Pagan Days

When we think about the history, activist groups most frequently reference President Thomas Jefferson as the source for the phrase, separation of church and state. And he is, actually, that phrase is not in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. What happened is, when he was president, Jefferson wrote a letter to the Baptist Convention of Connecticut in Danbury, and he was assuring them that there was, because of the wall of separation between church and state, the government would not interfere with their religious practices.

Interestingly, especially in the North, Baptists were a fringe group very out of the norm, and they were worried about the government posing on them. So he wrote and said, no, no, there's this wall of separation.

We won't interfere with your practices, whether in private or public. And that's the way it remained for decades. It was in 1947 that the Supreme Court reversed the traditional use of that phrase for the first time and allowed government to interfere with and even prohibit religious practices, especially if they were occurring in public. So it was that complete reversal of the historic meaning of the phrase that led to what we've been seeing going on since then.

I mentioned the foundation for the freedom from religion. They're in the forefront, but even more so, the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, they've brought many cases to court. And interestingly, verdicts have varied quite a bit. They haven't said, oh, if it has anything to do with any holiday you can't do it. It's been a fairly common trend for them to forbid publicly-owned facilities from having manger scenes, because the manger scene obviously is all about the birth of Christ.

Well, in their minds it's about the birth of Christ. But sometimes the courts have allowed Christmas trees and Santa Claus to remain in public spaces. And this is where I'm getting to the heart of the message I want to bring today, because the courts in many cases are saying, well, the Christmas tree and Santa Claus are not religious symbols. They say they're secular.

They're part of American culture and history. Let me cite... Actually, I've got an example of a memo from a university president that makes that same point. Now, this is not a court decision, but this university president represents that idea. This is a memo to faculty and staff a few years ago by Florida Gulf Coast University President Wilson Bradshaw.

Actually, I'm reading from an article about the memo. He mandated that all public areas on campus must remain undecorated throughout the holidays. That students, staff, and faculty are free to display seasonal items expressing their personal beliefs in their own private living and work areas. He said, the fact of the matter is, everyone's welcome to express their beliefs, but he went on to say, we're not banning those expressions, but we're a public institution doing a public business, and we have to be sensitive to that.

I would add, probably meant he had to be sensitive to lawsuits. But he said, legal limitations play a part in his decision, and he plans to form a workgroup with students and faculty to determine an appropriate stance on public holiday displays. Bradshaw wrote in his memo, please know, there is no attempt to suppress expression of holiday spirit. He also said the fact that the university had allowed public displays of Halloween decorations earlier in the year was irrelevant.

This is a quote from the president. He said, the president of the university, not the president of the nation. He said, Halloween is not a religious day. He said, I put Halloween in the same basket as St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day. That struck me. Oh, Halloween is not a religious holiday. It's the same as Valentine's and Halloween, or Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day.

And this isn't somebody who's uneducated. As I said, he's a university president. So, what do we make of things like that? If they manger scenes are religious symbols, but Santa Claus and Christmas trees are not? That Christmas and Easter are religious holidays, but Halloween and Valentine's are not? Well, I don't agree with that. I say, in fact, they are all religious holidays. Just not the religion that most people think. I know I'm speaking to a friendly audience. Most of you agree with me on this, but I want to explore this point.

We say, it doesn't matter. And how much do we, as true Christians, understand the difference? We should be informed, and we need to beware and understand the origin of these practices. First, I want to consider the fact that, in our country, the reason this is a question at all, and that some people's minds are clouded, is because there's been a trend towards, let's say, secularization of holidays that are religious in origin. In other words, they start out as religious days, but people lose sight of the religion.

The question is, does that matter in the long run, especially to God? Let's turn, if you will, to Deuteronomy 12. This is our keystone scripture in this area, and I want to go to it early on, rather than build up to it, because I think we should have this in the back of our mind as we explore all of these practices. Deuteronomy 12, and we'll begin in verse 29, says, and this, of course, part of the instruction is the ancient Israelites were about to cross the Jordan and go into the Promised Land.

So Moses has given them some last instruction. It says, When the eternal your God cuts off before you, or from before you the nations which you go to possess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you. In other words, when no one is practicing their religion anymore, that you do not inquire after their God saying, How did these nations serve their Gods?

I will also do likewise. In other words, how did they worship their Gods? Maybe they had some nifty practices that we can apply to our God. He says, You shall not worship the eternal your God in that way. For every abomination to the eternal which ye hate they have done to their Gods. For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their Gods.

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it. You shall not take away from it. So in that sense, this seems pretty clear. Don't try to worship God by sacrificing your children. That should be pretty clear. Also, don't set up altars. Don't sacrifice to the sun and moon. But some people, especially in this secularizing trend, might say, Well, there might be some cute cultural things in society that we might want to do, because they're fun.

And there could even be some things that seem beneficial to our families. They would say, Well, we're not using them to try to worship God, or even any God. So what's the harm? Well, I believe there is harm, and I think most of you do as well. That's why God said, Don't do it.

Let's pause. I was doing some research on this and looking at different perspectives. I found an article written by an atheist about holiday traditions, and I found it interesting how he coincides with our view in some areas, but is totally different in others. This is from a website called Atheism in the City, which I thought seemed really odd until I remembered there used to be a TV show called Sex in the City, so maybe he's playing off of that.

