Question
Answer
First let’s tackle the reasoning of this question.
Christmas and Easter are both pagan festivals and most professing Christians have been tricked into celebrating them because most professing Christians have ZERO discernment.
Christmas Isn’t In The Bible
Jesus didn’t celebrate Christmas nor did He ever tell anyone to celebrate His birth and He for sure didn’t tell anyone to celebrate Mithras’ birthday, which is where December 25th celebrations come from. Not only that, Christmas is completely pagan in its traditions.
But That’s Not What It Means To Me!
I can already hear the protests, “but… but… That’s not what it means to me!!!”
God does NOT care what it means to you. He HATES it. We are not to worship God in pagan ways. We are not to repurpose paganism to Christianize it.
“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.” – Deuteronomy 12:1-4 ESV
God was so serious that He repeated this command again in the same chapter:
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” – Deuteronomy 12:29-32 ESV
Celebrating Pagan Holidays Does Not Mean You Worship Jesus
God is not impressed with or interested in people going through the motions of celebrating festivals. God wants a sincere relationship with each person. He’s not interested in your man-made sacrifice and your man-made holiday.
“And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” – 1 Samuel 15:22
For real, God is legitimately not impressed or honored by these man-made religious ceremonies.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”– Isaiah 1:11-20 ESV
A False Jesus
A non-Christian does not worship the Christian God. You cannot worship God while also worshipping other entities.
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” – 1 Corinthians 10:21 ESV
Jesus Is King, Jesus Is God
Jesus isn’t merely a prophet. He’s not an enlightened man. He’s not an ascended Master. Jesus is God. You either worship Jesus or you don’t. He is the God of the universe.
And for the record, Jesus celebrated Passover – every Biblically ordained portion of Passover has Jesus enmeshed with the most minute details of this major HOLY-DAY. Every Christian should be celebrating Passover, not Easter.
Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread, Easter Explained
Originally Posted to Quora on July 8, 2018.
