Every year, like clockwork, we reach the Christian high-holidays of Easter and Christmas to the occasional critique or know-it-all who wants to claim that these holidays are pagan. If you're an Athiest, you're going to argue that they are pagan and therefore Christians are laughable idiots. If you're some other faith tradition, you're going to argue this compromises the "purity" of Christendom. Both of these are bad "takes" on something that is actually pretty common historically and entirely reasonable in our practice of faith.
Did you know Abraham was, based on all available information, a pagan? In Genesis 11, we find the genealogy leading up to Abraham which places him in a city known as Ur of the Chaldeans. While we don't know the exact location of this town, we know it was Sumerian which means they worshiped a host of Sumerian gods; Abraham's family living counter to this would have ostracized them from society. This makes God's call on Abraham in Genesis 12 that much more interesting because it would have been the first time Abraham came in contact with "the one, true God". You can see that something about Abraham's new faith and life didn't mesh with the rest of the pagan society by the way he separated himself from even his brother, Lot (Genesis 13:12, 18).
Why am I going over all this? Sometimes I think we try to over-think the whole idea of "purity of religion" at the expense of understanding what it means to live on faith. Abraham, like many Old Testament characters, wasn't some lily-white, Sunday church goer and yet God still worked through him. His culture and practices mattered a lot less than his heart's willingness to respond to a call. His pagan roots literally couldn't have mattered less.
Paul talks a bit about this in this famous excerpt on eating "unclean" meat and food sacrificed to pagan gods...
25 Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience, 26 since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. 27 If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. 29 I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.(1 Cor 10:25-33)
The old way of thinking (pre-Christ) said that worldly things must be sufficiently "pure" for them to be permissible by God. This was true of both Jews and pagan Gentiles. The Jews had their ornate Levitical and priestly laws which governed the perceived "holiness" of food and actions while the pagans had their orthodoxy which had to be stringently observed. Christians brought this weird concept into the world that said, "None of these things are inherently good, nor are they inherently bad... they simple 'are' and what makes them good or bad is how they build-up or tear-down our relationship with God."
Radical stuff!
The challenge I have for any individual objecting to "pagan traditions" in Christianity is this: where do you draw the line? Our months are named after Roman gods and emperors. Even the days of our weeks are named after Norse gods ("Wednesday" is actually named after the god Odin, pronounced "Wodin's Day"). Should we entirely abandon how we refer to time in the name of "piety"? The picture I'm trying to paint is that who we are today, as a society, is complicated. It is patchwork of millennia of civilizations, cultures, and traditions. Not everything is the simple view of the world that you were taught during Vacation Bible School when you were 6 years old. When we base our entire understanding of faith on children's Sunday school lessons, and we refuse to learn beyond that point, we end up at some pretty silly destinations, like trying to argue that things are or are not bad on the basis that... what... some catchy phrase a "religious" person told us one time that we never questioned.
Instead of living our lives according to how pure we can be or how much "world" we can cut out of our day-to-day lives, maybe we should stop focusing on the what in our lives and focus more on the why. God craves our hearts, our minds, and our souls. If those things are focused on God, then he'll work in our body and life to make us who we need to be. If we think we are going to live "holy enough" to impress God, we're fooling ourselves.
On Easter, Christmas, Wednesday, Labor Day, or any other notable day, don't be distracted by the what of life. What you do doesn't make you inherently good or inherently bad. Instead, focus on the heart with which you live. If your heart is focused on God, loving him and loving his people, then you may be impressed with how little the things of this world matter and how valuable our relationships seem to be.
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