CALENDAR CHRISTIANITY: What do we mean by "Calendar Christianity?"
When the church puts spiritually significant events on the calendar it changes the nature of Christianity ~ for the worse. Check these out:
Epiphany
Saint Valentine's Day
Ash Wednesday
Saint Patrick's Day
Palm Sunday
Passover
Good Friday
Easter
Ascension Day
Pentecost
Saint Jean Baptiste Day
Thanksgiving
All Saints Day
Christmas
Saint Stephen's Day
This is "Christianity-by-the-Calendar." Many nominal Christians live by these dates. Have you noticed how church attendance swells on Christmas and Easter! Ever wonder what God thinks about this? Jesus said to judge a tree by its fruit, and that "a bad tree bears bad fruit" (Matt 7:17). Here's our theory: When the church puts "holy" days on the calendar, the world exploits them for financial gain. Let's look at two of the clearest examples: Christmas and Easter.
Christmas. What happens? The birth of Jesus is eclipsed by Santa Claus, and a red-nosed reindeer named Rudolf. What does Santa promise? New toys! Does Santa pay for them? No. The new toys are usually bought on credit. Where can you find Santa? In large department stores where the new "toys" are on display. It is a celebration in materialism, and a financial boon for the economy. The whole event runs contrary to what Jesus taught, and the church should not be involved. Not convinced? Here are a few other points to consider:
1. There is no evidence the early church celebrated the birth of Jesus.
2. Messianic Christians ~ Jewish believers ~ do not celebrate Christmas.
3. December 25th was the "birthday" for pagan Roman and Greek gods.
4. Christmas trees come from a European tradition that is clearly pagan.
One popular saying is, "Keep Christ in Christmas." We suggest the church adopt a different slogan: "Keep Christ; ditch Christmas."
Easter is a repeat ~ in principle ~ of what we just said about Christmas. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is eclipsed by chocolate rabbits and eggs, reminiscent of the fertility rites of early pagan cultures! There should be no need to say more. (Anyone can do a quick internet search to discover the pagan roots of most holidays, including Easter, which comes from the name of the pagan "queen of heaven," Astarte, or in Assyrian, Ishtar.) Our purpose is to expose "Calendar Christianity" (i.e. living Christianity from the calendar) as a worldly exploitation of faith. It is not Biblical Christianity, and the problem is not limited to Christmas and Easter. Other values have been placed on the calendar and exploited as well: Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentine's Day and the never-ending avalanche of birthdays! All these (and more) are marketed in our economy as obligations for cards and gifts. They are money-makers for a world of merchants that could care less about the values represented.
We identify these traditions as "elementary principles of the world" (i.e. the ABC's of effective worldly principles). Paul warns the church about this danger in Col 2:8, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."
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