All this "Holy Week" Nonsense...

[darin]

The older I get - maybe it's coincidence and not age-related? - I'll say "as time goes by" I'm becoming less and less concerned about a particular celebration of anything holiday-related. The big holiday - Christmas - doesn't provide any motivation to change anything about myself or my conduct simply by the date of the year being 25 Dec. "B-But it's CHRIST's Birthday!! Don't you care about the Baby-Jesus??" Well..no, it's not His birthday. Not really even close. And it's not even really about Christ. I try to set 'levels' of "I give a crap about (x)". The first level is, "Is this truth?" Christmas' cause for creation isn't about Christ at all. In fact, there's no biblical instruction or precedent for the celebration. Thus, the importance of the holiday falls down a couple notches. It's a tradition of the Church. Traditions (and most churches lately) bug the crap out of me because people adhere to them for what usually become horrible reasons. "We've always done it". Blah. Without instruction or implication or even suggestion from Biblical grounds, it carries no weight in terms of being special. I might argue the holiday sorta flies in the face of Christ himself...at least the origins of the day.

Easter is the same way for me. It's almost silly nowadays. Celebrating things serve little purpose except to show off how 'moved' we are about the event. That's Pride. Now I'm reading things about "holy week"...what the heck? HOLY week? What's Holy about it? The days MAN names as special don't make them special to God. Truly thankful people (those thankful for His birth, death, and resurrection) don't take time off from being thankful, only to ramp-it-up based on the calendar. People who truly follow the teachings of Christ don't put on shows of their devotion for others to see. People who genuinely love God are compelled to Love him - and that love can't be hidden, as it oozes from them - every day of the year.

Course, these holidays might be cash-cows for Churches, and churches do a lot of good for communities with some exceptions. I know they are great for retail establishments. "Hey, it's Christmas - you have to BUY something (from us) for somebody you may or may not know!!" Or..."Happy Spring-Holiday (easter) - be sure and buy a lot of our stuff to hand out to what are likely over-sugar'ed children!"

Bah, Humbug.

Wanna try to impress God with your actions or rituals? Go for it. But call it for what it is - don't try to create Holiness around the days WE (Hyoo-mans) decided were officially special. Holidays can be GREAT fun. It's nice to find occasions to get-together with family and friends. I love how excited my kids get while hunting eggs. But that's as far as it goes. I won't indoctrinate my kids with delusions about how God somehow feels happier because we "celebrate" an event like that. I'll teach them God is solely concerned with our heart/attitude/emotions towards others. That above all else, God suggests we Love people.

Rituals. "Sins". Actions. Those things don't matter so much. When questioned on the most-important commandment, Christ made no mention of sins to avoid. He made no mention of rituals or traditions to keep. Christ simply said to Love God and People (at least) as much we love ourselves. To care for one-another.

"holy week" is a man-made label with no purpose I can see; only serves to drive a wedge between those who claim to know God, and those annoyed at those who claim to know God.

[chloe]

The older I get - maybe it's coincidence and not age-related? - I'll say "as time goes by" I'm becoming less and less concerned about a particular celebration of anything holiday-related. The big holiday - Christmas - doesn't provide any motivation to change anything about myself or my conduct simply by the date of the year being 25 Dec. "B-But it's CHRIST's Birthday!! Don't you care about the Baby-Jesus??" Well..no, it's not His birthday. Not really even close. And it's not even really about Christ. I try to set 'levels' of "I give a crap about (x)". The first level is, "Is this truth?" Christmas' cause for creation isn't about Christ at all. In fact, there's no biblical instruction or precedent for the celebration. Thus, the importance of the holiday falls down a couple notches. It's a tradition of the Church. Traditions (and most churches lately) bug the crap out of me because people adhere to them for what usually become horrible reasons. "We've always done it". Blah. Without instruction or implication or even suggestion from Biblical grounds, it carries no weight in terms of being special. I might argue the holiday sorta flies in the face of Christ himself...at least the origins of the day.

Easter is the same way for me. It's almost silly nowadays. Celebrating things serve little purpose except to show off how 'moved' we are about the event. That's Pride. Now I'm reading things about "holy week"...what the heck? HOLY week? What's Holy about it? The days MAN names as special don't make them special to God. Truly thankful people (those thankful for His birth, death, and resurrection) don't take time off from being thankful, only to ramp-it-up based on the calendar. People who truly follow the teachings of Christ don't put on shows of their devotion for others to see. People who genuinely love God are compelled to Love him - and that love can't be hidden, as it oozes from them - every day of the year.

Course, these holidays might be cash-cows for Churches, and churches do a lot of good for communities with some exceptions. I know they are great for retail establishments. "Hey, it's Christmas - you have to BUY something (from us) for somebody you may or may not know!!" Or..."Happy Spring-Holiday (easter) - be sure and buy a lot of our stuff to hand out to what are likely over-sugar'ed children!"

