Thursday, May 15, 2014

Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts: A Christianized Version of "Sexytime" with Ghosts?

Posted by Christine Pack

A Facebook friend recently tagged me with the article What's Behind Reports of Ghost Sex?, an article in which it has been claimed by some people that they have had sexually intimate relations with, as the title of the article implies, ghosts. Yes, you read that right, and no, I'm not making this up. A few celebrities have even gotten into the mix, including actress Natasha Blasick and singer Kesha. In fact, Kesha revealed in an interview with Ryan Seacrest that her song Supernatural was about her own encounter with a supernatural being, an encounter she described as "sexy time with a ghost."


But wait, you might be saying right about now. That's the culture, and we're Christians, so what on earth does that have to do with us? It has to do with Christians for this reason: this kind of mystical sexual experience, while not uncommon in the New Age (which can be very sensual anyway because of the paganism element), is now in the Christian Reformed camp, with their very own mystical girl looking for sexytime with God. I'm referring to Ann Voskamp, a bestselling author who has written in explicit terms in her popular book One Thousand Gifts of having intimate relations with a supernatural being. Only, it's not a ghost Voskamp claimed to be sexually intimate with: it's God.
"Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." (Ephesians 5:4)
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29)
Let me just back up for a moment, and state that the premise of Voskamp's book (being thankful for God's sovereign provision and care) is good. She also shares a very emotionally moving account early on in the book of losing a sibling at a young age, an incident that was apparently foundational to her desire to learn how to trust God and rest in his sovereignty. But Voskamp goes very far afield from this good start by lapsing into language that is reminiscent of panentheistic mystics she seems fond of (Phyllis Tickle, Teresa of Avila, Brennan Manning). And even though she expresses wide-eyed dismay over Tim Challies' recent article stating that she has been influenced by Roman Catholic Teresa of Avila, a mystic who also wrote in explicitly carnal terms to describe her mystical encounters with God, Voskamp's denial rings a little hollow, given that she quotes Teresa of Avila liberally in One Thousand Gifts.

 A few excerpts from her book, in which Voskamp describes her alleged sexual encounter with God:
"I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God." (One Thousand Gifts, p 201)
"I think how lives, whole generations, were laid down to built this edifice, to find a way in. But they thought the steps to God-consummation were but three: purgation, illumination, union." (One Thousand Gifts, p 208)
"I remember this feeling. The way my apron billowed in the running, the light, the air. The harvest moon. I remember. The yearning. To merge with Beauty Himself. But here.......Now? Really?.......I am not at all certain that I want consummation.......And who wouldn't cower at the invitation to communion with limitless Holiness Himself?" (One Thousand Gifts, p 211)
"I run my hand along the beams over my loft bed, wood hewn by a hand several hundred years ago. I can hear Him. He's calling for a response; He's calling for oneness. Communion" (One Thousand Gifts, p 211)
"This invitation to have communion with Love---is this the edge of the mystery Paul speaks of? "'A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one" (Ephesians 5:31-32). The two, Christ and the church, becoming one flesh---the mystery of that romance. Breath falling on face, Spirit touching spirit, the long embrace, the entering in and being within---this is what God seeks? With each of us?" (One Thousand Gifts, pp 212-213)
"God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of His love for us. And He invites the turning over of the hand, the opening and saying Yes with thanks. Then God lays down all of His fullness into all the emptiness. I am in Him. He is in me. I embrace God in the moment. I give Him thanks, and I bless God and we meet and couldn't I make love to God, making every moment love for Him? To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin." (One Thousand Gifts, pp 216-217)
And yet, despite describing an encounter with God in the most sensual and carnal of terms, Voskamp gets a pass because.....why exactly? Is it because she's been featured by the Reformed powerhouse Desiring God? Is it because of her artfully limpid exchanges with Tim Challies? Is it because of her Pinterest-perfect, camera-ready rustic farm life? I'm not sure what the answers are, but I know that some of the same Christian women who would (rightly) cringe at the Ghost Sex article are falling over themselves to read Voskamp's book and give it out to their friends, with nary a thought to the idea that eroticizing the relationship between a high and holy God and man wouldn't be right.

