I have been thinking about the meaning of Holidays lately. I encounter on various forums and in conversations a lot of varying ideas about Christmas. Just recently Halloween went by and the same thing happened. There seems to be an increasing movement, especially among Fundamental and or Evangelical Christians toward separating themselves from holiday traditions and even from the entire Holidays of Christmas and Halloween. Many times I have heard from one or another person that this or that tradition is pagan in its origins. This got me to reading up on various Holidays. Furthermore, I have heard other Christians who are pining for a deeper Holiday tradition, some are even considering adding Kwanza or Hanukka to their families celebrations. After doing some reading and discussing with Old Folks from Northern European nations about Christmas, and Hallowmas, I have learned that these are indeed very Christian Holidays. Even if their are cultural elements that predated Christianity in those area, eg, the foods used, or the plants used, the meaning and intent of the Holidays were overtly Christian in meaning and were intended for Worship. In Europe as in North America and South America, there is secular morphing of Holidays. Many outside manifestations of these Holidays are carried out in a secular fashion by non-believers. This should not change the Holidays or encourage Christians to abandon them. We should instead Take Back OUR Holidays. We should Celebrate them in Worshipful meaningful ways and use these opportunities to spread the message of the Gospel. In doing so we could have more Christian impact on the world around us. Why should Ramadam, and Hanukka be the talk of the town. I think that Christians are loosing our Culture. We are shrinking into the woodwork and being culturally Bullied. Furthermore some out of perhaps Ignorance are spreading misinformation about holidays such as the three days of Hallowmas. I will quote from wiki below as an example. It seems to me that in most of Europe, they only focus on Second day, In the USA and other places only on the First, and in Mexico and South America only on the third. In the latter two cases taking these out of context has led to secularization of the meaning and celebration of the holiday. For that matter they could be said to have been paganized. Only the idea of spirits of the dead has persisted. In many parts of the country churches have Decoration or Homecoming days around Halloween. I am sure in many cases this is a hold over from these old time celebrations. We have lost the reasons why and the meaning of these things. Why not take time to celebrate and be thankful that many lost their lives to further the Gospel as martyrs, or to remember that our loved ones are in Heaven because of Christ Jesus' sacrifice. It seems a little more important than cheering for a sports team and holding a tailgate party, when you think about it. We need to take back our culture and our celebrations and make them meaningfully Christian again. Hallowmas From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, fresco by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella, c. A.D. 1365 Hallowmas, also known as the Triduum of All Hallows (Triduum of All Saints),[1][2] is the triduum[3][4] encompassing the Western Christian observances of All Hallows' Eve (Hallowe'en), All Saints' Day (All Hallows') and All Souls' Day, which last from October 31 to November 2 annually.[5][6][7] Hallowmas is a time to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints, and all faithful departed Christians.[8] The dates of Hallowmas were established in the 8th century AD.[9] end quote
Not trying to be disagreeable in general, I just want to say I disagree. Yes, I'm a very conservative Christian, but I don't celebrate Christmas... or Easter, or whatever else for that matter. The Bible doesn't tell us when Christ was born or when he died. We can look at clues to come up with an opinion, but God didn't ask us to put our opinions on worship. (The opposite, actually.) To me, holidays do have non-Christian roots. I spread the gospel through the power of the word, not by traditional holidays that were started by men long after the word of God was complete. If God wanted us throwing a birthday party for Christ, He would've told us when and how to do it. We also don't lie to our kids about Santa, the tooth fairy, or any of that stuff. In our family, we have, essentially, two Thanksgivings. One in November with dh's side exchanging birthday presents, and one in Dec with my family exchanging "nice to see you again this year" presents. (We only see my side once a year.) The focus is on food and family with no religion thrown in at all.
Well, for me, the pagan traditions associated with Christian holidays just makes it all the more fun for me and my family. However, we never let things detract from the real meanings of the holydays. If anything, Christmas trees, gift-giving, holly, mistletoe, jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, colored eggs, chicks, bunnies, etc., can be very meaningful in Christianity. I don't see a point of "taking back our holidays" because no one took anything away from me. As adults we can choose to celebrate (or not) any way we like. It's all about what's in a person's heart that matters. If you think Christians are losing their culture then be the example for everyone. Personally, I couldn't care less how (or what) others celebrate (or don't). I know what's in my heart and I'm perfectly content with that.
I'm a christian and I don't celebrate Easter either, but did want to say, we DO know when he died. The bible DOES tell us that. Remember he had passover with his disciples, passover is a set time in Bible history, that is celebrated every year by God's order to the Jews. So we know that passover is Nissan 14th. From there we can follow his story after passover to the evening he was killed...by the Bibles telling us.
