Spring is in the air here in Ontario, Canada, as Easter has just passed and we wind down thinking about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I find it almost fitting that it happens every year at the beginning of spring. Is this a historical coincidence or a biblical fact? Some people believe that the traditional date of Easter coincides with the day of the spring equinox, much like others believe that Christmas takes place on the day of the winter solstice. Both of these events are considered to be pagan high holidays. Is the Easter holiday a frivolous example of Christian dominance in light of the Crusades, which sought to eradicate all pagan traditions, or is it actually a tribute to the death and resurrection of Jesus? Others argue that Easter began for Christians on the same day as Passover did for Jewish traditions; however, this was changed in 325 by the council of Nicaea during a dispute known as the Paschal Contravories, so this theory is no longer considered valid.
We do not go to sit on Santa’s lap, and he does not come to our house in the middle of the night when we celebrate Christmas in our home. Instead, I explain to my children the true meaning behind our belief in and observance of the Christmas holiday as Christians. The same can be said for Easter celebrations in our house. There is no such thing as a rabbit that sneaks into your house and deposits chocolate eggs, which do not originate from chickens in the first place. Do you know how hard it is to convince children to eat normal eggs after waking up to find chocolate ones around the house? There are times when I get the impression that, in a perverse twist of fate, we have brought this problem upon ourselves by actively attempting to convert pagan beliefs and practices into those of Christianity. Or by the handiwork of the devil, who turned what appeared to be a crusade to bring followers of Christ closer to Christ into something that actually drove them further away from Christ. Instead of focusing on one of the most significant presents that they will ever get, we celebrate one of the holiest of holidays by chasing our children around while they are high on sugar and distracted by receiving gifts. This is a symbol of our celebration of his death and resurrection, which is a symbol of one of the holiest of holidays. We have unintentionally commercialized Christ!
This compels me to turn my attention to the flowers that are blooming all around the TULIPS that are springing forth from my garden. At the very least, I initially believed that they were tulips; however, I have been informed that they are, in fact, daffodils. Despite this, we are currently studying Calvin and TULIPS in both my Systematic Theology and Creeds and Confessions classes. And in the same way that we think of Easter Bunnies and Jesus, Christians, both reformed and non-reformed, think of Calvin and TULIPS synonymously.
They are in no way interchangeable; Calvin wasn’t even the one who came up with the acronym TULIPS, for that matter. Again, as followers of something good, we have transformed it into something that does not exactly represent something in the way that it should, and as a result, we lose the quality of what it is that we are attempting to convey to other people.
When John Calvin was asked to simplify his beliefs, he then spoke of them in the terms that we now use both in the study and in the explanation of Calvinism as TULIPS. TULIPS was a term that was coined by Calvin’s followers; Calvin himself did not create the term. Totally Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Unchangeable Grace, and the Preservation of the Saints are the five tenets of the Christian religion. Now, if you are new to the Reformation, coming from a different denomination, new to Christianity, or new to the CRC, this acronym may actually discourage you from learning more about both our faith doctrine and our history. Now, if I had a friend or was a pastor, and a new family visited our church and began asking me questions about reformed theology or our beliefs, and I responded by throwing TULIPS at them, how do you believe they would react? What do you believe their possible response will be? Especially considering the current day and age. The vast majority of people have seen, heard, or otherwise encountered messages that Jesus is the answer, that forgiveness is yours through Him, and that all one needs to do to receive forgiveness is to ask for it. Highly regarded public Christians such as Joyce Meyers and even Billy Graham have never confronted people with the facts that they are totally sinful and depraved, that their choice to believe or not in God is taken from their hands, that they cannot do anything to earn it, that we must preserve the gospel, and that it is only through the grace of God that we are saved. A normal person just looking into a new church or Christian organization could be scared away. It’s not that TULIPS are a bad thing at all, any more than chocolate eggs in fun shapes are a bad thing to eat. When I searched for Calvinism on YouTube, the majority of the results showed videos in which people discussed Calvin and the acronym TULIPS.
