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The Lords' Witnesses The Lord said: " Keep on asking, and it will be given you; keep on seeking, and you will find; keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)
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What About Christmas??? Traditions of
Men
1
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of 2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3
For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the
forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and
with hammers, that it move not. (Jer 10) When it comes to traditions, we only have to reach for the bible to learn what is and isn’t acceptable in the eyes of Jehovah. We are given specific instructions as to what we are to celebrate and succinctly, we are given specific warnings as to what not to do with regard to traditions. The reason I started this section out with a scriptural passage is to demonstrate to you, the reader, that the views on this website are not based on personal biases but on the truth and discerning sound doctrines based solely on the scriptures themselves. The fundamental questions you as a Christian must ask is this:
Who really profits from alienating the word of God. Do you seek to please men and persecute Christ as Saul did, or would you rather glorify God in righteousness through our Lord as Paul did? 13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. (Gal 1) These
same men whom Saul tried so hard to please confronted Jesus with a question regarding this very subject:
1
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not
their hands when they eat bread. (Mat 15)
The whole reason for this
scripture is to belabor the point that we are not to follow the traditions of
our elders, but do as the bible tells us. One
of the greatest traditions of the Christian masses is Christmas.
There exist no scripture in the entire bible that commands us to keep
this celebratory practice and in fact
there is no mention of such a thing from any of the disciples. The harsh reality of this
holiday (Named after "holy day") is that it is actually condemned by the scriptures as you will soon
realize. Jesus was pretty stern with
the Pharisees when he answered their question: Mt
15:3 3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God by your tradition? 4
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth
father or mother, let him die the death. 5
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to [his] father or [his] mother, [It is] a gift,
by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6
And honor not his father or his mother, [he shall be free]. Thus have ye made
the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. So
the Pharisees forsook God’s commandments in favor of their traditions.
So what does God think of all this? 7
[Ye] hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their]
lips; but their heart is far from me. 9
But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of
men. (Mat 15) Christmas is a perfect example
of honoring God with our lips but it is one of many vain doctrines and
commandments of men. As stated
before, there are no scriptures that tell us to celebrate the birth or
death of any one! It is especially
insulting to both our Father in the heavens and His Son in the fact that a pagan
ritual is used in the process! It is well known by many
Christians that the Catholic traditions of Lent, Ash Wednesday, etc. are
paganistic but most fail to recognize that the same types of pagan elements
exist in the celebration of Christmas and Easter! The question we must ask is
how did they start and why? Once we
understand this we should be able to put the issue to rest once and for all. The following is a quote from
the 2000 Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 11; page 390. "During
the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and
ultimately led to what has been called a 'solar monotheism.' Nearly all the gods
of the period were possessed of solar qualities, and both Christ and Mithra
acquired the traits of solar deities. The feast of Sol and Victus (open
unconquered Sun) on December 25th was celebrated with great joy, and eventually
this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of
Christ." Notice how it says "both
Christ and Mithra acquired the traits of solar deities"? The Christians were apparently trying to get more converts so they
tried to "paganize" the Messiah to make Him more attractive to pagans.
They even officially brought the feast of the unconquered sun into their worship
in 336 AD. This in a nutshell is the origin of Christmas.
But the real question is,
"Who converted who?" Do we murder to bring a murderer to Christ? Do we
rape to bring a rapist to the Messiah? It is true that by 336AD, the mainstream
beliefs of Christianity were already that far from the truth the apostles
suffered so much to teach. Despite all of this, shouldn't true believers be
teaching the unbelievers the true way of Jehovah rather than the unbelievers
teaching believers these pagan customs and practices? May it always be! Yet, the
so called "Christians" not only learned these heathen ways, they also incorporated them into
their worship. We are told to look into these things and reprove them:
11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove [them]. (Eph 5) Today, Christmas is the most
popular holiday among “Christians” however, what is popular is not always
right and what is right is not always popular. Christmas means 'mass for
Christ'. The name of the holiday is much newer than the holiday itself. The
customs associated with Christmas (Not Christmas itself), in one form or another, have been celebrated
for literally thousands of years. 'Christmas' is just a new name for an old
pagan holiday. There is no doubt that the
customs that are associated with Christmas, as well as the idea of a deity being
born on December 25th are of pagan origin. One need only look to an encyclopedia
or even many local newspapers in the 12th month of the year to find this truth.
