The Challenge Of America Ministries
The Biblical perspective to Holidays and Celebrations.
About Special Day Celebrations
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An Introduction:
READ THIS FIRST!
As in the past, our present day has many holidays that have partial or full secular practices. And it can be seen from history how these celebrations came about from religious and pagan mergings and how the non-religious practices actually have worsened as time passed, even seen in the most recent 50 to 150 years.
Many Christians wonder what level of involvement they should have in special day celebrations. To answer this, we must look to see if the practice is scriptural. We can do this two ways, first looking at scripture to see if it is commanded or if it violates scriptural teaching or principles. Second, we can look at it from the "other direction" by observing the practices and studying the history.
Look at Scripture: Ask
1: Is it commanded?
2: Is it in conflict with scriptural teaching or principle?
Look at the practices: Ask
1: What are the practices?
2: What is the history?
Simply put, without getting into a long study of the law, the New Testament Church (and all believers now) are not under the ceremonial law - that is, we are not commanded to observe all of the feasts and sacrifices of the Old Testament. These were completed with the accepted sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And the New Testament commands only one observance: remembering the Lord's supper (better known as communion). (Lk 22:19, I Cor 11:24)
It is easy to see that the Bible does not mention celebrations of Christmas, Halloween, etc. (the King James Version does mention Easter, but you have to read the Easter essay for this explanation!). The reason for this booklet is to teach about these holidays and point out scriptural or non-scriptural practices for the overall purpose of personal revival among God's people.
These topics have been some of the most popular of this ministry. The Challenge of America has recieved both positive and negative criticism about these teachings on how Christians should observe the holidays. The positive have been from those in pracically total agreement to the "no compromise" teaching. The negative have been from those who have reacted emotionally (from past tradition with no known or referenced sources of information or, with Christmas and Easter for example, the viewpoint of "How can you deny this fun to a child!"). For those of you who may object or may be offended by what you read, please look at the sources of the information and always - yes, always - look to God's Word, the Bible, for the final word of the principles we must live by to be in complete obedience to God. (If you have heard or read differently, find out the source of that information - most do not print their sources or do not have valid sources other than "word of mouth." Some histories of holidays are written quite authoritatively, yet fail to say where even one bit of the information came from.)
We pray that you will understand the writings and teachings in this booklet, and use it as a tool for growing in faith and trust in our God through the Lord Jesus Christ. As one praise song says, the highest praise we can give to God is living a life totally devoted to Him. Understanding separation from the world as in the proper celebrations of holidays is one important part of Christian living and witness - to the unsaved AND to the next generation God has entrusted to our care and training.
About Special Day Celebrations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Introduction:
READ THIS FIRST!
As in the past, our present day has many holidays that have partial or full secular practices. And it can be seen from history how these celebrations came about from religious and pagan mergings and how the non-religious practices actually have worsened as time passed, even seen in the most recent 50 to 150 years.
Many Christians wonder what level of involvement they should have in special day celebrations. To answer this, we must look to see if the practice is scriptural. We can do this two ways, first looking at scripture to see if it is commanded or if it violates scriptural teaching or principles. Second, we can look at it from the "other direction" by observing the practices and studying the history.
Look at Scripture: Ask
1: Is it commanded?
2: Is it in conflict with scriptural teaching or principle?
Look at the practices: Ask
1: What are the practices?
2: What is the history?
Simply put, without getting into a long study of the law, the New Testament Church (and all believers now) are not under the ceremonial law - that is, we are not commanded to observe all of the feasts and sacrifices of the Old Testament. These were completed with the accepted sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And the New Testament commands only one observance: remembering the Lord's supper (better known as communion). (Lk 22:19, I Cor 11:24)
It is easy to see that the Bible does not mention celebrations of Christmas, Halloween, etc. (the King James Version does mention Easter, but you have to read the Easter essay for this explanation!). The reason for this booklet is to teach about these holidays and point out scriptural or non-scriptural practices for the overall purpose of personal revival among God's people.
These topics have been some of the most popular of this ministry. The Challenge of America has recieved both positive and negative criticism about these teachings on how Christians should observe the holidays. The positive have been from those in pracically total agreement to the "no compromise" teaching. The negative have been from those who have reacted emotionally (from past tradition with no known or referenced sources of information or, with Christmas and Easter for example, the viewpoint of "How can you deny this fun to a child!"). For those of you who may object or may be offended by what you read, please look at the sources of the information and always - yes, always - look to God's Word, the Bible, for the final word of the principles we must live by to be in complete obedience to God. (If you have heard or read differently, find out the source of that information - most do not print their sources or do not have valid sources other than "word of mouth." Some histories of holidays are written quite authoritatively, yet fail to say where even one bit of the information came from.)
We pray that you will understand the writings and teachings in this booklet, and use it as a tool for growing in faith and trust in our God through the Lord Jesus Christ. As one praise song says, the highest praise we can give to God is living a life totally devoted to Him. Understanding separation from the world as in the proper celebrations of holidays is one important part of Christian living and witness - to the unsaved AND to the next generation God has entrusted to our care and training.