But maybe not at all. I didn't watch the shows, but I don't read his website very often either. Anyways, the title of the article is, It's Christmas Time, so what's an atheist to do? I'm going to read the article, but I've got some comments that I might interject. I'll try to make sure I'm clear when they're my comments and not his, but starting with the article.

Every year around this time, I write something about what the Christmas holiday means to an atheist like me. One of the bad images atheists have is that we're trying to destroy Christmas and take away all the fun for millions of its celebrants. I can appreciate this concern. And there's where I'd say, yeah, sometimes people look at us that way too. They say, oh, you people are saying that Christmas is pagan. You're just taking away all the fun. And let me go back to his article.

He says, I too am concerned that atheism can be an annoyance for anyone wishing to keep a relatively benign tradition. So I think, as atheists, we should conduct our preservation of the separation clause – that's that separation of church and state – carefully. What groups like the American atheists are doing is trying to prevent any government money and institutions from funding or displaying a religious-based holiday.

So that means, among other things, that there should be no nativity scenes on public property. When it comes to Christmas trees, wreaths, and holiday lights, it gets a little more fuzzy. Now, my comment, he's saying there's a distinction, just as some of those Supreme Court justices have, or lower courts. In fact, his article, he says, some say that the lights and decorations do not necessarily have religious meaning to them, and that the Christmas tree itself was a pagan tradition that can be secularized into a holiday tree, rather than a Christmas tree.

Now, I would interject. Is that true? Do all those not really have religious meaning? The Christmas tree, because it wasn't originally a Christian symbol, does that mean not religious? I'll come back to that later. Back to the article, he says, so the question I ask is, do we as atheists really want to eradicate any and all visual displays of holidays, whether they're associated with a currently practiced religion or not, from all public buildings and properties?

I put emphasis on currently practiced. He's making a distinction over whether a religion is currently practiced or not. He says, I'm actually not sure. Imagine a public building displaying Halloween decorations, or Thanksgiving Day decorations. None of those holidays are associated with a practiced religion today. Indeed, Thanksgiving was never, ever a religious holiday. That made me pause. Thanksgiving was never, ever a religious holiday. As I read that, I said, well, who did he think they were giving thanks to? Or that people keeping it today are giving thanks to?

Now, I think I know what he was referring to. I'll address that later. Let's go back. But it's interesting, as again, he makes the emphasis on whether religion is currently practiced or not. But then again, if it's a practice that's used to worship some type of false god and people are doing it, that would mean it is practiced.

But I'm getting off track. Let me get back to the article. He says, would this be okay, according to American atheists? Just how far should the wall of separation between church and state go? If Christmas is a pagan tradition adopted by Christianity, as I and many others see it, then can we say that every aspect of Christmas, the lights, wreaths, trees, candy canes, and other visual displays are all religious in their very nature? He's saying, since they were adopted and they were pagan, my answer is, well, yes! Christmas really is a pagan tradition.

More than that, it's not just a pagan tradition. It was from pagan religious worship. And thus, all the symbols associated with it are religious symbols. He says, might we allow a city to display on public property and paid for with public money a snowman, some wreaths, and a light display without any violation of the First Amendment, as we might also do with the display of a jack-o'-lantern and scarecrow?

Once again, all the Halloween decorations are considered not religious. Furthermore, Halloween started out as a pagan tradition that was incorporated into Christianity. He takes that as a given. Doesn't everybody know that? No one today don's masks and costumes because they actually believe it will scare spirits?

The tradition of Halloween remains after the supernatural aspect disappears. My own comment would be, does it disappear just because he says it disappears? Or just because people aren't aware of it?

He says, modern Christmas celebration can detach itself from Christian mythology that it was fused together with, along with the pagan spiritual elements, so that Christmas becomes a holiday solely focusing on family, friends, and gift-giving. The Christmas mythology need not be suppressed, but rather it should be regarded in the proper domain myths belong to, where they're not in any way based in reality. And that's the end of his article. As I read that, I thought about it. That's kind of offensive, in a way.

He's lumping what people… well, he's lumping Christianity, whether he understands what it really is or not, with pagan mythology and saying, well, none of it's based in reality at all, anyways. So by his way of view, his view is, you can keep those practices because they're not real anyways. Well, we would look at it almost the opposite. We would say, maybe we shouldn't keep those practices because they're not real. But he does see some things that most people don't. The pagan origins of a lot of holiday traditions are they're plainly there to see if people will look.

Just because he's an atheist, he sees the ignorance as good. Since he doesn't believe there's a God, he doesn't believe there are any spirit beings. He doesn't want his tax dollars to be involved in what he would consider a vain worship. But that's where he's lacking. He doesn't believe there is a God, but there is. And not only is there a God which he's ignorant of, but other spirits, including evil spirits. People don't see it because they're blinded, but there's a connection.

And part of the reason people are blinded is because, as I said, so many Americans are secularizing their holidays. They're ignoring the deep meaning underneath, but that deep meaning doesn't necessarily disappear. Now, I should say, of course, there are such things as secular holidays. We have Labor Day and Flag Day and Veterans Day, which I still keep wanting to call it Armistice Day.