The real issue is whether or not we should walk in these customs. I know many of
you may be asking, "So what is so
bad about it"? Isn't it just for the children? My question to you is
"What should we be teaching our children"? The truth or a bevy of lies? The truth is that the Jesus was not born on December 25th, Do not make the mistake in thinking this information is new! Even though until recently the actual date of Jesus birth was not known, the catholic church knew it wasn't December 25th long before Christmas was introduced! The fact of the matter is, Jesus was born on 10Tishri2BCE.
However December 25th is
the birthday of nearly every pagan god ever invented! The pagan customs
associated with Christmas are clearly condemned in the scriptures. Paganism
and/or Idolatry is not only contrary to the Word of God, but downright
blasphemous. The scriptures are very clear
on this as you have already read in the beginning of this section: 1
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of 2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3
For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the
forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and
with hammers, that it move not. (Jer 10) So
here we have a scripture that is pretty clear to even the untrained “bible
decoder” in its message. That
being: LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN.
It’s bad enough that people have not only learned it, but
they have purposely incorporated it into a ritual of worship to the Christ!!!
Secondly,
we are warned not to be “dismayed at the signs
of the heaven” There
is a specific reason this is stated here. History
tells us that when people saw that the sun began to go further away from the earth and the days
started growing shorter in the winter, the sun worshipping Gentiles were "dismayed",
and feared that the sun would not return. So they held certain festivals just
after the time of the Winter Solstice when it began to return and lengthen the
days. This return
of the sun is why December 25th is the birthday of so many solar deities. One
of the customs of the pagans was to cut down a
tree in the forest, fasten it with nails so it would not topple and then
decorate it! Gee,
does
this sound familiar??? There
are millions upon millions of so called "Christians" out there who to
this day continue practicing this obvious abomination to God...mostly out of ignorance I would guess.
For this tradition
has been propagated by the church for hundreds of years giving the impression that it
must not only be the right thing to do, but even the righteous thing to do also!
This is a damning lie and woe to them that continue it even after knowing
the truth about it.
The scriptures cannot be any clearer.
This is a tradition of men the kind both Jehovah and our Lord Christ
Jesus warned us about on several occasions. I must ask you, is this the kind of thing you need a living prophet to come and explain to you? Should we not all pick up a bible and reprove each other from time to time?
This custom of Christmas, along with other
pagan rituals are clearly condemned in Jeremiah’s passage but it does not end
there. Their are many other customs
associated with this holiday including mistletoe, the Yule log and of course one
of Satan’s greatest accomplishments (in destroying the faith of our children) is Santa
Claus. I like to refer to it as Satan’s Claws due to the powerful nature of
the lie it bestows. Santa is portrayed as a bigger
than life character that children actually learn to look up to in place of the true
God of Israel. Think about it. Parents
purposely and deliberately lie to their children and tell them that they should
fear Santa Claus because "he knows if you've been bad or good" when
they should be telling them to fear Jehovah! These
same parents also lie to their children about the Easter Bunny and the Tooth
Fairy. Then they wonder why their children become liars and many lose their
faith in the
Messiah later on in life. Our children look up to us as parents and
believe everything we say until they realize that we have been lying to them
most of their life. It isn’t a
wonder our societies are becoming increasingly secular.
How many commandments must we break? Are we not told that any one of them is like breaking all of them? The whole of Christmas and its traditions is a big pack of lies from the foundation up. Despite the warnings we are given regarding the activity of "worshipping" a tree and the "roots of traditions of men", it would seem continuing this practice widely accepted. The fact of the matter is, Santa does not exist, he is not coming to bring presents to our kids, flying reindeer don’t exist, and the Messiah was not born on Dec 25th!!!!
Did Jehovah not harshly condemn leaders who taught lies?
So who is ultimately responsible for this holiday?
Well we don’t have to go far to answer that question for we all know
who the father of the lie is.
44 You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires
of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand
fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he
speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father
of [the lie] (John 8).
It's high time that we forsake
these lies and abide in the truth! Let's forsake this foolish practice of yoking
the Messiah who said "I am the TRUTH"
together with lies, for He has nothing to do with lies.
