O you who love the Lord, hate evil! – Ps. 97:10 ~ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – Pro. 14:12
FTA: Is Christmas in the Bible?
One of the best examples of what God thinks about humans borrowing and adapting false (pagan) customs (for holidays like Christmas) to use toward worshipping Him is in Exodus 32.
God calls Moses up the mount to receive the Ten Commandments. The children of Israel must wait at the foot of the mountain for him to return. As time passes, the Israelites grow restless. When Aaron, the High Priest, sees this he tells the people to bring him their jewelry so that he can melt it down and make them an idol (shaped like a calf) for them to worship.
God’s response to the people using pagan customs to worship him (as is done in Christmas) was swift. He did not accept Israel’s worship through the golden calf even though Aaron the High Priest was involved. His anger was kindled toward the people to the point where he was ready to destroy them all (Exodus 32:4 – 5, 7, 10)! It took the personal intervention of Moses to save the people from being completely destroyed (verses 11 – 14).
Customs used to worship false gods that are transferred to the true God, like is done with Christmas and other holiday, are unacceptable since the Bible never compromises with paganism. This is exactly the point the apostle Paul was making in 1Corinthians 10.
What then am I saying? That an idol is anything, or that which is sacrificed to an idol is anything? But that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not wish you to have fellowship with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and the table of demons. Now do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1Corinthians 10:19 – 22, HBFV).
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. – Romans 13:14
Here then, is one striking evidence of the deceitfulness of the heart. It produces ignorance of ourselves; it keeps men strangers to their own character; and makes them fatally presume that they are in friendship with God, while they are enemies to Him in their minds and by wicked works. ~from THE DECEITFULNESS OF THE HEART by David Black
“If we would hold fast that which is good, we must not tolerate or countenance any doctrine that is not the pure doctrine of Christ’s Gospel. There is a hatred that is downright charity: that is the hatred of erroneous doctrine. There is an intolerance which is downright praiseworthy: that is the intolerance of false teaching in the pulpit. Who would ever think of tolerating a little poison given to him day by day? If men come among you who do not preach all the counsel of God, who do not preach of Christ, and sin, and holiness, of ruin, and redemption, and regeneration,—or do not preach of these things in a scriptural way, you ought to cease to hear them. You ought to act upon the injunction given by the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament: ‘Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge’ (Prov. 19: 27). You ought to carry out the spirit shown by the Apostle Paul, in Gal. 1:8: ‘Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.’ If we can bear to hear Christ’s truth mangled or adulterated—and can see no harm in listening to that which is another Gospel—and can sit at ease while sham Christianity is poured into our ears—and can go home comfortably afterwards and not burn with holy indignation—if this be the case, there is little chance of our ever doing much to resist Rome. If we are content to hear Jesus Christ not put in His rightful place, we are not men and women who are likely to do Christ much service, or fight a good fight on His side. He that is not zealous against error, is not likely to be zealous for truth.” — J.C. Ryle
2 Corinthians 6:14-16
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
1 Corinthians 10:21
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
Ezekiel 6:9 …how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from Me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.
We grieve God’s heart when we mix religious paganism (Christ Mass traditions of men) with our worship of Him. Yes. It hurts Him because He is a jealous God and loves us deeply.
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