Im NOT offended about your tree...its about GOD!!! I don't want to offend MY GOD!!! Ask HIM if he is offended!!! Cuz he SURE DID let ME KNOW!!! 
.
Weeeeeellll Merry Early Christmas everyone...i'm gonna go hang some ornaments from some garland or something...hee, hee!!! ;)
.
Hmmmm...I wonder WHAT the history of GARLAND is??? LOL! I'm scared to even look!!!
♥Mary Frances :)