Showing posts with label #AshWednesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #AshWednesday. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Valentine's Day What's Wrong With Showing Love?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Valentine's Day. This follows this post about Ash Wednesday. This follows this post about diseases like Zika.This follows this post about the papacy. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

Valentine's Day

What's Wrong With Showing Love?

http://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/booklets 
 
by Dan Dowd 4 comments Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
A round red heart laying on wood table. Thinkstock
Valentine's Day it is definitely not a holiday with true Christian values.
Valentine’s Day is all about showing “love,” giving a card or flowers or chocolates to a loved one. All of that’s good, right?  Wrong.
Valentine’s Day is big business. According to the National Retail Foundation, Valentine’s Day for 2012 added around $17.6 billion to the U.S. economy—making retail spending for this day the second-largest behind Christmas.
It does matter to God how we worship Him.
For a lot of people it’s the holiday to express your love to someone special. According to Kemberly King, a business instructor at South University, young adults ages 25 to 34 spend the most on Valentine’s Day gifts. Interestingly, men will outspend women—almost 2 to 1—with the biggest categories for all spending being restaurants, candy, romantic getaways and flowers.
A quick Web search for the origins of Valentine’s Day will give you the basics of the accepted history of the day. A deeper search will acknowledge its pagan origins. The Good News has published a variety of articles on both of these aspects of the holiday.
While Valentine’s Day is the most promoted holiday after Christmas and Easter even among traditional Christian churches, it is definitely not a holiday with true Christian values.

How can “love” be wrong?

There’s nothing wrong in showing love to others—after all, isn’t that the most valued Christian characteristic? But what’s been lost in how we go about it, and how we worship God for that matter, is whether we are actually following what God teaches in the Bible.
It’s like an automobile manufacturer telling you to put only gasoline in the fuel tank, but then you decide that diesel fuel is just as good! It just won’t work.
Here’s a quick review of the background of Valentine’s Day—before exploring a deeper point about this holiday.
By most accepted historians, Valentine’s Day was an adaptation by the Catholic Church of the ancient pagan Roman celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival. The Catholic Church updated and connected it to a “Saint” Valentine sometime late in the third century A.D.(though there is some confusion as to who this person actually was). It really took off commercially as a holiday in the late 1800s, promoted as a day to show your “love” to others—especially romantic love to your special someone.
So what’s wrong with that? Here’s the problem: Lupercalia was an immoral fertility festival also featuring gluttony and drunkenness. At the end of the festivities young men would draw the name of a young lady from a box, and the two were considered a pair (sexually and otherwise) for the coming year.
As a festival, Lupercalia was dedicated to the Roman god Pan, recognized as the god of fields, groves and wooded glens—and pictured as having the hindquarters, legs and horns of a goat. This pagan deity was connected to fertility and the season of spring. None of what is connected to the feast of Lupercalia is worthy of a Christian’s observance.

But what’s wrong with a little paganism?

What about showing love on Valentine’s Day if I’m not doing it for pagan reasons? Isn’t that okay? No, because the expression of that kind of “love” is still rooted in a former pagan holiday. True Christians must not adopt pagan festivals as holidays, for they are to strive to please God in everything they do.
Even when you think you’re innocently observing a holiday like this, you’re still advancing the origins and meanings of the day—especially from God’s perspective, as He certainly knows where it came from. God said not to do this. He told the Israelites entering the pagan land of Canaan:
“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise . ‘ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:29-31, emphasis added).
When we merge pagan teachings with what God instructs through the Bible, we weaken the truth and violate God’s clear command.

God’s way is true love

Showing love as God instructs is not wrong—romantic love included. It’s a good thing to express your love toward others through a card, flowers, dinner out or any number of other ways. But don’t do it under the trappings of a pagan holiday like Valentine’s Day! If someone is special to you, then do those things throughout the year rather than waiting until February 14th.
Our worship of God must first and foremost be according to His truth (John 4:24). Carryovers from pagan worship don’t honor Him!
God is personified by the characteristic of love (1 John 4:8). Godly love is genuine outgoing concern for others as God would love them—not as a selfish love. Divine love is reflected in keeping God’s commandments (1 John 5:3), including the Ten Commandments and instruction like that in Deuteronomy cited above.
True Christians should desire to faithfully observe God’s own Holy Days found in the Bible (see Leviticus 23 for a list of them). Celebrating holidays like Valentine’s Day in opposition to God’s instruction does not honor or obey Him—no matter how well intentioned or innocent we believe it to be.
It does matter to God how we worship Him. He expects us to understand the difference between what He has declared holy and the profane teachings, customs and traditions masquerading as godly worship (Ezekiel 22:26).
Valentine's Day true love Lupercalia paganism

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Obama at Baltimore mosque quoted Muhammad from speech endorsing caliphate and beheading

A timely post about from http://www.jihadwatch.org  about Obama's mosque visit. This follows this previous post about it. This follows this post about about Pope Francis and Iran. This follows this article about American energy independence and preventing money from going to hostile countries. For more, you can read two very interesting books HERE.You can follow me here.


