PRESENTER'S NOTES
Do you find yourself looking forward to the transition from one year to the next? Did you find yourself feeling this way as we transitioned from 2013 to 2014? What about celebrations with friends where nobody gets drunk or enters into any other type of obvious sinfulness? What about setting aside time to enjoy the fireworks sponsored by your local community? Oh, and what could be so bad about making a New Year’s resolution to overcome something or achieve something?
One meaning for “Resolution” as defined by Google is: a firm decision to do or not to do something.
So, when somebody tells you of their New Year’s resolution, they will express to you a firm decision to do or not to do something sometime within the upcoming year.
They are using the transition from December to January as a reasonable demarcation for making a change in their life.
Unlike holidays such as Easter and Christmas, most modern-day Christians make no effort to associate the transition from one year to the next to worshipping God, so in some respects, the celebrations surrounding the change from one year to the next might seem rather innocuous; meaning harmless or innocent.
With these questions and comments in mind, today, I’ve made a resolution to do what I can to reinforce or enlighten your understanding about the Roman New Year.
The History of All Religions
By John Bellamy
Second Edition, 1813
pp. 97-98
"It appears evident that the Saturn of the heathen was Noah: Saturn was called by them, the father of all,---a preacher of righteousness---that under Saturn all things were each other's in common---that under Saturn's reign, all was peace; it was therefore termed the golden age---that all men used one speech---The wife of Saturn was called Rhea, or earth. Noah was called, a man of the earth, or a husbandman---Saturn is said to be a planter of vines, as Noah planted a vineyard---It is recorded of Saturn that he drank the juice of the grapes, and was drunken---that he was the author of a law, which forbade the Gods to behold the nakedness of men, alluding to the crime of Ham---Saturn is said to have arisen with his wife and children from the sea---like Noah after the deluge---A ship was one of the symbols of Saturn, in which he sailed about the world---Saturn, like Noah, foretold Deucalion's flood---Saturn is said to have devoured his own children, except three, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto: which alludes to Noah, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet---Saturn and his three sons divided the world, the same is said of Noah.
Janus, as well as Saturn, in the Mythology, without doubt, refers to Noah. The Latins appear to have derived it from XXX Jain, 'wine,' adding the masculine termination, US, which makes Jainus, or Janus, a door, or entrance; a name very proper for Noah, who, on his entrance into the new world when he descended from the Ark, was the first who planted the vine."
pp. 117-119
"The Worship of the Ancient Romans
Was in its origin much the same as that of the ancient Grecians; for they believed that Jupiter, i.e. Jao-pater, or Jehovah the father, (as above) was the supreme of all the gods. Like the Greeks, to him they assigned all the attributes of the God of Heaven; but to their subordinate gods, or rulers, they assigned a dominion only over certain things."
Mr. Bellamy then goes on to describe the different subordinate gods...
"These subordinate gods, in their origin, were only men who had the government, or chief management of all those departments of the state, signified by the name so given...
He then goes on to describe one of those gods...
"Janus, because he is presumed to attend particularly to the encouragement of husbandry. This latter was strikingly significant; for at the beginning of the year, he is described with two faces; with one face on the first of January, (which comes from Janus,) he looked forward to the new year, while at the same time he looked back with the other face on the good or bad management of the agriculture of the old year; they therefore symbolically prefigured him with a second face at the back of the head."
U.S. News and World Report December 23, 1996
In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year. Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. Eyewitnesses say blood flowed in the streets. In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies—a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.
As Christianity spread, pagan holidays were either incorporated into the Christian calendar or abandoned altogether. By the early medieval period most of Christian Europe regarded Annunciation Day (March 25) as the beginning of the year. (According to Catholic tradition, Annunciation Day commemorates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would be impregnated by G-d and conceive a son to be called Jesus.)
