Don't mistake me for thinking that all pagan creations are abominable, and that we ought not to have anything to do with the things they produce or concoct.
Glad to hear it.
Pagans do many good things, and have produced many good things. But they also do many detestable things, which Christians ought not to follow.
I'd argue that isn't what's happening at Easter, or Christmas or with birthdays any more than marriage recognized by the state would necessarily be a pagan institution if they'd thought up the notion or form in relation to the state.
Obviously they didn't. Air conditioning was not yet invented.
So there are things that can be completely acceptable that weren't stamped by the church fathers.
But the tradition of birthdays was well established in biblical times. Genesis 40:20-22 makes record of perhaps one of the earliest birthday celebrations - Pharoh's birthday. Now, was Pharoh a saint?
Of course not. But we've already established that not everything a pagan does is inherently bad or forbidden.
re: Jews celebrating birthdays
The fact that such a thought is happy to you, says alot about you.
First, it says that I don't agree with your objection to celebrating a birthday and that I find the thought of a joyful celebration (one I noted should be an extension of the life lived for and with God) as a good thing. Secondly, I think you diminish joy without reason or warrant. Won't impact grace and as I said before, if you're determined to think the worst of it by all means steer clear of what would be a sin you've made for yourself.
You see your life as a partnership with God? Were were you when you were first brought into existence? Seems like He did that part all by Himself.
I think that if a person, anyone, really wants to try hard enough to insinuate something negative about nearly anything they can, but what a waste of time and energy.
My life is a partnership in the best possible sense, in that I walk through it directed by and in relation with Him, being mindful of that and of Him, if imperfectly. It isn't an equal partnership, of course, but that's only common sense. Not something a Christian should have to explain to another, really.
re: the moral high-ground holiday tug of war
No, they aren't.
Again, no pagan is going to tell you that he's off to celebrate the resurrection of Christ or his birth. Neither a tree nor a calendar date alters the truth of what a Christian is about during either period.
In what way(s) are you glorifying God, by celebrating them?
How is celebrating the birth of Christ or his resurrection glorifying God? Really? Or are you back to birthdays?
I suppose you think that Peter's vision meant that all animals are fit for consumption.
My understanding is in alignment with Cambridge Commentary: "What God hath cleansed, that call [make] not thou common] The heaven-sent voice revokes what had been enjoined from heaven at the giving of the Law. The power which made the restriction can remove it. That it would be removed Christ had intimated (Matthew 15:11), “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man.” The old dispensation is now to give place to the new, and Peter is taught by the vision that men are not to make such distinctions and separations for themselves. “For meat destroy not the work of God” (Romans 14:20)."
You?
That's a happy thought.