Obama at Baltimore mosque quoted Muhammad from speech endorsing caliphate and beheading

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Obama said: “Whoever wants to enter paradise, the Prophet Muhammad taught, ‘let him treat people the way he would love to be treated.'”
That saying comes from this hadith:
It has been narrated on the authority of ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Abd Rabb al-Ka’ba who said:
I entered the mosque when ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As was sitting in the shade of the Ka’ba and the people had gathered around him. I betook myself to them and sat near him. (Now) Abdullah said: I accompanied the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on a journey. We halted at a place. Some of us began to set right their tents, others began to compete with one another in shooting, and others began to graze their beasts, when an announcer of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) announced that the people should gather together for prayer, so we gathered around the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He said: It was the duty of every Prophet that has gone before me to guide his followers to what he knew was good for them and warn them against what he knew was bad for them; but this Umma of yours has its days of peace and (security) in the beginning of its career, and in the last phase of its existence it will be afflicted with trials and with things disagreeable to you. (In this phase of the Umma), there will be tremendous trials one after the other, each making the previous one dwindle into insignificance. When they would be afflicted with a trial, the believer would say: This is going to bring about my destruction. When at (the trial) is over, they would be afflicted with another trial, and the believer would say: This surely is going to be my end. Whoever wishes to be delivered from the fire and enter the garden should die with faith in Allah and the Last Day and should treat the people as he wishes to be treated by them. He who swears allegiance to a Caliph should give him the piedge [sic] of his hand and the sincerity of his heart (i. e. submit to him both outwardly as well as inwardly). He should obey him to the best of his capacity. It another man comes forward (as a claimant to Caliphate), disputing his authority, they (the Muslims) should behead the latter. The narrator says: I came close to him (‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-‘As) and said to him: Can you say on oath that you heard it from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? He pointed with his hands to his ears and his heart and said: My ears heard it and my mind retained it. I said to him: This cousin of yours, Mu’awiya, orders us to unjustly consume our wealth among ourselves and to kill one another, while Allah says:” O ye who believe, do not consume your wealth among yourselves unjustly, unless it be trade based on mutual agreement, and do not kill yourselves. Verily, God is Merciful to you” (iv. 29). The narrator says that (hearing this) Abdullah b. ‘Amr b. al-As kept quiet for a while and then said: Obey him in so far as he is obedient to God; and diqobey [sic] him in matters involving disobedience to God. (Sahih Muslim book 20, no. 4546)
Immediately following the passage Obama quoted comes an exhortation to obey the caliph and to behead rival claimants. So embedded within the very same passage that Obama was using are endorsements of ideas that Obama would probably reject as having nothing to do with authentic Islam. It is extremely unlikely, of course, that Obama has seen this passage, but his (i.e., his speechwriters’) use of this quotation follows the same pattern as his use of Qur’an 5:32: he quotes selectively (although no Muslims are accusing him of “cherry-picking”!), ignoring inconveniently violent passages that are right next to the passage he quotes.
Is it not extremely telling that Barack Obama, in making the case that Islam teaches peace, can’t find even a few passages that are unequivocally peaceful, and instead has to grab his peaceful passages from amid exhortations to violence? Doesn’t that tell us something about Islam as a whole — something that Obama and the Western political and media establishment will never tell us?
Obama at Islamic Society of Baltimore, Allah
From Obama’s speech last Wednesday at the Islamic Society of Baltimore:
So let’s start with this fact: For more than a thousand years, people have been drawn to Islam’s message of peace. And the very word itself, Islam, comes from salam — peace. The standard greeting is as-salamu alaykum — peace be upon you. And like so many faiths, Islam is rooted in a commitment to compassion and mercy and justice and charity. Whoever wants to enter paradise, the Prophet Muhammad taught, “let him treat people the way he would love to be treated.” (Applause.) For Christians like myself, I’m assuming that sounds familiar. (Laughter.)
​FBI unable to crack San Bernardino killers' cell phone
UK: Three government buildings now ruled by Sharia, alcohol banned
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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

What are Ash Wednesday and Lent? Does the Bible tell us to celebrate these days?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Ash Wednesday and Lent. This follows this post about the Super Bowl. This follows this post about diseases like Zika.This follows this post about the papacy. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

