God alone determines how we approach him, how we are
reconciled... how we worship. He establishes the criteria and fulfills it. We
don't contribute to the plan of the Gospel. We don't get to participate in the
negotiations so to speak
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And the days that some
were keeping in the passage were Jewish ones. Paul nowhere had in mind that
Christians in Rome would appropriate holidays to Zeus and Christianize them.
That passage has been tortured by those seeking to assuage their consciences.
On what basis can you celebrate Christ-mass?
Where do we find in Scripture that the Church is supposed to
create special times and seasons for worship? Where do we find that one day is
to be placed above or set aside from another?
In fact we find explicit evidence to the contrary.
Where do we find that we invent new ways to honour
(approach) God based on the pagan customs of the world, even if those customs
are from a different era and don't 'mean' the same things today?
If you do 'keep' Christmas, then do you keep the whole
liturgical year? Do you keep Advent, Lent, Epiphany, Ascension, All Saints,
etc...?
If not, why not? On what basis do you accept some days and
reject the others?
Your feelings?
Scripture? Surely not.
Your tradition? How do you know your tradition is right when
other church traditions say different?
If tradition is the authority, how do you determine which
tradition to follow?
If tradition is your authority, why would you be so strict
in the formulation of how we approach God in terms of salvation/reconciliation
but not strict in how that is expressed?
If you keep Christmas, you deny Sola Scriptura. You cannot
have it both ways.
The Protestants who adopted and retained Christmas adhere to
Sola Scriptura in name only. They are sitting on the fence. Their hallowed
Reformation was ultimately not about returning to Scripture. Instead it merely
rolled back centuries of the worst abuses and departures. But a Church rolled
back to the say the 4th or 5th century in terms of
doctrinal proximity to Scripture is still on the same road... a road of
departure. But since we live in the 21st century the culture is
different and so the road will venture into different places. Protestantism was
bound to degenerate and it certainly has. The process started before the
Reformers were in the grave.
Yes, I am assuming the early pre-Constantinian church held a
greater purity. And no, I'm not terribly keen on the notion of theological
advance and development. The very notion establishes an extra-Biblical
authority and represents an equation of tradition and at the very least a sort
of crypto-intellectual Magisterium.
If we were meant to build a massive intellectual apparatus
based on deduction and coherence then the Scripture was at best a starting
point... not a criterion that determines Truth from falsehood. It certainly could
not be spoken of as sufficient. Paul's final words in 2 Timothy are at best
misleading and reductionist. The Scriptures would not make us complete. They
would only be getting us started. And at that point true piety some twenty
centuries later would have to rest not on Scripture, that would be going backwards,
but on the intellectual body of ideas which have followed it. You would be
better served reading a modern theology book than Scripture. Maybe the Liberals
are right after all!
But of course, the idea that we could then 'know' anything
with certainty would go right out the window.
The Reformation did not resolve some of the most basic
issues. They are still with us and those who rest on the Reformation tradition
are building on sand.
Instead I will stand with the Remnant that has through the
ages insisted Scripture Alone is the authority. I will not bow to the
traditions of Christendom and the Beast-allied Babylonian Whore. Not all have been consistent when it comes to this particular tradition but they stood on a foundation quite different from the Magisterial Protestants and their descendants.
Christmas itself is in the end, not that critical. But it represents the most fundamental issue by which the Church stands or falls...
Authority.
Twenty years ago I became the Lord's free man... I was freed
from this bondage and have never looked back.