Why do some Christians denominations believe it is wrong to celebrate any holiday or birthdays?

Question

You can probably guess who I mean. If they only follow the Bible then I am curious what the Scriptural references for this are. Christ observed the Jewish Holy Days.
Doesn't this mean that it is not sinful to celebrate?
Colossians 2

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths,

I asked this because I answered a question and received a heated email about holidays and Catholics Celebrating. I do not see any harm in anyone celebrating as they seem fit and that is what this verse means to me.

Answer 1

Some people seem to believe that if another "church" does something it must be wrong. The passage you mention DOES say what you think.

Answer 2

The Bible nowhere instructs us to celebrate Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. This leads some to refrain from observing these celebratory days. However, at the same time, the Bible does not speak against participating in holidays. The Bible mentions several “celebrations” that the Israelites observed; Passover, Pentecost, Purim, New Moon, etc. The difference between these Biblical holidays and the modern holidays celebrated today is that our modern holidays have pagan or even anti-Christian origins. Christmas and Easter began as attempts to redefine a pagan holiday with a Christian meaning, i.e., the Easter bunny, the Christmas tree, giving gifts, hunting for eggs, etc.



That leaves us with a difficult decision – should we continue a practice that was started as a pagan religious ritual? Here are a few things to consider: (A) Does the holiday in any way promote false doctrine or immorality (Galatians 5:19-23)? (B) Can we thank God for what we observe on a holiday (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). (C) Will celebrating the holiday detract from your Christian testimony / witness (Philippians 2:15). This is a decision a Christian family needs to make together. Pray to God, asking Him what He would have you to do (James 1:5).

and ...

Whether or not a Christian celebrates Passover would be a matter of conscience for the individual Christian. Like all the Old Testament Jewish Feasts the Passover Feast was a foreshadowing of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that we should “let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Christians are no longer bound to observe the Passover feast the way an Old Testament Jew was but they should not look down upon another believer who does or does not observe the Passover or other special Jewish days and feasts (Romans 14:5).



While it is not required for Christians to celebrate the Passover it is beneficial to study it and could be beneficial to celebrate it if it leads one to a greater understanding and appreciation for Christ’s death and resurrection. The Passover is a wonderful picture of Christ’s atonement for His people and His deliverance of us from the bondage of sin. That is something we should celebrate every day of our life.

Answer 3

The whole scripture reads:

16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.

It appears that what you have asked is not sinful to celebrate these occasions. However we must be mindful that if we cause another to fall because of our celebration it might be best not to celebrate. We are not suppose to judge and we are not supposed to be judged by others.

I heard something once from someone who made a great deal of sense----She said "no one can make you feel inferior without your permission." Christians understand that they are being scrutinized all day, everyday. WE rise to the challenge and sometimes we fall to the challenge. But everyday---God will help us with the challenge.

Answer 4

Holidays today are not biblical but there are some Christians who would rather not celebrate. Growing up, I have been able to see the evolution of the celebration of Easter to see that it has gone from a day of remembering the resurrection to a day of hiding eggs and receiving Easter baskets. I would assume that some Christians feel that the celebrations are no longer celebrated from the Christian perspective and therefore refuse to celebrate. Others just may not want to celebrate because it doesn't really make sense. For example, Christmas is supposedly a celebration of Jesus' birth (although he was not born in December) but we get gifts at this time, and we also get gifts on our own birthdays. Some Christians may find that unfair. However, I am not one of those Christians who refuses to celebrate, I celebrate differently in the sense that I don't hide eggs for Easter because it is not what it is about, and don't celebrate Halloween because of my religious beliefs.

Answer 5

Some have taken that Galatians 4:8-11 shows that it eventually became a sin to celebrate certain things. Many times such celebrations can arouse sinful feelings of pride, as well.

I believe we should be careful about how we celebrate such special days, and for what reason. I also believe that as Christians we have every reason to celebrate, and have the freedom to do so in Christ.

