QUOTE]Originally posted by Johnv:
Originally posted by ituttut:
God is saying to us, "why are you doing this.
I esteem the day out of reverence, respect, and reflection of the birth of my Lord and Savior. Paul in the NT permits each individual to esteem one day over another, or no day over another, as s/he sees fit. My celebration of the day, and customs surrounding that, are by no means scripturally wrong. [/QUOTE]
I believe you do as you say JohnV. Who esteems your birthday on your birthday? And can you name any that esteems your known birthday a couple months after the fact? If so, what do you think of that (or those) person?
We differ in our approach and making connections, and a mis-connect brings contridiction. I am not judging, just as Paul is not judging here; just exhorting and telling them they don’t understand? Galatians 4:9-11,
”But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”
We can see here that Paul is speaking to the Jew. They are no longer under the law, and they could not see their error of going back under the law of observing days, etc. People want to do something and these Jews wished to go back observing “Holy Days” again. Paul says, you don’t understand, and I am afraid of you. You are not listening to me, but to men, and all my labor has been in vain
When we drop down to verses 30 and 31, Paul says get out from under the bonds of “law keeping”, such as Holy Days, Months, times and years. Notice he refers to them as “children”. These are “babes” in Christ, and as long as they continue observing, or worshipping a “day” they will remain “babes”, for they are not free of the law after all.
That brings us to your reference to Romans 14:5-6,
”One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” The children and the grown-ups are both included here. Paul shows the “babe” esteems “one day” above another, and regards that day to the Lord. The other that has grown regards everyday to the Lord, including the case today of Christmas, but does not regard it above any other day of the Lord. God is Lord of all, including all days.
The “day” Paul may be referring to is perhaps the Sabbath of the Old Testament, for Paul in preaching the Body of Christ, and never connects the Gentile (Christians) in the Body of Christ with the Sabbath. The Sabbath “day” was a sign between God and Israeli as seen in Exodus 31:13-17. So when we match this with Galatians “"Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, we see the observer that wishes to observe days, wishes to be under a “law”, observing some day they believe to be holy.
I agree with you that you see nothing wrong, and in faith attribute December 25 to be His birthday. Please understand I am exhorting, and not judging, for I have scripture on my side that Jesus didn’t tell us to make a Holy Day to Him. He would have made this known to us, but He didn’t. Since Jesus did not request, or command, we remember Him on His birthday, and the Holy Spirit does not allow this vital information in the Bible, the conclusion must be made that it is “man” that has decided when Jesus was born. Faith is faith, but guesswork is guesswork. I cannot take which is Holy, Jesus, and chose a Holy pagan Day to place the baby Jesus at their feet. Christian faith, ituttut
