Holidays, Holy or Heathen??

With Easter coming up soon, I thought this would be a good time to address this topic. I know it's one that we've all heard at one point or another, right?? How Christians shouldn't celebrate our Lord at times of Pagan Tradition; but you know what?? Literally every. single. Jewish Law stemmed from some of those same Pagan Traditions. Actually, even the practice of baptism* comes from that same source. Some of you aren't so sure of yourselves now, are you??

Now, I'm not going to go into a lot of depth here on any given holiday we Christians are warned against, I just wanted something productive to do this afternoon without killing my hand with more writing. :p Besides which, I feel like most of us know a bit about it all, right?? And seeing as how I already have published thoughts about Lent on this page, and that isn't something that we are warned against, but rather encouraged to observe, I'm only looking at Easter, Halloween, and Christmas today.

Growing up as I did in various churches and a Private Baptist School, Easter was always a big deal for me. For that matter, so was Palm Sunday. The rest of the Lenten season and Holy Week were not so much of a focus, however. But I'm of the generation where we still dressed up for Church on Sunday, and my mother even taught me that one is meant to wear purple on Palm Sunday to represent the majesty of Jesus, and then white on Easter in honor of the Resurrection. At the same time, I always had a small basket of candy waiting on my dresser Easter morning.

It wasn't until I was either in my late teens or early 20s that I really started thinking about the fact that Easter is the only holiday that flexes by nearly a month. When I asked my parents, I believe it was actually my mother who had the answer. The date for Easter is based on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. As to the reason for this, she didn't know. And then it was many years later before I realized that the Orthodox Church does it differently. Why all the confusion?? I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I think it has to do with the lapse between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

But I'm pretty sure we've all heard about the Pagan Tradition of honoring the goddess Ishtar in Ancient times, right?? And that our schedule for Easter is based on that somehow?? So for I don't know how long now, some "holier than thou" Christians have decided that we shouldn't celebrate Easter because of this. But you know what point they're all missing, aside from what I said before about how much of the Judaic Law stemmed from Pagan Practices?? The fact that the Passover took place in the Spring, as did Jesus' crucifixion. So I present the question, why does it matter WHEN, exactly we celebrate it?? Isn't the more important point that we DO celebrate it?? Besides which, the eggs are a representation of New Life and the shell the Empty Tomb. As with anything, it's the intent of the individual that matters most. (or in this case, the intent of the entire Church) For example, another thing that these same people seem to have a problem with is Christians doing Yoga. They think just because the ORIGIN is something that goes against Scripture, that the entire idea should be rejected out of hand. But once again, there is a major point being missed here. The truth is that Yoga is actually super helpful in maintaining bodily movement. Just because the Far Eastern people once used it to connect with their gods doesn't mean the actions themselves are inherently bad.* As I said just above, it's the intent of the individual that makes anything good or evil, not the thing itself. (Just think about Adam and Eve here. It wasn't that the pomegranate wasn't healthy, it was Eve's disobedience of God that was the problem.)

Halloween is a "mixed bag" of origins when you really look at it. While it's always been a Harvest Festival in some way, due to it's timing, some have also looked on it as a time of spiritual "unrest", if you will. And it's actually that aspect which has long been misunderstood by some Christians. For my own experience, I wasn't allowed to go Trick or Treating simply for the fact that my mother didn't see the point of "begging for candy" when we had candy at home. At the same time, we never gave candy out, either. As an adult who missed out on a "normal childhood" due to this, I decided to raise my kids differently. While they grew up in Church, at least while their father and I were still married, the rule for Halloween was that it be fun, NOT scary.

Anyway, the thing that is most misunderstood about Halloween by Christians who view it negatively is this -- It has NEVER BEEN ABOUT EVIL. It was simply the fact that people THOUGHT that it was a time when the spirits of the dead were especially active, and the masks and lanterns were actually used to WARD OFF any spirits that may have been demonic. They were using the masks to LOOK LIKE spirits they THOUGHT could be evil in order to have those spirits IGNORE them and move on. That's literally all it's ever been about!! Now, I'm not saying that there are no individuals who use their knowledge for negative purposes on Halloween. I'm just saying that there is actually NO HARM in having a bit of fun during the Fall Festival.