What are Ash Wednesday and Lent? Does the Bible tell us to celebrate these days?

by United Church of God 4 comments Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
A block letter sign that spells out the word "Lent". Enterline Design Services LLC/iStock/Thinkstock
The Bible does teach the importance of fasting and self-examination, but it does not teach a 40-day period called Lent or an Ash Wednesday of putting ashes on the forehead.
The Bible does not mention Ash Wednesday or Lent, and the early New Testament Church did not observe these days. Here is how the BBC Religion page describes Ash Wednesday and Lent:
“Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent for Western Christian churches. It’s a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Lent fast.
“Roman Catholic, Anglican, and some other churches hold special services at which worshippers are marked with ashes as a symbol of death and sorrow for sin…
“The Christian churches that observe Lent in the 21st century (and not all do significantly) use it as a time for prayer and penance. Only a small number of people today fast for the whole of Lent, although some maintain the practice on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is more common these days for believers to surrender a particular vice such as favourite foods or smoking” (BBC ).
Lent is counted differently by those of the Western Catholic tradition and those of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. “ The western church excludes Sundays (which is celebrated as the day of Christ’s resurrection) whereas the eastern church includes them. The churches also start Lent on different days. Western churches start Lent on the 7th Wednesday before Easter Day (called Ash Wednesday). Eastern churches start Lent on the Monday of the 7th week before Easter and end it on the Friday 9 days before Easter. Eastern churches call this period the ‘Great Lent ‘” (BBC ).
Various biblical events and customs are referred to by those who celebrate these days. The Bible mentions people mourning in sackcloth and ashes. The Bible also talks about repentance and fasting, and the number 40 is prominent in various biblical events.
“The justification for the Lenten 40-day preparation for Easter is traditionally based on Jesus’ 40-day wilderness fast before His temptation by Satan ( Harper’s Bible Dictionary, ‘Lent’; Matthew 4:1-2; Mark 1:13). The problem with this explanation is that this incident is not connected in any way with Jesus’ supposed observance of Easter. The 40-day pre-Easter practice of fasting and penance did not originate in the Bible” (The Good Friday—Easter Sunday Question ).
Some have suggested that Lent may be connected to earlier, pagan holidays. In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet in vision saw women weeping for the pagan god Tammuz. “It has been suggested by some scholars that the practice of ‘weeping for Tammuz’ was the actual origin of Lent, the Roman Catholic 40-day period of abstinence prior to Easter (starting after Mardi Gras, ‘Fat Tuesday,’ on Ash Wednesday). Consider that the name Easter itself is derived from Ishtar, the ancient Babylonian fertility goddess and Tammuz’s mother”. (See the Bible commentary on Ezekiel 8 for details. )
The Bible does teach the importance of fasting and self-examination, but it does not teach a 40-day period called Lent or an Ash Wednesday of putting ashes on the forehead. These customs appear to have pagan origins, and are not practiced by the United Church of God. We seek to follow the customs and practices of the early New Testament Church as described in the Bible. For more on the biblical religious festivals, such as the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring, see God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .
Lent God's Holy Days or Man's Holidays? Ash Wednesday Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Easter

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Friday, February 5, 2016

Super Bowl Ads Reflections of Our Culture

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about the Super Bowl. This follows this post about Mardi Gras and Carnival. This follows this post about diseases like Zika.This follows this post about the papacy. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.


