What made up my mind for me about Christmas and religious days is when i found out that the early church did not observe them. They were not invented till hundreds of years later, and then only when Christianity had fallen away from the truth.
That made up my mind. It was very simple for me, I assumed they knew better than we know today. And isn’t that reasonable? They knew better than us so we should trust the fact they knew what they were doing in the kind of Christianity they lived.
If you do these days or don’t do them then God bless you!
Ian Vincent 
November 29, 2013 at 11:39 pm
On the surface level of a natural understanding it may appear to be a sound Biblical desire that your society be Christianized and become a Christian culture, To the natural mind they would think this means the Kingdom has come.
But the early church knew that this would be death to Christianity if it ever became a culture. They knew they were called-out of the world so that they would indeed be a light to the world. If they conform to the world they no longer are a light to the world, they are just another religion, just like the rest.
The Apostolic guidelines for the church checked the possibility of Christianity becoming a culture.
There were no religious days. Why? Bcos that would create a situation where people get religious or pretend to be religious, whether they know and obey Jesus or not.
The early church knew that would be a disaster and bring shame upon the name of Jesus.
The early church knew that what they had was unique in the whole world – they were a totally new and unique spiritual race of people in Christ Jesus, and this was their witness to the world, that they were not of this world, that nothing they did conformed to the principles of the religions of this world, but to Christ.
Therefore there was no place for anything which resembled other religions, and even no place for Judaism in the church – there was a clear break from the Old Covenant in every aspect of life and in the functioning of the church.
As soon as any part of the Christian life becomes a cultural observance then the heart of what the church is has died, and something has replaced it (See Rev. 17).
At the most basic level: I encounter well meaning Christians who force their children to go thru the motions of being spiritual, not realizing they are training them in hypocrisy (see Rev. 17 again).
And in the church when this happens, that you have to conform to the tradition and go thru the motions of the religious service, you are participating in some level of fakery – at the very least it is far below what Christ intended for His church as His people.
December 1, 2013 at 9:25 am
Very well said. “There were no religious days. Why? Bcos that would create a situation where people get religious or pretend to be religious, whether they know and obey Jesus or not.” EXCELLENT POINT! Here in America it is the same thing year after year. People complaining about the use of word Christmas over overs. The Church is quick to jump on board with this as if it is some great cause. I see such hypocrisy in it, in light of Christmas originated from the pagans. If people want to celebrate it for whatever reason, it is fine with me, not my business. But to act as if it is THEIR holiday when in fact it was ripped off from the Pagan is either total ignorance or some kind of pride over what was not theirs to begin with.