Bah, Humbug.

Wanna try to impress God with your actions or rituals? Go for it. But call it for what it is - don't try to create Holiness around the days WE (Hyoo-mans) decided were officially special. Holidays can be GREAT fun. It's nice to find occasions to get-together with family and friends. I love how excited my kids get while hunting eggs. But that's as far as it goes. I won't indoctrinate my kids with delusions about how God somehow feels happier because we "celebrate" an event like that. I'll teach them God is solely concerned with our heart/attitude/emotions towards others. That above all else, God suggests we Love people.

Rituals. "Sins". Actions. Those things don't matter so much. When questioned on the most-important commandment, Christ made no mention of sins to avoid. He made no mention of rituals or traditions to keep. Christ simply said to Love God and People (at least) as much we love ourselves. To care for one-another.

"holy week" is a man-made label with no purpose I can see; only serves to drive a wedge between those who claim to know God, and those annoyed at those who claim to know God.

I don't like christmas either it always feels like a pressure to buy to things. For some reason I like easter, maybe its just because its spring, but I also like the idea that Jesus overthrew the death sentence and rose form the dead if its a true story then its a cool one. I wish we had heros in modern day likes the people you hear about from the bible who are loving healers. Who knew God was real with conviction and love and who helped people who felt lost. Today people seem out for themselves most of all. I guess thats why I am always looking at what different religions think and in the end it seems like the humans puts rules and regulations on it that seem more judgemental and unhelpful.

[Abbey Marie]

Holidays help us to focus. Most of us are easily distracted by day-to-day life and need to be pushed to focus on the spiritual. That doesn't make the day or week bad. It is just human nature. And on a secular note, these days tend to bring families together for a lot of talk and nice "fellowship". I don't see any thing wrong in either case.

As for Christmas, it is exactly what we make it. I have no problem limiting who I buy gifts for to those that I want to buy for.

I will say though that Easter is my least favorite day to go to Church. It's kind of frenetic, and I really don't like dressing up anymore. The quieter Holy Thursday and Good Friday services are much more to my liking.

[-Cp]

Holidays help us to focus. Most of us are easily distracted by day-to-day life and need to be pushed to focus on the spiritual. That doesn't make the day or week bad. It is just human nature. And on a secular note, these days tend to bring families together for a lot of talk and nice "fellowship". I don't see any thing wrong in either case.

As for Christmas, it is exactly what we make it. I have no problem limiting who I buy gifts for to those that I want to buy for.

I will say though that Easter is my least favorite day to go to Church. It's kind of frenetic, and I really don't like dressing up anymore. The quieter Holy Thursday and Good Friday services are much more to my liking.


Abbey,

Do you need a certain day, 2-3 times per year to "focus" on your husband? (who I assume you love).

[darin]

Abbey - Holidays sure are nice; I suppose I'm cynical to their motivation and the importance placed upon them. I'm rebelling against people who get bent out of shape; who feel the need to fight for their Holiday as if God himself has ordained the events.

[Abbey Marie]

Abbey,

Do you need a certain day, 2-3 times per year to "focus" on your husband? (who I assume you love).

-Cp, I don't think I will give any personal answer to your question as I don't think it is anyone's business. I will point out, though, that my post referred to "most" people needing help to focus, not you or me.

Does it not make sense to you that it is far easier for most people to focus on a physical being living in their home, whom they can touch and see, than a spiritual one? Whether or not it is easy for you or for me to focus on the Lord our God 365 days of the year is of no consequence, as I do not expect the customs of the church to revolve around my particular abilities.

Happy Easter! :)

[Abbey Marie]

Abbey - Holidays sure are nice; I suppose I'm cynical to their motivation and the importance placed upon them. I'm rebelling against people who get bent out of shape; who feel the need to fight for their Holiday as if God himself has ordained the events.


I understand what you are saying. I guess I see those "fighters" as people fearing that the traditions of their faith are being chipped away. Chipped away not by believers like you who just see a better way, but by those who seek to destroy what we have all-together and leave us with a godless culture.

[-Cp]

-Cp, I don't think I will give any personal answer to your question as I don't think it is anyone's business. I will point out, though, that my post referred to "most" people needing help to focus, not you or me.

Does it not make sense to you that it is far easier for most people to focus on a physical being living in their home, whom they can touch and see, than a spiritual one? Whether or not it is easy for you or for me to focus on the Lord our God 365 days of the year is of no consequence, as I do not expect the customs of the church to revolve around my particular abilities.

Happy Easter! :)

Sorry.. I should've kept it more impersonal...

No, I isn't any easier to focus on someone phyiscal - A true walk with the Lord shows that he is a touchable, tangible God..