CELEBRATING
BIRTHDAYS?
Part Three
by
Keith Hunt
GOD THE FATHER CELEBRATED THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY!
Jesus Christ was a teenager. Jesus Christ was in our
language, a grade schooler. Jesus was a pre-schooler. Jesus was
a toddler. Jesus Christ was a literal flesh and blood BABY. He
was BORN on a certain day, of a certain month, of a certain year.
His mother Mary and Joseph KNEW the day of the week on which
He was born. The shepherds in the field knew what day of the year
He was born. The angels of heaven were there and knew when His
BIRTHDAY was.
The Father in heaven KNEW EXACTLY the minute and the day
Jesus was born in that stable in the city of David.
But the Father had ALREADY DECREED that that day would not
be revealed in THIS age. The Father has decreed it would be so
for very good reasons indeed.
First, if the day of Christ's birth was common knowledge,
you could count on it, the Church of God would want to set up
that day to praise and worship God for that blessed event. Look
what the Christianity of the world has done without knowing the
day.
Secondly, the Father had already given to His Church the 7
annual international worship festivals to teach His plan of
salvation to His people. And a festival of worldwide scope to
celebrate the BIRTH of Christ the Messiah was, in the Father's
wisdom and decree, not to be included as one of the 7 feasts of
the Lord, nor was it to be added to those 7 feasts.
We may wonder why, but God is God, so it was decreed, so it
was written, so it was done. He no where tells us to celebrate
Christ's birthday. He did not give it to us, so it's impossible
to celebrate it. For reasons presently known to heaven, the
Father wants us to only celebrate the DEATH of Jesus and not
His birth.
But with all that said, does that mean the Father looked
upon the birth of Christ with DISTASTE? Or with INDIFFERENCE?
Or with callous NEUTRALITY? As something to IGNORE or HIDE
from?
This was a member of the VERY Godhead. This was the one who
had been with the Father from eternity. This was He who WAS God,
yet dwelt WITH God. This was He who did the creating for the one
we now call the Father. He that SPOKE and it was done. He who
shaped man from the dust of the ground, who created woman from
the man's rib. This was He who, "being the form of God, did not
consider it robbery(to be held on to) to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness of men, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross"
(Phil.2:6-8 NKJV).
This was He that the Father LOVED, and He who loved the
Father and was willing to put aside the GLORY and PERFECTION
as God for a time, and was willing to come and DO the Father's will
and desire.
How could God the Father, who is LOVE, think that the BIRTH
of God into the physical world of mankind was to be IGNORED or
something unimportant?
Such could not possibly be the way of a HOLY, PERFECT, and
JUST God. And IT WAS NOT! The Father made sure the GREATEST
BIRTH this world has and ever will witness, DID NOT GO UN-
NOTICED BY HIM, NOR WITHOUT CELEBRATION!
Do you think heaven was SILENT at this birth? Do you think
the angels in heaven thought there was something evil about this
greatest of births? Do you think the 24 elders around the throne
of God were claiming birthdays were sinful? Do you think the
heavenly host were proclaiming that the Father does not rejoice
in birthdays? Do you believe God the Father was telling all
heaven, "Well, we will not celebrate this day because the
deceived pagan people of earth have been observing birthdays, and
sometimes doing evil upon those days, like getting drunk" ? Do
you think the Father in heaven was telling the angels, "Remember
how those evil pagans celebrated the birth of that child Tammuz,
whom Satan palmed off as the savior to come. Well we sure will
not celebrate any birthday, even this day in which God is born as
a man" ?
When Jesus - God - was born in the flesh, when IMMANUEL
(God with us) came to tabernacle with men, the angels of heaven
SANG WITH PRAISE!! God the Father BEAMED WITH JOY,
for this was to be the first-born son of human kind, the first human
to enter the Kingdom or Family of God. This was the one who was to
be the leader of the way to the Father, the first of millions of
children to come from the realm of flesh and blood to the realm
of DIVINE SPIRIT!
