Ever wondered why people were made to kneel down to a bull?
Is this image familiar?
Society loves holidays. We love celebrations, the gatherings, and most of all, we all love the time it gives away from work. I personally love holidays but as a Christian, it is my responsibility to see if these are all instructed to us by God. In other words, are these holidays we’ve been participating in Biblical?
I’ve been speaking to my wife about The Christian Calendar; after all, we are in the season of Lent (which is not Biblical by the way). But does being extra-Biblical mean that we ought not to be part of it?
What’s the worst that can happen if we participate in non-Biblical stuff one may ask?
We have to be careful as most pagan holidays lead us to do idolatrous behaviours: like make us revere a fat red-clothed burglar during Christmas and of course, to have the spirit of honoring Christ’s resurrection set aside because we’re too busy looking for “Easter Eggs”. As much as I want to have fun with the holidays, there are these evil deceptions designed to steer away unsuspecting Christians from the true purpose of why we have these “Holy Days” in the first place.
Already from the past months, we were confronted by Christmas, then we bumped into Chinese New Year, you can also throw in Valentine’s Day in the lsit if you fell for that too; then now, we have Easter. I want to take a huge leap from the articles flow by stating that none of these holidays mentioned above are Biblical. That is: we were never instructed to celebrate these days and these days/holidays were not given any special date to be celebrated on. So when you open The Bible, don’t be surprised if you don’t find Easter there or even Christmas. 25th of December is not the birth of Christ while the end of March is not the resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ.
So what are we even doing? How are we then supposed to handle this as Christian believers?
Here are my takes as a Christian Counsellor. Guidelines which I suggest to our clients on how to handle non-Biblical stuff shoved to us by society:
#1 Know the Symbolisms
Check the symbolisms of the ceremonies and rituals. Do they lead you to worship other “gods”? Take for example the character of Santa Claus, why is this guy’s image put up in a season when we’re supposed to remember the birth of The Saviour, Jesus Christ? Who is Santa Claus that he is declared to be all knowing? Not just that, he also claims to have the right to declare who is bad and who is good! No one is omniscient but God alone. No one is Judge but The Almighty. A lot of Christians are duped into welcoming this pagan image into their homes, they even have images and sculptures of him.
Do you really want to know whose birthday 25 of December really is?
I personally suspect it honors Nimrod who built the Tower of Babel. You know… “The Christmas Tree”?
You can start by clicking on the image that will lead you to a good article.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
– Revelations 2:15
Coming back to Easter, do we even know what Easter means? Let me give you a clue, it is NOT Biblical. Easter celebrates a deity called Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of fertility. Aha! Now we know why they use eggs! But don’t ask me about the bunnies, I have no idea where those came from, I mean mammals don’t lay eggs!
Enjoy your holidays but be mindful of these symbolisms less they lead us astray.
#2 Centrality of Jesus Christ
Most of these holidays distract us from The Lord Jesus Christ. This is simply the ways of this world: distractions are introduced whether in the form of stress or holidays in order to take our focus away from The Lord. I would that we be aware of this so that we can consciously do something about it: like at least to set aside time for prayer and worship. However, if a holiday brings you closer to Christ, be it Biblical or not, then I would say that it has done its job.
As long as the symbolisms do not break God’s laws and the celebration itself brings you closer to Christ, then go for it! I know there are Christian attitudes that would say “no” to all these non-Biblical stuff; like an absolute “no” in celebrating Christmas (I’ve even encountered Christians who speak against celebrating birthdays). I for one would rather celebrate and remember The Lord Jesus than none at all. Like I know celebrating “Resurrection Sunday” is not instituted in the word but isn’t it better to spend this Sunday praising The Lord for the resurrection as compared to not?
This article is geared towards discussing the Christian Calendar more than anything else. So, for the ones wondering about Chinese New Year or even in participating in Buddhist/Taoist rituals for the sake of your parents or grand parents, I would have to delay the discussion a bit as it is not our focus right now.
It is Holy Week and this Sunday, we take time to ponder on the beauty and the power behind resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ. I bid you all a blessed time with your family and loved ones.
Thank You, Lord Jesus!
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