The sin of Cain

I recently viewed Sunburned, a YouTube video that looks at why the Israelites made a golden calf to worship at the foot of Sinai. It was interesting, so I took notes (condensed in this post). The purpose of the video was to consider the Christian and nonChristian elements have come into Christmas and Easter holidays, considered by many to be the holiest times of the year.

We all know that there are components of Christmas and Easter that have pagan origin. I don't need to go over that again, because many who know and continue the traditions don't think it matters, because the purpose of these holidays is to honor God and His workings in our lives. I believed the same, but the following verses (and more), made me stop and think:

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” ~ John 4:23,24

The LORD says, "Do not start following pagan religious practices. ~ Jeremiah 10:2

You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. ~ Deuteronomy 12:4

Now to the video. See endnote below regarding my conclusion as the chronology of the symbol. These are my condensed and edited notes about the golden calf and why the Israelites chose that symbol:

Two Hebrew words are commonly translated as God: el, and el-oah.

The word el was originally written with two pictographic letters, one an ox head and the other a shepherd staff. The ox represented strength, and the staff of the shepherd represented authority. The ancient Hebrews saw God as the strong one of authority. 

The ox head and the shepherd staff, means the strong authority, as explained by the Ancient Hebrew Research Center. When visiting that website, look at the symbols and commentary for the letters A-L.

The Israelites said they were going to make elohim, who shall go before us. Their pictographic letters make perfect sense as to why they chose to make a calf to represent the God who had led them out of Egypt. Moses had been on the mountain a long time, and their leader who communicated with God may not ever return. They were in a panic. They fell back on the Egyptian practice of making an image of God so that they could connect and speak to him. Their intent was not to make an Egyptian god, but an image of their own understanding of the true God.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us. ~ Exodus 32:2

The plural form of el'oah, elohim, is often translated as God, singular, in English. While English plurals only identify quantity, as in more than one, the Hebrew plural can identify quantity as well as quality. Something of great size or stature can be written in plural form, as in elohim.

Aaron made one calf, but the translation is plural:

And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ~ Exodus 32:4

The English translation makes it appear they are presenting the golden calf as gods. But when we understand their symbolism, they are saying, "This is the one true God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." They had already declared Yahweh to be their only God. In addition, only one God took them out of Egypt, and the Israelites knew this. The translators used the plural form, gods, as in false gods, but that would not make sense. Aaron only presented one golden calf; the plural gods does not fit.

It is important to set aside English writing conventions and understand the ancient Hebrew symbols. The translators were misled, in this case, by the word elohim, which is translated God over 2,000 times in the KJV, and lower-case god less than 300 times. They looked at the context and thought that the calf meant a pagan god, and with the plural elohim, translated it as gods.

They were intending to worship and connect with Yahweh, the true God, through the calf. We can see this in Exodus 32:5-6:

And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Aaron declared the feast was for Yahweh, and they offered gifts to Him.

This was the sin of Cain.

They chose to worship God in their own way instead of in God's way. They sincerely thought they were doing the right thing. They thought it was okay to make up their own holiday and worship God as they chose.

But in spite of their sincerity, dedicating the day to him and giving gifts to him, God did not see it that way. They were worshiping God through the pagan practice of using things to worship God and putting into effect a false holiday. They gave their own offerings to Yahweh, just like Cain did.

The main issue of the problem at hand is this: Because they decided to do things their way instead of God's way, they made themselves out to be their own gods. They fully and sincerely wanted to follow Yahweh but they followed themselves and their own heart instead.

This is exactly what we do with Christmas and Easter. We take the ways of man, the ways of false gods, and offer them all up to god and expect him to smile while we please ourselves in the process.

We can still be claiming to worship the one true God, but when we abandon His way and do it our own way, we are worshipping our selves, bowing down to ourselves and following our own instructions instead of His.

Jeremiah 10:2 and Deuteronomy 12:4, quoted at the beginning of this post, eliminates Christmas and Easter.

Christmas and Easter are not rooted in truth. They are the ways of the nations, ways he has told us not to learn.