What a MONUMENTAL time in history - what a DAY in the
endless ages of eternity. The plan of salvation had been
formulated BEFORE the world was, so it is written, so it would be
done. Now an EPIC day of that plan had arrived - God would be
born as flesh and blood to live and die that lost mankind, under
the sentence of death, could find LIFE with the Father for all
eternity.
Was the Father CELEBRATING that BIRTHDAY?
Oh, you BET HE WAS!!
Heaven was having the biggest BIRTHDAY PARTY ever called.
If the angels sang for joy when the foundations of the earth were
laid (as the book of Job says they did) in anticipation of God's
plan, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WERE DOING WHEN GOD
WAS BORN TO REDEEM HUMANS TO THE VERY GOD LEVEL
OF LIFE?
Yes, heaven was DANCING that day (probably get some angry at
that because they think the Bible says dancing is a sin).
And the Father made sure SOME humans were present for that
birthday party of His son. He sent angels to invite some lowly
shepherds to HONOR and APPRECIATE the greatest human ever
born.
He sent wise kings of the earth from far away, guided by a star,
to come and HONOR that birth of the King of Kings, with presents
of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So it was a little time after
the actual day of birth when these wise men arrived, but they
came to celebrate His birth and that is the plain truth.
When did you last read about that wonderful birth? Maybe
you need to read again about that BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
instituted and attended by the Father and the host of heaven once more.
It's found in the first chapters of Matthew and Luke.
PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL TYPES AND CELEBRATIONS
It has truly been said that the HUMAN family is a type of
the HEAVENLY family of God. And indeed that is so. Two Beings
in the Godhead (Father and Son - God and Christ) will be head over
the entire children of that family - the Kingdom of God. It is
written that God is head of Christ, and the man is head of the
woman, yet both work as a team in unity and love and purpose.
Human parents can reproduce and have children after their
KIND, and so the heavenly parents (God and Christ) are
reproducing through the power of the Holy Spirit, children after
THEIR KIND (Gen.1:26).
There is a BEGETTAL first of humans (the egg and the seed
coming together to form a child in the womb) then after about 9
months of GROWTH there is a human BIRTH. So it is with God in
type, and His reproduction of children after His kind.
First, a BEGETTAL of divine holy spirit with the spirit in
man - Rom.8:9-17. Then comes a period of growth and developing to
a MATURE child of God, which at the RESURRECTION manifests
itself as a BIRTH into the very divine Holy Spirit body of beings, the
family called God, when we shall be fully like Him for we shall
see Him as He is (1 John 3:1-3).
Do human parents celebrate when a new begotten child is
CONCEIVED? Yes, they do! Now does God celebrate and rejoice
when a new begotten child of His is CONCEIVED? Oh yes, indeed!
It is written, the angels in heaven sing and rejoice over one sinner
that repents. There is a great PARTY TIME in heaven at each new
baptism into the family of God.
Do human parents celebrate when their child is BORN? Yes
indeed!
Will God and Christ and the heavenly host celebrate and
rejoice when the begotten children are BORN into the Kingdom of
God? You bet they will! Many passages of Scripture plainly tell
us about that truth. There will be rejoicing UNIMAGINABLE on
the sea of glass in the clouds when all the saints are born into the
very family of God, at the time of the resurrection when Jesus
returns to welcome His BORN brothers and sisters into eternity.
For those who know the truth of when a Christian is really
BORN AGAIN, then that sea of glass day will be one HUGE
BIRTHDAY celebration!
That will be the time - the BIRTHDAY time of God's faithful
and true children. It will be one literal day, when the last
trump will sound, when the dead in Christ shall rise together
with those who are alive in the flesh, to be caught up to meet
the Lord in the air, in the clouds, and so be with Him for ever
more (1 Thes.4:13-18; Zech.14:1-9).
