To those who condemn Christmas celebration on the grounds of pagan origin. Consider this. Many of the practices God commanded for ancient Israel had previously existed in paganism. Temples, priests, priestly vestments, incense, animal sacrifices, harvest time as the lynchpin of festivals—these and other forms used in pagan worship systems found their counterpart in Israel’s worship system given by God. The annual festivals or holy days God gave Israel as part of the old covenant were based on the cycle of the moon. The festival of Trumpets came on the new moon of the seventh month. Israelites even had a new moon celebration with a blowing of trumpets (Psalm 81:3). Yet, the moon was regularly worshipped as a god or goddess in other cultures. That’s where we get our name for Monday. It was the day set aside in honor of the moon. If we were to apply the reasoning some people use to call Christmas celebration pagan to Israel’s worship system (which God gave them), we would be falsely painting it with the brush of paganism. In fact, God transformed many pagan customs into a form of worship devoted to him. Even the sun, universally worshipped as a god by pagan cultures, is used in Scripture to symbolize an aspect of Jesus’ glory. Luke called him the rising sun (Luke 1:78). Jesus is also called the bright Morning Star in Scripture (Revelation 22:16). God can use symbols misappropriated by pagans and transform them for his own use, and for acceptable worship. So what say you? If Christmas celebration is wrong because it had pagan origins, would that not make Gods OT worship system sinful too? Lets be consistent, No?
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 02:32:55 +0000
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