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"And When he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." - Mark 8:34
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About Holiday's

What is A Holiday?

You might be asking yourself why I asked such a silly question, and the answer is this, many people have no idea what a holiday is. It even has several meanings in the dictionary, one of which makes me question what a holiday is myself. For example, one of the meanings is this, a day fixed by law or custom on which ordinary business is suspended in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person, or any day of exemption from work. Now, in that big mouthful, the word holiday is defined as merely a day where one does not have to work. Then what does that say about our world in which many holidays are work days. To understand what a holiday is, we have to look back to the Holy Days of the Old Testament.

Holy Days of The Old Testament

There is also another meaning of the word holiday, which is a religious feast day; a holy day, in the Old Testament we hear of them as feast days, all in honor of God.

Seven feasts were ordained by God for the Jews to celebrate and are located in the 23rd chapter of the Book of Leviticus. These feasts were a teaching tool for the Jews and also for the rest of us. Holy Days reminded them of the blessings that God had given them over the years and also of the promised Messiah who would be their Savior as well as the Savior of all who believed in Him. The days of the seven feasts were to be treated as Sabbath days, meaning it was a day of rest and worshiping God.

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The first feast commanded by God was the Passover. This feast was instituted in Egypt on the night before the Jews exodus (freedom) from Egypt.

The feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated for seven days and it began on the evening after Passover. It is significant that the first and seventh days of the feast of Unleavened Bread are annual Sabbaths or High Days.

The third feast day was the feast of Firstfruits, and it occurred during the same eight days as Passover and Unleavened Bread. The day of its celebration was the day after the weekly Sabbath, and it was celebrated by waving one sheaf (bundle) of the Firstfruits before the Lord.

The forth feast is known as the day of Pentecost is also called the feast of Weeks because it takes place seven weeks after the feast of Firstfruits. It always occurs on the “morrow after the seventh sabbath” so it always occurs on Sunday.

The fifth feast is known as the Feast of Trumpets (i.e., Rosh Hashanah) it is the first of the three feasts that occur in the fall of the year. The Feast of Trumpets is a memorial of the grace extended by God to Abraham when God substituted a ram to be sacrificed in place of Abraham’s son, Isaac.

The sixth feast, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), is the most revered of Israel’s holy days.

The feast of Tabernacles is the seventh and final feast ordained by God for Israel to celebrate, the feast of Tabernacles was a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for the harvest that had been gathered and the forgiveness that God had extended to the people.

The reason I brought up these holy days is to show that many of the religious feast days of yesterday are reflections of what religious feasts we enjoy today, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Resurrection Day (Easter). There is no mention of any observances or feast days in the New Testament, except for Pentecost, but that does not mean that we cannot celebrate and observe what Christ did for us just as they celebrated what God did for them before He came.

It is my intention to create a page detailing some of the well known Christian and non-Christian holidays, to show their true meaning, not what the secular world has come to know. Christians can observe holidays without destroying the meaning of the holiday or our dignity as Christians.

Today's Holy Days

As I was doing this research, something began to disturb me, I noticed many Christian sites linking many holiday's and observances to paganism, worshiping dead people, the devil, or immorally wrong practices. Who actually associates Halloween and Valentine's Day with Christianity anyway? This left me questioning whether or not I truly had the right to even celebrate Christmas and if I did would I be dishonoring God and committing sin.

After lots of procrastinating, which is a sin, contemplating, and prayer I have come to one conclusion, the devil. All this talk about how holiday's and observances being pagan, devil worshiping, etc., is nothing other than the work of the devil. Of course, there are many, many pagan holiday's, but we must not forget that the has corrupted the world with these secular holiday's and took the holy out of the holy day, making us look bad for even saying Merry Christmas to someone if we are a Christian. Now, keep in mind that any holiday calls us to be Christian’s first, that means no wicked or immoral acts.

There are two types of people on this earth, those who believe in Christ and those who do not, and the way we observe these holiday's has to do with which type we choose to be, regardless of whether or not it is a holiday specifically centering around Christ or one that does not. Those who follow Christ will see a holy day centered around Christ and use it to observe and reflect on Christ and to give thanks to God for all that He has done for us, just as in the Old Testament. Those who do not will find a worldly way in which to celebrate these as holiday's. The same thing goes for holiday's that are not Christ centered, (New Years, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, etc).

Even worldly people do not know the true origin of secular holidays, many of which changed when brought to America, and while there may be some who have no morals, most of them follow them in a way that appeals to the modern world. Now, how many people of the world today do you suppose worship the devil on Halloween or choose to gratify every lust of the flesh with as many people as they can find on Valentine's Day? In a wicked and corrupt world, some may, but no person in their right mind ought to be, if they are than they have other issues.

Naturally, if one were a true Christian, celebrating these holiday's as the world would not even come to mind. I am a member of one of the most conservative churches out there, yet we provide a place for the kids to have fun on Halloween without being corrupted by the world, known as Harvest Day. Also, those who follow Christ (and stay close to Him) will not be corrupted by the holiday's of the world or any other things that the world has to offer. For weeks I did research on evolution and false religions and if I was not following Christ I could have easily been corrupted by what I have learned, but my foundation is on Christ and as long as I stand on Him I will not fall into the worlds view on things.

Now, I will be the first to admit that the world has definitely screwed up the Christian holy days, Christmas and Resurrection Day have been taken over by the world to represent them as something frankly ridiculous with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, but to the true Christian we know what they are all about, but to say that we are dishonoring God because we have a Christmas tree in our house is just plain ridiculous also. God knows who we are and what our intentions are, He will tell us right from wrong. To say that any of these holiday's are pagan related does not say much for the people coming up with idea, so, the pagans have their own holidays, big deal, let them have their holidays so we can enjoy our holy days. It is the secular world and our wonderful so called Bible scholars whom decided to combine the two and ruin it for all of us in the first place.

What it all comes down to this, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6. If we teach our kids what is truth then they will not question what the Christian holy day's are all about and when they see something of the world they will not be corrupted by it. If we teach them the truth and place them around people who follow Christ they will not get corrupted by the world's view on these things.

We need to get back to celebrating and observing any day with Christ in mind and I mean the true Christ, not some person people claim Him to be. Like I said earlier, God knows your heart and when you follow Christ you will not follow the traditions of the world, but follow Him and observe every days as He would. With lots of good food, fellowship, thanksgiving to God, and all in honor or God.

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