We should all revel in Pagan holidays. Why? Because Pagan holidays are so revealing.
Most Christians want to stay as far away from Pagan holidays as they can, thinking that participating in pagan holidays is participation with the world. They believe that instead, we should only participate in Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas.
Ironically, Christmas and Easter are two of the biggest Pagan holidays that exist.
I don’t mean that they have become Pagan, and we must “put Christ back into Christmas” to retake the holiday for Jesus. No, I mean that they were originally Pagan holidays, which became Christian holidays. Yes, in some ways they are becoming pagan again, but this is no reason to be scared of them, but to revel in them all the more.
Why? Here is why:
Pagan Holidays Point to Christ
I believe that Pagan holidays and pagan rituals and pagan beliefs, and all the old stories and tales and myths from pagan religions are actually the cry of the divine image of God in man to return to what was lost. Pagan holidays reveal a longing for what was lost. A desire for the reconnection of God with man.
And the only “religion” in the world which does the best job of taking all these longings, dreams, desires, and ideas, and bringing them to fruition and fulfillment, is Christianity. Let me rephrase that. Not Christianity, but Christ.
Nearly all of the old pagan stories hint at the gods returning to earth, becoming human, sharing life on earth with us, and some of them even loving humans so much that they sacrifice themselves for us.
Does any of that sound familiar? Of course. All of these stories sound strikingly similar to what happened within Jesus Christ. This is one reason why critics say that the Gospels are not true. They say that the Gospel stories are just rehashed pagan myths, where some of the details and the names of the characters are changed.
I couldn’t disagree more. There is too much historical evidence for the reliability of the Gospels. So how do we explain the similarities between the Gospel accounts and the pagan myths?
Well, why couldn’t the pagan myths be prophetic? Why couldn’t the pagan myths and traditions point people to Jesus and the Gospel?
I mean, we believe that God can reveal Himself through nature, and through conscience, and through other forms of revelation. Why not also through creative stories that were planted in the minds and hearts of men and women all over the earth? Wouldn’t this be one more way to help prepare people to hear the Gospel? When they heard the true account of how Jesus Christ came to earth, they would experience that “Ah-ha!” moment of hearing a story that fills the missing pieces in the longings and desires of their hearts.
So Why Isn’t Paganism True?
But if what I am suggesting is true, that God has revealed His plan prophetically through the myths and tales of paganism, why can’t we all be pagans, and how do we know that Christianity is not just another pagan myth?
Well, there is a problem with the Pagan myths. Most of the gods and deities do not really love mankind, but toy with humanity for their own amusement. They are self-serving, devious, game-playing deities, who are benevolent on one day, and malevolent the next.
Humans have never liked the idea that a god who loves me one day, may be out to destroy me the next. And why do the gods change? Nobody really knows, but numerous theories and ideas are proposed which sometimes seem to appease the gods and make them love us again. Maybe we have to give him some fruit, or a chicken, or a cow, or in really dire situations, one of our own children.
But it is here that Christianity takes a different route, and comes up with an idea that no man could ever invent. Christianity teaches an idea that could have come only from God, for it is found in no other religion, and even still, is so hard to grasp that most people within Christianity do not even believe it.
In Christianity, and Christianity alone, all these negative elements of pagan mythology are stripped away, and we are told that God loves us so much, that He does not want us to sacrifice our own children, but instead, He will sacrifice His own Son for us. And this isn’t necessary because He is angry at us, but because we have rebelled against Him. We have done everything wrong, and we have turned away from Him, and we have gone to war with Him, yet rather than make us claw our way back to Him and grovel before Him, begging for his forgiveness, He comes running after us, seeking to restore the friendship with us that He lost when we left.
It would be appallingly shameful, if it weren’t so shockingly loving.
And what does Christianity call this shocking love of God?
Grace.
There is no concept like it in any other religion. It is grace and grace alone that sets Christianity apart from every other system of belief.
And I’m not referring to some weak-kneed grace of contemporary Christianity where we teach that God has done His part, and so we must do ours. No, God has done it all. Nor do I mean some half-hearted concept of grace where we must prove our acceptance of it by showing God that we are worthy of it. No, what part of “God has done it all” do we not understand?
