Why I don’t Do Holy Days

Introduction

 “It is not only the love of life temporal, rightly honourable, nor yet the fear of corpeal death that moves me at this present to expound to you the injuries done against me and to cleave of you as of lawful powersby God appointed redress of the same. But partly proceeds from that reverence which proceeds which every man owes to eternal truth and partly from a love which I bear to your salvation and the salvation of my brethren abused in that realm by such as have no fear of God before their eyes. It hath pleased God of His infinite mercy not only to so illumine the eyes of my mind and so to touch my dull heart so clearly I see and by His grace unfeignedly believe that there is none other name given to men under the Heaven by which salvation consists of, save the name of Jesus alone, who by that sacrifice which He did offer once upon a cross has sanctified forever those that shall inherit the Kingdom of promise. But also it hath pleased Him by His super abundant grace to make and appoint me, most wretched of many thousands, a witness, minister and preacher of the same doctrine. Somewhere I did not spare to communicate while my brethren being with them in the realm of Scotland in the year of 1556, because I know myself to be a steward, and that accounts of the talent committed to my charge shall be required by Him, who shall admit not vain excuse which fearful men pretend. In doctrine I didfurther affirm as taught by my Master Christ Jesus that whosoever denieth Him, yay, or is ashamed of Him before the him shall Christ Jesus deny and and of him shall He be ashamed when He shall appear in His majesty. And therefore I feared not to affirm that of necessity it is that such as hope for life everlasting avoid all superstition, vain religion and idolatory. Vain religion and idolatory I call, what so ever is done in God’s service or honour without the express commandment of His own Word. This doctrine that I believe to be so conformable to the Holy Scriptures that I could not believe no creature could be so impudent to have damned any point or article as the same.” [John Knox]

 Some readers who know me online, may know of my poor estate, and holding to these doctrines have caused me to utter much the same as Job below, which is paraprhased by James Durham in his Lectures on Job. Which is why opening with Knox’s appeal seemed the way to go, because at the time he wrote it (1558) he was condemned to death as a heretic, for holding to Reformation, Biblical truths.

 “I am one mocked of his neighbour. “I am a man that is near the grave, and yet I am so far from being comforted, that they take their pastime of me. And it is not enemies that do this, but neighbours, and that not of the more common sort but professors of the same religion with me. It is not by a man that [lacks] religion, but by him that calls upon God, and he answers; by a man that prays to God, and gets a hearing in reference to his outward condition.” (as vs 5, clears.) “and has an easy life of it, in comparison of me.”

 In this paper, I plan to present a Scriptural argument as to why I no longer can in good conscience celebrate man made holy days such as x-mass and easter. And provide other links for further reading on this subject.

 This paper is not meant to be authorative, insofar as its how I see things. However, I believe it is the ONLY way to interpret Scripture on these points, and are hoping it may help someone else to be a bearean and search the Scriptures in an effort to find truth. The argument stands or falls on the Regulative Principle of Worship, as propounded in the Westminster Standards. Over my time (and ongoing) of studying this subject, I have come to believe the Regulative principle of Worship, is totally irrefutable on a Scriptural basis. If you can prove otherwise, then do let me know! But as the above demonstrates this hasn’t been an easy path to choose, yet where God leads what else can we do but follow? Even if following leads us into a desert or wilderness.

 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? (Mark 8:36) *

 All Scripture references unless otherwise stated will be from the English Standard Version.

 The Regulative Principle of Worship

 The Reformers (Calvin, Knox, etc) didn’t believe you had to make a graven image and bow down to it and worship it to be guilty of idolatory. Adding any invention made by mans’ mind and will was also committing idolatory in their view.

 John Knox further said: “All worshipping, honouring, or service invented by the brain of man in the religion of God, without his own express commandment, is idolatry.”

 The Westminster Confession of Faith in Chapter xx section II says: God alone is Lord of the conscience, [10] and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in any thing, contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship. [11] So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: [12] and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also. [13]

 The regulative principle of worship is founded upon four main points.

• The sufficiency of Scripture

• The Sovereignty of God.

• The wickedness of the human heart.

• The sufficiency of Christ.

 The first point the Sufficiency of Scripture shall be encompasssed by the other three points rather than being handled separately.

 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work . (2 Tim 3:16-17)
The Sovereignty of God.

