What
is A Holiday?
You might be asking yourself why I
asked such a silly question, and the answer is this, many people have
no idea what a holiday is. It even has several meanings in the
dictionary, one of which makes me question what a holiday is myself.
For example, one of the meanings is this, a day fixed by law or
custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of
some event or in honor of some person, or any day of exemption from
work. Now, if the word holiday is defined as merely a day where one
does not have to work, then what does that say about our world.
Holy Days of The Old
Testament
There is also another meaning of the word
holiday, which is a religious feast day; a holy day, in the Old
Testament we hear of feast days, all in honor of God. Seven feasts
were ordained by God for Israel to celebrate are located in the 23rd
chapter of Leviticus. These feasts were a teaching tool for the
children of Israel. They promised a coming Messiah and an ultimate
salvation for the nation. The first feast commanded by God was
Passover. This feast was instituted in Egypt on the night before the
exodus from Egypt. The feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated
for seven days and it began on the evening after Passover. It
is significant that the first and seventh days of the feast of
Unleavened Bread are annual Sabbaths or High Days. The seven
feasts ordained by God for Israel contain seven days that are to be
celebrated as Sabbath days. The next feast day was the feast of
Firstfruits, and it occurred during the same eight days as Passover
and Unleavened Bread. The day of its celebration was the day
after the weekly Sabbath, and it was celebrated by waving one sheaf
of the Firstfruits before the Lord. The next feast is known as
the day of Pentecost is also called the feast of Weeks because it
takes place seven weeks after the feast of Firstfruits. It always
occurs on the “morrow after the seventh sabbath” so it always
occurs on Sunday. The feast of Trumpets (i.e., Rosh Hashanah) is the
first of the three feasts that occur in the fall of the year. The
Feast of Trumpets is a memorial of the grace extended by God to
Abraham when God substituted a ram to be sacrificed in place of
Abraham’s son, Isaac. The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is the most
revered of Israel’s holy days. The feast of Tabernacles is
the seventh and final feast ordained by God for Israel to celebrate,
the feast of Tabernacles was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for
the harvest that had been gathered and the forgiveness that God had
extended to the people.
The reason I brought up these
holy days is to show that many of the religious feast days of
yesterday are reflections of what religious feasts we enjoy today,
such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter (Resurrection Sunday).
There is no mention of any observances or feast days in the New
Testament, except for Pentecost, but that does not mean that we can
not celebrate and observe what Christ did for us just as they did in
the Old Testament.
It was my intention to create a page
detailing some of the well known Christian holidays and observances,
to show their true meaning, not what the secular world has come to
know, but what the Christian world has come to know.
Today's
Holy Days
As I was doing this research, something
began to disturb me, I noticed many Christian sites linking many
holiday's and observances (including many non-Christian) to paganism,
worshiping dead people, the devil, or doing something immorally
wrong. Who actually associates Halloween and Valentine's Day with
Christianity anyway? This left me questioning whether or not I truly
had the right to even celebrate Christmas and if I did would I be
dishonoring God and committing sin. After lots of procrastinating,
which is a sin, contemplating, and prayer I have come to one
conclusion, Satan. All this talk about how holiday's and observances
being pagan, devil worshiping, etc., is nothing other than the work
of Satan. He has corrupted the world with these secular holiday's and
took the holy out of the holy day, making us look bad for even saying
Happy New Year to someone if we are a Christian.
There are
two types of people on this earth, those who believe in Christ and
those who do not and the way we observe these holiday's has to do
with which type we choose to be, regardless of whether or not it is a
holiday specifically centering Christ or one that does not.
Those
who follow Christ will see a holy day centered around Christ and use
it to observe and reflect on Christ and to give thanks to God for all
that He has done for us, just as in the Old Testament. Those who do
not will find a worldly way in which to celebrate these as holiday's.
The same thing goes for holiday's that are not Christ centered, (New
Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, etc).
Now,
how many people of the world today do you suppose worship the devil
on Halloween or choose to gratify every lust of the flesh with as
many people as they can find on Valentine's Day? Even worldly people
do not know the true origin of these holidays, many of which changed
when brought to America, and while there may be some who have no
morals, most of them follow them in a way that appeals to the modern
world.
Naturally, if one were a true Christian, celebrating
these holiday's as the world would not even come to mind. I am a
member of one of the most conservative churches out there, yet we
provide a place for the kids to have fun on Halloween without being
corrupted by the world. Also, those who follow Christ (and stay close
to Him) will not be corrupted by the holiday's of the world or any
other things that the world has to offer. For weeks I have been
doing research on evolution and false religions and if I was not
following Christ I could have easily been corrupted by what I have
learned, but my foundation is on Christ and as long as I stand on Him
I will not fall into the worlds view on things.
Now, I
will be the first to admit that the world has definitely screwed up
the Christian holy days, but to the true Christian we know what they
are all about, but to say that we are dishonoring God because we have
a Christmas tree in our house because it was something the pagans did
is just plain ridiculous. God knows who we are and what our
intentions are, He will tell us right from wrong. To say that any of
these holiday's are pagan related does not say much for the people
coming up with idea, so, the pagans have their own holidays, big
deal, let them have their holidays so we can enjoy ours holy days. It
is the secular world and our wonderful so called Bible scholars whom
decided to combine the two and ruin it for all of us in the first
place.
What it all comes down to this, "Train
up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6. If we teach our kids
what is truth then they will not question what the Christian holy
day's are all about and when they see something of the world they
will not be corrupted by it. If we teach them the truth and place
them around people who follow Christ they will not get corrupted by
the world's view on these things. We need to get back to celebrating
and observing these days with Christ in mind and I mean the true
Christ.
Below you will find information on the most common
holiday's, I am not here to belittle a holiday, Not all the holidays
featured here are necessarily Christian, but all are approached from
a Christian perspective. Like I said earlier, God knows you heart and
when you follow Christ you will not follow the traditions of the
world, but follow Him and observe these days as He would.