Let’s be perfectly clear about this shall we!!” 14
Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15
For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. (Rev 22) I
am certainly aware that this kind of chastising will cause many to flinch and
some to be down right contentious, but that can be expected because it is much
easier to live with a convenient lie than to live with the inconvenient truth.
But this is not about physical life, it is about judicial life.
Those of us who do our best to understand the scriptures and abide by
them are striving for judicial life and a chance to live in the I know you may be thinking, "Well I don't really
worship the tree, so what is the harm"? Well, let's take this to the next
level. Not only is it
sinful in the eyes of Jehovah to practice these traditions of men, but it is also a
sin to take the traditions of pagans and apply them to the worship of Jehovah
(i.e. Christmas or Christ Mass).
He starts out with a warning to the
children of Israel….. 29
When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou
goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; 30
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after
that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their
gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do
likewise. (De 12) In other words, do not even ask
how they served other gods for it may lead to idolatry! 31
Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD,
which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their
daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. (De12) How
plain can this get? "Thou shalt not do so
unto the LORD thy God:" It is abundantly
clear. Do not worship Jehovah in that way, the way of the heathen! Do not add to
His commandments and do not take away from His commandments. Both
Christmas and Easter take pagan festivals and traditions and apply them to the
worship of Jehovah and or His Christ. This is clearly condemned here. Would it be right to take a
satanic holiday that Satanists have invented and then incorporate that holiday
into the worship of Jehovah? Certainly not! Yet all paganism is born of Satanism. Satan is
behind all pagan worship. And whatever god the idolaters worship, they are
actually worshipping Satan. 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they
sacrifice to demons and not to Elohim, and I do not want you to have fellowship
with demons. (1 Co 10) If you participate in these
paganistic rituals, you are having fellowship with demons. So what might
the ramifications be to those who continue this practice? Carefully consider this
next verse: 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you
cannot partake of the Lords table and of the table of demons. (1 Co 10) It is up to all of us as individuals to make the choice as to whether or not we can drink of His cup. So the question is: "Which table will you choose?"
And remember:
19
We are aware that we are out of God, and the whole world is lying in the wicked one.
(1 Jn 5) For a more in-depth look at the formal history of Christmas and other pagan holidays continue on. Please visit the links at the bottom of the page for more on this subject. The True Meaning of Christmas by
Joel R.J.
Tennuchi Christmas,
is it really about Christ? Does it really signify the birth of our Lord and Savior?
For the vast majority of people the question is really no question at all. Is
Christmas about Christ "Of course it is! What could be more Christ like
than Christmas? Isn't it Jesus’ birthday?" Others have begun to feel
increasingly uncomfortable with the celebration of Christmas. When they look at
the goings on that takes place around December 25th, there is an
uneasy feeling that something is just not right. And yet they keep telling
themselves, "Isn't Christmas Jesus' birthday? In my opinion, after
deliberating about Christmas, I have come to a very powerful conclusion. There
is nothing “Christian” about Christmas. Christmas is basically and
essentially Pagan. If this thought comes as a shock to you, then I invite you to
consider other the possibility that for you Christmas is a blind spot that needs
some re-examination. To
say that I am not impressed with the sentimental appeal of the “holiday
spirit” would be a meaningful gesture. There is a certain appeal about this
season of the year, the thought of family gatherings, dreaming of a “White
Christmas” as Bing Crosby once wrote about, "chestnuts roasting on an
open fire," "city streets, busy streets, dressed in festive
cheer." No one with any
sentimentality could escape a twinge of nostalgia when there's a feeling of
Christmas in the air. Even the most hardened cynic can't stifle a softening
childlike feeling of good will that lasts for a few days. I’ve
tried though very hard to understand the true meaning of Christmas, yet no
matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to grasp the element of trying to put
“Christ” back into Christmas. Christmas as we know it today is a product of
mass commercialization, it is a time where people forget the “Christian”
aspect and in place add their own version. Well, this is not the case. I have
undergone some research into “the true meaning of Christmas” and here in
this article I ask you "What is
the true meaning of Christmas?" When you get right down to its
essence, what is Christmas? Where did it come from? How did it originate? What
does it stand for now? The real question is the nature of the institution
itself. I think
you will be shocked if you evaluate the institution of Christmas realistically.
