Lenny,
Have you or your organization have done any research on the
origins of Christian customs, holidays, and symbols? I have read
that in the 3rd century AD pagans were largely received into
Christianity and were permitted to retain their signs and
symbols. (Vine's Dictionary of Biblical Terms) Also many of
today's holidays for instance Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day,
even the Sabbath was changed from Saturday (the 7th day of the
week) to Sunday, etc. (Microsoft Encyclopedia, Fossilized
Customs) And if all of this is so, why aren't more people hearing
about it? Some may not care but Christians definitely should. We
don't want to be the pagans of today, right?
Thanks again for taking the time to read my question.
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for writing. I appreciate the concern you have in making
sure that Christianity isn't unduly corrupted by pagan
influences. However, your worries are unfounded. Let's look at
your examples above and see if we can be consistent with the
Bible's teaching on the matter.
The Sabbath Day
First, I would say that the Sabbath was never "changed". That's a
misrepresentation. The Bible states that as the Jews would gather
for services at the synagogue on Saturday, the believers would
then meet on the first day of the week (Sunday - see Acts 20:7).
It was on Sunday they would celebrate communion.
When the Gentiles began being converted, they would also meet on
the first day of the week. However, since they weren't Jews, they
wouldn't attend the Saturday synagogue service. Paul had no
problems with this, as he wrote the Colossians "Therefore no one
is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect
to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a
mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to
Christ." (Col. 2:16-17).
If you'd like a more detailed treatment of this subject, please
refer to my article "Should Christians Hold to a Saturday
Sabbath?"
The "Pagan Roots" of Holidays
As for some of the other holidays, I think you may have things
turned around a bit. Easter is specifically a Christian holiday
celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (see my
article "The Resurrection as History" at
http://www.comereason.org/newsletters/mar01.htm ). While there
are many different types of springtime rituals and celebrations
(much of this stemming from the importance of agriculture in the
survival), the fact that they occur somewhere around Easter is
purely coincidental.
The time of Christ's resurrection is clearly shown in the New
Testament to be the Sunday following the Jewish Passover. Jesus
was arrested after having celebrated the Passover with His
disciples. He was crucified and rose three days later. The fact
that in subsequent centuries symbols of some other spring rites
such as bunnies and eggs have made their way into the Easter
celebration in no way makes the holiday pagan. Many of those
symbols are expressions of new life - which certainly fits in
with the theme of Easter.
As for some of the other holidays, such as Christmas, Christians
didn't allow the pagans to keep their celebrations, but rather
provided an alternative to the more popular secular festivals.
During the Christmas season, for example, many Christians were
uncomfortable with the worship of a pagan god, Mithra (for more
on Mithra and Christianity, see Did Christianity Steal From
Mithraism?). So the church decided to counter the pagan festival
with one of their own, one that celebrates the birth of the true
savior. Since no one knows on just which day Jesus was actually
born, December 25 worked as well as any other. We see many
churches do similar things today in their Harvest festivals; they
choose October 31 to create an alternative celebration to
Halloween.
Hank Hanegraaff correctly summed up this issue when he wrote,
"The real question that must be addressed is, 'What was the
church's intent in choosing December 25 for the celebration of
Christmas in the first place?' The answer may surprise you! The
early church chose this date to point to the triumph that
Christ's birth represented over the pagan traditions of the Roman
Empire. In other words, the church was not endorsing a pagan
ceremony but establishing a rival celebration. Today the world
has all but forgotten the pagan gods of Rome. But at least a
billion people on planet Earth celebrate the Christ of
Christmas."(1)
The Biblical Understanding of Festivals
Ultimately, though it is important to understand what God's word
says about how we should approach holidays. Paul shows in Romans
14 that things we would normally consider pagan are not in and of
themselves evil. It is really the conscience and motivation of
the person that has the real significance. Paul writes "One
person regards one day above another, another regards every day
alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind." (Rom
14:5)
Since most people are not trying to celebrate pagan gods in their
celebration of holidays such as Christmas or Easter, but the Lord
Jesus, the holidays are not corrupted. Other holidays such as
Valentine's day are really cultural celebrations that use
established and well-understood symbols like cupid to convey an
abstract concept like love. It is only when the holiday
celebrates ideas that are counter to the Christian message that
they become dangerous.
I hope this has cleared up any misunderstanding you may have had
over the celebration of holidays. Please let me know if I can be
of any more assistance. God bless you in your desire to serve
Him.