Christian researcher Marcia Montenegro has also challenged those who would take exception to any kind of critique of Voskamp, and who claim that her use of sensual language is on par with the language used in Song of Solomon: Writes Montenegro:
Many have defended Voskamp's erotic language about God by pointing to the Song of Solomon. However, there are three important differences. First, the Song of Solomon, as is true for all Scripture, was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the Song depicts two human lovers, whereas Ann Voskamp places herself as a lover with God (or vice-versa). And thirdly, I would not be embarrassed to read any passage in the Song aloud to others, but I cannot say the same for Voskamp's book. This final reason is the acid test. 
No matter what some men may have written (Voskamp has offered this to support her sexual language), evaluation of any book about God should be consistent with biblical principles, not based on man's standards, which are ever changing -- no matter who those men may be.
With these thoughts in mind, I'll close with a few passages about sensuality from God's word. The scriptures I've posted from 2 Peter have some very hard words to say about sensuality. This passage from 2 Peter is written in the context of addressing false teachers, and while I am not calling Voskamp a false teacher or heretic, the way she has eroticized the relationship between holy God and man is clearly outside the bounds of what is biblical and God-honoring. Yes, the relationship between God and his redeemed is precious and marvelous and mysterious and wonderful.....but it is not sexual, and must not be thought of in those terms. That is blasphemous in the extreme:
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality......." (Galatians 5:19)
"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed." (2 Peter 2:2)
"Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual
immorality and sensuality........" (Romans 13:13)
"I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced." (2 Corinthians 12:21)
".....and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings....." (2 Peter 2:10)
"For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality,
those who barely escape from the ones who live in error....." (2 Peter 2:18)

 Additional Resources 

Romantic Panentheism: A review of Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts (Bob DeWaay)

A Commentary on Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts (Marcia Montenegro)

Ann Voskamp: Mystical Estrogen (Fighting For The Faith)

Tim Challies Reviews One Thousand Gifts
 (Tim Challies)

In Which I Ask Ann Voskamp's Forgiveness... (Tim Challies)

An Open Letter To Tim Challies (Sola Sisters)

Concerning One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (by Ken Silva)

Panentheism: What Is It? (Apprising)

Panentheism Is Not A Gift (Amy Spreeman)

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Being 'Radical' and 'Missional' The New Legalism?

