Paganism in Christianity

[U376977]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I think there’s another way to look at this.

We can take the position of being on the defense and try to weed out all pagan influence in our midst until life is a drab, boring, joyless, huddle on a church compound somewhere. Here’s the deal…DOMININON.

The truth is EVERY day belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, our pagan ancestors dedicated various days to their pagan deities. However, as Christians it is our responsibility to place all things under the Dominion of Jesus Christ. That means we have the responsibility to plunder pagan holidays and culture and redeem them into something with which to glorify Jesus Christ. Easter and Christmas are wonderful examples of this. We’ve taken what were originally pagan holidays. (Christmas actually isn’t so pagan if the actual history is closely studied, pagan celebrations started around this time under Arelius in an effort to unseat the Christian remembrances of Christ’s birth by resurrecting an ancient pagan holiday custom. And the December 25th date goes back to the Jewish custom of believing that the Messiah would be of “integral age”. But that’s another story.) So we’ve taken these days and stripped them of their pagan worship and only maintained relevant cultural and ethnic traditions redirected at glorifying Christ. And even now in our post-Christian culture we see that Christmas and Easter are days where even the most un-churched consider attending at least one service. For many the Christianization (or Dominion) of these holidays opens a door to show them eternal life at the very least once or twice a year. As heirs of creation we have every right to take what was the devil’s and redeem it to glorify Christ.

We need to stop being cowering cowards in this world, running from anything that doesn’t fit within our traditional religious paradigms. We need to take DOMINION. Halloween is coming…most Christians are going to hide in church or at home screeching against the “Devil’s Night”. NEWSFLASH….the devil doesn’t own Halloween. Even October 31st belongs to JESUS CHRIST. Therefore on that day we’re going to be fellowshipping some families in a fall family night where we eat, play games, party, laugh and just fellowship and love the Lord. Some religious snobs will criticize…but I say…let them criticize with their retreatist concepts. I’m not in retreat….I’m taking dominion of each and every day for Jesus. Yes, I’ll even claim Halloween for Jesus. If I were a pastor I’d not only have a fall family night but a “History Hayride” where saints of God get on a hayride that tours Christian History with seven stops. At each stop there would be a “ghost” of a famous martyr sharing their story and how their faith cost them their very lives. At the end they would stop at the church and the setting would be 10 years from now…during the future persecution. Fictional stories would be told of how world events turned against Christians and stories of saints in our congregation who gave all would be shared….and the emphasis would be….would you be willing to die for him? And if you’d be willing to lay down your life for him in the future…why not lay down your life now…die to the world, sin, and shame and live radically for Jesus? Bring in the altar call! Or a Christian Costume Party could be had where everyone had to dress up as historical figures in Christianity. Yes….I’d TAKE DOMINION and use it to glorify Jesus Christ.

By taking DOMINION, I believe it’s all Christ’s…Easter, Halloween (Actually should be called Holy Evening), Christmas,…you name it.

C’mon folks, stop being motivated by fear and think outside of the box. Take dominion and experience the absolute freedom, joy, and authority only found in Jesus Christ.

The problem with this belief is that it begs the question, Why stop with Christmas and Easter? Lets take “dominion” over the African customs as well. Lets redeem cutting of the flesh, only do it the palms and feet—to remember Christ’s wounds. Lets redeem worship fires, lets dance around fires remembering that Christ redeemed us from hell. Baby sacrifice? Let’s ritualize it with a fake sacrifice—remembering the sacrifice the Father made of Jesus Christ.
You understand the point? In practice, the “take dominion” theory does not hold up. At some point you have to stop "taking dominion."