Does celebrating Christmas or Easter make you pagan?
Dean Haskins wrote on his page - http://www.facebook.com/deanhaskins:
Here's an exercise in irony . . . ask most any Christian what "idolatry" means. Listen patiently. Then, point out that Christ-mass and Ishtar (Easter) are pagan to the core, and that God has shown us in His Word that He detests such things . . . then listen again--Immense Irony Warning!
Truth or Tradition - Should Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter? - http://www.passion-for-truth.com/Audio-Teachings/truth-or-tradition.htm ++++ I love Dean, I even re-post a lot of what he shares - and I honestly think he posted this to stir up thought more than to adopt it - so I had no choice but to respond:
Yes, but according to the latest data the star did stop over Bethlehem on 12/25 2BC - http://youtu.be/0MP7Kl1_Y4Q
I personally get tired of the Fundamentalists who come out EVERY YEAR with this crap. (Philippians 3:8 KJV 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ' Philippians 3:8 https://my.bible.com/bible/1/PHP.3.8)
Jesus said, "23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” - John 4:23-24 https://my.bible.com/bible/1/JHN.4.23-24
For 43 years of my life I have lived, and ever since I can remember Christmas was about celebrating Christ's birth, and I've heard all the other speculations about December 25th and was so glad when the Bethlehem Star project came out to show the reason Christianity had used December 25th all along - because this is when the Star was over Bethlehem. Now the Fundamentalists and skeptics can sit down and shut up, please! In truth and in Spirit I've celebrated Christ's birth every December 25th, and it has everything to do with Spirit and Truth in my heart and not some legalism from Fundamentalists who cling to legalism so they can obtain WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
If WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS could have SAVED US, then we didn't need Jesus' star announcing Messiah to appear on December 25th, 2 BC, Jesus need not come at all, he need not die on April 3, 33 AD at 3:30pm. There was the law of Moses and if WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS could have saved us, we already had the law of the Covenant. We didn't need an end to the old Covenant and for Christ to fulfill that Covenant he made with Abraham - "There is holy and then there is Holy" - https://haqodeshim.blogspot.com/2020/11/there-is-holy-and-then-there-is-holy.html, we didn't need a new Covenant - we could have worked our own way to righteousness.
The root of Forgiveness is not something we give others, instead, it is something far more proactive. The term in the NT comes from the marketplace: to purchase, redeem an item or person and take it/them off the shelf so they can never be purchased or owned again. The best imagery would have been during colonial times when slavery was legal, and to buy a slave and take them off the market and give them their freedom, so no one could claim or own them again. When we forgive, we "release" - because if you don't forgive you get stuck in the time where you were hurt or injured, or offended. Soon 10 hours go by, and then 10 days, and then 10 weeks, and then 10 months, and soon 10 years, and if you have not released the person who offended you, sinned against you, hurt you then a young person walks up and asks what are you upset about? And all of a sudden you go back to the day you were hurt and relive it all over again, and you become a prisoner to the person who sinned against you being trapped in time.
When Fundamentalists hold on to ancient History and try to tell us that because we celebrate Christ's birth at Christmas, or his Resurrection at Easter, and use traditions redeemed long ago - released from their pagan symbolism and reality - and dig up ancient history to tell you and I that somehow, your now established traditions of honoring Christ are pagan, they become no different than the Pharisees, of whom Jesus said:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. ' Matthew 23:15 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/MAT.23.15
and:
'You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. ' Matthew 23:24 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/MAT.23.24
Paul says:
'One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ' Romans 14:5 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/ROM.14.5
So Fundamentalists, Pietists, Pentecostals, Quakers, Amish, & Mennonites - if your faith is SO WEAK that putting up a Christmas Tree and decorating it, or painting Easter Eggs will turn you into worshiping pagan gods by doing so, please for the LOVE OF GOD, do not celebrate Christmas or Easter as I do.
On the other hand, instead of being like the Pharisee who prayed:
'The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ' Luke 18:11 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/LUK.18.11
You should be more like the Publican/Tax Collector of whom Christ Jesus said:
' “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ' Luke 18:13-14 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/LUK.18.13-14
Your WORK RIGHTEOUSNESS is but filthy rags in the eyes of your God. You could live your entire life living to the letter of every law written by Moses, and Adam's sin would still be enough to damn you to Hell - you have no righteousness outside of Jesus Christ.
Works can never be righteousness, but they are a sign as to how healthy the relationship with God is. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit. I Corinthians 13:4-8 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/1CO.13.4-8 Everywhere "Love" is in these verses, put your name and see how you measure up. If you bear this kind of fruit in your life, no one can say it is bad, or that your relationship with God is not real:
'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ' 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 https://my.bible.com/bible/111/1CO.13.4-8
'George is patient, George is kind. George does not envy, George does not boast, George is not proud. George does not dishonor others, George is not self-seeking, George is not easily angered, George keeps no record of wrongs. George does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. George always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. George never fails.
Okay, did you put your name in the verses as I have? How are you measuring up?
++++++++++++
Original NOTE/BLOG from 2011, along with comments can be found at: Facebook I have migrated over here to Google Blogger since Facebook has removed NOTES in a list from Profiles & who knows when they shall outright just delete them.