It shall be the BIRTH-DAY time of the saints from flesh and
blood to divine Holy Spirit, from the realm of the mortal to the
realm of the immortal (1 Cor.15:50-54). It shall be a PARTY like
no other - happiness, joy, rejoicing, singing, praising God and
congratulating all the saints for BEING BORN! It will be the
biggest birthday celebration ever held to that time in eternity.
Just imagine meeting and talking to BORN saints like Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, John the
Baptist, Peter, Paul, James, John, and thousands more. If you
don't think this is going to be some huge birthday celebration
then you had better re-read all the passages in the word
concerning that day.
It will be a BIRTHDAY where PRESENTS will be handed out
FROM Christ to ALL and every saint, what we have worked for
- earned - in our physical Christian life will be justly REWARDED
(Rev.22:12).
For those who understand the truth about WHEN you are BORN
AGAIN, this will be a day like no other. Jesus comes to gather
His brothers and sisters on their birthday to Him in the clouds,
on the sea of glass, to sing and rejoice at their birth, and for Him to
give them presents, rewards for their works.
It will be a day like no other to that time because it will
also be a MARRIAGE FEAST DAY, when the bride of Christ (the
Church - the called out ones of God) has made herself ready, when
she will be clothed in white fine linen, and when she will be
called to the marriage supper of the Lamb - Revelation 19:4-9.
There are MANY types used in the word of the Lord concerning
this glorious resurrection day when the saints will inherit and
be born into the Kingdom of God. There is the Shepherd, the door
to the sheep fold and the sheep that only follow the true
shepherd in. There is the wheat and the tares that must grow
together until the harvest. There is the net of fish that one day
must be sorted. There is the rich nobleman who goes away to
receive a Kingdom and returns to give his servants according to
their works.
Many types are used to teach us about that special day yet
to come, but can anyone who knows the truth about when the saints
will be BORN AGAIN(at the resurrection) DENY it will be a day of
BIRTH celebration? I think not!
How wonderful it is that the Lord has given us the human
family - so many teachings and types does it portray to us about
the God family - what they are accomplishing here below by
creating the human family.
Is it good to rejoice and celebrate the birthday of someone
you love?
All of God's word and nature and types says YES, if you so
desire, for you are not commanded to so do, but it is your
freedom in Christ, your liberty in the Lord, just as it is your
liberty in Christ to eat or not eat meat(Rom.14). God takes note
of our forming and our birth in this life (Psalm 139). He and
heaven rejoice when each and every soul is begotten and conceived
into His family now at baptism. And there will be great rejoicing
and celebration when the saints will be born into the family of
God at the resurrection.
To be continued with an Appendix
...........................
Written November 1995
CELEBRATING
BIRTHDAYS?
by
Keith Hunt
APPENDIX
ARGUMENTS ANSWERED
1. Some quote from the early Roman Catholic church fathers, like
ORIGEN, who wrote:
"In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast
or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners like
Pharaoh and Herod who make great rejoicing over the day in
which they were born into this world."
MY ANSWER:
Who was this man Origen? Was he Moses? Was he David?
Was he Elijah? Was he Peter or Paul? No! He was an apostate from
the true Church of God, a minister of the synagogue of Satan, a
founding leaders in the organization that became the Woman Whore
of Revelation, that is drunk on the blood of the saints of God.
He understood the truth of the Eternal about as well as Simon
Magus in the book of Acts.
Origen loved from 184-254 AD, in Alexandria, Egypt. He had
a school there. He did not believe the Bible was the infallible
word of God and he felt free to change it if he didn't like what
it said. He did write commentaries on most of the books of the
Bible. Notice what the New Standard Encyclopedia, vol.9 pg. 150-155,
says: "One of the most notable of Origen's ideas was his Logos
doctrine. This idea had been expressed in John 1:1-5 and in other
Christian writings but Origen gave it the fullest treatment. In
Greek philosophy Logos was the name of the divine principle of
creation and rational world order. Origen applied the principle
to Christ's person and work. Subordinating the Son to the Father,
he treated Christ as the Logos (created by God) who brings reason
to the world. In this treatment he neglected the figure of Jesus
Christ as a man who lived and taught on earth. This doctrine
provided the foundation for the fourth century Arian Doctrine."