Super Bowl Ads

Reflections of Our Culture

 by Don Hooser Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Football's Super Bowl game is the world's most-watched annual sports event. But the Super Bowl is much more than a football game.
It's also the crème de la crème of TV commercials. This year they sold for $3 million for a 30-second spot! Two ads—one rejected, the other accepted by this year's hosting network (NBC)—are examples of the controversial social perspectives that exist in our society and the turmoil that arises from those differing perceptions of morality.
The website www.catholicvote.org features a 30-second ad that openly gives the pro-life religious-social viewpoint. To promote that viewpoint its supporters were able to raise sufficient funds to air the same ad during the Super Bowl. But NBC turned it down on the grounds that their network refuses to run ads involving “political advocacy or issues .”
Now consider the second example—the ad the network was willing to accept.
AshleyMadison.com is a matchmaking service for married men and women who want to have an extramarital affair. The website openly advertises: “Life is short. Have an affair.”
When Ashley-Madison sought to buy an ad spot on stations throughout the U.S. and Canada to air during the Super Bowl, NBC first agreed but finally backed away from trying to blanket all markets with the ad because of the outrage that arose over its blatant promotion of what is still commonly regarded as immorality.
The initial publicity started in Canada when CTV, which broadcasts the Super Bowl game in Canada, notified NBC of its refusal to run the ad. As it turned out, only one NBC affiliate station in the U.S. chose to air the ad.
As an ABC radio newscast put it on the Monday after the Super Bowl, it was the only station that “dared” to run the ad. Public objections to it had grown to that extent.
That today's society is deeply divided over moral issues is common knowledge. And the trend seems to be shifting toward the “do as you feel” point of view regarding personal conduct.
For those whose sense of morality is still rooted in biblical principles, these are disturbing times. They raise the question: Are we approaching the time described as the “last days” in the Scriptures?
The apostle Paul describes much of humanity in the “last days” as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1, 4). The prophet Isaiah gave this warning to those who disregard the teaching of God: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).
In the Scriptures there is no compromise between good and evil behaviors. If you profess a loyalty to the God of the Bible, you need a clear roadmap to what is or is not moral behavior. That roadmap is based on the godly principles of conduct and thought that are encapsulated in the Ten Commandments .
Understanding those principles and grasping the underlying reasons why all human relationships benefit when they are consistently applied is one of the greatest needs in our world today. So don't assume what you may have heard about morality is all you need to know! Take the time to learn the foundational keys that produce the happiness all humans desire.
For a full and meaningful explanation of those godly values and principles that distinguish good from evil and protect our relationships, simply request or download our free booklet: The Ten Commandments  .
Super Bowl NBC morality Ashley-Madison Ten Commandments God's Law Doctrinal Beliefs Character Christian Living

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Thursday, February 4, 2016

What is Mardi Gras? Should Christians celebrate Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) and Carnival?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Mardi Gras and Carnival. This follows this post about geohazards. This follows this post about diseases like Zika.This follows this post about the papacy. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.


What is Mardi Gras? Should Christians celebrate Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday)?

by United Church of God 4 comments Estimated reading time: 4 minutes



New Orleans during Mardi Gras. busito69/iStock/Thinkstock
In places like New Orleans, the period of merrymaking with fancy balls and parades goes on for weeks leading up to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).
The idea behind Mardi Gras or carnival celebrations is that people overindulge before giving up something for Lent, which begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. (Lent is the 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Easter observed by the Roman Catholic, Eastern and some Protestant churches as a period of penitence and fasting.)
The idea of partying before repenting seems to be to get as much revelry and additional sin out of the way before you decide to do anything about it. But that attitude doesn’t show a belief that God’s way is really right and that sin is really wrong.
Note the following encyclopedia article excerpt:
“Some scholars have noted similarities between modern Mardi Gras celebrations and Lupercalia, a fertility festival held each February in ancient Rome. However, modern Carnival traditions developed in Europe during the Middle Ages (5th century to the 15th century) as part of the ritual calendar of the Roman Catholic Church.
“Today pre-Lenten Carnivals are celebrated predominantly in Roman Catholic communities in Europe and the Americas. Cities famous for their celebrations include Nice, France; Cologne, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. New Orleans, Louisiana, holds the most famous Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. Residents of New Orleans have been celebrating Mardi Gras since the 18th century” (“Mardi Gras,” Encarta).
Mardi Gras “ is a lively, colorful [not to mention bawdy and debased] celebration held on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins ,” says the World Book Encyclopedia. It “ goes back to an ancient Roman custom of merrymaking before a period of fast. ” In places like New Orleans, the period of merrymaking with fancy balls and parades goes on for weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday itself.
It has been suggested by some scholars that the pagan practice of “weeping for Tammuz” that Ezekiel decried (Ezekiel 8:14) was the actual origin of Lent. Tammuz was a pagan god associated with death and rebirth in nature and the husband of the goddess Ishtar (See the Bible commentary on Ezekiel 8 for details. )
The idea of partying before repenting seems to be to get as much revelry and additional sin out of the way before you decide to do anything about it. But that attitude doesn’t show a belief that God’s way is really right and that sin is really wrong, harmful and something to be avoided because it wars against us (1 Peter 2:11) and is contrary to God’s instruction (Romans 13:13-14). It doesn’t show the 100 percent commitment that God wants (Romans 12:1-2).
God says we should always live holy lives and obey His laws because they are good for us (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Satan is the one who wants us to think that doing wrong things is fun, and his deception has been quite successful (Revelation 12:9; 1 John 2:16).
Neither Mardi Gras nor Lent are commanded in the Bible but come from pre-Christian, pagan customs. What does God think about such pagan customs?
“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess…do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods… Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
The New Testament continues this theme. The apostle Paul addressed the issue of whether outside religious customs and practices had any place among Christians:
“What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’
“Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 6:14–18; 2 Corinthians 7:1).
Instead of renaming some of the pagan customs as Christian or allowing the new converts to retain some of their former practices, Paul commanded them to leave behind all of these forms of worship.
Mardi Gras celebrations have nothing to do with God’s commanded Holy Days. On the contrary, they are part of the system from which God’s people should separate themselves.
For more information, please read our booklet “Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe? “
Mardi Gras God's Holy Days or Man's Holidays?

