Episode 56 - Let's Party

Does the Bible forbid the celebration of holiday's? Often we look at Constantine as the one who created these 'pagan' Christian holiday's. But history is full of movements, governments, and sects who use holidays to effect change in society. What about the festivals God instituted in Leviticus, has He changed his mind, are His commands now an act of sinfulness? 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:25 Are Festivals, Feasts, and Holidays Condemned in Scripture?
• 10:07 Holy Days vs. Holidays
• 19:26 Are Holidays Godly?
• 26:49 Closing

Transcript

Let’s Party

Introduction

Years ago I had a coworker who was a new Christian. He would talk to anyone about Christ and the massive change which had happened in his life. Of all the people I've known he was probably the most ‘on fire’ believer I’ve ever met. But there was one thing he believed that I really struggled with. He had been told by the leaders of his church that Christians did not celebrate holidays because they all had pagan origins. As a result he took Christmas away from his kids and refused to acknowledge Easter.

The problem I see is – this is becoming an increasingly popular belief among Christians today. Is there any merit in this stance and how should we respond when we hear these ideas coming from Christian brothers and sisters?

Preamble

Welcome to Teleios Talk. I'm so glad you have joined us today. Here is a question: Should Christians celebrate the holidays? Which ones do we have left anyway? Easter is Spring equinox day with rabbits laying brightly colored eggs, Christmas is Saturnalia where we’re drowned in the spirit of Christmas (just leave Christ out of it). Just what spirit is it anyway? And Reformation Day is now the celebration of ghouls, goblins, witches, the dead, and all that is evil and immoral.

Let’s get two things out of the way right off the top. The dates of our Christian feasts don’t necessarily line up to corresponding dates of the actual events we are celebrating. And, it is true that the dates we ascribe to our holidays are tied to ancient pagan customs

So, it should be no surprise that I’ve heard the claim the New Testament never tells us to celebrate holidays. As a matter of fact, neither Jesus nor his apostles told us to celebrate holidays. Looking closely at what we are talking about, I found the following statement on the History Channel’s webpage, “By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated.”
(www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas)

Contrarily the Jewish traditions of seven feasts listed in Leviticus 23 were commanded by God and are still observed today. So did God get out of the business of celebrations? Let’s take a look at what is going on.

Are Feasts, Festivals, and Holidays Condemned in Scripture?

Are church festivals and holidays condemned? Galatians 4:9-11 is the verse most often quoted by those who say, “Yes”. Let’s hear what it says: “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.”

Why were the months and seasons observed? Paul is writing to a Gentile church in Galatia and for them the observations of days, months, seasons, and years were distinctly pagan times of worship. Paul was not talking to Jewish believers and this is an important distinction. The point Paul is making here is that it is hard to separate ourselves from our sinful nature when we repeatedly find ourselves in a position which encourages those sinful actions. 

Roman culture, and its use of festivals, looked very different from those in our culture today. A typical roman week did not have weekends or scheduled days off. Instead, each week consisted of one or two holidays, known as feriae, which would allow a time of rest for the workers. Each month contained minor and major holidays such as the Ides (or mid-month celebrations ) and monthly Temple holidays. Feriae allowed the public to honor any number of gods in the Roman pantheon as well as weddings, funerals, or specific historical dates. Seasonal festivals included shrines for sacrifice to the gods of that season. In addition to the religious connotations these festivals were invariably marked by drunkenness, debauchery, and orgies.

Is there any wonder then why Paul would have been so quick to warn the church in Galatia to turn away from these things.

What about a time of rest? If the Romans felt that weekly rest was important, and God commanded us in the ten commandments to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, then what is it about times of rest which bring us to question our observance of holidays? How far do we go? Should we call the Sabbath a celebration of days, an obvious extension of the Roman feriae festivals? Or do we condemn the inclusion of Mary riding a donkey in the Christmas story because the Romans celebrated Consualia on December 15th to celebrate Consus the god of Time, when donkeys and mules were adorned with flowers and paraded through the streets, not being allowed to do their normal work. How far do we go?

It is foolish for us to say that Paul condemned celebrations because such a claim makes both Paul, and us, liars. 1 Corinthians 5:8, Paul says, “Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Although he is referencing the practice of communion, Paul is seemingly in support of celebrations here.