 To deny the Regulative Principle of Worship is tatamount to saying, God needs man’s fallen will to make innovations outside of Scripture to worship God. Much like the Arminian view that God needs man’s help to save himself. That rather than salvation being a complete once only act of God, it’s a partnership between God and man. God is sovereign in how we worship Him, (or perhaps particularly so) as much as anything else. Succinctly put, God’s Sovereignty in all areas of life and faith and practice, is Calvinism (Biblical Christianity) at its very core. Anything else, is Arminianism, where God needs mans ideas and man’s will to accomplish His ends.

 “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” ( Col 2:23)

 God’s ways are totally righteous, we stand before him full of pollution. Making offerings of our own devising can only be offering polluted sacrifices.
The wickedness of the human heart.

 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it ? (Jeremiah 17:9)

 Even the best, amongst us. Those we credit with and account for having wisdom all have pride in them. We all do. That pride can take many forms, and it perverts our way. Thinking God needs us to add something to the Worship He prescribed is a form of pride.

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding . (Proverbs 3:5)

 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26)

 Pride leads us to think we know the mind of God perfectly.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts . (Isa 55:9)

 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deut 12:32) see the whole chapter and the verses immediately preceeding this were specifically referring to Worship. And just before that God was specifically speaking against Idolatory.
The sufficiency of Christ.

 Christ is King of His church. And in the Old covenant all the shadows in the ceremonial laws, of bloody sacrifices pointing to Christ, are no long binding on us. Christ fulfilled and abrogated them by being a once for all, forever sacrifice. As Head of His Church, (not the Queen of England or the Pope) what He has not authorized is not valid or allowed.

 In Genesis 4 we see the account of Cain and Abel each bringing a sacrifice to the Lord. One was an acceptable sacrifice and pleasing to God. Cain’s however was not. Was it because it was not the first fruit? Or was it because it was not the bloody sacrifice prescribed by God to be made as offerings? Either way, the result was Cain bought fruit from the land, and it was outside of what God authorized, it could never be first fruits because God did not authorize it. First Fruits are God ordained. When the Lord was angry with Cain for what he offered to Him, Cain became angry and his countenance fell. Which is pretty much the response that I have found comes from who I consider friends, or brothers and sisters in Christ, when saying I could not in good conscience celebrate man made holy days. I.e. x-mass and Easter. In the account of Cain and Abel, the anger that he felt was what led to him murdering his brother.

 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Heb 11:4)

 Offering polluted sacrifices, ie. Polluted by the taint of the human heart by being man’s innovations, and not God’s, is accounted as evil.

 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous . (1 John 3:11)

 I find it interesting in the Old Testament that God is so particular about His worship, He gave around 300 verses on giving instructions for the building of the tabernacle and all that occurred within it, and yet spent only around 30 verses on the whole of the creation. There is a huge emphasis on worship from God and how He guards it jealously, because it reflects His glory.

 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it . (Exodus 25:8-9)

 And again we see in Exodus 40 in verse after verse (16, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32) on the building of the tabernacle the same words repeated in each of the above verses: as the LORD had commanded Moses

 We see again later in Scripture in the building of the temple, in 1 Chronicles 28 God instructing exactly how he wants it made and all to do with it.

 In 1 Chronicles 13 , Uzzah, had good, even noble intent towards the ark of the covenant. The oxen stumbled and he put his hand out to steady the ark. But, God had said no one may touch the ark apart from the Levites, even though Uzzah was sincere, and had good intent he was sincerely wrong to add to what the Lord had instructed, and God struck him dead for it. But there was more to this incident than just this with Uzzah. First of all the Levites were supposed to carry the ark on poles, and this was not carried out as instructed. Uzzah feeling the need to steady the ark when the ox stumbled was a result of earlier instructions being disobeyed, and something besides or additonal being done in its place. When it was re-enacted in 1 chron 15 and carried out to the letter as God has instructed David, it was a blessed, rejoiceful time. But note at the end of that chapter, David was dancing and singing to the Lord, because all had gone to plan exactly as God instructed. But saul’s daughter, Michal tried to humilate him and despised him for it.

 Many professing Christians objecting to the Regulative Principle of Worship will immediately say we are under grace now, not the law. And intimate that God has loosened His wishes on this, and we may worship as we see fit. Of course there are changes from the Old covenant to the New one, but God Himself changed them, not man and He didn’t need man’s innovations to change them. In the New Covenant we are even more accountable than in the Old Covenant in some respects. As we have had the advent of Christ, its no longer just a foreshadowing of things to come. Christ came and died for us, so we have a higher debt.