The bible tells us to give thanks and be thankful at all times for all things. WHy then would you take out a special day to be thankful. (sarcasm) Why would you bring in the pagan gift exchange into your day of thanks and be proud that is is not religious? Really, we don't do Christmas, so we disquise our Christmas gift exchange as something else so not to seem materialistic or pagan? I don't want to be argumentative or insulting, but did I miss something? It is fascinating to me to read about and wrap my mind around such a different approach to thinking about these things. Just what I had hoped for when starting this thread. This is exactly what I was trying to illustrate as something that puzzles me. We are to worship the Christ and be in awe of God coming to earth as man. Why not take some special times to celebrate this if we can take special times out to celebrate thankfulness. Pagan for the most part means human. All humans on the planet ate things, decorated with things and wore clothing regardless of where they existed. All humans had things that they related to as better or more dressed up. All humans had symbols for, life , death, regeneration, and the seasons of the year and cycle of life. These things still existed after the learned about Jesus and became Christians. If an egg represented new life, before Jesus, it still would after. Using it to discuss new life does not mean you are still a pagan, it means you have a new understanding of rebirth and now recognize Jesus as the way. People do not change their verbal lanquage from French to Chinese when they become Christians, why would they change their lanquage of symbolism. Keeping the same symbolic expressions does not mean one is still a pagan, just one still uses the language of their culture to express religion. To say that a Holiday is not in the Bible so we should not celebrate is a bit hypocritical from a people who celebrate movie debuts, secular festivals, historical national events, funerals wakes, birthdays, ball games, car races, school dances and the like. Hey folks, what do you think we get together this weekend and put some dogs on the grill because Jesus is Lord............nope, better not because its not specifically in the Bible. Actually we are to have Love Feasts, and Commune and fellowship as often as we Do and remember Him. Why not on Dec. 25 or on Jan 6, or any other day. We were even given an example of how to party in the first Miracle.
Actually I do not involve myself in any of the things you listed. There's very very deep reasonings behind that though. I think that Satan has blinded many, and if you truly research the beginnings of many of these "holidays", (not wikipedia, that's not true research, search real encyclopedias) you would see why many choose not to. Saying because some one doesn't celebrate xmas, that they do not celebrate the lord, is just ridiculous. I celebrate Jesus daily-by actions-by spreading his word, by teaching my children his word, by living my life by the example he set, not by using one day that was to celebrate a false god to go into debt...living above my means.... So no we don't do bdays, we don't celebrate these holidays in disguise of "fall party, winter exchanges, etc....". However, there is PLENTY to celebrate that IS in the Bible. I am not trying to argue, but I think maybe your view is not fully informed either. Take wiki with a grain of salt, since any one, you, me, my kids, my cat....can add what they want to wiki. It's better to find your research through more accredited means.
We celebrate Christ during our Christ Mass. I do not think he is a false god, but rather God Himself incarnate. Okay, for the sake of being "informed", just what makes a Holiday like Christmas and Hallowmas pagan? Is it pagan because it was a date formerly used in a celebration by another religion, perhaps even an indigenous religion. Is it pagan because some elements of celebration, ie food, décor were used by that culture group in the practice of their former religion, or in a secular holiday of some sort. Is it pagan because it is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Is it pagan because it was part of Catholic tradition. Is it pagan because it was part of Eastern Orthodoxy. See I have no problem with any of the above. I do not think that Germans are to cease being Germans when they accept Christ. I do not think that the Cherokee are to cease being Cherokee when they accept Christ either. Having elements of Celebration coming from the indigenous culture is not a bad thing unless they are injecting doctrine that is false. Of course many non believers do almost raise elements of celebration like the secular Santa Clause to the level of godhood, but I think that believing Christians would be convicted about such a thing. Deciding to ditch the old god or gods, and Come to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ as your God, does not mean you change your language, dress, diet, or symbols unless they are in direct opposition to the Bible. If such things are required to be changed before accepting Jesus, what do we use as a model. Do we speak and dress like O.T. Jews? Do we do as the Romans, Greeks, English, Spanish or like primitive cave dwellers? Do we take a hodge podge of all of the above as our model and dress like the "Jesus Freaks" of the 1970's, or dawn long demim dresses and long sleeved white shirts and all wear long braids and practical shoes as our uniform. What should our dishes look like? Do we all eat the same food world wide or is there allowances for local climates etc.
To clarify, I said we don't know when He was born or when he died... as in a specific date. Easter isn't even celebrated on the same day each year like Christmas is. It's sort of a floating holiday. When someone today dies, we know exactly which day it was, and we often visit their grave to remember their life. We have no command or example of such a thing in the Bible, but we do have mention of communion on each first day of the week.
well, actually it doesn't say to do communion on a certain day of each week or even weekly, just "keep doing this in remembrance of me". I personally do not believe in easter. however. I do know that Passover has a date. Easter floats around because people want it on a Sunday. Passover floats around because it's on the Jewish Calendar which is calibrated differently then our modern day calendar. (ie with our calendar we use today we calibrate it by taking a extra day every 4 years-leap year-the Jewish calendar is different, so it floats a little but not much-no more then leap year...). We do "communion" yearly, just as passover was...to commemorate "keep doing this in memory of me".
