This reminds me of a sister in our congregation who had been in the truth her whole life and decided to hang wind chimes on her tree in the front of her house, another sister who had stopped by to visit told her the wind chimes had a pagan origin and were used to scare demons away, the elderly sister replied, (who was in her 90s) "Well that's not what I'm using them for! they are pretty and I like the sound of them!" Lol end of story.
goldie : It really gets into the ridiculous and absurd when you have so many Pharisee like power hungry Legalists and control freaks ruining the faith by micromanaging every little thing- just like the Pharisee's did , it's all these crazy & unbiblical -"going beyond what is written "rules that stumble so many people . Good grief !- wedding rings are pagan , the day's of the week are pagan, the month's of the year, even the names of the planets in our solar system are of pagan god's . you could go on & on .
You know what else is pagan -- Shaving the beard off your face is a really pagan practice . But as a Witness- a man can't even wear a short neat beard without being persecuted and taken off the ministry school ( I know this , it happened to me ) . Even though the Bible was written by 40 bearded men , Christianity was started by a bearded man ( Jesus ). Also the Watchtower Society began by a bearded man ( Charles Taze Russell ).
And even to this day they are still shaming men with beards, I watched the convention this past summer( 2022 ) and they had two men in two different video drama skit's- shave off their beards before becoming Witnesses, they even showed one guy over his sink- with shaving cream all over his face, shaving it off . ( " Those who are trying to force you to circumcise your face only want themselves to look good to others .....they only want you to circumcise your face so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples " ( Galatians 6 :12 ,13 ) NLT & edited by DP )
Some years back a couple of Pharisee's got after my Mother at the Kingdom Hall because she had a license plate with a picture of the state bird on it , ( some license plates had the state bird & some did not ) They told her she should get the one without the bird on it. I wish they had asked me , I would have given them the bird alright .
Whats really ironic about all this -
( me being taken off the Ministry school for having a short neat beard, and my Mother's license plate incident ) was at that very same time we were all studying at the Hall -the Greatest Man book about Jesus life and Ministry, That plainly Showed how Jesus got after the Pharisee's for doing the very same thing,- going beyond what was written in God's law's and adding their own rules to control people with their love of power. Making their Religion a big burden . Let's face it , the leadership of the Watchtower will never get it , They don't like to be called a Cult , but yet they act like a Cult and may i say they look like a Cult. It's not Unity its Uniformity, It's not a restoration of primitive Christianity, it's a restoration of primitive Pharisaism.
" So Christ has truly set us free . Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the laws."( of the Watchtower .")
( Galatatins 5: 1 ) NLT edited by DP )
Or as the Message Bible say's " Christ has set us free to live a free life . So take your stand ! Never let anyone put a harness of slavery on you."
( Gal. 5:1 )
It seems to me the Apostle Paul was dealing with the same power hungry Legalists .