Should "Christians" observe Jewish religious holidays?

Question

Show what you know! Give us a defense of your position... Best answer is posted on our website.

Answer 1

Christians can observe Jewish holidays if they want to. They are certainly not required to. But if they feel that they are honoring God by celebrating a Jewish holiday then that's between them and God and other Christians are not to judge them for it.

Romans 14:1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

Answer 2

To add to Mozes:

the reason being, that our holidays are full of symbolism of very specific things. J*sus held the same symbols dear. To change them and say they symbolize something different, would not only offend every Jew on this earth but probably every Jew in the next...meaning your number one man. For example, Pesach (Passover) is one of our High Holidays. Matzah represents the haste with which the Israelites had to leave Egypt. I have heard Xtians say that matzah represents the stripes of the whips on J*sus back and the holes that were pierced in his feet on the cross (even though matzah didn't even HAVE those lines and holes until it was made by machines.) This is not only INCREDIBLY offensive but it is also INCREDIBLY disrespectful. If they really love J*sus, shouldn't they respect his religion instead of trying to change it around? It was good enough for him, a Jew.

It is another thing if they want to observe Jewish holidays with other Jews (or at least with the Jewish intentions) (i.e. a church setting up a seder with the help of a synagogue to make sure they do it right.) Then it is completely within their rights to do so. I say "with other Jews" to make sure that it is being done right. Messianics are not Jews.

And there is no such thing as a Jewish Xtian. You are one or the other. You can never be both. A person with any understanding of Judaism knows this. A person claiming to understand Judaism while really knowing nothing does not, and will claim it is possible.

Answer 3

No. All the Jewish holidays are specifically commanded by God in the Hebrew Bible to be observed by his chosen people, the Jews.

Christians seem to be unanimous in telling us that those laws no longer apply to them because Jesus "fulfilled" the law. I'm not sure that means that they're no longer allowed to even understand how those holidays are observed, but they don't seem at all interested. I would very much like for Christians to understand exactly how the holidays are observed, but my impression is that most Christians are afraid to go anywhere near a synagogue. Perhaps that comes from centuries of anti-Semitism. In any case, they would do well to learn more about their "roots."
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Answer 4

I think Christians should be reverend to Jewish holidays, but they dont have to celebrate them. Jesus and other men of the Bible celebrated Jewish holidays because they were of the hebrew decendancy, not because they were required to do so. Since Christianity is based off of the Jewish faith, it wouldnt do any harm to observe an occassional holiday like Pentecost or Yom Kippur, but it is totally up to the individual person

Answer 5

They shouldn't. Christians are not Jews. Jews observe Jewish holidays. Chrisitans do not. If a Christian wants to observe a Jewish holiday, by all means, try converting, see how much you like it. If you want to still believe in Jesus and eat Matza during Passover, reexamine yourself and get your religion straight.

Answer 6

Yes, they should. Jesus Himself said that He was not coming to destroy the law but to fulfill or complete it. All of the Jewish holy days point to Yeshua. The spring feasts point to Yeshua as the Passover lamb. The fall feasts point to Yeshua as returning during the great harvest, at the sound of the trump (shofar), and they have yet to be fulfilled. And the bible says that the spirit of YHWH was upon Jesus to preach "the acceptable year of the Lord." (Isaiah 61:2 and Luke 4:19). This is not the Julian calendar which we keep in most of the christian world, where nearly every holiday is pagan in its roots. It's the Feasts of YHWH that He said we were to keep as ordinances forever. And once fulfilled, we are to keep them as remembrances forever. The reason why He asks us to do that is NOT to put us under legalism as some would assert. It's quite the opposite: It's to encourage us. As we do these simple steps and symbols, we remember what it is that God has promised that He's already fulfilled. And what God has promised that He is going to fulfill in the last days. And the bible says, "Let no man judge in regards to any holy day or any sabbath which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ's" (Colossians 2:16 and 17). He gave us these feasts, which are literally the hebrew word "moed", meaning appointed times so that several times a year, we could have these times of refreshing where literally everything we did or touched or ate was designed to remind us of God, what He had done for us and what He has promissed us in the Messiah and what's yet to come. It's like the idea of having a retreat. On retreats, everything you do is holy and for the purpose of drawing near to God. That's a very good thing and should never be shunned. It's through the feasts and sharing the same God, YHWH, where christians and Jews have common ground. I say, celebrate them, thank YHWH and you will be blessed! Plus it will open up your heart to your faithful Jewish brethren. It's not at all bad. It's really lovely and wonderful. Again, I refer you to any number of Messianic websites out there. ffoz.org is a great place to start.

Blessings in Jesus
Yeshua Ha Meshiach
Jesus our Messiah

Answer 7

I know that many Christians don't even have the basic understanding of the Jewish holidays.
If Christians believe that they are "grafted into the vine" they are joining themselves to the Jewish faith. Jesus was not sent to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. As followers of Jesus they should follow the essence of the law while walking in the grace of G-ds forgiveness. They should celebrate the holidays from the prospective of one who has received the Messiah. Such as messianic Jews do.

Answer 8

Mormons cannot because Jesus returned to establish the church of Jesus Christ. But Christians should still be observing and practicing all the original Jewish traditions as ordered by God such as the 4th Commandment (which hypocritically they do not).

Answer 9

Good point. Most Jews that celebrate Rosh Hoshana will be spending a good portion of the day in synagogue. I am not too familiar with the Muslim holidays. Do they also spend the entire day in their house of worship? How many Jewish Congressmen/women are there? How many Muslim Congressmen/women?

Answer 10

Thats contridictive, just cause Christians force everyone to observe their holidays doesnt mean that Christians should observe everyone elses holidays!