This actually relates to Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 6:16 about not being "yoked with unbelievers". I mean, technically, this entire article relates to this, but I'm putting it here because it feels right. Now, if you've been around "Church World" as long as I have, you most likely have only heard this in reference to marriage, right?? But it was clarified in our Fellowship Group this morning, that it's not only about that. If anything, it's actually LESS about marriage than it is about friendships in general. Taking the full context of Scripture into consideration, which one should ALWAYS do, we see 2 major points here. One being that Jesus Himself was known for "hanging out" with "sinners", right?? The second being that, in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7, Paul talks about how a Believing spouse may so positively influence an unbelieving partner that the other makes their own decision for Salvation. He also says that, regardless of that, the fact that the 2 are as one in the eyes of God automatically sanctifies the unbelieving partner.*

We can see from both of these that it's really about us as Believers being the stronger influence among our unsaved friends. What we're not meant to be "yoked with" is any sin they may be involved with. It's not about the question of hanging out at all; but about living right in front of them, thus potentially influencing them to come to Christ.

Finally, we come to the celebration of Christmas. While we understand that, among the Christian holidays, or the reasons for them, this one makes the least sense in terms of timing (except for Lent), once again the point lies in personal intention.

This is another one that didn't entirely "sink in" for me until well into adulthood, if I'm being honest. But just think about it for a second, right?? When are the babies born on the farm?? In the Spring!! So why, for the love of all that is holy, do we celebrate the birth of the Lamb of God in the early winter!!?? A brief search here indicates that, basically, it was chosen in line with the Winter Solstice due to a belief that Jesus was both conceived and crucified in late March. It also suggests that, because Jesus is the "Light of the World", this aligns with the lengthening of days in late December. So actually NOT based in Pagan Practices AT ALL.*

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, "What about that passage in Jeremiah about not bringing a tree into the house and decorating it??", amiright?? The verses to which you refer would be Jeremiah 10:3-4. Once again, context is key. The point here lies in not carving idols for Pagan worship. This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with celebrating Christ's birth with a tree that is first of all, a reminder of the Cross, and secondly a reminder of everlasting life in relation to its being an evergreen.

If you really want the truth here about the dates of Easter and Christmas, you have only to look to the Catholic Church. It was at the First Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) that the date for Easter was established. Likewise, the date for Christmas was decided upon during the 4th century under figures like Pope Julius. This was partly to counter Pagan celebrations such as Saturnalia (or Natalis Solis Invicti). And as to the Fall Festivals, held on Halloween in order to counter the Pagan holiday of Samhain, we can also look to the Catholic Church because it was their celebration of All Saint's Day that Halloween even exists. In fact, as I was just looking at it, a 3 day celebration called "Allhallowtide" begins on October 31st, continues to November 1st when they pray for all departed Saints*, and concludes on November 2nd when they pray for all faithful departed.

So really, any and all "blame" for Christian Holidays being connected in any way to Pagan Practices falls to the Catholics. Does this mean we Protestants shouldn't celebrate, or that no Christian should celebrate the Birth or Resurrection of our Savior?? Or have a party when the harvest comes?? Of course not!! As I've reiterated a couple of times already, the point lies in the fact that we DO celebrate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that the intentions of any given celebration are strictly up to the individual. Besides which, just as He did with the Israelites in the time of Moses, God HIMSELF borrowed the basis of the ENTIRE SACRIFICIAL system from Pagan Practices in order to meet people where they were at. Therefore, I maintain that, if God is allowed to do that, then who are we to argue?? And anyway, as you can see from the truths brought out above NONE of our Christian Holidays are actually based on ANY Pagan Traditions. They are all purely Biblical, according to the interpretations of Church Authorities. As far as I'm concerned, that makes them Holy rather than Heathen. Wouldn't you agree??

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. I have actually determined that water baptism is entirely unnecessary for the Christian. See my article elsewhere on this page.

2. As to the movements of Yoga being used to connect with Eastern gods, how is it "evil" if we are using it to connect with and honor OUR God by keeping our bodies in good shape?? (I should actually being doing more of this myself)

3. The Hebrew concept of compound unity, otherwise known as "echad", is at work here. This is shown in both marriage and the Trinity. (See more on this in my articles on Sex and the Single Christian and The Truth of the Trinity)

4. While the Catholics are missing the point that Paul names ALL BELIEVERS as "saints", I'm just going to say that this is actually the first time I'm hearing of the whole "3 day" thing.

5. Oh, and BTW, Santa was REAL!! St. Nicholas was a Catholic Bishop in Turkey who gave Christmas presents to all the kids. It was from God that he got his spirit of giving. The permutation to the commercialized image we have today was, in part, due to the language translations.