Lesson 23
Most Christians believe their religious holidays are prescribed in the Bible or come from its history and that’s the main reason for keeping those days. Some Christians think it’s irrelevant why or when the religious holidays they celebrate began. It may not affect their daily lives, but not understanding the history of those holidays can blind you to the grace of God. When you believe whole-heartedly that you are saved by grace and grace alone, every day becomes a good day to worship God. There are a lot of Christians who will tell you they are saved by grace but will not take part in any celebrations such as Halloween as they feel it is a satanic holiday.
The history of Christmas has a similar pagan background as Halloween. When making special holidays for their new religion, early Christian leaders borrowed from established pagan holidays. They made Christmas their own by adding the birth of Jesus to it and saying he brought spiritual light into the dark world of people’s lives, just as the sun was returning to bring physical light into the dark world people lived in. The old traditions that still survive can trace their history back to their pagan origins, although now they have been given a Christian twist. Believing our Christian holidays are supported by the Bible and its history, blind many Christians to the possibilities of christianising any celebration. Halloween could be morphed into Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones being resurrected back to life. Giving candy away could look forward to the abundance in the coming Kingdom of God, where all will share from their affluence with strangers who ask.
Believing the keeping of Sunday as a new day of worship is from the Bible and was established by the apostles, does not accurately reflect Bible scripture. It became established over several hundred years for a variety of regional and cultural reasons. Keeping Sunday should be done from a position of understanding the historical reasons for why that day is kept. Keeping it in the belief the Bible prescribed it as a worship day and demands our obedience, misses the point of God’s grace and the sacrifice of Jesus that has freed us from legalism.
Do you believe some days are better to worship God on than others? How would you change a pagan festival to worship God? Is biblical accuracy important? Should Christian holidays be as true to Bible scripture as people believe they are? What might people think if they find their beloved holidays are not biblically accurate?
John 3:16 King James Version
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting Life.
Romans 4:14 International Children’s Bible
14 If people could receive what God promised by following the law, then faith is worthless. And God’s promise to Abraham is worthless,