We must learn from Israel and Cain. They were sincere. Our intent in celebrating Christmas and Easter may be very sincere as well, but the problem is, in spite of all the theologians saying it's okay, God himself said No, it is not okay, it is not how I want to be worshipped.

He sent His own son that we might live. Let's live for him, in his way, not our way. Let's love him back in the way that he has told us he wants to be loved.

End of video notes.

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Endnote

Regarding chronology of the symbol: Did the calf/staff symbol meaning "God" in the Ancient Hebrew pictographic writing come from their understanding of their own deity, or did their pictograph for God develop during their centuries in Egypt, taking on Egyptian bull worship's symbol to symbolize the God of Israel? I think that is the likely scenario. More research is needed.

Easter's roots are Passover

Since this is Easter weekend, several of my friends on Facebook have posted this link from Christianity today, an article that discusses the likelihood that Easter did not start as a pagan holiday. Perhaps my friends have not read the entire article, but the gist is that Easter originated with Passover, and there is proof that "Passover/Easter" was observed at least by the second century Christians. Interesting, when so many churches claim that observance of Passover by Christians came to an end at the cross!

I do believe that the celebration of Christ's resurrection started in the churches as a Christian celebration, though it was not called Easter in the early church. In time, Christians changed some of their practices because they didn't want to be identified with Jews who were under persecution. Notably, they avoided seventh-day Sabbath worship in favor of Sunday, choosing an annual Sunday via the solar calendar for the resurrection celebration instead of at Passover, and changing the other festivals ordained by God ("thinking to change times and laws" Dan. 7:25). The Quartodeciman controversy deals with the dating change for the Paschal (Passover) season and is an interesting study. The Easter celebration became saddled with other traditions related to fertility goddesses over the years.

Many of those who question some of the Easter practices and date have claimed that the name, Easter, came from a pagan goddess, and this the article does not deny. The celebration, however, started -- and morphed -- from Passover, certainly not from a pagan holiday.

The name Easter, the article states, comes from "April, Eosturmonath … Eosturmonath has a name which is now (italics supplied) translated "Paschal month" and which was once called after a goddess... named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month." The Christianity Today article adds:

The Nordic/Germanic peoples (including the Anglo-Saxons) were comparative latecomers to Christianity. Pope Gregory I sent a missionary enterprise led by Augustine of Canterbury to the Anglo-Saxons in 596/7. The forcible conversion of the Saxons in Europe began under Charlemagne in 772. Hence, if "Easter" (i.e. the Christian Passover festival) was celebrated prior to those dates, any supposed pagan Anglo-Saxon festival of "Eostre" can have no significance. And there is, in fact, clear evidence that Christians celebrated an Easter/Passover festival by the second century, if not earlier. It follows that the Christian Easter/Passover celebration, which originated in the Mediterranean basin, was not influenced by any Germanic pagan festival.

Isn't it interesting that they focus entirely on only the possibility of Germanic influence -- and that it only focuses on the practices of that time? It does not address how Germanic practices may or may not have influenced Easter in later years.

It is also interesting that hardly any information on Eostre as a goddess can be found in history. Most of what is said comes from various writers quoting each other. More than one website says something to this effect:

In case you think we’re being flippant, recent research suggests that EOSTRE herself may have been invented during a mischievous moment by the Venerable St BEDE. This well-known monk mentioned her in connection with the pagan festival Eosturmonath in a book written in 750 A.D. — but extensive research has failed to find a trace of her prior to that. Could he possibly have been fibbing? from godchecker.com

Some suspect that Eostre, if she did exist, is the germanic name for the goddess Asherah, the "Queen of Heaven," mentioned in the Bible, and when the Israelites apostatized, they often had "Asherah poles" erected, a sign of their apostasy from worshiping the true God. Other counterparts for this goddess are Astarte, Asherah, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Innanna, Ostara, Isis, Aphrodite, and Artemis.  All of these goddesses were connected with love and fertility, and some of their traditions have become a part of Easter celebrations, including rabbits, eggs, and hot cross buns.

Is Eostre one of this group of goddess names? Many have made that suggestion, but since there is no apparent history of her before the Venerable St. Bede, it cannot be known for certain. To use Eostre as proof that Easter was not a pagan holiday is poor scholarship, at best, and misses the whole point of whether or not Easter has pagan components.

