| To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate |
I am always open to discussion of the Lord's words in a meaningful way, that is finding the truth according to our Creator and our Savior not the truth according to any man.. I look forward to hearing from any and all who are interested in exploring the bible in search of the truth. |
| “To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate” A study about holidays. There are two different categories of holidays: 1) Religious and 2) Non-Religious. First I want to note that: 1) A Christian is to live soberly 2) I Thessalonians 5:7-8 with self-control - For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get dunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 3)Obey God‘s commandments (I John 5:2-3)- By this we know that we are the children of God, When we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4) and some day everyone will have to give an account for what they have done in this life (Romans 14:12)- So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. So it is very important to know why you do what you do because you must always be ready to give a defense for what you do, I Peter 3:15. Religious Holidays The holidays of Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and there are other that fall into this catagory but these are the most widely known. They are were created by the Catholic Church and are celebrated by denominations as well as some in the Church of Christ. First of all I want to point out that the scriptures were given to us by God and no one has the authority to change or alter from the gospel delivered by Christ and the apostles: Galatians 1:8-9- but even if we , or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Revelations 22:18-1919 - For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Even in the old testament altering God's word was not permitted: Deuteronomy 12:32 - Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. Having said that, the Catholic Church developed or created the holidays mentioned above to coincide with pagan, also known as heathen, celebrations. I my research of these holidays, I found that the Catholic Church did this to provide a Christian alternative to the pagan celebrations. Many of the Catholics were already participating in these pagan celebrations. In creating these holidays, the Catholic Church kept many of the pagan rituals and just changed the purpose for the rituals. They more or less Christianized the pagan holiday. The pagan celebrations were created because of superstitions, fears. Only St. Patrick’s Day did not coincide with a pagan holiday, but superstitious practices are a part of the observance of this day. What God thinks of heathen ways? Jeremiah 10: 1 - 5 - Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. This says the Lord: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good. There are several things worth noting in this passage. The passage “Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven” is referring to the heathen worship of the moon and sun which the Israelites did participate in the heathen way even after being commanded by God not to. King Solomon was responsible for allowing and helping these practices be widely accepted and used by the Isrealites. Some of the kings would ban these practices or some of the pagan practices but it wasn't until Josiah became king that all the practices and places of these pagan practices were completely destroyed, in 2 Kings 23: 1 - 20. But by then Isreal was so wicked that God destroyed the nation of Isreal for 70 years under Babylonian and Medes/Persians rule. Something else to consider is that from King Solomon's rule to Josiah's rule, the people were still worshipping God while they were participating in pagan practices. In Romans, Paul is explaining the practices of the unrighteous and one of those was to worship the creature more than the Creator (vs. 25 - Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Note in Jeremiah vs. 2 - Do not learn the way of the Gentile and vs. 3 - For the customs of the people are futile, futile means vanity, something transitory or unsatisfactory. Why did they worship creatures, plants and stars? There are many passages that explain that idols are worth nothing more than the material they are made of. And in researching history, especially art history, you will find that throughout history all the cultures had a lot of superstitious ways. Their celebrations and rituals were created because of their superstitions. Notice the instruction of God in Deuteronomy 12: 28 - 32 - Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord God. 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; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. God is not just telling them not to burn their children, He says not to worship Him in any way pagan gods are worshiped. You may ask your self what does all this have to do with celebrating Christmas, we aren’t worshiping idols. Notice in vs. 31 - You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way He is talking about the ways the heathen worshiped their gods. Remember the same rituals are used to honor Jesus as created by the Catholic Church that were used in celebrations of the heathen to worship their gods. Romans 14 is used to say that celebrating holidays such as Christmas falls in this category of doubtful disputations and therefore no one in the church has the right to say another cannot celebrate these holidays. I don't beleive this gives anyone permission to do something or to participate in something that other scriptures says is not ecceptable. In the celebration of Christmas, do you really think God is pleased with this type of honoring His Son like the heathen did to their gods if he himself commaneded Isreal not to worship him as the pagan gods were worshipped? You might ask your self if God means what he says, a lesson that Eve learned in Genesis 3. She knew what God had said about the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, even told the serpent vs. 2-3 - And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ’You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’” She was tempted just as Jesus and all men are tempted, I John 1:16 - For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. Read of the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, Lust of the flesh - tempted by bread; Lust of the eyes - Tempted by possessing all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; Pride of life - look at me I’m something, the angels will protect me - Tempted to tempt God to show how important he was. Eve was tempted in all three way in vs.6 - So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Study this all carefully and don’t be deceived as Eve was. So not these this things: 1) As a Christian we are to live soberly (I Thessalonians 5:7-8 - For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get dunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 2) As a Christian we are to stay away from even the appearance of evil, I Thessalonians 5:22 - Abstain from every form of evil. The heathen practices are condemned by God over and over in the scriptures. What we do effects how people outside the church think of the Church Christ built, we are to be light in the world Philippians 2: 14- 16 - Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the work of life, Christians are not to be like the world who is without law, I Corinthians 6:16-17 - 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.” These celebrations are fun for people, there is good that people do durring these holidays, they give gifts because they love others, they have special times with their families, etc. But the same can be said for a lot of unscriptural practices but they are still wrong. Always be ready to give an answer or defense for what we do. I Peter 3:14 - 17 - But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Keep this scripture in mind as you study and consider anything in the Word of God, Philippians 4:8 - Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.” If celebrating the before mentioned holidays do not fall into these categories of Philippians 4:8 then we should not be participating in these activities. Let us take a look at the non-religious holidays. These holidays fall into two categories: 1) Common times to everyone and 2) National Holidays. Birthdays, anniversaries and New Year celebrations fall into these categories. These occurrences are in everyone’s life and happy times in our lives. Yes, pagans celebrated these types of days also but these days were not created by pagan. We should not use pagan’s superstitious ways in celebrating these occurrences in our lives. Some things that are used as part of birthday parties came from heathen superstitious practices. The candle was to ward off evil spirits. The wish one makes before blowing out candles, who are we wishing to? The birthday spanking was to ward off bad luck. What is luck? Superstitions. These types of things should not be used. They are futile or vain practices, nothing good is coming from them. You might say these things don’t hurt anything, they are just for fun. Indulgence of one’s own desires is okay as long as it is acceptable practice to God. You need to ask whether pagan practices are acceptable to God. As for national holiday observances, that would depend if it is a Godly reason. For instance there is Grandparents Day, just to honor grandparents. But there may be some that would be contrary to the New Testament laws, you have to study them and make a judgment each one. So study to understand the Lord’s will (Ephesians 5-17 - Therefore, do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is.) We have to put aside what we want and do the Lord’s will as Jesus submitted to God’s will (Mark 14:36 - And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You, Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”). Take your time and study this carefully. Do not be deceived as Eve was and always act with understanding and conviction. |
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