 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly [ a ] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:22)

 Is God’s Word sufficient? Is Christ sufficient?

 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits [ a ] of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col 2:8)

 The Words of Christ Himself from Mark 7 (vs 6-9)

 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! (Mark 7:6-9)

 And again in John 4: (Vs 21-24)

 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

 When God went to so much trouble to instuct us in how to worship Him, when we disobey that and go our own way and add our own things we turn it into will worship, which is man centred and not God centred. We are not worshipping the True, Living God but one of our own vain imaginings. How else can we worship God in Spirit and in truth except by Spririt breathed Scripture, Where is the only absolute truth?. We all have some truth in us, none of us has perfect truth. That belongs to God alone. The spirit in us, is constantly battling against the flesh. Our highest thoughts are impure and tainted, God alones thoughts are only 100% pure and untainted by sin. When Charles Wesley or some other hymn writer was composing any of his hymns, do you think that during the writing of them, he never once had a sinful thought so to pollute the words. Yet God’s spririt filled truth (2 tim 3:16) can have no such filthiness attached to them.

 Is God’s word still sufficient? Is Christ still sufficient? Or do we need to add anything to His perfect work?
Is Christ-mass or Easter, pleasing to God or pleasing to man?

 Does Christmas please God? The only way to know that would be to read it within the page of Scripture of Him approving of it. Again, 2 Tim, 3:16. Most professing Christians will not deny the infallibility or Scripure or its sufficiency. But if we actually belive that a hundred per cent, then why do we act as if its incomplete and needs us to add something to it to make it right or proper? In Matthew 28:20 Christ Himself said:

 “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 He didn’t say teaching this and then a bit more that you think to add to it as you go along and makes you feel good to do so, even if you do it full of sincerity. He didn’t say do all that that I have commanded you and anything else that makes you happy as long as I have not expressly forbidden it. ALL. The simplicity of the gospel is to take everything at face value. Like the little child who takes in everything in that its parent says without question or doubting or devising on its own apart from its parents. In vs 18 of the same Chapter, Christ says:

 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. which speaks very much for itself.

 The only doctrines to exist in any validity are within the pages of Scripture. Anything not inside the Bible is not true doctrine. We can’t make up doctrines. We do not have the right or authority to. That authority belongs to God alone. When the canon of Scripture was closed, all doctrines that are Biblical were revealed and made known to us for all eternity. He doesn’t want our sacrifice, He DOES want our obedience.
Is what is not commanded prohibited?

 Because something is not specifically forbidden does not make it allowable or pleasing to God. To believe that is the way of Rome, who argue that because God did not forbid the use of rosaries, or the confessional booth, or the sprinkling of holy water it is allowable. The Bible could never be large enough to contain every thing God forbids us to do or does not allow. But in His infinite wisdom and being quite aware of that, He took the route of commanding us what to do, and telling us not to add anything unto.

 In Mark 7 the Lord rebukes the phrarisees for all their washing cermonies which were not commanded by God. These traditions were of their own devising, and they were bound by them, it was man centred and not God centred. The consciences of believers are often bound by the teaching of Christ-mass and Easter as having anything to do with Christ, or being Biblical or godly or pleasing to God. It has NO Biblical foundation. In Scripture there were times of fasting and thanksgiving and the Sabbath. They were authorized by God. Christmas in its earliest origins did not occur till at least 300 years after the advent of the Cross. If Christ did not teach Christmas, then how can it be Christian? It is a gross abuse of power for any minister to bind any of his flocks consciences by imposing will worship on them.
Christianized Paganism?

 In Jeremiah 10:2 God commands us:

 Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them

 Yet the earliest origins of Christmas come only from Paganism and the rituals associated with the pagan festivals of the time are still intertwined into Christmas to this very day.

 Why December 25th? We do not know the date of Christ’s birth, but we do know its December or the midst of winter is not likely to have been near the date. As sheperds tending their flock as in Luke 2:8 would not have occurred in the midst of winter

 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night

 Christ is silent on it. Scripture doesn’t speak on telling us to remember the Lord’s birth. The only thing we are told do in remembrance of Him is partake of the Lord’s Supper.

 December 25th during the early days of Christmas being introduced had formerly been the winter solstice. The sun worshippers celebrated the sun god. The sun god was changed to the Son of God in order to Christianize it.

