I belong to my church women’s group. I want to add an Advent candle lighting prayer processional to begin the program. Is this Advent proper?<\/p>\n\t
Advent is a man-made event referring to the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, which is also a man-made holiday. You will find nothing about Advent, Christmas, or candles in the Bible. There are no instructions for holding processionals or lighting candles. What you are wanting to do was never commanded by God. Thus, it doesn’t honor God in any way.<\/p>\n
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great<\/em>” (Luke 6:46-49).<\/p>\n
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’<\/em>” (Matthew 7:21-23).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I belong to my church women’s group. I want to add an Advent candle lighting prayer processional to begin the program. Is this Advent proper? Answer: Advent is a man-made event referring to the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, which is also a man-made holiday. You will find nothing about Advent, Christmas, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1160,78,675],"class_list":["post-19599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-advent","tag-authority","tag-innovations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-churches-observe-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":19599,"position":0},"title":"Should churches observe Advent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thought's on Advent: Christ coming into the world, anticipating his second coming. Obviously preaching and teaching about Christ coming into the world and preaching and teaching about the\u00a0fact\u00a0that Christ will return again can be scheduled anytime during the year but for those who make Advent a November through December\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29541,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gift-of-the-holy-spirit-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":19599,"position":1},"title":"The Gift of the Holy Spirit (Bassford)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford If there is any verse in the Bible that is of particular significance to brethren, it is Acts 2:38. 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I quoted John 9:31 to the man and his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-you-get-some-verses-wrong-concerning-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":19599,"position":5},"title":"Did you get some verses wrong concerning prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christain who attends a Church of Christ. In a search to assist me in my study of God's word, I came across your site. 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