Go back in some of your memories. Well, not that you were there when it was originally Armistice Day. What was that? 1918? That's going back a little too far. But most of the big holidays in our society are religious. And that's, as I said, the focus I want to bring down and say it over and over again. They are religious holidays. They're involved with worship, but not necessarily, in most cases definitely not, of the real true God.

But I want to look at some of their origins, but I thought, is there an easy way to know if a holiday is secular or not? If we're not already educated on its origin, it occurred to me one way to, a real quick easy way, is look at the calendar. Religious holidays are usually sacrosanct in when they're kept, meaning there's a deep meaning attached to the actual date. And so it has to be on that date.

Christmas is always December 25th, no matter what day of the week. Valentine's Day is always February 14th. Easter is a little more complicated. It falls on the first Sunday after the equinox, which I don't remember all the details, but they're special safeguards to make sure that Easter can never coincide with Passover. Because, of course, the ancient Catholics, they wanted to make sure that they separated Easter from Passover.

But if you look at Presidents Day, it doesn't have to fall on any particular date, long as it's a Monday, long as we can have a three-day weekend. Same for Labor Day, Memorial Day. For those, sadly, I think we could say, convenience trumps actual meaning. And that's why when we were having the In-Home Bible Studies up in Portsmouth, we were discussing some of these holidays. And I said, well, what do you do to celebrate Presidents Day?

And the common answer is, well, you have a mattress sale. Because there's not the underlying meaning. And the one exception, as far as what we call secular holidays, Independence Day, in America, that's always July 4th. But that's because it is tied to an actual event, not a religious event. Halloween always falls on October 31st, just a couple days ago.

It is a religious holiday, tied very closely to the day following, which is known as All Saints Day. Boy, that sounds religious! Now, it's interesting. Local governments have felt free to establish trick-or-treat or beggars' night on varying days for convenience. And people do that for their Halloween parties.

And more and more, they're doing it for Christmas traditions. How people keep the holidays are becoming secular in their minds. But that doesn't change where these days came from, or what the real meaning is. I think about that for members who have been in the church a long time, especially for most of you, many of you, when you came in the church, you gave up keeping Christmas. That's where the sticking point came with family. A lot of them will say, Are you crazy? You can't stop doing that. Or, in my family, my sister and I came to the understanding of the truth through my grandmother.

And so we told mom, Look, we don't want to do Christmas this year. Which I understand a little backwards from the way it's usually done. But all of her friends came to her and said, No, they don't know what they're talking about. They really want it. And so even after we'd agreed we weren't going to have it, she went out at the last minute and stuck up a little tree and bought presents. And we woke up in the morning and there they were.

And we were happy to get presents because we were still kids. But it was a little awkward feeling. But as I said, for most of you, that was the tough one. Giving up Halloween, not so tough. It's, you know, considered a lot of people consider it some relic and something for kids.

Interestingly, though, it's not so much about kids anymore. In recent years, Halloween has moved up to second place and in the ranking of how much money people spend on their holidays. I think as much as they spend on Christmas, Halloween is now second. And that's because it's not for kids anymore. More and more people are having very extravagant parties for adults. Matter of fact, I was, well, not as surprised, but I tend to forget every year. But Sue and I sometime often in the morning turn on the TV to the Today Show, you know, to catch the news.

But they make a big deal of their costumes every year. And then the show seems like they were showing all the TV personalities. It's caught on. So it's not about little kids. It's about adults dressing up. And people like to play dress up. And I can't be too critical of that, because I think I have more costumes at home than most grown men.

Now, a lot of mine come from valid reasons, not just to dress up. People also like revelry. People, adults like Halloween because it's an excuse to party. And its underlying religious meaning gives excuse to cast off restraint. You know, to overindulge, to get a little wild. You know, to walk on the dark side, so to speak. More and more people are getting more and more extravagant in their decorations. It used to be they put some pumpkins out front, maybe carve them. I know I don't really live in a neighborhood. We're in a pretty rural area, but there are a few houses across the way, closer to the lake.

And one of them where they had kids, they put up a mini fake cemetery with these plastic tombstones, with jokes carved onto them, and supposed skeletons climbing up out of the ground. It's really just gruesome and horrid to think that's what they're training their little kids in. And of course, as I said, some putting up the orange twinkle lights. Others compete to give away the most extravagant candy, the most expensive they can buy, or, if not the most expensive, the greatest volume.

Buy the cheapest candy and give away pounds and pounds of it. Why are people doing all this? Well, they see it as fun, and our culture has become one where people are looking for just about any excuse to have a party and celebrate. And especially if the revelry or the meaning behind it gives them a good reason for overindulgence and abandonment. Anything where you dress yourself up as someone else, people psychologically feel they've got a freedom to go do things they wouldn't normally do.

And there must be something in the human psyche. I noticed that at the family day at the feast when I put on my clown outfit. You know, I got that out and how I got there is a long story, but I put on the makeup and I found, well, it was the clown feet, I think, but I couldn't walk normally. I had to do the sort of hop and act clownish, which is okay in that case. You know, that was just for fun and no religious, well, no religious origins that I know of of clowns.

Maybe I should do some research on that. But my point is, putting on a costume in people's minds lets them become someone else and often it's not someone for the better. You know, people like to have a guilt-free reason to party and go all out.

And Halloween provides that. Come to think of it, so do St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve. Now, it could be fun to get caught up in all this fun and partying. Think it's harmless. Nobody thinks it's religious or honoring a false god, do they?