 The word Easter originally comes from the word Ishtar and the “Ishtar Egg” was how the moon goddess came down to earth that fell into the Euphrates River. She was of course, “immaculately conceived”

 Why would any church integrate a pagan festival into its religon and celebrate it? To do so creates nothing but Christianized paganism. Leaving its pagan roots out of it a minute, why would any orthodox Christian, those of Protestantism, particularly of the Reformed Faith, want to celebrate a popish mass? God calls us out of the world and its rites:

 “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her pla (Revelation 18:4)

 I’ve had Romans 14:5-6 quoted to me as biblical warrant for liberty of conscience to celebrate these man made days if we wish to. Yet Paul was not talking about the same thing at all. He was talking about the ceremonies and festivals of the Old Covenant which were now no longer binding with the advent of Christ because He had fulfilled them. However, some of the weaker believers, still believing and feeling their consciences bound to celebrate the Jewish Old covenant festivals needed time to adjust. But the difference here is that these festivals were not of mans own devising they were commanded, by God Himslf. If feasts and festivals bought in by God himself were done away with. and deemed as no longer required or neccessary, how much more the need of those devised by man?

 What does God teach about bringing paganism into His religion. He tells us to not have any part of or approve of it. The way of the heathen is to seek for God’s will in any way he has not taught us to do.

 for the customs of the peoples are vanity. [ a ]
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. (Jer 10:3)

 When we do anything that God does not tell us or instruct us to do, we do it ultimately because we WANT to. By celebrating Christmas we are celebrating the way of the heathen and imitating them. When we read accounts of pagan rituals in Scripture we never see one single instance where God take the paganism or its rituals and changes it or alters it in any way and then reinstitutes it as a holy ritual. They are an abhorrence to Him and he wants NOTHING to do with them. We never see on single feast or festival not instituted by God of which He approves of. In chapter 12 of I Kings we see one such instance. Where Rehoboam devised his own religious festival. In the following chapter we see how God sent a prophet to tear the altar down. When we celebrate these man made holy days which are not commanded by God, are we not offering a similar kind of strange fire that Nadab and abihu offered. Anything not done in faith is sin. The instructions of what having or acting in faith means can only be read within the page of God’s Holy Writ, as His revealed will. So, I suggest that this adding to the word is not only not warranted by God, but in actualy fact is sinful and like numerous Scriptural instances where this was done is actually an abomination to Him.

 1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

 Professing Christians and none-Christians alike, celebrate Christmas to excess. Yet those same people will often sacrifice the Christian Sabbath for their own pleasures instead of hallowing it or sanctifyinig it. The Christian Sabbath is the ONLY Holy Day instituted by God, yet it is diregarded and desecreated, while the lust for Christmas can barely be satisfied. These man made holy days, rob from and detract from the Sabbath. Yet we have express warrant and command from God to keep the Sabbath day holy.

The Directory of Publik Worship says thus in its Appendix:

 THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath.

 Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued.

 Nevertheless, it is lawful and necessary, upon special emergent occasions, to separate a day or days for publick fasting or thanksgiving, as the several eminent and extraordinary dispensations of God’s providence shall administer cause and opportunity to his people. As no place is capable of any holiness, under pretence of whatsoever dedication or consecration; so neither is it subject to such pollution by any superstition formerly used, and now laid aside, as may render it unlawful or inconvenient for Christians to meet together therein for the publick worship of God. And therefore we hold it requisite, that the places of publick assembling for worship among us should be continued and employed to that use.

 The only holy day instituted by God is the Christian Sabbath.

 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. ”

 Christ should be honoured every day, He should be honoured particualry on each and every Lord’s Day. When we aim to honour God, we can only have good intent. Yet, the standard for good intent can only be taken from the pages of scripture. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 The Regulative Principle of Worship’s whole directive is that God alone has authority to guide us in all matters of religion. Whether that’s HOW to worship Him, or so-called relgious Holy Days. What Jesus hasn’t said, we don’t say on His behalf thinking He forgot, or over-looked, or that He has now changed His mind. How many times does Scripture teach that God is immutable and unchanging? One of the last commands in Scripture

 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev 22:18)

 So finally again. Is Scripture sufficient? Is Christ sufficient? If so, then the Regulative Principle of Worship can not be denied as having Biblical warrant in its whole principle. And I defy anyone on this earth to prove otherwise!

 This paper maybe revised at some point, as I could say alot more on this subject, but will rest here for now.
Relevant Links to be added