Special Days

In Romans 14 Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, ( 2 Peter 1:20-21) writes "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." ( v. 5) In context Paul the Bible is saying that to celebrate or not celebrate a particular day is equally permissible. With two allowable choices it would seem that a fair number of people would take each option. Yet if we consider holidays to be the modern day equivalent of the special days that the Scripture is referring to here, then I am the only person I know who thinks that every day is alike, by not celebrating holidays. In the Old Covenant the Sabbath Day was considered holy, and various feast days are detailed in Leviticus 23. In the New Covenant, we see the Church meeting on the first day of the week ( Sunday) rather than the seventh ( Saturday) even though there is no command to do so. We also see an enormous amount of time, money and energy expended on the Christmas celebration even though there is not even a hint, Biblically speaking, that we are to do so. Even individual birthday celebrations are a fairly modern phenomenon given that most human beings have been illiterate, and have not known the date of their birth. My point is not to decry these "special days," or to urge their repeal but rather to examine why we celebrate holidays. Is it not because the surrounding culture does so? Even Halloween, which has become a demonstrably demonic celebration, must be replaced by some kind of harvest festival in modern day congregations. We cannot simply not celebrate the day. I am disheartened by the reality that in my personal observation and experience, even Thanksgiving, the day designated by our culture to give thanks, is celebrated even by self- identified Christians as merely a large meal, perhaps with some football viewing attached. All of this is additional proof of how influenced Christians are by a pagan culture. And yes, we have liberty to celebrate holidays, as Romans 14:5 attests. Is this a liberty that we should exercise?