Well, let's look at the origins. I should say, let's review. For many of us, this is old hat, but it's good for us to remember, as I said, these are religious days. They come from a religious background and a religious meaning that doesn't go away just because people ignore it. Speaking of that ignoring, decades ago, the church published a booklet with the title, Pagan Holidays or God's Holy Days, Which? Now, we have one with a little longer title, and I think we've got a copy of it over there.

I'm looking to see. It's titled, Holidays or Holy Days? Doesn't Matter Which Days We Observe?

That's more thorough. It asks the question, Does it Matter Which Days?

And some might argue, well, you're not being so antagonistic by putting the word pagan right on the front. I wonder. Some people said, oh, you're watering things down by not being in your face, telling people their holidays are pagan. But, you know, I think the real reason they took the word pagan out of the title, people don't know what it means anymore. They're just are ignorant. Matter of fact, I know, up in Portsmouth, one of the fellows told me he had a long discussion with someone who asked him what that word meant. I looked it up in my Webster's dictionary.

It had three definitions. The first one said, Anything that pertains to a polytheistic religion, such as was practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Second definition was, a hedonistic lack of religion. Or third, a pagan was any person who's not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. And this is, of course, referring to the major three monotheistic religions in the world today. But the term is all about religion. And I think, as I said, a lot of people think these holidays are totally secular. But them thinking that doesn't necessarily make it that way. As I said, we read the scripture in Deuteronomy where God said, You know those people that you're going to kill off and they'll be gone? Don't ask how they practiced their religion. They were pagan. And the fact that nobody was currently practicing anymore didn't make it okay to borrow those practices. Let me read a brief description. I got out, I wanted to be old school, so I got out my copy of the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the one that was published, I think, in 19... now I'm failing to date. It was pre-World War I. And I don't have all that room on my shelf. I've got it on CD, which is pretty cool. But it's got an entry for Halloween. So here's, you know, 100 some years ago, it says Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, the name given to the 31st of October as the Vigil of Hallomass or All Saints' Day. Though now known as Little Else but the eve of the Christian festival, Halloween and its formerly attendant ceremonies long and to date Christianity.

Around a long time before Christianity, the two chief characteristics of ancient Halloween were the lighting of bonfires and the belief that of all nights in the year, this is the one during which ghosts and witches are most likely to wander abroad.

Now on or about the 1st of November, the Druids held their great autumn festival and lighted fires in honor of the sun god and thanksgiving for the harvest. Further, it was a Druidic belief that on the eve of this festival, Sowain, sometimes called Samhain, the character is called Samhain, the Lord of Death, called together the wicked souls that within the past 12 months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. Thus, it's clear that the main celebrations of Halloween were purely Druidical. Druidical is easy to read but hard to say out loud. And this is further proved by the fact that in parts of Ireland, the 31st of October was and even still is, remember this was written 100 years ago, known as Oich Samhain or the Vigil of Samhain. On the Druidic ceremonies were grafted, some of the characteristics of the Roman festival in honor of Pomona also held about the 1st of November. And this, nuts and apples, as representing the winter store of fruits, played an important part. Thus, roasting of nuts and the sport known as apple dunking, which is attempting to seize with the teeth an apple floating in a tub of water, were once the universal occupation of young folk in medieval England on the 31st of October.

Which, well, I don't think I've tried apple dunking since I was a little kid, but it's interesting, it's associated with that date going all the way back to ancient Roman times. And what it doesn't say here is, I read from another source, that 31st of October is considered the midway point between the equinox and the winter solstice at a time when the Druids believed there was a crack between the spirit world and the natural world, and that's how these spirits would be wandering about. So the practice of going around that night wearing animal masks and costumes, they practiced for one of two reasons, either to convince the evil spirits that you were one of them so they'd leave you alone, or to scare them away, because you might be considered a spirit more evil and worse than them. But that strikes me as from that source we've come to kids dressing up in superhero costumes, and adults wearing whatever, well, that weird stuff you see on TV, it seems like all the women have to be as sexy as possible. That's a little embarrassing. I remember, I've got vague memories of keeping Halloween as a little kid, and although I don't have it, my sister's got some pictures of her wearing, I think, a bunny costume, and me wearing a devil costume, which of course is not the way the devil probably really looks, it's the red pajamas, and I was so proud of the long pointy tail, which I'm not so proud of now, but if you'd look at it, it, well, it's probably exactly what Connor would look like if we dressed him up on that. But, interestingly origins, how it mutates, but does the meaning go away?

Sources talk about the jack-o'-lantern that represented a watchman on Halloween. It's supposed to be a man who was caught between that netherworld and the real world, and couldn't get through.

In ancient Europe, of course, they didn't have pumpkins. They carved the jack-o'-lanterns in turnips, which probably required a lot more detailed work. When they came to the new world and discovered these big pumpkins growing, they said, wow, this is so much better.

Now, I find it interesting. Some people might look at this and say, well, wait a minute. They weren't wearing those costumes and carving the jack-o'-lanterns to worship the spirits. It was all to frighten them away. Doesn't that match with Christianity's goals, to frighten away evil spirits? I don't think so. I'll remind you. I'm not going to turn there, but 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, God has not given us a spirit of fear. We're not supposed to fear the demons and try to scare them away. He's given us a spirit of power and love and of a sound mind. I'd like to turn to Mark 16. Mark 16, and we'll start in verse 16.