Posted by Christine Pack

Are you embarrassed, as a Christian, because you and your family have not sold all to go and live in a war-torn, third world country where you can minister to orphans behind enemy lines while taking incoming fire? If so, you may have bought into a movement that has been coined by World Magazine as the "new legalism." From the World article:
"I continue to be amazed by the number of youth and young adults who are stressed and burnt out from the regular shaming and feelings of inadequacy if they happen to not be doing something unique and special. Today’s millennial generation is being fed the message that if they don’t do something extraordinary in this life they are wasting their gifts and potential. The sad result is that many young adults feel ashamed if they 'settle' into ordinary jobs, get married early and start families, live in small towns, or as 1 Thessalonians 4:11 says, 'aspire to live quietly, and to mind [their] affairs, and to work with [their] hands.' For too many millennials their greatest fear in this life is being an ordinary person with a non-glamorous job, living in the suburbs, and having nothing spectacular to boast about." (The 'new legalism' -World Magazine, May 4, 2013)
There are a few writers of today that I suspect might be contributing to this mindset of, I've got to Go Do Big Things For God. And the reality is that these subtle teachings about being great for God can pluck at our flesh, and cause us to be prideful and to subtly shift our thinking into a sort of hierarchical framework. By this I mean that we can perhaps unconsciously begin to think of some Christians as being "Good," some "Better," with some (especially the overseas missions one) garnering the coveted "Super Christian" label.
"As missionaries (for 9+ years) in an open and 'popular' African country, we saw the damage this ('radical' and 'missional') mindset has had on the gospel going forth in power and truth! Experience and 'suffering' have superseded what really matters--that of preaching repentance. While there may be more orphanages built, wells dug, and food programs established, the country remains biblically illiterate, and therefore remains in darkness. All because a bunch of twenty year olds were challenged to go shoeless and get dirty." (a commenter on the Sola Sisters Facebook ministry wall, my emphasis)
I am especially observing younger Christians being caught up in this "Super Christian" mindset, and really, is it so hard to see how that happens? In our 20s and for some of us, even into our 30s, we're at the top of our game, humanly speaking. Still in good health, still productive, still mentally sharp, we're firing on all cylinders. But fast forward five or ten or fifteen years, and reality begins to set in. There are unexpected illnesses, and death. Family difficulties. Job losses. We realize our flesh and strength and abilities can, and do, and will, fail us. We begin to really understand those passages in Scripture about clinging to the Lord in the trials. And those Super Christian dreams begin to fade.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24)
On this particular issue, Bob DeWaay's teaching on Pietism (linked below) really settled me down (and I'm not talking the good, Puritan kind of pietism.....I'm talking the self righteous kind, in which some Christians are regarded as "Super Christians" because of their lifestyle choices). Yes, there is a proper place for exhorting each other to know our gifting, and to exercise our gifts, etc. But let's be honest: we can also make ourselves nuts trying to figure out if we are fulfilling our God-given purpose. There is nothing at all wrong, or second tier, or second rate, or somehow "less than" about being an ordinary Christian, living one's life day in and day out, and fulfilling one's responsibilities, however small or menial they seem, as unto the Lord. Just think for a moment about what a peculiar time it is that we live in, in the midst of an intensely narcissistic, navel-gazing culture, in which we are bombarded with the idea of a Grand Purpose For Every Life. The lost mind can pick up on this idea of the Grand Purpose, and have starry eyed dreams of being a rock star or an American Idol or a great sports star. But the Christian might also unwittingly pick up on this idea and begin to think that they, too, must live out the Super Christian life. Contrast this thinking to how people lived a mere hundred and fifty years ago, in which time a person might be born, grow up, work, live and die in one small community, without having ever traveled past the county line, much less state lines or country borders. They might have an impact on a hundred people, or twenty people, or just their immediate families. But can it not all be done for the glory of God? Can a blue-collar Christian man who is quietly living his life, working hard at his job, being faithful to his wife and day in and day out teaching his children about God be just as honoring to the Lord as the high-powered Christian executive who is giving millions? What about the behind-the-scenes Christian wife and mother, who is going about the menial tasks of doing laundry, washing dishes, mopping floors, and teaching her children the Bible? Is she somehow a lesser Christian? What about the older Christian man or woman, who quietly seek to disciple those younger than them in faithfully learning the Scriptures, and serving the Lord and their families? Are these not needed and necessary ministries in the body of Christ? I submit that there is no shame in living a quiet, God-honoring life, and that Christians ought to take care not to allow themselves be confused by extra-biblical hierarchical concepts about the Christian life.

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc


 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES  

The 'new legalism' (World Magazine)

A Review of Francis Chan's 'Crazy Love' (by Pastor Gary Gilley)

A Review of David Platt's 'Radical' (by Pastor Gary Gilley)


 Critical Issues Commentary - Article (Bob DeWaay) 

How Pietism Deceives Christians

 Critical Issues Commentary - Radio (Bob DeWaay) 

How Pietism Deceives Christians, Part 1

How Pietism Deceives Christians, Part 2

How Pietism Deceives Christians, Part 3

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Roman Catholic Church Is Now A Christian Denomination?

Posted by Christine Pack
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
A Roman Catholic scapular.
The wearer is promised release from hell.
 (Similar to New Age amulets
& witchcraft incantations to ward off evil.)
A recent article by Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries reveals that more and more inroads are being made to unite Catholicism and Christianity. To give a little background about why this is such a big deal to Christians (or should be, anyway), it should first be understood that Catholicism and Christianity went through a split during the Protestant Reformation, during which the Reformers (Martin Luther, John Huss, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale and others) separated from the apostate teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Pure and simple, Catholicism and Christianity have different beliefs on how it is that man is saved. The Reformers (precursors to the Protestant Christian faith as we know it today) championed the concept, straight from God's word, that man is saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Catholicism, on the other hand, while it affirms concepts that are familiar to Christians (God, Jesus, salvation, hell, heaven, forgiveness for sins, etc.), also teaches that Jesus's death wasn't all sufficient, that Jesus didn't have the power to save to the uttermost, and that His death only served to help us get closer to God, but that our own works must close the rest of the gap. That's heresy.