My conclusion is that Easter started with the Passover celebration, so it's original roots are not pagan, but that over the centuries elements from pagan spring fertility rites crept into the Easter season.

It is my personal choice to observe Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread on God's calendar (14th day of the first month), remembering the blessing of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, Yeshua Hamashiach, who came to save us from sin, which is represented by leavening. Sin is still with us now, but someday it will be gone forever, so that is the pointing forward of Unleavened Bread. I can't help but feel a thrill when I think of it!

Depends on what the meaning of "is" is

The tiny little word is can change the whole meaning of a sentence. We've heard it before. Remember Bill Clinton? But let's forget Bill and turn to the text:

"But the body is of Christ."

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Colossians 2:16, 17

I have read two explanations of "the body is of Christ." The first explanation, in short, is that the shadowy things are not substance, the substance is Christ. I believe that Christ is the substance of everything in regards to our salvation, but is that what this text is saying?

Italicized words in the KJV and some other versions indicate that the word is supplied and not in the original text. Without is, verse 17 says, 

"Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Christ."

This sentence fragment requires context, includes verse 16, and leads to the second explanation. The entire sentence, without intervening phrases and clauses, says,

"Let no man judge you...but the body of Christ." 

Paul often exhorts the believers, the church, to work together as a body, that each member of the body has its own purpose, etc. It makes sense that when the believers were being judged by the Greek ascetics of the time, who were so rigorous in their matters of diet and practice, that Paul would say to them, "Don't let these people who are not part of the body judge you. Let the body of Christ, the church, be the ones you pay attention to."

I can accept both explanations, as they are not contradictory, but I believe the second explanation is more likely the meaning Paul had in mind, given his focus in his letters to the churches.

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As a matter of interest, the following verses show where Paul refers to the church as the body of Christ:

Romans 12:5

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

Ephesians 3:6

That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Ephesians 4:12

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Chr

Ephesians 5:23

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Colossians 1:24

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

A shadow of things to come

"A shadow of things to come," is to many another proof that the holy days are in the past, have been fulfilled, and are no longer important to the believer, that, in fact, observing them is rejecting Christ.

Let's look at Colossians 2:17 more closely.

16. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Have you considered the present tense of the word are? The verse doesn't say were, meaning in the past, over and done with, though some recent Bibles have been translated that way. Are instead of were, shows Paul's understanding that the holydays, new moons, and sabbaths, are not in the past. They are still looking forward to a future fulfillment.

Many of those who observe Sunday as their weekly holy day, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath, say that the Sabbath is only a memorial of creation. Even Sabbath-keepers make that point, that they are keeping the Sabbath as a memorial of God's creation. Even the Sabbath, in this point of view, is a shadow looking backwards!

These same Christians will likely say that observing a feast, Passover, for example, is turning our back on Christ, because Passover has been fulfilled through Christ's sacrifice. They will observe the Last Supper/Communion service, which is the Christian Passover memorial, but to do it on Passover or to call it Passover instead of Easter, that strikes them as outright unChristian!

My studies have shown me that the feasts are absolutely Christian. They are God's timeline of His plan of salvation. a picture of the Gospel of the kingdom. We can celebrate what He has done for us for eternity!

The Feast Days have future fulfillment. Passover and Unleavened Bread shows how God's people are freed from sin and death. Pentecost shows a future, more complete, understanding of God's law and the Latter Rain of the Spirit. Trumpets depicts the warning, gathering-in message, going to all the world. The Day of Atonement has no past fulfillment, only future, and Tabernacles point forward to when we will all gather together to live with our Saviour. Observing the feasts, which have never been abolished in Scripture, is a deeper, closer understanding of the truth and love that Jesus has for us.

Some will want to separate the Sabbath from the rest of the feasts. Let's look at the weekly Sabbath. Not only is it a memorial of creation, a sign between God and His people and listed with the other feast days in Leviticus 23, but it is also forward-looking, pointing to the rest we have in Jesus.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Hebrews 4:9,10

This verse shows how the Sabbath rest is an object lesson of the rest we are in because of the work Christ has done for us. The Sabbath-rest remains as a celebration and object lesson throughout eternity.