What about Jesus? Did God Himself enjoy celebrations? In Luke 2:41-42, we read, “Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast;” How dare the parents of Jesus pervert the mind of God! How dare they celebrate the holidays and take Jesus with them; surely they are condemned because of these actions.

Oh wait, Jesus did this during His years of ministry too. Remember how Jesus celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles as recorded in John 5:1 and John 7? And then how could we forget how He celebrated the Passover prior to His crucifixion as recorded in all four Gospels? “Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” Luke 22:7-8 (Matthew 26; Mark 14; John 2:23; John 4:45; John 13)

The life, death, and fulfillment of Christ’s promise are also marked by the Jewish festivals. The Feast of First Fruits is fulfilled by the words of the angel in Matthew 28:1-2, 6 and then referenced by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 where he writes, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then when He comes, those who belong to Him.”

Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks) is directly tied to the Day of Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as we read in Acts 2:1-4a, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, hey were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” 

Even the Feast of Trumpets is foreshadowed in what Jesus says to His disciples on the Mount of Olives as recorded in Matthew 24:30-31, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

G.K. Chesterton had this perspective regarding the celebration of Christmas, “Any one thinking of the Holy Child as born in December would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that Christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate.” 
(The New Jerusalem, Chesterton, G.K.,1920, Hodder and Stoughton)

But what we are discussing is Holidays and not Holy days. Why is that, and is there an importance to Holy days that we are missing?

Holy Days vs. Holidays

The Calendar I use at work displays all the Christian holidays in each month, 29 over the year in all. Some lists of Christian Holy days have 11, 12, 30, 48, or 72 days listed. But, Holy days and Holidays are not the same thing. It is easy for us to remember the dates for holidays; but very few Christians, especially those of us from a Protestant background, can recall the days the Church regards as Holy. I have a Saint Andrews Sunday Missal in my library and it ascribes 62 potential cycles and obligations to certain days of the week and every Sunday throughout the year as observed by the Benedictine Order. This does not include all the Feasts of Saints which are also listed in the Missal.

So are holidays an all or nothing proposition? It seems that way for some. The response of several religions is interesting. Christmas is not observed by the Deeper life Bible Church, God’s Kingdom Society, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), or followers of the Mountain of Fire Ministries. Christmas and Easter are not celebrated by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and all holidays, including birthdays, are shunned by the Jehovah Witnesses. The reasons given are either; the holidays don’t appear in the Bible, Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, or, all holidays come from pagan sources.

What we know from history is that the early church did celebrate Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, and a weekly Sabbath (later called the Lord’s Day). In a 120-140 AD sermon, documented as 2 Clement, an anonymous author wrote, “This world and the next are two enemies, we cannot therefore be the friends of both.” It was understood by the early church that the celebration of pagan festivals could not be tolerated in the church. But that does not mean that the early Christians did not have celebrations or days of religious observation.

The celebration of holidays by the church has had historical controversies right from the beginning. Some time around 180 AD, Irenaeus wrote this regarding the celebration of Lent, “The controversy concerns not only the day, but also as regards the form itself of the fast. For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more. In fact, others fast forty days. . . . And this variety among the observers [of the fasts] did not have its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors. Some of our predecessors, perhaps not being very accurate in their observance of it, handed down to posterity the custom as it had been [introduced], through simplicity or private fancy. Nevertheless, all these churches lived in peace with one another. . . . In fact, the difference of the fast establishes the harmony of our faith.” It is interesting that he looks at our differences in celebrations as a harmony of faith and not a disunity.

The biggest, and longest lasting, controversy in the churches observance of holidays began when Constantine appropriated pagan holidays. But did his actions truly paganize the Church and mingle those practices with her holidays? The underlying question is, did the actions of Constantine lead to the apostasy of the church?