From the article by Pastor Silva, which highlights a recent TV show with professing Christian James Robison, in which Robison affirmed to the current Catholic pope that he views him as a Christian brother:
James Robison: "Pope Francis, let me just say to you that I see Jesus in you; and in Christ we are brothers, we are family. Thank you for speaking the language of love that all may come to know him and love him and love one another. Tony, that is incredible. I have had a longing in my heart for many years now to see the prayer of Jesus answered that we be one with the Father God through Christ, perfected and sanctified in truth, not divided by it."
Continue reading the rest of the article here.

The Rosary. This is a "Christianized" ritual designed to
assuage the consciences of those enslaved to the
dead religious system of Roman Catholicism.
A prayer to Mary, mother of Jesus, from the cover of an "indulgence."
Roman Catholics can purchase indulgences in order to reduce time in
Purgatory (a concept found nowhere in the Bible): From the front
of the indulgence, in small print encircling Mary: "O Mary,
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

 Additional Resources 

Explaining The Heresy of Catholicism (GTY)

Rick Warren Calls Christians to Pray For the Catholic Council?

Rick Warren Endorses "Catholics Come Home" Campaign

Catholicism is Not Just Another Christian Denomination

Christianity vs. Roman Catholicism - A Side-By-Side Chart of the Beliefs

Testimony of Richard Bennett
 (former Roman Catholic priest)

Berean Beacon (website of former Roman Catholic priest Richard Bennett)

Catholics, Physical Suffering and Doctrines of Demons (Sola Sisters)

Preparing for Eternity (former Roman Catholic Mike Gendron)

Proclaiming The Gospel (former Roman Catholic Mike Gendron)

Why the Reformation Was Important (Sola Sisters)

After The Darkness, Light (Post Tenebras Lux) (Sola Sisters)

Redeemer's Tim Keller Recommends Ignatius of Loyola? (Sola Sisters)

Far From Rome Near To God (Amazon)

On The "Faith" of Mother Teresa: John Ortberg Strikes Out (Sola Sisters)

The Myth of Mother Teresa
 (Challies)

Mother Teresa, A Lost Soul (Berean Beacon)

Mother Teresa in Her Own Words (Sola Sisters)

CNN Reports That Mother Teresa Underwent Exorcism (CNN Archives)

BBC Reports About Exorcism Performed on Mother Teresa (BBC Archives)

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted (Fernando Ortega)

Posted by Christine Pack

I recently went with friends to see Fernando Ortega, and this was one of the worship hymns he sang. I haven't been able to get this beautiful old German hymn out of my head since then. I pray it is a blessing to our readers.




Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Of Sin and Mirrors and God

Article by Jonathan Cousar (Gospel Masquerade)
Printed with permission

People don't seem to be able to understand why small sins are so big to God. It doesn't seem right that God would damn someone to eternal hell for every day run-of-the mill kinds of sins.

If you ask somebody if they're a bad person they will almost always say NO! Then if you begin to point out some of their sins, they'll inevitably start making excuses. The most common excuses are, "Ah, come on! Everybody does that!" Or, "I'm not nearly as bad as some people."

This shows that people don't really understand the seriousness of sin. The reason sin doesn't seem like such a big deal to us is because we are not precision moral agents. But God is! He is the ultimate precision moral agent. He can spot a tiny little sin a thousand miles away. But we hardly notice them even when they hit us in the face.

Maybe this will help. Sin is kind of like dust. If a little speck of dust gets on your $25 bathroom mirror, not only will you not care, you probably won't even notice. In fact, it won't be until thousands of pieces of dust collect on it that you'll begin to think about cleaning it.