It is grace from first to last.
And this brings us back to Pagan myths and pagan holidays. It was grace that was absent from all pagan myths, and therefore, it is grace that fulfills all pagan myths, which is why I revel in them.
Grace to Pagans
People are uncomfortable with the idea of pagan myths prophetically pointing to Jesus Christ. But I’m not sure why.
Can nature point people to Jesus? Of course. Can our conscience? Absolutely? How about art and music? Sure. What about stories? Why not? Especially when they reflect what we have seen in nature and felt in our conscience.
And what else are pagan myths except an attempt to explain in story form what has been observed in nature and felt in our conscience? They are nothing if they are not that.
And so why should we be amazed that Jesus fulfills these stories?
But more than that, and here is the best part, and also the part that explains why I revel in pagan holidays, through the grace of Jesus, if He can redeem me from my slavery to sin, why cannot He also redeem stories? Why cannot He also redeem holidays? Which is harder? To redeem a person, or to redeem a day? To redeem a rebellious sinner, or to redeem an imaginative story?
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power to redeem both stories and days, just look at yourself. If you have risen from your mat of pagan sin and death, then the core of paganism (you and me) has already been redeemed! If Jesus Christ can redeem us, then certainly He can redeem our past, our present, our future, our mistakes, our holidays, and our stories.
So this Christmas season, revel in the exchanging of gifts, the decorated trees, the lights and glitter, the songs and poinsettia. None of this has anything to do with the Jesus of the Gospels. It all has pagan roots. But thank God, I have pagan roots too! And so I revel in the paganess of it all. And just as God has made me into a new creation, so also I take the pagan traditions of Christmas, and rethink, reimagine, rework, and recreate them all to point to the person and work of Jesus Christ. In this way, they are brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of light of the Son of God.
P.S. I wrote more about this topic in my short eBook, Christmas Redemption. You can get it on Amazon for only $0.99.
Great post!!
Until I could understand this, I could not enjoy the holidays.
I wish I could get back my “stupidity” years where I was bitter. Boy have I grown to love over the years.
Thanks Jeremy!
I am really loving all your recent posts! Keep ’em coming!
I am learning a ton from yours, my friend.
I have always enjoyed the glitz, the trees, the lights the shops all decorated with red, gold, silver, blue etc I love it and even if it’s not particularly Christian, I don’t get the impression that those who are not Christian are thinking of anything other than Jesus. I think Halloween is something all together different. In England we celebrate All Hallows and turn it into a festival of light where all the Saints (we are all Saints, that believe and follow Jesus) come together to thank Jesus for bringing The Light into the world as He did with his Dad and The Holy spirit on then first day.
Around our streets some people really go to town, so to speak and decorate the outside of their homes with reindeers, father Christmas, snowmen, icicles, stars, trains etc, my wife and I walk round to admire these and all the various Christmas trees all lit up in peoples homes. People even put lights in their trees outside. It certainly allows us to be joyful for a few weeks before we once again face the reality of life. I have no problem of escaping for a few hours, days, weeks. Books, Television, DVDs, Theatre, Pantomime, whatever, everyone needs a sabbatical at times to allow our bodies to relax, detox and recharge. It allows us to get our issues into perspective and quite often gives us the answers.
Let’s not separate ourselves from the fun our neighbors are having, but contribute to the conversation, that Jesus, a part of the Godhead, came to us as a vulnerable human baby so we can be saved from the bad things that destroy our lives.
So come on, lets celebrate a New KIng born to us over 2000 years ago.
Have a blessed Christmas, love Clive
Clive,
Yes.
I love what you say here:
Let’s not separate ourselves from the fun our neighbors are having, but contribute to the conversation, that Jesus, a part of the Godhead, came to us as a vulnerable human baby so we can be saved from the bad things that destroy our lives.
I also like the way you celebrate “All Hallows Eve” in England.
I recently read, for the first time, Lewis’ Til We Have Faces. Lewis uses some of the ancient stories to tell the Oldest Story. Your post makes a refreshing case for soaking in the joys of humanity, and redeeming them at the same time.
Jim,
That is my favorite novel by Lewis.