What I'm asking you to do is lay aside your cultural prejudices and preferences,
and approach this question with an open mind. Granted, that's hard to do. We are
so snowed under a century of tradition and nostalgia that it's almost impossible
for some people to look at the issue objectively at all. I'm asking you to put
aside your preconceived notions, at least temporarily, to look honestly at this
institution we call Christmas. Frankly, this article is calculated to disturb
you, to make you think, and to cause you to change your actions if they are not
consistent with the truth of the gospel. I. What is
Christmas? What
is the origin of Christmas? How did it begin? Were its beginnings pagan or
Christian? There is no indication in the New Testament that the early Christians
observed Christmas at all. It can be demonstrated in church history that, for
probably the first 300 years after the birth of Christ, Christians knew nothing
of Christmas celebration. It was only as the Church began to drift from
apostolic doctrine and practice into corruption that Christmas began. Where
did it come from? Where did the drifting Church get the ideas and customs
associated with Christmas today? The source of most of the basic forms of
paganism in the ancient world can be traced back to the Babylonian
"mysteries." All of the ancient cultures, Egypt, Greece, Rome, even
India and China, had beliefs, traditions, practices, gods and goddesses that
were related to those found in Babylon. The names were different, and different
modifications were added, but basically the ancient religions were related and
find their "purest" form in In
the New Testament, What
was to be the attitude of God's people toward this " But
those who remained in the new This
corrupted Church over time became "the Roman Catholic Church" and its
method was to compromise with paganism in order to gain numbers to the
congregation. Ever since, the Roman Catholic way of converting pagans to its
style of worship has been to absorb them gradually, along with their idolatrous
observances. The church was content to swell the number of nominal adherents by
meeting paganism halfway. There were some valiant voices of protest who bitterly
lamented the inconsistency of this approach, but their voices were raised in
vain. The
Roman church has continued the same approach until this day. It can be seen
particularly in Central and How
then did we receive our holidays (holy
days) with their customs and traditions? Christmas as well as Easter, Halloween,
and Mardi Gras? Each of them has come to us from ancient It
was for this very reason that in the city of When
the Puritans came to It
was not until the 19th century that Christmas had any religious significance in
Protestant churches. Even as late as 1900, Christmas services were not held in
Southern Presbyterian churches. The PCUS General Assembly of 1899 declared:
"There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of Christmas and
Easter as holidays, rather the contrary (see
Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-21),
and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed Faith,
conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel
of Jesus Christ." II. The History
of Christmas What
then is the history of Christmas? The
ignoble nature of the origins and customs of Christmas can be found in many
standard reference sources; therefore, we will not dwell on them in great
detail. It is appropriate, however, to mention a few highly significant facts
pertaining to the origins behind Christmas. Evidence
points to the fourth century as the time when Christmas celebration began.
Records covering the first three centuries of New Testament church history
mention an increasing significance given to the period from Passover to
Pentecost; yet, evidence is lacking to prove any celebration regarding the
Savior’s birth. In
the middle of the third century, Origin gives a list of fasts and festivals
which were observed in his time, and no mention is made of Christmas. The lack
of such testimony supports the conclusion that no celebration was then observed.
Although
there was no Christmas observance at this time, there were various pagan
celebrations held in conjunction with the winter solstice. In The
transition from festivals commemorating the birth of a sun god to a celebration
ostensibly for the Son of God occurred sometime in the fourth century. Unable to
eradicate the heathen celebration of Saturnalia, the Church of Rome, sometime
before 336 AD, designated a Feast of the Nativity to be observed. Many
of the customs associated with Christmas also took their origins from the
heathen observances. The exchanging of gifts, extravagant merriment, and
lighting of candles all have previous counterparts in the Roman Saturnalia. The
use of trees harkens back to the pagan Scandinavian festival of Yule. This
process of assimilation is characteristic of Roman Catholicism throughout the
centuries. Within Roman Catholicism, there is no policy designed to eradicate
such heathen practices; rather, the general practice is to foster assimilation
by replacing pagan superstitions with similar ecclesiastical institutions. An
example of this policy is illustrated by a letter which Pope Gregory wrote to
Abbot Mellitus on how to order things in The temples of
the idols among the people should on no account be destroyed. The idols
themselves are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed
with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics deposited there. For if these
temples are well-built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and
dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people,
seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and,
flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore
the true God. And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to demons,
let some other solemnity be substituted in its place, such as a day of
Dedication or Festivals of the holy martyrs whose relics are enshrined there. On
such occasion they might well construct shelters of boughs for themselves around
the churches that were once temples, and celebrate the solemnity with devout
feasting. This
is quite a program! The church is encouraged to give the pagans ecclesiastical
relics, rites, ceremonies, and festive celebrations as a substitute for their
heathen ones. This policy differs greatly from the conduct of the children of
God who cut down sacred groves, destroyed the remnants of idolatry, or burned
their heathen books in order to make a clean break with pagan ways (Ex.