After William the Conqueror (AKA “William the Bastard” and “William of Normandy”) became King of England on December 25, 1066, he decreed that the English return to the date established by the Roman pagans, January 1. This move ensured that the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday (December 25) would align with William’s coronation, and the commemoration of Jesus’ circumcision (January 1) would start the new year - thus rooting the English and Christian calendars and his own Coronation). William’s innovation was eventually rejected, and England rejoined the rest of the Christian world and returned to celebrating New Years Day on March 25.
On New Years Day 1577 Pope Gregory XIII decreed that all Roman Jews, under pain of death, must listen attentively to the compulsory Catholic conversion sermon given in Roman synagogues after Friday night services. On New Years Day 1578 Gregory signed into law a tax forcing Jews to pay for the support of a “House of Conversion” to convert Jews to Christianity. On New Years 1581 Gregory ordered his troops to confiscate all sacred literature from the Roman Jewish community. Thousands of Jews were murdered in the campaign.
Throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, January 1 - supposedly the day on which Jesus’ circumcision initiated the reign of Christianity and the death of Judaism - was reserved for anti-Jewish activities: synagogue and book burnings, public tortures, and simple murder.
Assuming the veracity of these sources, we quickly find the pagan origins of New Year’s Eve and the celebration surrounding it, possibly even the exaltation of Noah to that of a god, but my local community does not use it to commemorate an artificially designated day for Jesus’ circumcision, and I don’t want to use it to persecute anybody. I also have no intention of getting drunk or loose in my ways. What’s so bad about being happy that the day length has started to increase again, inviting the return of Spring? Why not resolve to lose weight, feed the needy, buy a car, or visit Timbuktu before the next year ends?
Well, as with any day which has origins in pagan worship, these days are historically considered “holy”, though that holiness is a designation made by men and not God.
Deuteronomy 12: 29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
We also have one other glaring fact about the New Year, keeping the previous scripture in mind. GOD DID GIVE INSTRUCTION IN THE BIBLE ABOUT THE NEW YEAR.
Exodus 12: 1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Abib or Nissan are the most common names for the month that occurs in spring. In 2014, the first day of this month begins the evening before April 1st.
So, God instructed Moses and Israel in calling this the first month. Then God instructs on how to prepare and sacrifice the Passover lamb as well as when and how to keep the Days of Unleavened bread in this same month.
There is an interesting observation made by Jewish sages…
From the website, Hebrew4Christians.com, http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Rosh_Chodashim/rosh_chodashim.html.
Rebirth of Creation
According to the sages, there are two orders of creation: the natural and the supernatural. The natural order of creation refers to the physical creation of the heavens and the earth, whereas the supernatural refers to spiritual re-creation, or rebirth. On the Jewish calendar, the natural order of creation is celebrated during Rosh Hashanah (i.e., Tishri 1), whereas the supernatural is celebrated on Rosh Chodashim (i.e., Nisan 1).
It is not suggested here that we go to the Jews for spiritual advice. As a nation, they rejected Jesus Christ, which immediately reveals the most important lack of understanding they have concerning the Old Testament scriptures, that a Savior of mankind would come to forgive sin.
What I find interesting is the spiritual, or, SUPERNATURAL, designation they give to the first month. You and I have been given a good knowledge of God’s plan of salvation for man through the Holy Days, and, truly, it is in the spring Holy Days where we find identified the beginning of the process of conversion from flesh to spirit, the first and most necessary step being the sacrifice of Jesus to forgive sin and open the door to eternal life, and the next most important step that people identify and reject sin in their lives; deciding to follow God and leave it behind them.
So, I realize that there’s nothing wrong with resolving to do or not do something. I realize that fireworks are fun. And, I realize that it’s comforting to know the sun will arise again. But, you and I are called to live a life of daily resolution to let Christ live in us. It would be a very bad idea to designate one day or week or month out of a year to be Christian, or think that we can be MORE Christian. Fireworks are viewable at other times, and with God, there is no fear of the natural world, but a great and mighty spiritual hope toward eternal life.
In closing, Let us resolve daily to worship God in spirit and truth, appreciating God’s design for the seventh day of the week and the holy days as demarcated by God’s calendar of months.
