Celebrating New Years?

[Praxeas]

Why is it wrong to have a Christmas service because Christmas is Pagan but it's OK to have Watchnight/communion/footwashing on the pagan holy day known as New Year?

[Abiding Now]

One I hate, the other I like?

[Esaias]

Why is it wrong to have a Christmas service because Christmas is Pagan but it's OK to have Watchnight/communion/footwashing on the pagan holy day known as New Year?

Wasn't aware new year's was a pagan holy day? It's a secular holiday. Every culture with a calendar had a new year's day.

We don't pay any attention to it except to keep up with the civil calendar.

Churches that do communion only on new year's eve ... well, they have their own religion it seems. The Lord's Supper ought to be often, but if you're gonna only do it annually seems like Passover would be the preferred time. New year's has no connection with the bible whatsoever.

But I have given up trying to understand "why" so many churches do what they do...

[Esaias]

Well well, looky here...


http://www.bodyofchristonline.us/newyearseve/

[Esaias]

Another view:

http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/newyearshistory/

[Walks_in_islam]

Why is it wrong to have a Christmas service because Christmas is Pagan but it's OK to have Watchnight/communion/footwashing on the pagan holy day known as New Year?

The question makes sense (year year) but Christmas is not pagan??!??

[Praxeas]

Wasn't aware new year's was a pagan holy day? It's a secular holiday. Every culture with a calendar had a new year's day.

We don't pay any attention to it except to keep up with the civil calendar.

Churches that do communion only on new year's eve ... well, they have their own religion it seems. The Lord's Supper ought to be often, but if you're gonna only do it annually seems like Passover would be the preferred time. New year's has no connection with the bible whatsoever.

But I have given up trying to understand "why" so many churches do what they do...
Mesopotamia (Iraq) created the concept of new year celebration 2000 BC.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day#cite_note-3)[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day#cite_note-4) The Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus), the god of gates, doors, and beginnings for whom the first month of the year (January (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January)) is also named. After Julius Caesar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar) reformed the calendar in 46 BC and was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate voted to deify him on the 1st January 42 BC[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day#cite_note-5) in honor of his life and his institution of the new rationalized calendar.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day#cite_note-6) The month originally owes its name to the deity Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward. This suggests that New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/153_BC), when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consul) (after whose names the years were identified) entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day#cite_note-7) Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_equinox), or commemorating the Annunciation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation) of Jesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus), along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages), though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day

[Esaias]

Prax, you been doing all right?

[Praxeas]

Prax, you been doing all right?
Yes :-)

[Esaias]

Yes :-)

Good. Hard to believe we've fellowshipped online for what, almost 15-20 years? All the way back to the old Delphi forums. Krazeeboi, too.

Maybe sometime the Lord will allow us to meet in real life. We'd have to get Krazee in on it, too. Then I could talk some sense into him about proper textual criticism lol.