What does Aslan International Ministry say about
Celebrating Pagan Holidays
Colossians 2:8 ESV / 458 helpful votes
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Deuteronomy 12:29-32 ESV / 386 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Matthew 15:3 ESV / 337 helpful votes
He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Jeremiah 10:1-5 ESV / 318 helpful votes
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 298 helpful votes
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Colossians 2:16 ESV / 259 helpful votes
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
Romans 14:1-23 ESV / 253 helpful votes
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 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. …
Romans 14:5-6 ESV / 228 helpful votes
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. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 216 helpful votes
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Hebrews 13:8 ESV / 213 helpful votes
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Matthew 4:4 ESV / 207 helpful votes
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Exodus 20:8-11 ESV / 190 helpful votes
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
John 8:32 ESV / 189 helpful votes
And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Exodus 31:13 ESV / 181 helpful votes
“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.
Malachi 3:6 ESV / 180 helpful votes
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Romans 12:1-3 ESV / 178 helpful votes
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Galatians 4:8-11 ESV / 158 helpful votes
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
Jeremiah 10:2-5 ESV / 153 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
Isaiah 66:1-24 ESV / 147 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.” Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame. …
Colossians 2:16-17 ESV / 142 helpful votes
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 135 helpful votes
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. …
Numbers 28:16-17 ESV / 131 helpful votes
“On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover, and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
John 4:23-24 ESV / 126 helpful votes
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Revelation 1:1 ESV / 110 helpful votes
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Deuteronomy 12:32 ESV / 110 helpful votes
“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 109 helpful votes
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Mark 7:13 ESV / 109 helpful votes
Thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 108 helpful votes
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Mark 7:6-9 ESV / 107 helpful votes
And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
Galatians 4:1-31 ESV / 106 helpful votes
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. …
Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 105 helpful votes
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
Philippians 4:13 ESV / 101 helpful votes
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Matthew 15:9 ESV / 98 helpful votes
In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
John 8:44 ESV / 97 helpful votes
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Genesis 2:7 ESV / 97 helpful votes
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Jeremiah 10:2 ESV / 96 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,
Revelation 22:18-19 ESV / 95 helpful votes
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Matthew 15:8-9 ESV / 94 helpful votes
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Matthew 2:11 ESV / 94 helpful votes
And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
John 14:6 ESV / 93 helpful votes
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Revelation 21:7-8 ESV / 92 helpful votes
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Jeremiah 10:1-25 ESV / 92 helpful votes
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” …
Jeremiah 10:1-4 ESV / 92 helpful votes
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
Proverbs 14:12 ESV / 92 helpful votes
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Luke 16:15 ESV / 91 helpful votes
And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Deuteronomy 12:29-31 ESV / 90 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
Deuteronomy 12:31 ESV / 89 helpful votes
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 88 helpful votes
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Romans 14:5 ESV / 88 helpful votes
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.
Jeremiah 10:4 ESV / 88 helpful votes
They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 86 helpful votes
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Romans 14:13 ESV / 84 helpful votes
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Revelation 14:12 ESV / 83 helpful votes
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Jeremiah 3:6 ESV / 83 helpful votes
The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
2 Corinthians 6:17 ESV / 82 helpful votes
Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 ESV / 82 helpful votes
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Romans 12:2 ESV / 81 helpful votes
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Jeremiah 10:3 ESV / 81 helpful votes
For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
Proverbs 4:14-17 ESV / 81 helpful votes
Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 ESV / 78 helpful votes
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
1 Kings 12:26-33 ESV / 77 helpful votes
And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. …
Exodus 20:2-6 ESV / 76 helpful votes
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Galatians 4:8 ESV / 75 helpful votes
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
1 Corinthians 5:8 ESV / 75 helpful votes
Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Ephesians 5:6-17 ESV / 74 helpful votes
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. …
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 ESV / 74 helpful votes
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— …
Romans 14:1 ESV / 74 helpful votes
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
Titus 1:15 ESV / 72 helpful votes
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV / 71 helpful votes
Abstain from every form of evil.
Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 71 helpful votes
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Jeremiah 10:1 ESV / 71 helpful votes
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
Romans 14:6 ESV / 69 helpful votes
The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
John 3:16 ESV / 67 helpful votes
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 ESV / 66 helpful votes
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
Romans 14:2 ESV / 66 helpful votes
One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
Exodus 32:1-5 ESV / 66 helpful votes
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV / 65 helpful votes
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jeremiah 23:2 ESV / 65 helpful votes
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
Deuteronomy 12:29 ESV / 65 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
1 John 1:9 ESV / 64 helpful votes
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John 14:15 ESV / 64 helpful votes
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Genesis 6:1-22 ESV / 64 helpful votes
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. …
Revelation 22:14 ESV / 63 helpful votes
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Galatians 4:3 ESV / 63 helpful votes
In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Romans 14:20 ESV / 63 helpful votes
Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
Titus 2:12 ESV / 62 helpful votes
Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Jeremiah 10:5 ESV / 62 helpful votes
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
Isaiah 66:23 ESV / 62 helpful votes
From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.
Romans 14:21 ESV / 61 helpful votes
It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
Matthew 12:40 ESV / 61 helpful votes
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mark 6:21 ESV / 59 helpful votes
But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.
2 Peter 1:21 ESV / 57 helpful votes
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 10:2-4 ESV / 57 helpful votes
Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
Genesis 3:15 ESV / 56 helpful votes
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
1 Corinthians 10:14 ESV / 52 helpful votes
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV / 51 helpful votes
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Revelation 22:2 ESV / 50 helpful votes
Through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
1 Peter 4:3 ESV / 50 helpful votes
For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
Galatians 4:10 ESV / 44 helpful votes
You observe days and months and seasons and years!
John 17:17 ESV / 42 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