Those little particles of dust are like your sins. And your bathroom mirror is like you. A bathroom mirror is very forgiving when it comes to particles of dust because it's not a pure precision mirror. Same with people. Most people are very forgiving when it comes to sin because they're not precision moral agents. Bathroom mirrors are made very quickly, by slapping a reflective coat of tin and silver onto the back of a piece of glass. It can be made with corrupted glass and it will still function fine for most of our needs.

What if instead of a bathroom mirror, you had a precision telescopic mirror? In this case, you would need the most pure kind of mirror we know how to make. The raw power of any telescope is determined by the size and purity of its main optic mirror. This telescope will be used to view objects that are billions of light years away. This mirror has to be a pure precision instrument, completely unlike the "blunt" object you use in your bathroom every day. This mirror has to be absolutely perfect because the type of work it's going to do is so much more precise than what your bathroom mirror is made to do.

The mirror that will fly aboard NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is the most expensive, sophisticated and pure mirror ever made by man.
"They will be precise enough to capture single photons. And the slightest speck of dust or greasy fingerprint could ruin them." 
(Why space telescope mirror is most complex ever built, BBC online)
One of the most difficult parts of making this kind of mirror - and one of the factors that makes it so incredibly expensive - is the requirement that not a single speck of dust, not even the tiniest speck, ever touch it! Why? Because the mirror has to be so pure that even a micro speck of dust will destroy it.

This mirror costs $8.7 BILLION! It is a fine, precision optical instrument. Therefore, not only would the tiniest speck of dust be noticed - the tiny speck of dust would destroy it. That tiny impurity that's nothing to your $25 bathroom mirror, would ruin an $8.7 billion mirror.

Why? Because the $8.7 billion mirror, unlike your bathroom mirror, has to be so pure and so precise in order to do what it's designed to do.

And so it is with God - who is the ultimate in purity. When your little sins, the ones you hardly notice, bump up against the pure and holy God - He takes great notice. He notices it like an $8.7 BILLION mirror notices a tiny speck of dust or a hairline scratch. Your tiniest sin is a huge deal to God - just like a tiny scratch or speck of dust is a huge deal to a pure multi-billion dollar mirror.

That's why even the smallest of your sins must be dealt with and paid for before you can enter the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is absolutely pure and not even the smallest sin can enter it. That same tiny speck of dust that is completely inconsequential to your bathroom mirror will totally destroy a precision $8.7 billion mirror. Same with your every day sins. In front of another person, they appear inconsequential. But before a completely pure and holy God - they bear eternal consequences.

The reason we don't understand the seriousness of our sins is not because we don't understand sin, but because we don't understand the absolute purity and holiness of God.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

(In the video below, notice how the guy inspecting the mirror at 4:00 - actually touches it with his hands. On a precision telescopic mirror this would destroy it!)



Thursday, April 24, 2014

Et tu, Jars of Clay?

Posted by Christine Pack
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
It used to be that professing Christians, even the more liberal ones, knew that unrepentant sin was not okay. But no longer. In today's finger-in-the-air, blow-with-the-trends evangelicalism, it seems that those who call themselves "Christian" today must be stopped at the gate for a definition-of-terms check. Affirms Jesus as the Son of God? Check. The substitutionary atonement as payment for sins? Check. Jesus raised from the dead as proof of his satisfactory work? Check. Gives a pass on homosexual sin in the name of ultra-tolerant love? Not so fast, buster.

Which brings me to my subject for today. The lead singer of one of my all time favorite Christian singing groups, Jars of Clay, recently began tweeting out his support for same sex marriage, and then expressed dismay that other Christians would challenge him on this, while claiming that the Bible has nothing to say on the matter of morality.


I can't say I'm completely surprised at this stance taken by Dan Haseltine. Not to be unkind, but CCM artists are hardly known for their strong doctrinal positions. However, Jars of Clay released a hymns album (Redemption Songs) back in 2005 that really ministered to me one summer early in my Christian walk. The reworked hymns contained beautiful doctrinal treatises on God's holiness, the seriousness of sin, and man's wretchedness and inability to save himself that really helped ground me as a new believer struggling in a mainstream evangelicalism that had just begun to go squishy and liberal. Maybe Dan Haseltine needs to go back to that wonderful hymns CD the group did, and listen to some of the theology that they so beautifully set to music, and remember that (1) unrepentant sin is serious to God and (2) that God clearly spells out for us in Scripture what is sinful, and yes, unrepentant homosexual sin is on the list.

