I don't know about all you Pharisees, (oops! I mean legalists, or is that Judiasers??), but every church that I have been in has used Good Friday... wait a minute, does that also count as a pagan holiday - the day that Jesus was crucified???... and Resurrection Sunday as outreach.
I played in the orchestra of a church that put on pageants at Christmas and Easter where over 10,000 people would come and hear the Biblical story of Jesus Christ and his saving grace. I so poignantly remember once night of the production, and a woman with some noisy, ill-mannered children sitting in the row next to the orchestra pit. She seemed to get more and more anxious. This little play was convicting her!
(Actually it was God convicting her, but I digress!)
So I prayed for her to really know Christ, and when she went up for the altar call, such weeping and crying and then such joy as she realized the truth of Jesus dying on the cross for her sins.
The church I am in now is less flamboyant, but both Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are used to put on a choir production, and the pastor preaches the message of what we are celebrating.
Sometimes I think the people in this forum major in minors. What are we supposed to be doing as Christians, anyway? Arguing over whether to tithe on mint and dill? NO, wait! That was a different thread!
"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [SUP]19 [/SUP]Go therefore andmake disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,[SUP]20 [/SUP]teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20
I cannot think of a better way to reach the world for Christ than reaching out during Christmas and Easter. And I cannot but believe that there are some people in this forum who have lost their way in understanding the mission Jesus has called us to do!
(And really, can we not discuss the Bible in this forum? It is getting to the point where half the threads have nothing to do with the Bible, but are about people's opinions and strange ways of practicing their faith. Let's talk about the Bible, instead of this garbage!)