34:13; Deut. 12:2-4, 29-32; 2Kings 18:4; Acts 19:19).
The
theory of conquest through assimilation is only too apparent in an examination
of Christmas. A casual glance will show how the holiday incorporates heathen
observances on a world-wide scale. Each culture seems to have its own local
"contribution" to the celebration of Christmas. The serious question
for the Christian is this: Are we not commanded, "Learn not the way of the
heathen" (Jer.
10:2)? Along
with Rome's direct infusion of paganism, the papal church has added some novelties of its
own. The principal perversion is the celebration of the The
Mass is the pre-eminent feature of Christmas celebration. "In the Roman
Catholic Church three masses are usually said to symbolize the birth of Christ
eternally in the bosom of the Father, from the womb of Mary, and mystically in
the soul of the faithful. The
concept of the Mass is embedded in the English term Christmas,
its etymology being traced to the Old English words Christes maesse, meaning "the mass or festival of Christ." Because
of its pagan and papal associations, Christmas met strong objections during and
after the Protestant Reformation. This opposition was especially forceful among
Presbyterians. III. Opposition to the Celebration of Christmas The
celebration of Christmas seemed to be opposed by many, some of these dated back
to the early days of the sixteenth century. This was the case in the city of On
Sunday, 16 November 1550, an edict was issued concerning holidays; it was a
decree "respecting the abrogation of all festivals, with the exception of
Sundays, which God had ordained." This
ban on festival days (including Christmas) caused an uproar in certain quarters,
and Calvin was reproached as the instigator of the action. Calvin's
personal writings about holidays, in this instance, are somewhat ambiguous. He
says he was not directly involved in the decision. In personal correspondence
with John Haller (pastor in It
seems that Calvin was initially uneasy about the edict to ban the festivals,
because he feared that the "sudden change" might provoke tumult which
could impede the course of the Reformation. Nevertheless, in the same letter to
Haller, Calvin says, "Although I have neither been the mover nor instigator
to it, yet, since it has so happened, I am not sorry for it." King
James I Another
of those who strongly opposed Christmas was King James I . When King James took
the English throne, he disallowed Presbyterianism and became an advocate of the
Anglican Church government, because it was more compatible with his notions of
monarchy. At
the Assembly of Perth, in 1617, the king sought to impose various ceremonies
designed to enhance the Episcopal cause. The liturgical impositions included
receiving communion in a kneeling position, private administration of the
sacraments, Episcopal confirmation, and the observance of Christmas, Easter,
Whitsuntide, and the Ascension. Scottish ministers resisted this action, with a
supplication against all points of the program. David
Calderwood (1575-1651) represents the firm opposition given by faithful Scottish
ministers. He issued a pointed critique of the Perth Assembly, published in 1619, in which he attacked these
innovations in worship that were imposed upon the Church of Scotland.
