by Chris Steele

December 17, 2006

We should appreciate the two articles in our bulletin today on the subject of the Christmas holiday. More need to take courage these days and stand for truth and right, as these brethren, Oliver and Rutherford, have done. Too often some would rather stand for what we have come to know as being “politically correct,” than to stand for being correct in God’s eyes.

In our day and time many congregations of the Lord’s church are “wanting to be like the nations around them” when it comes to religious holidays. They are mimicking man-made churches with their special services observing Christmas and Easter. Some even make a religious observance out of Thanksgiving and invite a variety of denominations to participate in their feasts and celebrations!

What has happened to our restoration roots, in “speaking where the Bible speaks and being silent where the Bible is silent?” How is it that we have come so far from the distinctiveness of our former days, to a time when some congregations do not look any different from every other religious group in town?

It takes every Christian, every member of the local church, every one of us, studying the Bible to make sure of what we believe and where we stand on religious holidays. Peter told us to “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). Paul added, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). When it comes to religious holidays there are big differences between faithful churches of Christ and the denominations around us.

We must not allow the religious world (or sometimes our own erring brethren) to intimidate us into leaving the “old paths” in which the prophet demanded that we ask for and walk in (Jeremiah 6:16).