From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. Isaiah 66:23

Christ said he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. If fulfilling means abolishing, it is the same as destroying, exactly what He said He did NOT do!

Blog name and purpose

Just because I have not been writing for a couple weeks doesn't mean I haven't been thinking. This is the first blog I have kept in which I have no recent readers, and I am learning that readers motivate me to write. I think the readers I had here got discouraged during my very long absence, with good reason.

I've been thinking on the name of this blog. At first, several years ago (when I had readers) it was Yeshua Is My Salvation, then I changed it to Morning by Morning, from a favorite text, "Morning by morning He wakens me and opens my understanding to His will." Isaiah 50:4. For a short while it was Christians and Feast Days, then it was Appointed Times, for a short while it was Salvation Timeline, then Appointments, and now it is These are My Feasts! Perhaps some day I'll find exactly the right title.

The reason for all the changes is that I've been looking for a name that depicts the purpose of the blog, not just part of it, but is not too bland. "Appointments," I think, is on the bland side and not descriptive enough.

I've been studying topics that are of interest to me and that have come up as issues among some of my friends. I've seen some of these topics cause a lot of friction between people, causing distance between friends and family members, and even loss of church membership. The topics I've approached so far are the true name (must use, or not?), the trinity (yes or no), and the appointed times (feast days). It's not just hearsay that these topics have caused friendships to end. I've experienced it myself. I told a friend who called me regularly, a couple times a week, that I was studying about the trinity, that I had doubts as to whether it was a biblical doctrine. That was all, just one sentence. That friend asked me no questions, didn't ask me to explain myself, and never called or spoke to me again. I was astounded! This is the main reason for my current anonymity, though I may change that soon, for we are to give the trumpet a certain sound, and hiding behind a blur doesn't help.

People often ask me, "Do you think you have to believe these things in order to be saved?"

My answer is, "You only have to believe on Jesus to be saved. That's what the Bible tells us." A major emphasis on commandments and what we should and should not do in order to be saved is a false focus, because what we do does not save us. It is legalism. When Jesus enters us through His spirit, He lives through us, and our lives become what He wants us to be. It's His job, not ours. We invite Him in; He lives in us.

I have thought that it would be great if I could include Love in the title somehow. Still thinking.

Jesus said,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. - Matthew 22:37-39

So why do I bother about some of these other topics?

The Bible is here for us to learn more, to show God's hands-on approach to loving and saving humanity, to make our spiritual lives deeper and richer.

New learnings that have made my journey more meaningful include knowing that Jesus' given name was Yeshua, which means Salvation. It sent a delicious chill down my back when I learned that our Creator is the embodiment of Salvation! I still use the common name, Jesus, because in conversation everyone will know who I mean.

Another deepening of my Christian walk was learning the significance of the Feasts, also called Holy Days, God's Holidays, Appointed Times, or Moedim. These annual sabbaths are God's Salvation Timeline.  I don't mean that they are a schedule of date and time of Jesus' return, but they show how we have been saved, from His death on Passover, to His spirit being given to His followers at Pentecost (and will be again), to the last Trump when He returns and takes us home to tabernacle with Him. The Jews had this gift for centuries, but only in hindsight were they able to recognize the significance of the yearly rites and ceremonies of the tabernacle. I believe that the rites and ceremonies came to an end at the death of Jesus, but that significance of the timeline remains. I plan to study and share this topic in a future post.

He built the timeline when He planned the salvation of the world before it was created. At creation He put lights in the heavens to signal the object lessons (tabernacle services) that the people would participate in yearly -- of His work of Salvation.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years. Genesis 1:14

The object lessons of the appointed times were further enhanced by events He put into place to happen exactly at the times He scheduled. These historic events, -- Jesus' death at Passover, for example -- don't mean they are fully fulfilled or that a partial fulfillment means they no longer have significance to those of us who look forward to His reappearing.

As I learn of His love for me through participating in celebrating His Holy Days, I am so much the richer for having put that focus on Him!