Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe?

Download or read book Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe? written by United Church of God and published by United Church of God. This book was released on 2010-08-20 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people are shocked to discover the origins of our most popular religious holidays. They are also surprised to find that the days God commands us to observe in the Bible—the same days Jesus Christ and the apostles kept—are almost universally ignored. Why? Also, why are today's supposedly Christian holidays observed with so many rituals and customs that are not sanctioned anywhere in the Bible? Here are some questions to think about... Does Christmas really honor Jesus and His birth? Where did the Christmas holiday come from? How did it begin, and why? Did you realize that historians (and the Bible) agree that Jesus Christ wasn't born anywhere near December 25? Or that this particular date was well known for its pagan religious celebrations long before Jesus Christ was born? Would Jesus Keep Easter? Can we find any historical or biblical record of Jesus or His disciples keeping Easter or teaching parents and children to dye eggs and display bunnies on this holiday? Did Jesus or His apostles instruct any of His followers to worship His resurrection at sunrise on Easter Sunday—or at any other time, for that matter? If Easter were not sanctioned by Jesus or instituted by His apostles, then where did Easter come from? In other words, if Jesus were living among us today, would He keep Easter or encourage others to do so? Should you, as a Christian, celebrate Easter? Few people know why they believe or do the things they do—especially when it comes to their religious beliefs and practices. Inside the Bible study aid ebook, Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe?, discover the shocking truths about several of the world's most popular holidays. Perhaps even more surprising is how they came to be connected with Jesus Christ and the Christian religion. Chapters in this ebook: -- Crucial Questions -- Christmas: The Untold Story -- How Christmas Grew -- Christmas vs. the Bible -- Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Wasn't Born on December 25 -- Easter: Masking a Biblical Truth -- The Resurrection Connection -- Fertility Symbols: Beneath the Dignity of God -- The Chronology of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection -- Halloween: A Celebration of Evil -- What About Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Purim? -- God's Days of Worship -- God's Festivals in the New Testament -- Does It Matter to God? -- An Ancient Cultural Clash -- The Delights of Obedience Inside this Bible Study Aid ebook: "Did the writers of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) consider Jesus' birth to be one of the most significant events for Christians to acknowledge or celebrate?... Did Jesus Christ tell us to celebrate His birth? No." "A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that December 25 is an unlikely date for Christ’s birth. Here are two primary reasons..." "The word Easter appears once in the King James Version of the Bible, in Acts 12:4, where it is a mistranslation." "The New Testament does not mention an Easter celebration. Early Christians had nothing to do with Easter. Instead, they kept the Passover, instituted by God centuries earlier at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 12:13-14; Leviticus 23:5)." "The popular belief is that Christ was crucified on a Friday and rose on a Sunday. But neither of these suppositions is supported by the biblical record."