Origen taught that Jesus was a created being, created by the
Father God. He did not even believe that Jesus lived physically
on this earth. There are many contradictions in the writings of
Origen.
Origen turning nearly all Bible events into allegories
wrote: "The Scriptures are little use to those who understand
them as they are written" (McClintock and Strong, Art,
"Origen" ). Origen was a student of Clement, and through him he
learned the teachings of the Gnostic heresy and like his master,
lightly esteemed the historical basis of the Bible. As Schaff
says: "His predilection for Plato (the pagan philosopher) led him
into many grand and fascinating errors" (Church History, vol. 2,
p.791). Origen made himself acquainted with the various heresies
and studied under the heathen Ammonius Saccas, founder of
Neo-Platonism. He taught that the soul existed from eternity
before it inhabited the body, and that after death, it migrated
to a higher or lower form of life according to the deeds done in
the body; finally all found return to the state of pure
intelligence, only to begin again the same cycles as before. He
believed that the devils would be saved, and that the stars and
the planets had souls, and were, like men, on trial to learn
perfection. If fact he turned the whole law and Gospels into an
allegory.
Origenism flooded the Roman Catholic Church through Jerome,
who worshipped at his feet, and wrote: "I love...the name of
Origen... I will not listen to the notion that so great a soul
was lost" (Dr. Newman, Apologia, chapter 7, p. 282).
As one studies these so-called early "Church Fathers" one
can see they were FAR from being true ministers of the true God.
They had little bits of truth here and there, and that is often
how Satan works, but overall they were deceived heretics, who had
some pretty wild and crazy ideas at times, founded upon the
philosophies and reasoning of the world.
Did Origen ever write a full in-depth study article
carefully expounding from the word of God as to WHY the
celebration of some loved one's birthday is evil or sin? Not
that I know of. He just like many others jumped to wrong
conclusions by a lack of serious study of the word of the Lord.
God the Father held a celebration with joy together with
the host of heaven, some lowly shepherds and some rich wise kings
of the East, at the birthday of Immanuel when He was born into
the world of flesh and blood. And God the Father is NO SINNER!!
2. Others may say we have no example of Christ celebrating
birthdays in any way.
MY ANSWER:
Just because Christ in the gospels is not recorded as
"doing" something DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY make what
is not recorded WRONG/EVIL/ or SIN!
Can you find in the gospels where Christ is recorded as
DANCING? No, you cannot! Does that mean "dancing" is per se
wrong or sin?
Can you find where Jesus ever played a musical instrument?
No, you can not find it! Does that mean playing a musical
instrument is sin per se?
Can you find where Christ ever attended, on an annual basis,
as a custom, something like the "World Series" of the Baseball of
His day? No, it is not there, nothing like that is recorded!
Does the attending and having a celebration of joy with an event
like the "Super Bowl" or "Rose Bowl" game each year, constitute
evil or sin per se?
Maybe we have some off the wall fanatical "religious" person
out there who will say yes to the above, and that such are sin.
Well as they say, it takes all kinds to make the world go around.
Can you find Jesus attending and celebrating a person's
"wedding anniversary"? No, you can not! Does that mean
celebrating wedding anniversaries per se are evil or sin?
Are you getting the point? Are you understanding a very
important Bible principle and truth?
The word of the Lord is not a textbook on EVERYTHING!
The word says nothing about the car you are driving, or should buy.
It says nothing about the Internet, if it is evil per se. It says
little or nothing about societies changing customs from age to
age or nation to nation, as to their evil or good per se. Some
people have formed themselves into groups that will not use the
radio, TV, car, and a whole host of other things because they
said such modern change of custom was evil, and not of the Bible.