In a section on festival days, Calderwood asserts that only God has the
prerogative "to appoint a day of rest and to sanctify it to his
honor." Under the law of God, no one presumed to appoint holy days
"but God, and that either by Himself, or by some extraordinary
direction." Moreover,
the anniversary days prescribed by God "pertained to the ceremonial law;
but so it is that the ceremonial law is abolished. The anniversary days were
distinguished from the moral Sabbath;" only the ordinary (weekly) Sabbath
remains. "The moral use of the ordinary Sabbath was for the service of God
in general both private and public. The mystical use [of the anniversary days]
was to be a memorial of things bypassed, and a shadow of things to come. The
moral use endures, the mystical uses are vanished." "The Judicial days
had once that honor, as to be appointed by God himself; but the anniversary days
appointed by men have not the like honor." Calderwood
continues, "If it had been the will of God that the several acts of Christ
should have been celebrated with several solemnities, the Holy Ghost would have
made known to us the day of his nativity, circumcision, presentation in the
temple, baptism, transfiguration, and the like." "This opinion of
Christ's nativity on the 25th day of December was bred at "The
diversity of the ancients observing some the 6th day of January, some the 19th
day of April, some the 19th of May, some the 25th day of December, argues that
the Apostles never ordained it." "You see then as God hid the body of
Moses, so has he hid this day, and other days depending on the calculation of
it, wherein he declared his will concerning the other days of his notable acts:
to wit, that not Christ's action, but Christ's institution makes a day
holy." "Nay, let us utter the truth, December-Christmas is a just
imitation of the December-Saturnal of the ethnic [heathen] Romans, and so used as if Bacchus, and not Christ, were
the God of Christians." "It
is commonly objected, that we may as well keep a day for the nativity, as for
the resurrection of Christ. We have answered already, that Christ's day, or the
Lord's Day, is the day appointed for remembrance of his nativity, and all his
action and benefits, as well as for the resurrection." Further,
says Calderwood, even supposing that the keeping of holy days was initially
indifferent, the festival days must now be abolished, because "they are
abused and polluted with superstition." Indeed, the brazen serpent was
originally constructed by God's express command; yet it was destroyed when it
became a snare to the people of God (2 Kings 18:4). How much more, then, should
we discard man-made observances which are additionally contaminated with Romish
superstition and idolatry. IV.
Other Opposed Views We
have seen that Presbyterian opposition to Christmas is consistent, historical,
and based upon solid scriptural considerations. Yet, Presbyterians were not the
only persons who maintained a strong stand against Christmas and kindred
corruptions of worship; there were other Christians who held similar
convictions. For example, the famous Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon opened
a sermon on 24 December 1871 with the following words: “We have no
superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the
present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not
believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or
in English; and, secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for
observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and, consequently, its
observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority.” V.
Concluding Thoughts A
few final words remain for those who claim to be “Christians”. The
Protestant Reformers summoned us back to the scriptural law of worship which
allows us to admit only those institutions in worship that possess express
scriptural warrant. To take a stand in support of Christmas is a repudiation of
this legacy of the Reformation. It is a retreat from a hard-won point of
orthodoxy. A
consistent application of Reformed and Presbyterian principles of worship
requires the repudiation of Christmas. Answer 109 of the Westminster Larger
Catechism forbids "any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted
by God himself.” The
issue is not a matter of indifference. Since Christmas was not instituted by
God, it should not be approved or tolerated in the official practices of the
Church. Ministers and church officers are not being true to their ordination
vows, if they encourage or tolerate Christmas observance in their congregations.
Moreover,
the obligation to protect our families from corrupt worship resides with all
heads of households. We must strive to follow the example of Abraham, who
received a commendation from the Lord: "I know him, that he will command his
children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the
Lord" (Gen. 18:19). At
the outset of the Reformation in You are ordained
of God to rule your own houses in his true fear, and according to his Word.
Within your own houses, I say, in some cases, you are bishops and kings; your
wife, children, servants, and family are your bishopric and charge; of you it
shall be required how carefully and diligently you have always instructed them
in God's true knowledge, how that you have studied in them to plant virtue and
repress vice. Of
course, there are always those who agree "in principle," but offer
lame excuses for their reticence to apply their beliefs to their actions. To
such men, the words of Gillespie stand as an appropriate exhortation: Do not reckon it
enough to bear within the enclosure of your secret thoughts a certain dislike of
the ceremonies and other abuses now set afoot, except both by profession and
action you evidence the same, and show your faith by your fact. We are
constrained to say to some among you, with Elijah, "How long shalt ye
between two opinions?" and call unto you with Moses, "Who is on the
Lord's side? Who?" "Be not deceived: God is not mocked." And,
"No man can serve two masters. To
all readers, this study is presented with the hope that it will foster a desire
to maintain the purity of scriptural worship, in service to the living God. May
the Church be liberated from the corrupting influences which destroy the
spiritual vitality of her worship; and may a zealous concern for our worship
flow from a desire to glorify almighty God Jehovah and the only begotten God,
his son, Jesus Christ. Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas WorldNetDaily Wal-Mart worker 'history' after 'origin' of Christmas |
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A Personal Letter to all of my Friends and Family
For those who wish to help us spread the "Good News"
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