Graham Osborne, writing for BCCatholic.ca says, “In an attempt to offer a plausible scenario for this theory, and apparently unaware of the actual history of the first 300 years of Christianity, some literally invent a story of the Church falling away when the pagan Emperor Constantine came into power in the 300s….. What Christian today would not have cheered Constantine’s decision to permit Christians to practice their faith unpersecuted, and to allow the teaching of Christianity to proceed freely throughout the world? Would this not be the desire of every Christian: to convert the greatest pagan empire in the world to Christianity?” 
[https://bccatholic.ca/voices/graham-osborne/constantine-s-paganizing-of-the-church-it-never-happened]

It was under Constantine that Sunday became the state day of worship and no one seems to complain about that. So why the controversy over the holidays? First, some conveniently chose to deny Constantine’s salvation and they base it on how he handled Rome’s pagan festivals. It is true that he did not outlaw those festivals, however, he, with the help of the bishops of the church in Rome, “Christianized” them. We have all heard what happened with Saturnalia; Constantine and the bishops simply changed the meaning of it. Instead of being about the birth of the sun, a large glowing orb in the sky, it became about the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.

But we can connect today’s controversies to the Puritans who used their own political influence in Parliament during 1647 to ban the celebration of Christmas across England. They argued that Christmas was "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior. This led to riots in several cities and enforced many of the traditions which we still celebrate today including Christmas dinner, Santa Claus, carol singing, decorations with holly, and the giving of gifts to the poor. Their actions were repeated by the Church of Scotland; and the pilgrims in Plymouth, who demonstrated their contempt for Christmas by choosing December 25th to build their first structure in the New World.

The pendulum swings hard against us though when we consider the agendas of political correctness and state atheism. As if to erase the significance of Christianity altogether many attempts have been made to cheapen our faith through the erasure of our festivals and religious observances. Socialist governments and political societies have long been advocates of restricting and removing religious celebrations in an effort to turn citizens to the socialist ideology labeling Christian teachings as harmful. 

The Communists in Russia scheduled compulsory activities in the days before Christmas to keep children from engaging in Christian customs such as Nativity plays and Advent. Taking a page out of Constantine's playbook, the Communists renamed all the Christian holidays and the words associated with those holidays in an attempt to erase their Christian roots.

The Nazis went to war against Christmas as well as other Christian institutions by moving the dates of the celebrations, renaming the holidays, and encouraging the reemergence of pre-Christian rituals. They rewrote the lyrics of popular Christmas carols, plays, and operas; even Christmas baking became an act of political dissent.

In today’s culture we are expected to show a modicum of multicultural sensitivity in how we celebrate the holidays. In keeping with my Christmas theme I was interested to find articles like “Is Christmas Killing Diversity”, and “Is Celebrating Christmas Appropriate in a Multicultural Setting“. Both of which decried the celebration of Christmas as it creates a sense of isolation and the perpetuation of the “white norm”. In response to Christmas the writers of the articles encouraged “No Celebration Policies” and inclusive language in holiday festivities including how we name principal actors in those festivities, the lyrics to the songs we sing, and expressing religious diversity in a Christian holiday. I think you can see how this obviously corresponds to the aforementioned agendas. 

But the dissension carries on, and on, and on. We argue about when Jesus was born, and I ask myself, “Why is that even important?” There is no reference of celebrating the birth of Christ in early Christian writings prior to 325 AD . And the only quote which comes close is from Clement of Alexandria, circa 195 AD, where he writes, “There are those who have calculated not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day. They say that it took place . . . on the twenty-fifth day of Pachon [May 20]. . . . Others say that He was born on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day of Pharmuthi [April 19 or 20].” Neither of these are the 25th of December so why is this such a big deal?

Does having the correct date make the day more holy, the celebration more pious, the songs more rapturous? And I come back to this question again. Why do we even celebrate holidays anyway?

Are Holidays Godly?

We need to answer this question. Are holidays, feasts, and celebrations Godly? Notice I didn’t ask “Can they be” And we will look into that right now.

There are seven feasts listed in Leviticus 23, and these feast were commanded by God. So, my initial response to the question is: Yes, holidays, feasts, and celebrations are Godly. The feasts listed in Leviticus are still being observed today, not only by the Jews but Christians as well.

In order of their seasonal observance they are: 
Passover, Leviticus 23:4-8
Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:6
First Fruits, Leviticus 23:10
Feast of Weeks, Leviticus 23:16
Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:24
Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16; 23:26-32
Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, Leviticus 23:34

Now here is the greatest thing about each of these feasts, they all point to Jesus, they remind us of something God wanted us to know. In Christianity the observances of the Passover, Easter, and Pentecost are our original Holy Days and they correspond with the feasts we find in Leviticus in both meaning and substance.

