Happy New Year and may 2018 bring you everything that you need.
New Year: Should Christians Celebrate It?
“God didn’t begin His year in the dead of winter. So what does He think of the celebration of New Year’s Eve based on the Romans’ calendar and customs?
What does God think of New Year’s Eve?
Are New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations that God approves of? Since God set the first month of the year on the sacred calendar to begin in what we call March or April, obviously it is not God’s new year (Exodus 12:2; Deuteronomy 16:1). And God didn’t command a celebration for that day either.
The origin of New Year
So what is the origin of New Year? “In early times, the ancient Romans gave each other New Year’s gifts of branches from sacred trees. In later years, they gave gold-covered nuts or coins imprinted with pictures of Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. January was named after Janus, who had two faces—one looking forward and the other looking backward. The Romans also brought gifts to the emperor. The emperors eventually began to demand such gifts. But the Christian church outlawed this custom and certain other pagan New Year’s practices in A.D. 567” (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1990, article “New Year’s Day”).
Not pleasing to God
Today, too often New Year’s Eve is treated as an excuse for drinking too much and lowering moral standards. It is one of the most dangerous times of the year for drunk driving, and every year warnings are given about those who fire guns into the air in celebration—an act that too often turns deadly.
For all these reasons, celebrating the pagan holiday of New Year is not pleasing to God.
You can learn more in the section “Holy Days vs. Holidays.”
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What Would Jesus Do Between Christmas and New Years?
“It's not such an odd question as you might think. Read on and think about it.
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We should be doing what Jesus did during His human life and what He is doing today—His Father's work!
Since He was not born in the dead of winter Christ would not have even thought about celebrating His birthday, nor would anyone else. And New Years? Well, since the Romans used it as a worship of their gods I can’t see that Christ would have been looking for a party to celebrate. So let’s park the question for a minute and look at what the last week of the year becomes in our modern culture.
It seems the last week of December today has become one extended period of celebration, vacation, shopping, eating and, well, just different. Many businesses just shut down completely. Others are understaffed and on short hours as work and people wind down for the year. Someone once said this period of the year would be the best to launch a surprise attack on America since its seems everyone, including many key government people, are on vacation.
So, for me, since I don’t observe Christmas and New Year, and you can’t just ignore completely the impact it has on culture, I have developed a routine during this week that helps me to profitably use the time. This is one of four periods of the year when I reassess my life, priorities, goals and plans. Decisions and plans are made for the next three months and then its back to work. I don’t waste the time even though it is tempting to let down and relax too much. But this holiday period does give me some extra time for reflection.
Recently I noticed something from the life of Christ that made me think that maybe He used this same time of the year to further His work.
In John 10:22-24 we see where He was and what He did.
Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Historians recognize this was the festival that Jews today call Hannukah—the festival that falls each year in late December. It is a stretch to say that Christ was “celebrating” Hannukah. Better to just read through His answer to the Jews and understand it for what it says.
He essentially told them He was the Son of God, and since they did not believe Him they were not His sheep. They accused Him of blasphemy and tried to stone Him. He escaped but not without challenging them to examine the work He did and make a logical deduction. They couldn’t. So therefore they rejected Him.
So what should we do between Christmas and New Years? Really, what should we be doing all year long? The answers is simple. We should be doing what Jesus did during His human life and what He is doing today—His Father’s work! We should put first in priority the work God is doing today and continually give ourselves a check to make sure we are aligned with His purpose for our life. We should be doing what Jesus is doing today.
If you don’t know what that is the best starting point can be our booklet, Why Were You Born? Read it online while you have some time off this weekend and challenge yourself to find God’s purpose for your life. It would be the best use of your time now and every week of the year.”
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It is very cold for these parts, and most people have enough sense to stay indoors today.
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