My thesis, as well as the focus of my blog, is that we have corrupted holy things, as well as things that are good and Christian sacraments like unleavened bread and wine, by altering them to conform to our preferences and make them more appropriate for our requirements. Even if they are done for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom in heaven. Because in the end, we altered them in accordance with our carnal desires, whether those desires were to eradicate the pagans or to bring them into line with Christian beliefs. On one of the most important religious holidays that we observe, we now celebrate with pagan symbols of futility and their idols. Actually both, as the Christmas tree was decorated by pagans as an offering to the Goddess Diane at the winter solstice to bring a bountiful harvest in the summer when she awoke from her winter slumber, in accordance with Wiccan traditions. It was later adopted by Roman Catholics, who decorated pine trees outside their churches during Christmas services in an effort to convert pagan followers to Christianity. When we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we now also decorate these trees in our homes as well as in the churches where we attend. As a direct consequence of this, we have distorted our own Christian celebrations in an effort to make Christianity appear more dominant and to supplant the traditions of other religions, such as the pagan, Jewish, and Greek customs.
My point is that perhaps if we just stopped interfering with the work that God is doing and instead allowed the scriptures to be lived by in an honest manner, just as God has outlined in the Torah, and followed his commands and decrees, we would actually be living more honestly in accordance with his word and showing more love to one another. This is the point that I am attempting to make, so please bear with me. confused both newcomers and students alike.
By. Amanda Mason
My partner and I stumbled over here different page and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking at your web page again.
What i don’t realize is actually how you are now not really a lot more neatly-favored than you might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You already know thus significantly on the subject of this matter, produced me in my view consider it from numerous numerous angles. Its like women and men don’t seem to be interested unless it’s one thing to do with Woman gaga! Your personal stuffs outstanding. Always handle it up!
Your style is really unique compared to other folks I have read stuff
from. Thank you for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I’ll just
bookmark this web site.
It’s remarkable to pay a visit this site and reading the views of all friends concerning this paragraph, while I am also zealous
of getting know-how.
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you’re utilizing?
I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest blog and
I would like to find something more safeguarded.
Do you have any recommendations?
My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find the majority of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. can you offer guest writers to write content for yourself? I wouldn’t mind producing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome site!
whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading your posts. Keep up the great work! You know, many people are searching around for this information, you can aid them greatly.
Valuable information. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
I for all time emailed this web site post page to all my associates, as if like to read it afterward my links
will too.
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked
submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing
all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say wonderful
blog!
Thankyou for helping out, superb information.
I am extremely impressed with your writing talents and also with the format to your weblog. Is this a paid subject matter or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice high quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one these days..
Dead indited content, thank you for information. «The earth was made round so we would not see too far down the road.» by Karen Blixen.
excellent points altogether, you simply gained a new reader. What would you suggest about your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Bless you!
At this time it seems like Drupal is the top blogging platform available
right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using
on your blog?
I think this is among the most vital info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The site style is great, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers
Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles?
I mean, what you say is valuable and everything.
But think of if you added some great photos or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with images and video clips, this site could
definitely be one of the best in its niche. Awesome blog!
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog post.Thanks Again. Really Cool.
A person essentially help to make seriously articles I would state. This is the very first time I frequented your web page and thus far? I surprised with the research you made to make this particular publish amazing. Great job!
You made some good points there. I looked on the internet for the topic and found most people will go along with with your site.
It is in reality a nice and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you just shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
This is one awesome post.Thanks Again. Will read on…
Thanx for the effort, keep up the good work Great work, I am going to start a small Blog Engine course work using your site I hope you enjoy blogging with the popular BlogEngine.net.Thethoughts you express are really awesome. Hope you will right some more posts.
Spot on with this write-up, I actually assume this website wants far more consideration. I’ll in all probability be once more to read much more, thanks for that info.
Precisely what I was searching for, regards for putting up.
Utterly pent subject material, regards for selective information. “The earth was made round so we would not see too far down the road.” by Karen Blixen.
obviously like your website but you have to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the reality on the other hand I will surely come back again.
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
I just wanted to post a remark in order to appreciate you for all the precious tips you are showing here. My time-consuming internet search has finally been compensated with good content to talk about with my neighbours. I would assume that most of us website visitors are quite fortunate to dwell in a fine website with so many lovely individuals with beneficial tricks. I feel truly privileged to have discovered the webpages and look forward to so many more enjoyable minutes reading here. Thank you again for a lot of things.