Maunday Thursday is our observance of the last supper and it is how we are reminded of the Passover, a time when we remember our redemption of sin. Easter reminds of the Day of Atonement where the high Priest made the payment for our sins and Jesus took the place of the sacrifice to pay the price permanently. Pentecost occurs during the Feast of Weeks, a time to celebrate the harvest and a time to remember how the Holy Spirit descended on the early church and how it grew by 3000 people in one day.

Estera Wieja writing for the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries says, “The feasts of the Lord are the public calling of God for anyone to come to these holy convocations. God also included specific signs that were appointed before the foundation of the world and represent His desire for all of mankind.” He then quotes Colossians 2:16-17, which says “…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.”

By using culturally observed holidays to celebrate Holy Days are we cheapening the Holy Day or are we losing out on its spiritual significance because of associated distractions? I think this is the real question which we need to consider when addressing this topic. 

Not the distractions of pagan origins, not the distractions of cultural sensitivities, and not the distractions of denominational traditions. Instead we should use these times of celebration to observe the promises of God, the truth of His Word, and our adoption into His family. And then, we should use those same celebrations to share the gospel with those around us. That is love, that is our commission – to proclaim the good news to the nations. Especially if we get a day off to do it.

The internet is absolutely littered with pages which remind us that there are pagan holidays associated with our Christian ones, but that is not a new phenomenon. The celebration of New Year's Eve can be traced back over 4000 years ago and the only thing that means is that people need a time of rest and they want a reason to celebrate. 

As the values of our culture continue to devolve and we become a people who celebrates self, the absence of meaning leaves it with a bitter shallowness, and even superficiality ceases to be attractive. There are no Christian nations and the pall of loneliness, depression, and self mutilation is a cry for something greater. So why then do we pull back from these celebrations? Do we wish to banish the lonely, cast burdens on the depressed, or add insult to those whose self-hatred is so evident? 

The author David Boles wrote, “...we have cheapened our culture with vulgarity, and purposeful misfortune, and cunning, evil, unrest. We have also abandoned a right celebration of our most beloved holidays. For many of the younger among us, holidays are no longer celebrations of cultural totems, or validations of our differences in common. Now, holidays are just something to be exploited for advertising and time off. Do we all still understand why St. Patrick’s Day is important?  Do we all truly divine the real meaning of a Valentine? Sure, we get together on Thanksgiving, but why are we culturally thankful?” Easter is more about bunnies and chocolate. Christmas is decorations and gifts. To be religious on a holiday today is to bring the swamp to the swimming pool and call it a vacation.”
[https://bolesblogs.com/2017/02/06/as-holidays-fade-culture-disappears/]

What do our holidays represent to us? What are we worshiping and celebrating?  Seneca, a stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome who lived during the time of Jesus, complained about the shopping season surrounding the festival of Saturnalia saying: "Decembris used to be a month; now it's a whole year." How modern sounding. The echoes of a commercialized Christmas sound loud in his complaint; subtle satire as we talk about our celebration of holidays.

C.S. Lewis reiterated this sentiment when he wrote a satire on the commercialized observance of Christmas saying, "It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left." And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, "It is, O Stranger, a racket ..."

Every chance we get to observe a celebration of the cross, the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, promise and fulfillment, love and discipline, prophecy and parable; is a chance to shine a light in our families, in the church, in our communities, our country, and the world. Why would we deny it? Would we cover our light, extinguish the beacon on the hill, or recall our hand from the dying?

Let’s party, let’s exclaim our freedom with exuberance, let’s tell the world Christ is here and He has a purpose for our lives.  Our cup overflows, our spring is eternal, and our light can never be quenched.

Closing

You know, Jesus really had a hard time dealing with the religious leaders who insisted on adding laws and expanding laws to what was already recorded in Scripture. Paul reprimanded the church countless times for a false faith because they kept returning to the old ways they knew were wrong. Nothing has changed in the church; in two millennia we have the same problems and we have the same vices.

Let me read Colossians 2:16-17 one more time, “…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.”