Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
OK first the "why".
To begin with, God established certain times as "appointed times" that Israel was to keep. They are known as "the Feasts of the Lord". The day of Passover, the seven days of Unleavened Bread, the day of Pentecost, the day of Trumpets, theday of Atonement, the seven days of Tabernacles, and the solemn assembly on the day after Tabernacles (sometimes referred to as the last great day). These were in addition to the weekly Sabbath. They were festive occasions which included special sabbaths or days of rest and sacred assembly. They were appointments with God. They were given to both commemorate events in Israel's history as well as to outline God's divine Plan. Thus they have both a memorial aspect and a prophetic aspect.
Most Christians keep some kind of holy days. Most keep Easter, Christmas, and (among Pentecostals) New Year's Day, and often Thanksgiving Day, Mother's Day, and Halloween ( which is often called "Fall Festival" or something similar).
If one is going to observe some kind of special day, why not observe (in some fashion) the only special days of truly Divine origin? Why not God's days instead of man's?
These appointed times are Divinely ordained to teach us about Christ and God's Plan in the affairs of men.
The new testament gives indications that the early church kept these appointed times. Church history provides undisputable proof that at least Passover and Pentecost were kept from the beginning (and still are by most professing Christians btw). Scholars are reaching a consensus that the new testament shows the early church - including the gentile believers- were keeping them.
As catholicism arose in the 2nd-4th centuries the Biblical holy days were dropped in favour of "Christianized" pagan holy days like Christmas, Epiphany, All Saints, etc. Even though Passover was retained its timing was changed specifically so as NOT to be Biblical.
So, in short here's the reasons we keep the Bible holy days.
1. They are superior in every way to syncretistic pagan observances which originated in demon worship.
2. They are suited to teach us and our children the gospel of Christ in dramatic fashion.
3. The original apostolic church kept them.
4. They are shadows of things to come. ARE shadows not "were" shadows. Thus they still point to future events yet to be fulfilled by our Lord and thus have not been "done away" in such a sense as to render them irrelevent.
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I understand your reasoning, because I have studied it before. I have close friends who are Messianic. The problem is this. Paul was a Jew, therefore he continued to observe all of the Jewish customs, including feast days and traditions. However,
there is not ONE clear instruction in any of his letters to any of the Gentile Christians about HOW they are to keep the Sabbath, feast days etc. Why do you suppose this is?
Instead, what we see is Paul condemning the Gentiles for conforming to the Jewish traditions in Galatians, because it was swaying them from their faith in Jesus. Because that is what ultimately happens, when you begin to observe tradition, and try to conform to things that are not part of your culture. It becomes very confusing, and ultimately takes faith away from Jesus, and places it in the traditions instead.
My Messianic friends have told me that they have known of many people who became Messianic, and got so deeply immersed in the "rights and wrongs" of how to do things, that they ultimately forsook Jesus, and began to buy into the Jewish beliefs so deeply, that they became Jewish in their faith, which is incredibly sad. My friends say they would never do that, that Jesus is everything to them.
However, I see a trend here, which Paul was indeed addressing in Galatians, that once you begin to get immersed in those traditions, and trying to do it "right" and not wrong... you become a slave to the law again, which should not be.
Esaias, I really don't see anything wrong with keeping the feasts of the Lord. In fact, it would make more sense to keep those feasts than the pagan-originating traditions that we call "Christian" today. It is for that reason alone, we would consider celebrating the feasts.
Yet, there is a fine line there to walk, because I have witnessed in my dear Messianic friends, that they are often tormented with the thought "am I doing it right?", and constantly they are second-guessing themselves, because they don't want to do anything that would be "wrong". And it becomes such a heavy burden. For example, my friend needed to fly somewhere on the Sabbath. She was so burdended about breaking the Sabbath and traveling, but then she comforted herself by the fact that she was bringing something from home with her, (something the Jews would do if they had to break the Sabbath and travel), that she was able to travel.
In my mind... where does this all stop? We want to have faith in the work of Calvary, and the fact that the veil in the temple was torn, and the old has been replaced with the new. Yet... the fact remains that there is a mental torment in knowing just WHAT has been replaced if you begin to walk in the Messianic way.
Do you understand what I am saying?