The word gives the basic Holy Commandments of the Lord and
says they will never change, they are good for all peoples of all
nations, everywhere. But a custom introduced in some age of using
a Microwave oven to cook in, instead of a wood camp fire, is not
mentioned as being evil or good per se. A nation that decides to
stop eating with "chop sticks" and use instead the "knife and
fork" at some point in history is not mentioned in the Bible as
being good or evil per se. A nation of people that have had
a certain custom for centuries and then decide to stop practicing
that custom for whatever reasons, is not mentioned in the Bible
as being either good or evil. On the other hand a people that
never observed a certain practice, like setting aside a day to
thank the secretaries of the land, and call it "Secretary's Day"
and then do decide to observe such a custom, is not mentioned as
being evil or good per se in the Bible.
Get the point? There are many things in life that God does
not say anything about, as to whether they are sin or evil per
se. Some customs come and some customs go for different reasons
within different societies over long or short period of time. If
the word of God has no DIRECT command against such customs
then a person needs to go very slow indeed in claiming such practices
are evil or sin. The principles of this article should apply in such cases -
if it's not from paganism to be used to directly worship God with,
then great care should be taken before declaring such a custom is sin.
3. As birthday celebrations are a tradition and custom of a
nation or society (some nations may not have such a custom I
would guess) then often Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7 are given as
proof we should not observe, for it would be vain worship.
MAY ANSWER:
As covered in this article, the celebrating of a loved one's
birthday is usually a private family (close association group)
matter. Usually very personal. And is not done as some kind of
religious festival or worship service to directly say you are
obeying and worshipping God, by keeping His commandments.
For God has said nothing in His commandments one way or the
other regarding "birthday celebrations."
Like eating meat or not eating meat, both are acceptable
with God. You can eat meat or not eat meat, the Lord will accept
you whichever you decide. It makes no difference in your right
standing with Him as to which you choose to practice. God does
not command you to do either.
So it is with celebrating birthdays. God does not command
you to celebrate a birthday. But He also does not tell you in His
word that it is a sin or something evil or an abomination if you
do decide to celebrate a birthday of a loved one. He leaves it to
you. Whether you do or do not is your free choice within the law
of God. It is your freedom in Christ. God accepts him who does
and He accepts him who does not.
When you understand the truth of the matter, that nowhere
does God condemn or say it is sin to celebrate birthdays, it
COULD, in a particular situation become WRONG for you NOT
TO celebrate a birthday! For it is written, "Render.....tribute to
whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor" (Rom.13:7). If you are in a country that
greatly honors BIRTHDAYS, it is very important to celebrate
loved one's birthdays, they make a big thing about it, THEN you
knowing it is not condemned as sin by God, would be wrong if you
did not honor their custom.
There are many different customs in many different nations
that come and go, stay for a period of time only or stay for
centuries, and many of those customs many not violate any law of
God. They are not condemned by God, and He leaves it to the
nation of people to do it or not to do it, for a short or long
period of time. And in the case of eating meat or not eating meat
it is an individual matter, within whatever the general practice
is of the country you live in. Because one nation for centuries
does not practice a certain custom does not automatically mean
that custom is sin in the eyes of the Eternal. Sin is defined by
the word of the Lord NOT by what some nation for centuries does
or does not do.
Just because it was not the national custom to practice
birthday celebrations in ancient Israel, does not mean that makes
it automatically sin. They did not celebrate wedding
anniversaries either in ancient Israel, nor did they have grade
12 graduation celebrations, but that does not automatically make
such celebrations, sin. The Jews normally celebrated a wedding
for 7 days, with lots of wine and dancing. Does that make it
righteous just because ancient Israel did it. Does that fact of
Israel having such a wedding custom for centuries like that, make
it evil or sin for some other nation NOT to have the same custom,
but only celebrate a wedding for one day, and not seven, and
perhaps drink no wine?
The Lord says nothing per se about wedding celebrations and
how long they were to last, with certain activities
(wine/dancing/singing etc.) during that event. It was left for
the people of the nations to decide for themselves, of course
within the law of God, if you were a nation under God.