I didn’t mention it in this post, but I gleaned this idea from Lewis. I had a note to some page numbers from a book by Lewis that I recently read about this, but when I wrote this post, I didn’t have the book, so I didn’t include the quote. I will try to track it down, and include the quote in a comment.
An interesting post, Jeremy! As followers of Jesus, we believe Jesus is God’s most complete revelation. However, we also believe that God reveals Himself in many ways, as you point out. We know “pagans” to whom God is revealing Himself. Even though they have yet to follow Jesus, they are seeing glimpses of revelation.
I have never understood the point of looking for evil, pagan roots or whatever in holidays so we can avoid them. Instead of hiding behind our door on Halloween or other holidays, we like to celebrate with those who are celebrating. If we are Jesus’ presence in the world, then hiding behind the doors of our homes and churches is contradictory.
Perhaps there are even more ways in which God is revealing Himself. Isn’t it interesting how much revelation, including the Son Himself, was misunderstood and rejected by the people who witnessed it?
Sam,
You, of all the people I know, show how to be Jesus in and through the customs and holidays of our culture and neighborhood. You live and breathe redemption! I am learning so much from you about this!
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden
Good verses, and I believe them. I am not sure whether you are quoting them in agreement or disagreement with the post, but I think they fully support and back up what I wrote above. Right?
Jesus wasn’t born in december. Yule is in december. christmas was the catholic church trying to stamp out paganism. It didn’t work. We’re still here, and growing daily.
Absolutely true. In fact, I wrote a whole book proving that Jesus was not born in December, and that most of our Christmas traditions are Pagan holidays…. but that Christians should celebrate it anyway! It is called Christmas Redemption.
yeah, but is there room for Paganism in your belief structure, or are the pagan aspects just disregarded?
I suppose it would depend on the beliefs. I don’t believe there is actually a god name Thor who wields a hammer. I don’t believe Odin lost an eye to gain the wisdom of the runes. I do, however, believe there is some primal truth that these legends are pointing to.
sweet.
why, because you’re afraid that if people read about horus, mithrus, krishna, dionysus, etc. they might realize that virgin birth and ressurection from the dead were old ideas pre-dating jesus, and they might see it for the Bull*&^% it is?
Hokey, smokey. Talk about ancient. I see my post was from two years ago. Oh, well. I’m game. Paganism is a corruption of original truth which was passed down orally. The prophecy of the virgin birth and a saviour was given to Adam and Eve by God and preserved through to Noah down to Abraham and his descendants. The stories were put to writing by – so tradition says – Moses (though his name doesn’t appear as “inspired author”). That the pagans had similar stories, variations and corruptions, which some also put to writing, is hardly a surprise. That pagan writings preceded the bible is not evidence
that the bible copied from pagan writings. It is evidence that they are from the same oral source which goes back to the promise of Adam and Eve. For example, the Zodiac (Jewish Mazzaroth), as it is known in the world today
is a pagan corruption (with new names and labels) – and used for corrupted purposes – but it is also sourced in original truth. Ultimately the matter is a simple one. If one has actually experienced God, as revealed
through Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit, then one has the evidence needed to have confidence that the bible is exactly what it claims to be: the revealed word of God. Without that personal experience it is a dead book to the
casual enquirer. Without a living experience of God, then the pagan claims seem convincing on their own, especially those incomplete (often misquoted) stories on the web about who and what were those ancient pagan
frauds (horus, mithra et al). Just because it is on the web doesn’t make it accurate or valid. Unbiblical festivals such as Christmas and Easter are documented to be of pagan origin but again those festivals are rooted in corruptions of original truth. I do however agree that Jesus wasn’t born
in December. The biblical evidence shows it to have been in the fall, perhaps September. I’m just disappointed
that there are Christians who continue to want to play both sides: have their paganism but call it Christian.
Billius,
Just to push back a little bit…
Even the “traditional” form of Christianity as practiced today is full of traditions that came not from Scripture but from Greek and Roman religious culture.
Frank Viola’s book “Pagan Christianity?” showed that pretty clearly.
So where do we draw the line? Which “pagan” practices are okay to adopt and which ones are not?