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Thursday, February 19, 2015

What's wrong with Ash Wednesday?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Ash Wednesday. This follows this post about Islam. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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What's wrong with Ash Wednesday?



Ashes, sacrificing for Lent, what could be wrong with that?


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[Darris McNeely] If you happen to see anyone today with an ashen cross on their forehead, don't think that it's just a smudge of dirt. It's Ash Wednesday. And for people who keep this day, that's part of the custom, the ritual of putting a cross on their head in commemoration of Christ, His life, His birth, and the beginning of Lent and the 40 days of fasting.
[Steve Myers] Is that something we need to be a part of? Is that something you should be doing, putting an outward symbol on your forehead? Or for the next 40 days giving up some things like a pack of gum? Or I read on a Catholic website, give up a half an hour of TV because somehow that connects with the sacrifice of Christ? Is that what we should really be doing or is there a whole lot more to it?
[Darris McNeely] These practice that take place during this 40 day period are very interesting. They tend toward a works based approach toward religion, and it's the very opposite of what the Bible says regarding our relationship with God and what we should learn from the very important events of Christ life, and His death, and His resurrection. And it gets down to a more spiritual application than something external and physical.
[Steve Myers] Right. Rather than just being sorry about something or being penitent, you have to repent, you have to change, and that's an inward thing not an outward thing. And there's a connection here in Matthew:6:16. Christ was talking about fasting, but the same applies to putting ashes on your head or giving up a pack of gum for 40 days. Here's what He says, He says, "When you fast, don't make it obvious." That's the New Living translation. He says, "As the hypocrites do for they try to look miserable or disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting." That's not the approach. Christ points to the inside. He says, "When you fast, comb your hair, wash your face, then no one will notice what you're doing," what you're fasting about. He says, "Except your Father who knows what you do in private, and your Father who sees everything will reward you" (Matthew:6:16-18). So what's God most concerned about? The inside, what's happening inside. Not some outward show. But He wants a relationship with you.  He wants true repentance, not just something to feel sorry about. So it's more important about what's going on inside.
[Darris McNeely] It's the inward man, that change that takes place that really defines our relationship with God. That's what God is most interested in, not in placing ashes on our forehead in some type of symbol.
[Steve Myers] So let's make it our goal to draw closer to God, not on the outside, but on the inside where it really counts.
[Darris McNeely] That's BT Daily . Join us next time. 


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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Does the Bible forbid women from wearing pants?

An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about feminine clothing. This follows this post about the gay agenda. This follows this post about Valentine's Day. For a free magazine subscription or to get the books recommended for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.
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Does the Bible forbid women from wearing pants?



What does the biblical statute about a woman not wearing anything that pertains to a man mean today?


Answer: Deuteronomy:22:5 says: "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God." Like many of the statutes, this law had to do with pagan customs of the time, and as we will see, does not refer to women wearing pants. The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary explains:
"Disguises were assumed at certain times in pagan temples. Maimonides...mentions that a man attired in a coloured female dress, in honour of Venus, Ashtaroth, or Astarte, and a woman equipped in armour, worshipped at the shrine of the statue of Mars...
"Asiatics, when they engaged in the worship of Ashtaroth, were accustomed, according to Philocorus, quoted by Townley (in his edition of Maimonides, note 33), to exchange the male and female dresses. In fact, all idolators confounded the sexes of their deities—representing them sometimes as male, at other times as female; and hence, their worshippers, male and female, fell gradually into the custom, which became extensively prevalent, of changing their attire in adaptation to the sex of a particular divinity."
God's command to Israel forbade the people from incorporating pagan religious rites into true worship. In spite of this instruction, today's Christianity commonly mixes paganism in with the worship of Christ.
Does Deuteronomy:22:5 forbid women from wearing pants? No, it doesn't. In fact, even men in the Middle East through the history of the Old and New Testaments did not wear pants; they wore a robelike garment. However, there is an underlying principle that applies today. Men should dress in an appropriately masculine manner and women should dress in an appropriately feminine manner. Clothing manufacturers make pants designed for men and pants designed for women.
For more insight, please read our article The Modesty Question: How Far is Too Far?


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