Transcript of a published teaching by David K. Bernard, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The question and the Romans 14 answer
- The question posed (in the host's frame): some apostolic believers, including many outside north america, view christmas and easter celebrations negatively over their pagan origins and catholic connections — what does the bible say about holidays, particularly christmas and easter, and should a christian celebrate them?
- The bible gives clear direction in romans chapter 14, and he reads from the new king james: romans 14 5 — one person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike, let each be fully convinced in his own mind — and verse 6: he who observes the day observes it to the lord, and he who does not observe the day, to the lord he does not observe it. Essentially this is the concept of christian liberty.
Scriptures: Romans 14; Romans 14:5
Liberty means different choices, mutually respected
- On any issue that is not moral, where the bible gives no explicit teaching that something is sin or not sin, christians have liberty to make personal choices; read as a whole, the chapter says we can have different choices but we respect one another — the one who participates is not to be ridiculed, judged, or condemned, and neither is the one who decides not to participate.
Pagan overtones and transformed meaning
- Some aspects of these celebrations do have pagan overtones — but so do many things in life: in english, sunday originally honored the sun god, monday the moon god, thursday honors thor. If saying 'let's meet on sunday' meant worshiping the sun god it would be wrong; used as a conventional cultural expression that neither party understands as honor to a god, nothing morally wrong has been done — and a person who feels bad about the impression can say 'the first day of the week' instead. It is a personal choice: not a matter of sin, biblical prohibition or command, evil, or morality.
- The line is intent: if you are truly celebrating paganism, or the people around you truly think you are promoting idolatry and pagan worship, you should not celebrate; but if you have chosen the day to celebrate the lord, regardless of origins or secular connotations, you have transformed its meaning into something acceptable. The same holds for the name used — easter, or resurrection sunday, or whatever you want to call it.
Practice, culture, and the summary rule
- Practically, in north america many people are accustomed to going to church on or around those two days, so for a pastor it is a great evangelistic tool: people come, are exposed to the apostolic faith and pentecostal worship and the move of the spirit, and might be won. In some heavily catholic countries, like latin america, the celebrations are so closely associated with roman catholicism or paganism that many christians want no part of them — and in that culture that is understandable.
- The summary rule from romans 14: if participating would associate you with paganism — you would feel you were honoring pagan gods, or your friends, family, and the people you are trying to win would think you support pagan worship — by all means do not participate; but if you can celebrate the day unto the lord with a true scriptural appreciation for the birth and the resurrection of jesus, and use it for a wholesome purpose, scripture gives you that liberty. Local churches and individual believers can choose either way, as long as they do it unto the lord.
The Korea example
- He grew up in korea, where his parents were missionaries in a predominantly non-christian country where buddha's birthday was a holiday; the churches there always had church on christmas — not as a family celebration or personal holiday, but as a time to worship the lord and a great opportunity to bear witness in a mostly buddhist, ancestral-worship, spirit-worship culture that jesus christ was important and makes a difference.
- In short: different people can have different answers, but we should not judge or condemn one another; we should do everything we do as unto the lord.
Scripture index: Romans 14; Romans 14:5.
Transcript
the bible gives us clear direction in romans chapter 14.
so let me read a few verses here i've got the new king james romans 14 5 says one person esteems one day above another another esteems every day alike let each be fully convinced in his own mind and then verse 6 he who observes the day observes it to the lord and he who does not observe the day to the lord he does not observe it essentially what we have here is the concept of christian liberty so basically on any issues that are not moral where the bible doesn't give explicit teaching that it's sin or not sin that means we as christians have liberty to make personal choices and if you read the entire chapter of romans 14 it says we can have different choices but we respect one another so if someone decides to participate in a certain observance we shouldn't ridicule them we shouldn't judge them we shouldn't condemn them but if someone decides not to participate likewise we shouldn't ridicule condemn or judge them now let's talk more specifically about christmas and easter it is true that some aspects of these celebrations have uh pagan overtones of course that's true of anything in life or many things in life i would say for example in english we use the term sunday that was originally given to honor the sun god monday the moon god and so you go down through the week thursday honors thor now if i'm using those days to honor the sun so if i say let's meet on sunday and you understand me to say let's worship the sun god then that would be wrong of me but if i'm just using that as a cultural expression an english expression and neither you nor i think i'm giving any honor to the son i'm just using the conventional names then i haven't done anything morally wrong and so i have liberty now if i really feel bad and don't want to leave any wrong impression don't want to give any credence this i could i could say let's meet on the first day of the week and that would be okay in other words i have a choice it's not a matter of sin it's not a matter of biblical prohibition or command it's not a matter of evil it's not a matter of morality so i have a personal choice that's how i look at things like christmas and easter now some people say we're celebrating paganism if you're truly doing that or if the people you're associated with truly think you're promoting idolatry you're promoting pagan worship then you shouldn't celebrate but if you say regardless of the connotations of secular people or regardless of some of the origins i'm not doing this for any pagan celebration i'm not worshiping any idol and i'm not encouraging anybody to worship i have chosen this day to celebrate the lord well then you have transformed that meaning into something that is acceptable so you have a personal choice now you might say well i don't want to use the term easter i want to say resurrection sunday or whatever you want to do now i know in north america many people are accustomed to going to church on on or around those two days so as a practical matter for a pastor it's a great time to encourage people to come to church and once they come to church they get exposed to the apostolic faith to pentecostal worship to move the spirit and we might win them so it can be a great evangelistic tool i think it is a good thing to do now in some heavily catholic countries like latin america some of these celebrations so closely associated with roman catholicism or paganism that many christians say i don't want to have any part of that well in that culture that's understandable so in summary i think romans 14 does give us the answer if you feel like that participating in these events would associate you with paganism where you would feel like you're honoring pagan gods or you think your friends and family and the people you're trying to win the lord will think you're actually supporting pagan worship then by all means don't participate but if you can celebrate the day unto the lord with a true scriptural appreciation for the birth of jesus for the resurrection of jesus and you can use it for a wholesome purpose that i think scripture gives you that liberty in short i think local churches and individual believers can choose to celebrate the day as long as they do it unto the lord or they can choose not to do so now let me give you one final thought i grew up in korea where my parents were missionaries and it was a predominantly non- christian country so buddha's birthday was a holiday now they did set aside time for christmas because it's an international holiday but for the church that was a very important thing because in a in a culture that was mostly buddhist or ancestral worship or spirit worship for them to have a special day to honor jesus christ was a great thing because it told the whole nation that jesus christ was important and so the churches there would always have church on christmas so for them it wasn't a family celebration or it wasn't a personal holiday it was actually a time to worship the lord and it was a great opportunity to bear witness in that non-christian culture that jesus christ makes a difference so in that case it was a very positive thing to be able to celebrate jesus christ in that culture in short different people can have different answers but we should not judge or condemn one another we should do everything we do as unto the lord
Scripture references as spoken: Romans 14; Romans 14:5.