I read Pagan Christianity and its forerunner the Two Babylons. The line is easy to draw: no pagan practices. Out with the filth. No compromise. We do as the scripture said “do not do as the nations around you”. No trees, no traditions, no eggs, no icons. Jesus is enough. The only reason people are attached to the pagan junk is sentimentality and a religious spirit which has nothing to do with godliness.
The line is not easy to draw at all. Is blogging pagan? Why or why not? Eating pork? Dancing? Movies? If attending church in a building is pagan, what kind of building? How large? Reading books other than the Bible? Only Christian books? If only Christian books, of which theological position? Which clothes can we wear? Which are too pagan? Hair styles? Language? What size of house? How many cars? etc., etc., etc.
Now I knew you would resort to such foolishness. Really, blogging? Movies? A thing isn’t “pagan” because pagans also do it. Pagans have sex. Oops I’m a Christian so I can’t have sex? Stupid arguments that amount to nothing more than throwing dust up into the air. Is that not just being reactive and defensive? A dozen obfuscating immaterial questions of no qualitative substance to the central issue. The issue is and remains “may we allow pagan religious customs into the church of Jesus Christ as part of our worship and service to God? Yes or No. There are no in betweens. There are no compromises. There is no room for Masonic “greyness” thinking: it IS black and white. It IS simple. Everything pagan OUT with the garbage and the filth. It is a very easy line to draw. Your pagan friend who had joined in the discussion a few days ago is quite right to question the compromising nature of the type of “christianity” that allows for ancient pagan customs to have entered in and to remain. I’m with him. Embrace paganism and stop pretending your Christianity is not actually pagan or leave it and follow the Christianity of the bible. Otherwise it is compromise and a betrayal of Christ. “Why do you call me Lord but do not do what I say?” Loving a small (or big?) dose of paganism is a betrayal to all the believers who gave their lives for the purity of the faith they delivered to us as recorded in the new testament. Your pagan friend is against Christ. The Lord has more respect for that than lukewarm compromises with the world. A little pagan leaven mixed in to puffen and liven things up into a pleasant appearance? It’s just like the Israelites in the desert who wanted to keep just a little bit of Egypt. Christ declared that he would rather we were hot or cold but lukewarmness merits nothing but vomiting out. Lose the world; gain Christ. Walk the straight and narrow path.
Calm down there Billius. You are starting to rant.
All I am doing is trying to point out that there is no easy way to separate “pagan” beliefs from “pagan” culture and “pagan” practices.
Let’s ask a more basic question. Since everything “pagan” must be rejected, who gets to decide what truly is “pagan”? You? Your church? Some guy with a Ph.D.? Who?
I bet if we got 10 Christians from your church in a room and asked them to create a list of all pagan practices that must be abandoned, we would end up with 10 different lists. There is no consensus. Which shows that it is not as black and white as you would like to believe.
Tell me, can a Christian eat meat sacrificed to pagan idols or not?
This is the exact kind of teaching that our heavenly Father has warned against. No where in the Bible is Easter, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentines Day, etc. mentioned. Why are we not celebrating the Feasts that He has proclaimed? His is what our Heavenly Father stated:
Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. You must not worship Yahuwah your Elohim in their way (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, mine).
You must not worship Yahuwah your Elohim in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things Yahuwah hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it (Deuteronomy 12:31,32).
Yahuwah has made it simple to understand that he does not accept worship done the way that unbelievers worship their gods. He does not want his worshipers to add to or take away from his own prescribed way of worship. He must be worshiped in the way that he has revealed in his word.
Holly,
Are you Jewish? If not, God did not instruct you to observe those feasts. Those instructions were given to the Jewish people.
With the Christmas season upon us we will be confronted again by all the arguments showing that Christmas is a pagan heritage and not a biblical one. Historically speaking it is true. But then we have no qualms in using the names of pagan deities to describe the seven days on our calender. When we get married we proudly and lovingly wear our wedding bands which is of pagan origin. In astrology the ring finger, for example, is specifically associated with the sun. We even faithfully go to our institutional churches full of the stains of Greek philosophy and Roman traditions where the centrality of Christ has been replaced by the centrality of the preacher and his or her sermon.
