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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Devout Practices
Victor Bryditzki
† Did you know that devout (but pagan) Buddhists pray before a statue for hours with a rosary?
† Did you know that relics of bones, teeth and hair are enshrined in Buddhist temples and worshiped?
† Buddhists also keep guardian statues and images for protection and to repel evil spirits.
† Did you know that a Buddhist priest has his own parish?
† Sweeping the Pagoda is considered to be an "act of merit" and a Buddhist's favorite object of prayer is his Kuan Yin, a female goddess.
† Did you know that in the pagan Taoist religion, a priest burns incense and asks "patron saints" to bless deceased family members?
† Did you know that in Confucianism, they have a burning ceremony to release a soul from purgatory?
† Did you know that Islam worshippers make pilgrimages to touch and kiss sacred objects? They also self-inflict wounds upon themselves. They build ornate mosques for the bodies of Moslem saints, and pilgrims come to pray at these tombs.
† Did you know that heathen Hindus ring temple bells as a devotional act?
† Did you know that Hindus pray for the dead?
† Did you know that the Brahmin prays before images while kissing a string of beads?
† Do these pagan religious customs sound familiar?
The question we must ask is, "would a true, born-again Christian do such things? Based on such scriptures as John 14:26, 16:13, I Cor. 12-14, the answer must be, "no!"
More specifically we ask, "Would a bona fide Christian enter a "temple" and participate in a service where a "priest" makes a sacrifice for sin?
Again basing our answers on such passages as Heb. 9:14, 10:10-14, 12:2, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 5:9, Heb. 6:4-6, II Peter 2:20-22, we must reply that a true born-again Christian would not.