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By Rader, Donnie, on November 1st, 2001
Our calendars are filled with many different holidays. Many of these are national holidays, such as, New Years, Martin Luther King day, Presidents day, Memorial day, Independence day, Veterans day, Columbus day, and Thanksgiving. There are others that are religious holidays such as, Yom Kipper, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Palm Sunday, Easter and Christmas. And, from time to time, new holidays are added.
To many people a “holiday” is merely time off from work, time to shop or time to work in the yard. However, there is more to a holiday than that. Our word “holiday” is derived from “holy day”. The purpose of a holiday is “A day on which custom or the law dictates a halting of general business activity to commemorate a particular activity” (American Heritage Dictionary). It is sad when we have a holiday (like Independence Day) and some have no clue what the day is about. The same could be true of the Lord’s holy day, the first day of the week.
Let’s consider what makes a day holy and see how men have made holidays that are greatly contrasted with God’s holy days.
Continue reading » The Lord’s Holy Day
By Goforth, Wayne, on November 1st, 2001
Halloween means the evening before All Hallows or All Saint’s Day, which is observed November 1st by Catholics, Lutherans and Episcopalians, to remember all the saints who have died, known and unknown.
There is little agreement as to the “true” origin of Halloween. There is so much folklore, myths, wives’ tales and tradition involved, that this yields multiple accountings of proclaimed “true origins” to this festival. Some things are known to be true about it, while other items reported often as “facts” have no supporting evidence, as we shall see. Even many encyclopedias repeat the myths without supporting evidence or consulting more recent studies.
Continue reading » Halloween Traditions
By Deaton, Steven, on November 1st, 2001
Many religious people throughout the world celebrate Easter traditions. These traditions vary from culture to culture, and religion to religion. Pagans celebrate fertility rites, while those claiming to follow Christ celebrate His resurrection. In either case, Easter traditions are not Bible traditions.
Easter’s Origin In Paganism
A man called “St. Bede” (672-735 A.D.) believed the origins of Easter to be connected to “Castre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding with April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored Easter eggs” (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001). This same goddess is known in other cultures as Aphrodite (Cyprus), Astarte (Phoenicia), Ishtar (Assyria) and Ostara (Norse).
Continue reading » Easter Traditions
By Wallace, Steve, on November 1st, 2001
The Bible records the birth of Jesus and some of the events surrounding it (Matthew 1-2; Luke 2:1-20). As other articles in this special issue of Watchman Magazine show, it was never the expressed will of God that Jesus’ birth be remembered in any way other than the study of it in his word. In light of this fact it is simply amazing how many traditions, religious and otherwise, have grown up around the supposed “birthday” of Jesus Christ. The limited research done by this writer revealed some interesting facts on this matter.
Continue reading » Christmas Traditions
By Maxey, Kevin, on November 1st, 2001
Every year, on October 31st, our dark neighborhood streets are flooded with candy starved children dressed up as cartoon characters, sports figures, movie stars, witches, ghosts and goblins. How did this strange activity begin, what does it represent and should Christians take part?
Celtic Roots
Centuries ago, the last day of the Celtic calendar year fell on October 31st. The Celts, ancestors of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish, believed “on this night ghosts and witches were most likely to wander about” (H.F. Vos, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, p. 493). Of course, no sane villager wanted to interact with ghosts and witches, so on October 31st the Celts disguised themselves as departed spirits as a means of protection. They also left gifts of food for the goblins at the edge of town, hoping that these “otherworld” creatures would take the food and be on their way. It is easy to see some parallels to our Halloween holiday today when neighbors distribute treats to children disguised as ghosts and goblins.
Continue reading » The History of Halloween
By Price, Joe, on November 1st, 2001
A number of years ago while I was taking care of some banking, one the tellers who knew me to be a preacher asked if I was “ready for the big day?” I paused a moment, trying to figure out what “big day” she meant. Then it hit me – she was talking about Easter. Like most people, she saw Easter Sunday as one of the “big” religious days of the year. When I told her that the church I work with did not do anything different on this “big day” I am sure she must have been surprised. She went on to observe that many people only “go to church” on Easter and Christmas. I certainly agreed with her on that one. I told her we try to help people see the need to worship God every Sunday, not just on Easter and Christmas. Her reply? “Maybe you need to have more Easters and Christmases!”
That pretty well sums up the attitude of many toward religious worship and service. Only when a “big” day comes along is it important enough to them to participate in religious activities. This certainly is not worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24; Hebrews 10:25).
Continue reading » The History of Easter
By Jacobs, Jarrod, on November 1st, 2001
A great number of people in our country have been taught for years that the birthday of our Lord is on December 25th. They have been taught that people must celebrate it in some form or fashion each year in order to please God. However, does the Bible teach us to celebrate the birthday of Christ on December 25th, or any other day of the year? The Bible teaches that all we do and say must be in accordance with the will of God (1 Peter 4:11; Colossians 3:17). Therefore, where has the Bible revealed that man celebrate the birth of Christ? If something has been said about it, what does the Bible reveal is necessary for the appropriate celebration of the Lord’s birth? Some people will attend special “church services,” masses, and the like on December 25th, others will do nothing. I know some who have decorated birthday cakes which said, “Happy Birthday Jesus” on it, and other such things. What is the truth? Are we to celebrate the Lord’s birth as some type of “holy day”? Let us spend some time in God’s book, and learn what the Bible says about our remembering Christ, as well as examine some misconceptions about Christmas.
The Wise Men
Many believe that there were three wise men that came to visit Jesus at His birth. Any “nativity scene” you see will portray three wise men standing around looking at a baby lying in a manger. People assume that there were three wise men present within a few minutes or hours of the birth of Christ, since this is what the majority of the world has said over the years. Yet, Matthew 2:11 reveals that the wise men came “into the house…” and not the stable! J.W. McGarvey (The Fourfold Gospel, p. 42-43) shows by the Bible and historical records that Jesus was no less than 40 days old by the time the wise men worshipped Him and presented the gifts. This is because Luke’s account of Christ’s birth shows that after our Lord’s birth, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice (Luke 2:22-24). It was upon their return from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, that the wise men came and found Jesus (Matthew 2:9-11).
Continue reading » The History of Christmas
By Reeves, Bill, on November 1st, 2001
The series of articles in this issue of Watchman Magazine has to do with “holidays”. In passing, I notice:
- that the English word, “holiday” is a contraction of “holy days”, but has come to mean simply days on which one doesn’t have to work. It is associated with vacation time. The religious aspect of the word, as to its derivation, has completely been lost. (Who in the U.S.A., speaking English, thinks of “holy day” when he hears or says, “holiday”? In fact, most of the “holidays”, for example, “The 4th Of July”, “Labor Day”, in our country, that are national holidays, have no religious connotation or derivation whatsoever.
- some examples of this: Sunday (day of the sun); Monday (day of the moon); etc. Who in the English-speaking world thinks of worshipping the sun when he says, “Sunday”? or the moon, when he says, “Monday”? Yet, these two days received their names originally in reference to such pagan worship of the sun and moon.
In this lesson I am to treat the days as mentioned in Romans 14:5, 6.
Continue reading » Romans 14 and Days
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