This is part of Christ's closing message to the apostles. It says, He who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned, and these signs will follow those who believe. Including the first one, in my name they'll cast out demons and speak with new tongues. He talks about picking up serpents or drinking harmful things without getting hurt. But this is the only way, if we're going to have any interaction with demons, this is to be it, to chastise them or rebuke them with the name of Jesus Christ.

Not by putting on an animal mask or trying to fool them, not with jack-o'-lanterns or anything like that. Engaging in those practices, I would say, amounts to interacting or engaging with demons.

Regarding that, let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Because we don't want to get down in the mix. Now, I'm going to read this. I'm taking it a little bit out of the context. Paul was talking about people in the Corinthian church were a little worried about if they got some meat that they bought at the market, it might have been slaughtered in an idol's temple. And he was saying, at some point, one part of reasoning was, well, those idols, they're not real, so you don't have to worry about eating the meat if you don't know where it came from. But on the other hand, he's saying, if you do have that knowledge, it's not just an empty building. There's something there. 1 Corinthians 10 beginning in verse 19.

What am I saying, then, that an idol is anything, or what is offered to an idol is anything?

He's not saying that. He says, rather, that the things with which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You can't drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. We could say similarly, is a carved pumpkin anything? Not of itself, but carving jack-o'-lanterns and wearing costumes for trick-or-treating and so on, is, in some sense, giving honor to and obeisance to evil spirits. God doesn't want us to have fellowship with evil spirits. And, of course, I'll also mention many of these pagan religions, they were built on fear. So, if someone would say, well, they're trying to scare away the demons, that's not the same as worshiping them. No, fear is the basis of religion was common in a lot of pagan religions, which means they're still religious customs. Which, maybe that's twisting, it's not twisting the logic, but maybe it's just too self-evident. But it's coming back to my main point. These are religious holidays. As much as the people in our country think of them as secular, as I said, that atheist said, oh, Halloween's not a religious holiday.

A university president says, oh, it's not a holiday or a religious holiday. No, they are religious holidays. They're tied to worship, tied to fear, tied to evil spirits.

It's just they're not of the true religion.

And we could go on looking at some of the others. Contrary to what judges have ruled, many of the so-called cultural or historical practices associated not only with Halloween, but with Christmas, are religious. At least, that's certainly their origin.

I don't have to remind you that the date for Christmas has no relation to Jesus Christ's birth. It's been well documented and widely acknowledged that the Roman Catholic Church adopted the annual Winter Solstice Festival that had been practiced for thousands of years before Christ came on the scene. A number of religions had Winter Solstice festivals, but of course, at the time that the church was growing, the one popular in the Roman Empire was called the Saturnalia, dedicated to Saturn, who also went by the name Janus. On the Roman Julian calendar, that's the first organized calendar that they had, the Winter Solstice fell on December 25th.

I'm glad I found that, because I've sometimes wondered, well, if it's associated with the solstice, why wasn't it on December 21st? Because in the Julian calendar, the solstice was December 25th, and when a few hundred years later, they modified the calendar with what's called the Gregorian calendar. Maybe I'm talking too fast. You know, that, because they shifted to get it in line with the astronomical seasons, the solstice moved to December 21st, but December 25th had become, as I said, sacrosanct. It was a religious day, and they didn't want to change the date.

But everybody who studies history knows that the origin of the date and the festival were related to sun worship. It's clearly a religious holiday, not a Christian holiday, but a religious holiday, and thus the various traditions associated with it, they're religious. Christmas lights. Now, they're pretty, and I've always enjoyed them. When I was, last time I was training for a marathon, we lived up in Columbus here, I'd run the streets through the neighborhood, and something to go out before dawn, and all the Christmas lights would be on and over the snow. It's a pretty sight, but as I said, it comes from the lighting of bonfires and candles to encourage the rebirth of the sun, which, as the days get shorter and shorter, which we're noticing now, ancient pagans said, it's like the sun is dying, we've got to create our own light and encourage it to come back. It's sort of like priming the pump, maybe it'll come back. Decorating with holly, mistletoe, and evergreen trees come from the druidic practices of northern Europe that celebrated that their idea of the gods were preserving life even though the sun was dying. Now, Santa Claus is from the Dutch for San Nicolas, Saint Nicholas, but actually the character was around long before Christianity came to the Netherlands. They attached that name on a Viking character who was one of the associates of Thor and Odin, and some sources say maybe it was Thor himself, and he was wearing fur and boots and would travel around. So these are still pagan false gods, pagan religion. Although I should add, the common representation of what we see as Santa doesn't go, the visual doesn't go back to pagan times, it goes back to the early Coca-Cola commercials about a hundred years ago. And I like that version of Santa much better than the Viking warrior, but still religious origin. The giving of gifts, common, and Christmas comes from the common practice of giving gifts during the Saturnalia. They specialize in giving small dolls that represented and replaced the sacrifice of children. So when small dolls were given, that was a representation that they used to sacrifice children to Saturn. And the mythology around Saturn was that he actually killed and ate his own children because a prophecy said that they were going to kill and take his place. So when I think of that legend, it comes back to mind where Paul wrote, I don't want you to have fellowship with demons. That's a demonic thought and a demonic practice. Now I'm not saying giving somebody a doll is evil, because dolls themselves aren't bad, but giving gifts on Christmas has that origin.