I will say, however, you argument about Christ observing the Jewish Holy Days is not a valid one. Jesus came to set us free from the law that He lived under. While it is true we are to live like Christ did, that does not mean that we are to do what Christ did. If we were, we shouldn't marry, we should all do miracles, and all be crucified, claiming to be God! Christ did whatever His Father wanted Him to do. That is how we are to live, and that is how we are to imitate Christ. Many things Christ did under the Law the Father may desire for us to abstain from, to show that we are not under the Law.

I think the verse you quoted shows that yes, we are free to celebrate certain holidays, etc. However, in context, it also shows that we should not put much importance on these things, but on Christ, our true reason to celebrate.

Answer 6

There are no CHRISTIAN denominations that do not believe in the celebration of Holidays (except maybe a few independant ones). The JW's don't celebrate any, and they only believe that Christ was "a god", according to their translation of the bible. They are not a "Christian" denomination and do not claim to be one.
Now there is nothing wrong with the celebration of holidays, but many of our holidays are actually based on pagan holidays. I can give examples and historical resources from the Bible as well as from any encyclopedia, but I would have to go and look them up. If you want them then I can email them to you later if you wish.

I do want to clarify the context of the scripture you gave though. God COMMANDED the children on Israel to observe all of these feast days and such as worship to him in the old testament. The problem is that they thought as long as they did this that they were doing what God wanted so they would continue to do this and also worship all the other "gods" of the land that other peoples worshipped. I mean there were cults that worshipped sex, alcohol, and and animals and could you imagine the kind of "worship ceremonies" these cults had. Anyway this kind of belief was still present while Christ walked the earth, and He said to the woman at the well in Jonh 4:23 that "the hour comes when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 'spirit and in truth': for the Father seeks such to worship Him". Now if you read the whole story you find out that He was clarifying that man is not held by these "festival days" and such any longer and that God wanted true worship that came from love, self sacrifice, and true adoration of God in ones heart. Now Jesus kept all of these days and the ENTIRE law of God because being God in the flesh He lived a SINLESS and PERFECT life. As I said above these days were originally meant as "worship and rememberance" to God, but as usual mankind found ways to celebrate these things in the name of God and yet get drunk and sin to satisfy themselves.
Now keeping up with Christ's teaching in Colossians 2:16, Paul is stating exactly the opposite, that man DOES NOT have to celebrate these days as worship. I mean the Sabbath day is Saturday and we go to church on Sunday, and the jews were still teaching that you HAD to keep the sabbath. You look on any calendar and you will see that the First day of the week is Sunday and that is the day that Christ arose from the dead as well as many times found in the book of ACTS you see where Christians met on these days and had fellowship. The Jews still celebrate the Sabbath (Saturday) even now. Paul also goes on to say in verse 17 that these days and things were "a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ". In other words he was saying that now WE are the body of Christ and these things were merely a precursor before His death, burial, and resurrection. Also Paul taught in other letters such as Roman 14:15-23, that there were folks who would not eat meat if it was bought in a market that typically sold meat that was sacrificed to the other "gods" of the land, as well as there were people who taught that you must be a vegeterian, and Paul is just stating here to let NO MAN judge you in eating meat, and do not let the Jews judge you if you don't keep all the feast days and such that was in the old covenant. Well I could write a book on this subject but it's already been done, I hope this helps though. Peace.

Answer 7

I am religious, but not a bible thumper type of guy. The reason is, your basically suppose to celebrate God / Christ daily and by celebrating birthdays and holidays - its basically like a false idol.

I do believe that if we look back in our own history. Did the founding fathers want a Forth of July sale on Horses or 2 for 1 sales at Sears or whatever. Our own holidays back then were actually fun and celebrated for a particular reason, but with money driving everything its totally changed who we are.

So thats basically why some believe that by celebrating holidays and birthdays, we're not celebrating God/Jesus for that particular day. Hope it helps.....

