Being Careful About Being Given Into Fables and Guilt By Association in Apologetics

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1 Timothy 1:4 says, "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in the faith do so." Truth is, Christians tend to spend more time reading books from a Christian bookstore rather than actually spending more time reading actual historical facts to verify the Bible. While it's good to know extra-Biblical events but make sure they come from a credible historian and not from some hodge podge history that you end up getting into nonsense.

I remembered reading "The Two Babylons" by Alexander Hislop as of recent after having read "Babylon Religion" by David W. Daniels and the now out-of-print "Babylon Mystery Religion" by Ralph Woodrow who later released the book "The Babylonian Connection?". Though I am saddened by Woodrow's new book but I would like to admit that there are a lot of fallacies pointed out in "The Two Babylons" to which like the authors are given into fables and two, they are given into guilt by association rather than measuring a practice as right and wrong by the Bible as the standard!

My problem with the book "The Two Babylons" (which was later made simpler to understand by David W. Daniels' Babylon Religion) is that it tends to mark anything as "pagan" immediately just because pagans practice it. In fact, Seventh Day Adventists have even marked Sunday worship as 666 because Roman Catholics do it, never mind in the Bible that Sunday is the day of worship. There's also a lot and I mean a lot of what could just be myths. I really don't care where the pagan practices come from, what makes them wrong is if they are tested to the Word of God. One could consider that nobody really knows when Nimrod was born, if Tammuz ever existed if he was 40 years old when he died. The practices were all man-made. I mean, one nation after the other has their own version of paganism- Ramadan is 30 days, Lent is 40 days.

Here are some points worth pointing out in how the book addresses pagan practices is nothing more than guilt by association:
  • Confessionals to priests is wrong not because it came from Babylon but because the Bible in 1 John 1:9 commands us to confess our sins to God.
  • Praying to Mary is wrong because we are to pray to God alone. Plus it's a violation of Exodus 20:1-5 which first no other gods and two, people are bowing down to pray to Mary's images. While the Queen of Heaven is certainly pagan, it's wrong because it's a violation of the first and second commandment!
  • Praying the Rosary is wrong because it's all based on vain repetitions, not because of its pagan origin.
  • Praying for the dead is wrong not because pagans do it but because Hebrews 9:27 is clear that once a person is dead, they are already passed to judgment, no more second chances.
  • Sometimes they even forget that paganism doesn't only copy from each other, they also copy ideas from the Bible like:
    • The virgin birth in Genesis 3:15 was later corrupted by making several counterfeit saviors in various mythological accounts before it was really fulfilled.
    • Noah's true to life deluge encounter was later copied into the Epic of Gilgamesh.
    • The story of Adonis found in a basket was based on Moses' true account of being found in a basket.
    • Hercules' myth is obviously based on Samson. For example, Samson's killing the lion was later used in Hercules killing the Nemean lion.
    • Jesus is the sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2) which was used by the pagans to create their own counterfeit sun god.
    • Self-mutilation is wrong not because pagans do it but because the Bible condemns it!

Also, it has resulted to some ridiculous conspiracies, out of context like:
  • Eating of hot cross buns get condemned as "pagan" just because of the plus sign on it. This has also resulted to the genetic fallacy that foods like sticky rice cakes (eaten during the Lunar New Year) must be rejected because of its involvement in pagan practices. Nowhere in Scripture is eating sticky rice cakes or cross buns considered pagan. What was voiced against in Jeremiah 7 was not making cakes but making cakes to the idol called the Queen of Heaven.
  • Christmas is immediately marked wrong because December 25 (which isn't the birth of Jesus) was because some pagan gods had their birthday on that day. But mind you, not every pagan nation had its own winter to spring celebrations. Even some used Jeremiah 10 to point out Christmas trees are wrong without reading the context it was all about graven images!
  • Painting egg shells for decorative purposes suddenly get condemned because of its association with Isthtar's celebration.

As said, if you want to reject a practice, please use the Bible as the ONLY parameter to test if it fits with God's Law or not. Otherwise, it's just what is going overboard like the LOL meaning "Lucifer Our Lord".