I wanted to blog yesterday, but I was preoccupied. Was I singing Christmas carols? No. Eating the Christmas goose? No. Visiting family and friends? No. Last evening, I decided to finish compulating student grades since I have 4:30 p.m. deadline today. I cooked three meals for my wife, and graded. That's what I did yesterday in the true spirit of a non-Sabbath day.
Back to the issue of why Baptists even observe Christmas. To make a long story short, it has much to do with the interaction of American religious culture during the mid-19th century that began to include elements of Lutheranism. Remember, Luther never shunned the Roman Catholic Christian Calendar; therefore, Lutheran churches retained the feast days. During the 19th century, more and more German immigrants came to America and immigrants from Scandanavia all brought Christmas traditions such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees and decorations, etc.
My issue with Baptists observing Christmas is that it is inconsistent with their doctrine of Sola Scriptura and the regulative principle of worship. Christmass is a human invention; it is "will-worship." There is no warrant in Scripture for it. Jesus never commanded to celebrate his birt annually on Dec 25.
Please, don't get me wrong. The Church should proclaim the totality of the person and work of Christ, but not in disaccord with the biblical emphasis. Only two gospels narrate the birth of Christ, but all narrate his passion, death, and crucifixion. We, as African American Baptists, need to tell the whole story all of the time. If we preach through the gospels, we will give more than due emphasis on the whole of Christ's life and work on behalf of his people.
There is no biblical warrant for a Christian year. Let's hold truly to our doctrine of Sola Scriptura and the regulative principle of worship.
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3 comments:
Greetings! Saw your post in Google Blogsearch and came to read. I enjoyed your series on bpatist and Christmas and took time to read through your Nov and Oct posts. I too wrote some posts earlier on the phenomunom of baptists and evangelicals observing Advebnt and Christmas.
I noted that while you are firmly Baptist, that you are formerly Catholic. As such, I would like to invite you to rediscover the Catholic Church. I fully understand your comfort with Sola Scriptura and it's safe minimalist system of dctrines and practices. Should you ever decide to revisit the Catholic faith, you'll find some nice resources here: CatholicsComeHome.org
God bless and Good Sabbath to you... +Timothy
Timothy, I'm glad to know you've read some posts. I am flattered and tickled by your invitation to return to Rome. I was six when I left, but I'm still intrigued with Rome as an institution. I study Roman Catholic dogma for teaching purposes and apologetic purposes. I have no inclination to return to Rome; I consider myself Catholic in the Protestant Reformed sense. I believe in the ecumenical creeds and draw from the Church Fathers as my forebears in the Reformed faith did like Calvin.
I'll check out your posts.
Good Sabbath evening.
Timothy, before you get a chance to read this let me offer a quick retraction. I note now in your comment that you never mention Roman Catholic. I apologize.
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