Answer 8

I used to be Fellowship Mennonite and they do not celebrate Christmas. Some of them had grown up Old Order Amish and back then thought it would be wrong not to celebrate Christmas. Halloween was not celbrated. They were a conservative, but evangelical denomination. Personally, I think it's what you have in your own conscience that counts about it. Some christians I have known do not celebrate birthdays, and all children who grow up in such homes Ihave known do resent this when they grow up. I spent years getting hung up on these types of issues. There are much more pressing problems in the world. My humble advice would be not to waste your time on what some people choose to practice in regard to holidays. I also wenbt back and forth for years regarding all sides of Sabbath and Sunday observance. Let each be convinced in his or her own mind and heart. Another like issues is vegetarianism. I eat dairy but not meat. Some christians have a real problem with this for example. Let each find what is best for him or her with what they clearly see in their Holy Scriptures and in their own conscience.

Answer 9

Seventh-day Adventists keep the sabbath, there's nothing wrong with that. There are non-jewish holidays that aren't neccesarily sinful, but have a pagan background especially Holloween, Christmas, and Easter. Holidays that help us remeber our country's history (the USA of course) like thanksgiving and independance day are perfectly fine, but one must remeber that the New Earth is our final home (This Earth will become new with hellfire). Birthdays seem selfish when it's about "gimme presents". One give God thanks. Days dedicated to family like Faather's day and Mother's Day are nice, but shouldn't they be everyday? It's kind of silly if you think about it.

Answer 10

The only one large group I can think of are the Jehovah's Witnesses and they are not a Christian Group(according to all the other mainstream Christians).

Christians believe #one in the Divinity of Christ and #2 in the Unity and equality of the Trinity.

J W's fail on both counts. They are involved with a Spirit of Deception. IMHO

Answer 11

I can't think of any Christian denomination that believes it is actually sinful to celebrate *any* holidays. Precisely because of the verse you cite above. There is only one that I know of that makes a practice of not celebrating holidays, and that would be the Quakers (at least according to the original Testimonies - very few Friends in the States keep this particular one anymore, although I think a lot of Friends in the UK still do).

As far as birthdays go, a lot of the problem people have is the idea of giving excessive honor to people at the expense of God. I personally solve this problem by celebrating birthdays, at the same time being very careful to keep the focus on God. So, for my own birthday, I might start by sitting down alone with Him and thinking about what He taught me this year.

For my big Four-Oh, since I am a singer, I arranged to do a huge recital of Baroque sacred music (i.e. worship songs - from Bach cantatas) at my church (also Baroque) to celebrate, and then invited the other musicians who took part in the recital to lunch at a nice restaurant nearby.

That year was special because it was also my ensemble's first 'birthday'; so we have a tradition now of doing an anniversary recital every year, and while last year's recital was more modest, it still had the same character, with the also now-traditional note in the program, giving thanks to God for giving me life, as well as for the opportunity for our ensemble to work together.

If I have a separate party for the occasion, at a certain point in the proceedings I will, for example, make an announcement inviting guests to give thanks to God with me for allowing me to live, so far, [however many - this year it'll be 42] years, and just spend the time fellowshipping.

If they want to sing something for me, I will as far as possible encourage them to, rather than the traditional song wishing me one hundred years of life, sing something that focuses on God and His goodness, and on eternal life.

As far as other holidays are concerned, I think to some degree, there's a division between holidays that are in the Bible, and holidays that aren't. A lot of people will not celebrate any holiday that isn't in the Bible (so, no Christmas, no Easter), especially because many of those holidays are 'Christianized' versions of pagan holidays, e.g. Saturnalia, various fertility cult-related holidays.

Within those that are in the Bible, there is another differentiation between those that are from the Old Testament, and those that are specified in the New Testament. And there is basically only one which is specified in the New Testament, namely Passover, treated as a memorial of Jesus' death (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Then there are others who believe that every day is holy, and that specific 'holidays' obscure this truth. I myself belong to this category. If someone invites me to Christmas Eve dinner, I will accept the invitation, I will even walk around the room offering wishes, as is customary where I am.

But I will do it without the traditional wafer that is broken each time you make a wish (because of its pagan associations) - and I will be wishing for every day to be a holiday for them, for the spiritual truths which they are choosing to focus on on that day to be a personally-experienced reality for them.

And I will be grateful if at least some of the songs that are sung afterwards are just plain 'worship songs' - without any reference to the specific holiday being celebrated. And at church, I will be grateful if the pastor keeps the focus not on the holiday, but rather on the Bible and what it has to say to us.