Now sometimes the question comes up, what about New Year's Eve parties?

Well, I went to a different source. I thought earlier I went to the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. For this one, I thought I'll roll the dice and go to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Well, actually, I looked at several sources, but I really like the way Wikipedia described this. So let me read their entry on New Year's Eve. It says, The Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings, for whom the first month of the year, January, is also named. The deity Janus supposedly had two faces, one looking forward, the other looking backward. Now they added something else to it, though. After Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BC and then was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate voted to deify him on the 1st of January, 42 BC. I like that the Senate voted to make him a god. Maybe it wasn't one before. So they set aside the 1st of January to honor Julius Caesar and his institution of the calendar. So the conclusion of this Encyclopedia article, it says, this suggests that the New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Which is interesting that they come to that conclusion. They weren't trying to make a proof of whether or not we should go to the parties. Most of the pagan celebrations that were associated with that time of year included over-drinking, over-eating, and sexual debauchery. And modern New Year's Eve party celebrations often focus on the same things.

They said there might not be a direct descent, but certainly they have those things in common.

Now I would say that doesn't mean that it's worshipping the devil to turn over your calendar or to buy a new one. It's the raucous celebration celebrating the day that has that origin.

And actually when I wrote this, I was still ignorant. I was curious about the ball that they drop in Times Square. Actually, that goes back to 1908. A department store did that as a stunt to get attention to their store because they knew people were staying up to watch the start of the new calendar. So I don't know if the ball itself has a pagan origin, but as I said, celebrating the day does. Interestingly, though, in this case, as I said, the holiday is an excuse for over-drinking, but the over-drinking is a part of how they celebrated the holiday in ancient times. Let's think of some of the other ones of the other holidays. One of the common points about days named for saints is that they go back to pagan origin. We already mentioned all saints' day was tied to Halloween. People, we don't celebrate many saints' day in America, but St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day have endured. Even though Christians say, well, we don't celebrate them religiously, doesn't that make them secular? No. My point is that they are religious.

We know that most pagan religions had many gods that they considered to be gods and worshiped, and when the Catholic Church was growing and expanding, it wanted to bring in those converts. So they said, well, you can keep your god. We'll just call him a saint instead, and they changed his name, and sometimes they kept the days devoted to those saints.

Valentine's Day included even a little bit more than that. It was originally the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, an annual three-day event believed to ward off evil spirits, but more importantly, to increase fertility, and it was always held February 13th through 15th. The Lupercalia was also known as Februaryatio, which is where we get the name for the month February.

Now, this was so popular among the pagans that the Catholics were trying to lure into their new church that they let them keep the day, but they renamed it and called it Saint Valentine's Day. The official change didn't come until 496 AD. Now, in the original pagan practice, young couples who wanted to get married, who wanted to have kids, would increase their fertility by being beaten with strips of fur that were called the February. I might not be pronouncing it properly. So, I thought, no wonder they were more eager to go into Catholicism because they left being beaten with fur and instead just prayed to the saint now that they gave the name Saint Valentine's. And, of course, it grew from there, and later on, the practice of sending cards and candies and things, that was added by Hallmark and other companies. But it was also a very popular but it was a blatant nod to worshiping a false god.

March 17th, supposedly said as the date to commemorate the death of Saint Patrick, you know, supposedly the patron saint of Ireland, it turns out that date for centuries before was the time of the Roman Bacchanalia. Bacchanalia is named for the god Bacchus, who is the god of wine and partying. Which, that strikes me, if you're going to have a lot of different deities, you can have one devoted to everything, including to partying. So the god of partying was worshipped on March 17th. So now, of course, the party goes on, but they've given it a different name. But March 17th, whether you're Catholic or Irish or not, it's a religious holiday.

And all that partying is a nod towards worshipping the god of wine and partying.

I should mention a couple holidays that we often do participate in, and I don't think we have reason to feel guilty. One, because of their meaning and background, Independence Day, the Fourth of July.

It's easy, if you know American history, to know that's not based on any pagan tradition. It comes from celebrating the Declaration of Independence. I think God blessed our country, and we look back to that. It's not a religious holiday. It's interesting, if you study a lot of political history, there are some scholars who said, for Americans, at times, civics has become a type of religion, and that Independence Day and Election Days are their high holidays.

But I think that's more of an academic construct to show how much Americans love their politics than it is a comment on religion. But, of course, the other day we commonly keep is Thanksgiving Day. It's an American national holiday established by Congress, and before that, declared, you know, proclaimed by presidents. And I think that's where the atheist I was quoting from his article earlier, when he said Thanksgiving was never a religious holiday. I think he was referring to the fact that it wasn't established by a particular church. It was always proclaimed by a government.