Such customs and traditions did not nullify or "do away
with" any law or commandment of God. It was freedom WITHIN
the law of God!
If the Jews decided after centuries of observing weddings
with a 7 days celebration, to now only have a two-hour
celebration, with no dancing or wine, would that CHANGE in custom
automatically mean it was now evil and sin? If the Jews after
centuries of not observing wedding anniversaries, now decided to
observe such an event, would that by itself mean it was now sin
to celebrate such times? So likewise, after centuries of not
observing birthdays of loved ones by the Jews, they now decide to
observe such days, does not make those celebrations evil per se.
The world does CHANGE, things are not as they were in Abraham's
day, nor in the days when Jesus walked this earth. The world
changes and customs change, and NOT ALL of those changes are
EVIL. God changed the law of circumcision under the NT age, so
also the law of Jerusalem being the center of worship, and the
Levitical priesthood was also changed. Change from time to time
in ways of practice in a nation or with a people, is not
automatically sin. A nation of people moving from not observing
birthdays to observing birthdays, does not of and by itself mean
sin has been committed.
Now to specifically answer Matt.15:9 and Mark 7:7.
Please follow the important rule of study - read the
CONTEXT. The scribes and the Pharisees had introduced customs
and traditions that they taught their followers WERE TO DIRECTLY
WORSHIP GOD WITH. These ways of worship towards God were
actually "doing away with" some of the clear commandments of
the Lord.
They were claiming these ways "worshipped" the Lord. Jesus said
they were HYPOCRITES! Their form of worship towards God was
all lip service while their heart was far from the truth. These
customs being discussed that were man made, were being used to
effect worship with God., while they nullified the Lord's
commandments that came first.
This form of worship towards God was truly in VAIN and was
useless!
But as I have stated before, I know of no one nor any
religious group, that teaches the observance of celebrating a
birthday of a loved one, is a religious form of direct worship
towards God, the same as worshipping God on the Sabbath day.
As before stated, birthday celebrations are personal private
celebrations of thanksgiving towards the human person you love,
and for what they mean to you in your life. Certainly you may
also thank God for giving them birth and giving them life, and
giving them to you to have and to love, but you are not directly
effecting worship towards God by honoring their life on their
birthday. It is not at all the same as worshipping God on the
weekly Sabbath and Holy Festival seasons of the year.
We do not use "Secretary's Day" of appreciation (maybe
with a card and flowers) to effect direct worship towards God.
So it is with birthday celebrations.
Then also, the celebrating of birthdays does not make the
"commandments of God of none effect" for it does not nullify nor
is it against any command of the Lord, as there is no command of
God that says, "you shall not celebrate the day of your loved
ones birth."
4. It is often argued that Christian "Church History" does not
record the early Christians celebrating on a wide scale -
birthdays.
MY ANSWER:
Christian Church History also does not record early
Christians as a whole, observing "Wedding Anniversaries" -
"Mother's Day" - "Father's Day" - "Grandparent's Day" or
"Secretary's Day." Nor does it record them observing the feast
of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, or the Feast of Tabernacles.
And come to think of it, it does not record them observing
the 4th of July. It also does not record them observing Martin
Luther King Jr. Day either, on January 19th.
When we understand that Christian Church History is a record
in the main, the vast main, of the Mother of harlots and her
daughters who came out of her, then we will see little is
recorded in any detail as to how the true Church of God, lived,
taught, and practiced in their daily life. Then again even within
the true Church of God, customs and practices that are within the
liberty that is in Christ Jesus, are allowed to change, come and go,
as dictated by the ever moving and to some degree ever changing,
world and societies of the nations down through the ages of time.
Jesus prayed that His disciples would not be taken "out of
the world" but be "kept from the evil that is in the world." I
hope you have seen in this long and painstaking study from the
Bible, that birthday celebrations per se are not evil.
.........................................
Written November 1995. Appendix was revised in January 1998.
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