I'm not saying that homosexual sin is specifically named in any of the hymns done by Jars of Clay (it's not), but true Christians who know the Word of God know that the Bible teaches clearly and unambiguously that unrepentant homosexual sin is wrong in God's eyes. That's not to say that a person might not struggle with homosexual urges....they can and surely do, in the same way that someone else might struggle with pride or anger or covetousness. But to attempt to normalize that sin, and shaming those who won't? No, no, no. For shame, Dan Haseltine. I'm calling you, as your sister in Christ, to repentance. I pray that God will grant you Godly sorrow over your public comments on this issue.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

From the beautiful hymn Hiding Place, originally composed by John Hyatt Brewer (1856-1931), and recorded by Jars of Clay on their Redemption Songs CD. Surely a plain reading of this hymn reveals God as the giver of moral standards, as well as man's inability to save himself through his own ideas of truth or his own attempts at righteous works:
Hiding Place
You know the vileness of my heart
So prone to act the rebel's part
And when You veil Your lovely face
How can I find a hiding place 
How unstable is my heart
Sometimes I take the tempter's part
And slight the tokens of Thy grace
And seem to want no hiding place 
But when Thy spirit shines within
Makes me feel the plague of sin
And how I long to see Thy face
'Tis then I want a hiding place 
Lord Jesus, shine and then I can
Feel sweetness in salvation's plan
And as a sinner plead for grace
Christ, the sinner's hiding place.



 Additional Resources 

The Folly of Same Sex Theology

Dan Haseltine Responds to Media Frenzy Over His Support for Same-Sex Marriage

A Biblical Response to Matthew Vines ("God and the Gay Christian") by Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries

Jars of Clay Lead Says of Christian Upbringing: I'm Not That Way Now."

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Easter -- Is It Pagan?

Posted by Sola Sisters

It really is ok to celebrate Easter! My Christian friends, there is no need for you to be afraid that you are participating in a pagan ritual to worship the sun god Baal or the pagan goddess Ishtar if you choose to celebrate Easter. For those unfamiliar with these ideas, they were once widely held and taught by Christian writer Ralph Woodrow, who promoted the idea of Easter as being a pagan holiday that Christians should not participate in. This idea also promulgated by Christian historian Alexander Hislop, and which we wrote about here.

From the more recent article Easter -- Is It Pagan? by Ralph Woodrow, who has since changed his views:
"Those who oppose the celebration of Christ's resurrection at the Easter season, sometimes make the wild claim that those who do so, are really worshipping the Sun- god Baal! They quote Ezekiel 8:14-16 about 'women weeping for Tammuz' and men worshipping 'the sun toward the east.' This, it is claimed, was the real origin of Good Friday and Easter Sunrise Services! But there is no valid connection. If a Christian group chooses to have a special service at sunrise to proclaim the good news of an empty tomb and resurrected Christ, it is not pagan. After all, it was at sunrise that the women came to the tomb and discovered it was empty: 'And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun' (Mk. 16:2). No Christian has ever gone to an Easter Sunrise Service to worship the Sun-god Baal. We admire Christians who desire to stand for the purity of the gospel, who do not want paganism in the church. But we should be certain that what we reject is indeed pagan, so that in pulling up weeds, we do not pull up the wheat also."
In closing, let me state that I am not urging any of my fellow Christians to go against their consciences and celebrate Easter (or Christmas, for that matter) if they are not comfortable doing so. I simply ask that they not condemn those of us do feel freedom to participate in these holidays, as we celebrate our Savior who came, lived, died and was raised from the dead so that we all might walk in newness of life.


 Additional Resources 

Myths From Hislop: A Call To Examine Facts





Why Christmas on Dec. 25?

To Christmas or Not To Christmas? That Is The Question