On the other hand, consider Paul. Acts 17:22-34 describes how Paul went about Athens. We find him speaking to the Greeks in their Areopagus: “…as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” He then took that pagan altar and turned it into a Christ opportunity. If this is Paul, then why should we not take a pagan situation and turn it into a Christ opportunity? We bemoan the worldliness that has seized Christmas for commercial purposes instead of seizing it as believers in the Christ as a day to truly walk our talk. How better can we do that than proclaim and show on Christmas day not only our love for the Christ, the Son of the Father’s love for us, but our love for one another as families? Sadly believers are passively satisfied to let the disciples of the occult hijack whatever they want for their purposes. They take the butterfly, for example, and turn it into an occult symbol and we do nothing.
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes!
Everything you have said here is right on target. What fantastic insight and application of Paul’s speech, how to hand “pagan” backgrounds of everyday life, and what really matters in our lives as Christians.
I too agree, Gerrie. We host Halloween, New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and other parties for neighbors, friends and family. I’ve written lots of posts on this blog about these events and have explained why we do them. In short, people want to party on special days and we take advantage of that desire and host or help host parties. So many good things have resulted from these events.
we use pagan names to describe days of the week, but this is not an act of worship. Christmas is a worship season, and I would say it is not enough to “sprinkle Jesus” on something pagan in order for it to be redeemed. I don’t want to sound condemnatory, I appreciate the opportunity to have this conversation. but biblically speaking, God has never been a fan of His people following the heathens ways in their worship of false gods or even of Him. the Golden Calf incident was not aworship of the calf but of Yahweh, through the calf! that’s why 2 commandments adddress idolatry and false gods. 1 says don’t have other gods, 2 says don’t make images to worship. God doesn’t even want us to worship Him the way heathens do!
you asked, “how do we draw the line then? since it’s not black and white, don’t draw a line at all”–that’s the sense I’m getting from you, please correct me if I’m wrong. as far as I understand, we have the Bible as our example and the *Holy Spirit* as our guide. we can assume that 10 ppl would draw up 10 lists, but that is not necessarily true, esp. if you make it clear that worship is the issue at hand. which holidays to participate in and which to avoid? it’s not cut and dried, but my own practice has evolved over the years. at first I detached from halloween, Christmas and easter and was obnoxious about it. with time, I have moved away from even more holidays, but I have softened my approach toward others who choose to celebrate. my husband and I are on the same page with this as are others we are friends with and it’s not through a book we read or denominational position or sect leader’s influence: I like to think we were all gradually influenced by the Holy Spirit…then I’m sure that’s how you feel about your position too.
well, just as you are sure it’s not so black and white, there are many who are not sure it’s that confusing or grey either. my frustration is that many churches simply engage in christianized paganism and enjoy it full-force without actually using it to evangelize as they claim.
this is a genuine request: could you maybe help me see your perspective with some biblical examples of redeeming pagan worship in order to glorify God? on Mars Hill Paul was pointing to the Unknown God’s altar in order to lead to Christ but, he did not engage in worship at that altar. do you have any other examples?
Here is my issue.
Time and again God told Israelites to not partake in pagan Culture. But they always did and God would pass judgement.
Now we have Christianity who are told by Rom 6:1-3 to not keep sinning.
God already said stop and we keep sinning actively. And not just in Pagan culture, but using that as example.
God is against the marriage of sin and salvation. Or righteousness and paganism. But a Church mixed marriage. Another Church blends Christianity with Pagan. Another had one foot sinning and another praising Christ.
ALL OF THEM WERE TOLD TO STOP. And here you are making a case to deliberately disobey A Holy God. Further more I hear two resounding excuses, “It’s for the kids.” and “I don’t want to raise an issue with others.”
Now here is the latest excuse for continuing to SIN.
“What Satan intends for evil God.. ” sure Bible verse, but you can’t negate God called us to STOP SINNING and allow Christ to mold our hearts away from it. But you turn and encourage a slap in the face.
How do we expect others to hear us point to Christ when we look and act no different than them?
How could paganism point to Christ when it was never intended to point people to Christ in the first place? The Sabbath and God’s Holy days are for that reason. I can’t believe you. What’s next take the 4/20 weed holiday and”make” it Holy and something it never was??