It's sad in some ways, though. He doesn't understand his history or how religious the government of our country was, and the governors of our country were. Now, I know there is mythology around the story of the pilgrims and surviving the winter and inviting the Indians over. There's some mythology that surrounded that, but it's true. They did have this very rough winter, and they relied on the Indians to teach them how to survive and to sell them food, and more than half of the original pilgrims died off in the first year. So those who did survive, when they brought in a good harvest, wanted to declare thanks, not thanks to the Indians. Now, they had thanked the Indians for what they'd done, but they were thanking God. In ancient New England, historical New England, church and state were not separated. I mean, ministers didn't necessarily always hold office, but the law of the land was derived from the Bible, and they made no apologies of the fact that they were religious, and the government would call a religious day. As a matter of fact, the Puritans were devoted to the Bible enough that they did not celebrate Christmas or Easter, or most of the other days. They didn't celebrate any saint's day. They saw the pagan origins of those, and they left them behind. Instead, they kept what they thought was the Sabbath weekly.

They kept Sunday with strict diligence. It's amazing that they knew their Bible so well and didn't get the Sabbath. But they also, as circumstance called for, would call a day of fasting and prayer. They didn't know the day of atonement, but they knew sometimes they needed to all approach God and ask Him for help. And if, say, there had been a drought and they needed rain, or there was a danger of Indian attacks, the government would say, we're setting aside this Thursday for fasting and prayer, and they would do it.

And they didn't have a set time. They would do it when needed. On the other hand, if they were especially blessed, they'd set a day of thanksgiving. Let's all worship and praise God, and maybe have special dinners, and give thanks. I'm going on a little about that. I've got more knowledge on it, because a friend of mine, when I was in grad school, was writing her dissertation on this very subject. And she showed me copies, tons of documents, showing the Puritans did this for decades, all the way up until the government was founded. So it was following that tradition that was long established that led presidents, early presidents in the country, to occasionally call. They would sometimes call for days of fasting and humiliation and prayer, but also the president would call for days of thanksgiving. And it was such, during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln called for a special day of thanksgiving on November 26th of 1863. And that led to the annual observation that we still keep today. So again, it's not based on pagan tradition at all. This is a rare case where we could say modern people have corrupted what was originally a pretty wholesome and good holiday. Nowadays, they've secularized thanksgiving. It's all about eating turkey and watching football.

You know, rather than taking a pagan celebration and trying to make it about eating turkey and watching football. And I say that, but I really love turkey and I love watching football. Now, I've heard some people within... I've never talked to anybody in the United Church of God, but some people that are affiliated with Sabbath Keeping Groups. There are some that say, maybe we shouldn't keep thanksgiving. You know, because some of the pagans also kept a fall festival and things like that. Or some would say, well, you know, the Puritans weren't true Christians. They didn't have God's Spirit. They didn't keep the Sabbath and things like that. Were they really giving thanks to the true God? I think they were giving thanks to the true God. They might not have understood all of His Word the way we believe we understand. And I do believe we understand it. But I think this would match with what we turn... see if we turn to Acts 17.

Acts 17 and verse 22.

Paul addressing the Athenians at the Areopagus. I think he gives an explanation that people can honor the true God without really knowing Him.

Of course, this is the case where Paul had sent some of his companions on ahead, and he was waiting.

And here in verse 22 of Acts 17, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing Him, I proclaimed you, the God who made the world, and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, and does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything, since He gives all life and breath and all things. He's saying, you might not know Him, but yeah, when you're giving thanks, that's who you're giving thanks to. And I think that would definitely be the case for the Pilgrims, and they knew God much more than the pagans in Athens. But maybe we could look at the other hand. Though the people who are celebrating Halloween, as many just did, are looking forward to Christmas and Easter, they might not know the false gods that they're worshiping, but when they adopt those practices and traditions, they're worshiping a God they don't know. For them, it's an unknown God, but not the one who made the world and everything that is. So I think it is important. True Christians, we can celebrate Thanksgiving Day, because we know the God we're thanking. But we're not going to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween. I don't think any of you are in danger of doing that, but we're also not going to put up lights next month and celebrate the return of the sun, because we do know where that comes from.

Earlier, we read a command in Deuteronomy. Let's consider a different one. If you'll turn to Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 18, and we'll read verse 9.

I haven't been looking at my watch. I think I might end early today. I hope nobody's offended. I've been talking way too fast. Deuteronomy 18, verse 9.

Once again, some of the instructions of the Israelites just before Moses was going to leave them, and they were going to be in the Promised Land. It says, When you come into the land which the Eternal your God has given you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

Though don't learn the things that they did. You're coming in there. Don't borrow their traditions or customs. None of that.

God would give a fairly similar command later in the book of Jeremiah. Let's go to Jeremiah 10.

Jeremiah 10, begin in verse 2. It starts with a pretty strong statement. Thus says the Eternal, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles. Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven. That can refer to astrology, things like observing the solstice and wanting to observe that. It says, The Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of these people are futile. And it goes on to describe what sounds a lot like a Christmas tree. One cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workmen with the axe, and they decorate it with gold and silver, fastening it with nails and hammers so it won't topple. They're upright like a palm tree, but they can't speak. They have to be carried. Because these can't go by themselves. Don't be afraid of them. They cannot do evil, nor can they do any good. Now, some people have said, well, well, I should say, you know, this sounds a lot like a Christmas tree. Biblical scholars today say, well, that couldn't be a Christmas tree. And as I read earlier, the practices of the Christmas tree came from the druids of Northern Europe. Jeremiah didn't know anything about them. We're not even sure if they developed those practices yet.

