Jewish Wannabes and the Holidays

Christianity Under Fire

Jewish Wannabes and the Holidays

(Col.2:16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day: (17) which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's.

Sabbatarians and Hannukers often like to try to demonstrate how observing Jewish Feasts and the Sabbath are somehow superior to other days.

Some of these folks are Christian but still abide by the OT.

They are like the Jewish Christians that still needed to graduate to the Deeper Mysteries of the Faith, but a significant difference being that they aren't even Jewish, they just Wannabe.

Typically the real Jews that I have listened to understand and accept when Christians celebrate Christmas.

However, it seems that there is a group of people out there that seem to have made it part of their mission to oppose Christians concerning Christmas, even if they have to join with the Liberals, Humanists and Atheists to do it.

Now this is a free country and everyone should be able to voice their opinions, but it seems that the intense opposition to Christians and Christmas by the world and even some Christians has reached fever pitch.

What I ask is a simple question and that is, Are they a Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

There are Christians that want to observe the Jewish Feasts and Sabbaths and the bible says that we should not argue over such things.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day: (17) which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's. (Col.2:16)

A particular author says:

"Where as the Sabbath is referred to over fifty times in the new testament and most every time it is referring to the seventh day, which was called "Sabbaton" where as we call it today 'Saturday'. Now with this truth, we will try to defuse any counterpoint, which those who are entrenched into the Catholic Tradition of keeping the day of the Sun, will use to try to persuade others, and justify themselves in breaking the clear commandment of God. "

http://www.babylonforsaken.com/truesabbath.html

This same author also argues for rejecting the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25th.

However, for some it is not enough for them to observe their Jewish Feasts and Sabbaths, they feel compelled to tell you how pagan and evil your observances are.

Now I love these kind of discussions because it is like iron sharpening iron and gets people to think.

So as far as I am concerned bring it on.

Let me say that this message is mainly for those are pointing their finger at Christians that celebrate Christmas.

These are Seventh Day folks i.e., Jewish Wannabes doing what the Jews did in the OT.

The pastor of my youth used to say, When you point your finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing right back at you.

I don't believe this is always the case but in this situation it sure applies.

Jewish Wannabes are not the only ones making arguments against the Christmas Celebration.

The Liberals, Humanists and Atheists are doing it as well.

Then there are regular Christians that have a problem with it as well.

But in this message I mainly wanted to deal with the Jewish Wannabes/Sabbatarians/Hanukkers that say that observing the Sabbaths and Jewish Feasts are somehow superior or make one a better Christian.

One argument I have heard from the Sabbatarian above is:

"One of the things emperor Constantine ordered was that the birthday of the sungod, be called the birth day of the Son of God (the Mass of Christ), this was then confirmed by the Roman Catholic Church in the year 336 AD. "

http://www.babylonforsaken.com/Christmas.html

So he argues that both Christmas and Sunday at one time were devoted to the Sun God so therefore we need to somehow avoid these days and I guess hide in our closets.

In other words because that day was at one time a pagan Holiday, then replaced by a Catholic observance that real Christians should not observe that day.

If it is true that pagans and Catholics can hold a day hostage and therefore we should not celebrate Christmas on that day then what about the Days of the week?

If we can show that other days of the week have Catholic and pagan connections or influences are we then obligated to do nothing Christian or compassionate on those days as well?

Supposedly, December 25th was at one time an observance to the Sun God not God the Son.

Let me say that replacing a pagan Holiday with a Religious one is a brilliant tactic for evangelism as far as I am concerned.

As Far as I'm concerned God created the days, the trees the original gifts, the colors, so saying that the Pagans and Catholics are holding these things and the baby Jesus hostage on that day is silly.

But lets look at the first argument more closely. We cannot observe that day because it was originally devoted to the Sun God.

What about Sunday?

Wasn't Sunday about the Sun God as Well?

"The pagans worshiped the sun on Sunday. They took the first day of the week and gave it the highest honor by naming it in honor of the sun god and worshiping the sun on that day. God's people kept the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week-the day that God had blessed and made holy at creation. Thus, the distinguishing mark of the heathen was their Sunday; and the mark of God's people was the Sabbath. (Read Ezekiel 20:12-20)."

http://www.sabbathtruth.com/sabbath_books_read.asp?ID=210

Well, says the Jewish Wannabe, I celebrate the Jewish Feasts and the Sabbath which is Saturday.

Well, was the Sabbath always on Saturday?

Of course not!!

"What about the day of the Sabbath. Clearly the weekly Sabbath day in the Hebrew Bible was Saturday, the seventh day. But could any other day be a sabbath? Yes! Leviticus 23:32 tells us that Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), falling on the tenth day of Tishri (the seventh month), was also a sabbath. Yom Kippur could fall on any day of the week and whichever day it fell on was a sabbath. Rosh Hashana, the Biblical Feast of Trumpets, which falls on the first of Tishri, was also a day of sacred assembly and rest, a sabbath, according to Leviticus 23:24. This can also occur on any day of the week, including Sunday. Other examples could be given, but these two show that any day of the week could become a sabbath. Indeed, there were even sabbatical years, and after seven cycles of sabbatical years a "super" sabbatical year, the Year of Jubilee, on which all debts were to be forgiven (Leviticus 25:1-17). So the concept of Sabbath goes way beyond the concept of Saturday as the day of rest. Any day of the week can become a sabbath according to Torah, even Sunday.

http://www.chaim.org/shabbat.html

Here it makes it clear that the Sabbath fell on different days of the week and Oh Yes, even on Sunday.

This is not to say that Sunday is the New Sabbath but that the Sabbath wasn't always Saturday.

So the Jewish Wannabes, Sabbatarians, Hanukkers need to take this into account.

Sunday was the Day that the church met and when Christ Resurrected.

The Early Christians went to the Temple on the Sabbath to reach the unbelieving Jews.

Notice that in the quote above some of the feasts also fell on Sunday, the day of the Sun God.

This Year Hannukah starts the exact same day Christmas does.

This means that if we follow the Jewish Wannabes logic all the way through, Hanukkah should be condemned just as much as Christmas.

Also both Christmas and Hannukah sometimes fall on a Sunday .

Sometimes the Sabbath falls on Sunday as well.

These Jewish Wannabes have themselves in quite a Kosher pickle now.

How utterly hypocritical it is for 'those that only act like Jews' (Revelation 2:9;3:9) , condemning Christians that celebrate Christmas on the 25th which last year was Sunday and also condemning Sunday Worshippers, when it has been shown that even the OT Sabbaths and Feasts fell on different days of the week, including Sunday.

But yet there they are joining hands with Liberals, Humanists and Atheists to oppose Christians the celebrate Christmas, even DeChristianizing the Holy Day, by calling it Xmas rather than Christmas.

(Col.2:16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day: (17) which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's.

" Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him....5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Romans 14)

Now it does not matter to me what day we celebrate the Lords birth because a day is what we make of it, and if we want to, we can celebrate the Lords birth everyday.

If we are not to argue about whether a weaker Jewish brother celebrates a particular Jewish Holy day that is only a shadow of the Messiah to come, then why should we condemn those that celebrate Christmas and a Christ that has already come?

But in the presence of our weaker Jewish Wannabe brothers that are offended by our liberty in Christ at Christmas, we should help them graduate to the deeper things of God without causing them to stumble.

Col.2:16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day: (17) which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's.

BJ Maxwell 12/07/2005