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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
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Christmas and Legalism
- Thread starter lismore
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Just don't do it if you do not want to. Realize that other people want to and let them. Someone who would break from you over a silly decoration was never your friend to start with. Enjoy the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior in the way you choose in faith.
Whatever is not of faith is sin. So whatever you do, do it in faith.
Whatever is not of faith is sin. So whatever you do, do it in faith.
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Mercy Shown
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I think the frustration being expressed is understandable, especially when people feel pressured during a season that can already be emotionally heavy. That said, depending on the company one keeps, there can be just as much pressure not to engage in holiday activities as there is to engage in them. Some feel judged for putting up a tree; others feel judged for not doing so. Pressure can exist on both sides.Hello!
I was talking with a lady who has recently lost her husband, she reports being under intense peer pressure, which she thought was a form of legalism, to do silly stuff she doesn't want to do. Specifically regarding trees/decorations/turkeys and the like. She said she hates this time of year, wishes it was over and that people would stop pressurizing her. I agreed with her, at this time of year there is pressure to do things you don't want to do from other Christians. Maybe well meaning people, sometimes maybe trying to make conversation, but I find it rather wearing. Pressure and competition, I detect a lot of people are trying doing this stuff as a form of oneupmanship. Like the guy who needs a bigger tree and more glowing gnomes and Odins in their garden than the person next door.
Leaving aside the possible pagan origins of much of this stuff is it Biblical to pressure people to do something they don't want to do? There's no biblical command telling us to put up a 'Christmas Tree', or to take a present from a man dressed as Santa aka Odin at a church party, or to sings songs about flying deer. Or forcing someone to wear a Santa hat or an Elf hat when they don't want to (yes, in a previous year I was forced to wear an elf hat to participate as a helper at a church event). Why then are people pressured into doing this if they don't want to? Isn't it a form of legalism? Being forced to partake in possible Paganism in Church? I detect churches are more likely to have a Santa and a tree than a nativity scene.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
I have been told that's it's a form of legalism to tell people not to engage in certain activities, so why then isn't it legalism to compel people to engage in those activities?
I have been told that it would be legalism to acknowledge various Old Testament Biblical Feasts or to encourage others to do so. Why then isn't it Legalism to compel others to revere a flying fat all knowing midget from the North pole?
For those who don't think churches could revere demons or compel others to do so, there's 'Tuesday' for example. A day of the week named to honour a pagan god of war. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the same. Living in a pagan world aren't we meant to be aware of the devil's schemes, rather then going along with anything and everything, afterall Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
God Bless Alland happy Christmas. Hope you find a time of peace and joy in remembering the Saviour's birth and please don't take my post as critical or judgemental. I'm asking Qs from a place of frustration is all.
This is precisely where Romans 14 is so helpful. Paul is clear that believers will differ on disputable matters—days, foods, practices—and that the real problem is not the practice itself, but judging one another over it. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” (Rom. 14:4). Whether one participates freely or abstains conscientiously, each does so unto the Lord. The command is not uniformity, but charity.
Regarding origins, the historical roots of a practice have little bearing on what that practice means to people now. If pagan origins alone were disqualifying, consistency would require far more than rejecting Christmas trees. We would need to rename the days of the week and months of the year, avoid common greetings, and possibly even refrain from shaking hands with the pastor at the church door—since handshakes themselves have roots in ancient ritual and symbolism. Much of human culture is inherited, repurposed, and re-signified over time.
Christian history is full of examples where practices once associated with pagan cultures were emptied of their former meaning and given new significance. The question, biblically speaking, is not “Where did this originate?” but “What does this mean to the conscience of the believer now?” (Rom. 14:22–23; 1 Cor. 10:25–26).
Legalism cuts both ways. It is legalism to compel someone to participate against conscience, and it is legalism to forbid participation where Scripture has not forbidden it. Paul’s concern is not trees, days, or decorations, but the erosion of love and unity through judgment.
If Christ has set us free, then that freedom must include space for others to walk differently in secondary matters—without pressure, without suspicion, and without assuming spiritual compromise on either side. The call is to bear with one another in love, especially in small things, so that Christ—not our preferences—remains central.
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