Well, there's two answers I would have. One is, they're right. Jeremiah wouldn't have any idea what the druids were doing, but the God in heaven who inspired Jeremiah would know exactly what the druids would do. But if the other interpretation is correct, biblical scholars say, this isn't talking about a Christmas tree where you put tinsel and such on it. It's talking about cutting down a tree and carving it and overlaying it with gold and silver to make an idol. Well, that's pretty wrong, too. And they both have the same exact meaning. God says, don't do that. That's how the pagans celebrate and worship their gods. I'm telling you, don't do that. Don't worship me using those practices. Don't think it's appropriate to worship God with that, with either a tree with tinsel on it or a tree carved into an image and overlaid with gold. It's not appropriate, but it is religious. They're religious customs. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

But some people might say, oh, that was just for the Old Testament, and now that we've applied those customs to Jesus Christ, you know, that admonition doesn't count anymore.

But I think it does. I'm going to start reading in a scripture we don't think of as far as religious holidays, but it does, because this relates to what's called syncretism. Syncretism is the blending of two different religions, or blending a false religion with the true. And Paul says, don't do that. Don't bring them together. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14 says, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? And what relationship does Jesus Christ's birth have to do with the winter solstice? And he says, what accord has Christ with belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell with them and walk among them. I'll be their God. They shall be my people. Therefore, in light of all that, come out from among them. Be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch the unclean thing, and I will receive you. I'll be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Going on to the next chapter, he says, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I can comment. Paul quoted from the Old Testament, much of what I just read, showing God's instruction in the Old Testament regarding not adopting those practices and traditions, applies to New Testament Christians just as much as to ancient Israel. We could say, sure, well, when we talk about being under grace, we say, sure, we're forgiven of our sins by Christ's blood, but that doesn't mean we go sin again. Of course not. Repentance means you turn away from that. I would say, similar, we don't receive God's instruction of how to worship Him, but then go and start keeping holidays that are devoted to other false gods.

This says a similar thing. Revelation 18.4 also says, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and receive of her plagues.

Come out of her. Don't share in those things. Now, we could make a case, along with not being caught up in the whole system that is ancient Babylon, it means don't decorate with evergreens in the winter. Don't go to New Year's Eve or St. Patrick's Day parties.

I think it's a shame many professing Christians in our nation understand the pagan origins of the holidays, but they think they can reason away those origins. They convince themselves that, well, they become secular, so they're harmless. No, they are religious.

Let's turn over to Colossians 2.

Colossians 2, we'll read in verse 8.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit.

I say that philosophy reasoning this away, saying, oh, it's okay. We don't keep it for those reasons. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the word, and not according to Christ.

No, let's accept Christ reasoning. And he actually didn't address these religious holidays, but he did address using man's tradition to try to honor God. Let's go to Mark 7.

Mark 7, we'll pick up in verse 6.

Here, Jesus was having one of many confrontations with the Pharisees, and he's basically chastising them because they did. They took human traditions and practices and thought that was more important than what God said.

Here it says, Now, that struck me. We don't often apply that to religious holidays, but I thought, if that's true of Pharisees putting a priority on ritual washings and the extreme safeguards they built around the Sabbath, how much more is it true of thinking of practices that were developed for sun worship and idol worship and saying, well, they can be secularized or even more adopted into worshiping the true God.

Now, Jesus said, don't adopt these traditions of men. Do what God says. And we read in Deuteronomy, God said, worship me the way I told you to worship me, not the way they did. And we know these things. I realize this would be a sermon largely of review. Many of you have studied this longer than I have, even. We've proved these things from the time we first began understanding the truth. But even so, the world continues to engulf us in its practices. And over time, we can start letting down and not thinking these things through. After all, we know good people who do these things.

And Christmas lights can be real pretty. And the songs are really pretty. My theory on that is, whenever someone comes up with a really beautiful piece of music, they think, I'm going to save this for Christmas. They could have put different lyrics to it, but it's so beautiful. I guess not having their minds open, I don't blame them for that. And you've seen people caught up in the holiday spirit. They can be so nice and loving and friendly. I remember years ago, when I was still working at Wendy's, you know, I used to be on the closing shift. And I think it was Christmas Eve. And this woman just came up to me and said, I feel so good today. And she gave me a five dollar bill. I just want to give you this. Oh, I probably should have told her that Christmas was a pagan tradition, but instead I just put the five dollars in my pocket. I was only 17. I still had a lot to learn. But, you know, we might say, well, what's so bad about what these people are doing? Well, there's something bad underneath it.

And we know better. Even if we didn't understand the history and all the corrupt evil origins, the fact that God said, don't do that and do your honor should be enough for us. And on the other hand, look at what he did give us. He gave us a set of sanctified days for worshipping him. He didn't just say, don't do anything. He said, do this. Keep these days. This is how you honor me in them. And they give us a vivid picture of his plan of salvation for us. You know, we don't want to accept a cheap counterfeit instead. Satan has supplied some days that distract us from the meaning that the Holy Days give.

But those counterfeits, as I said, they're not just harmless. They're not just secular. They're religious holidays. They're from a false religion. And when we see the good days that God has given us and the evil counterfeits, we want to do what the prophecy in Isaiah said. We want to shun the evil and hold fast to what's good.