St. Patrick was largely responsible for establishing the presence of Catholicism in Ireland. He lived from 387-493 A.D., and is renowned for building schools and converting the Irish to Catholicism. It is said that he drove the pagans out of Ireland and used the shamrock(three-leaf clover) to help people understand the trinity, which is why it is a symbol of the holiday today. Before his time, the shamrock already had a certain religious significance to the Celtic people. The druids thought that the plant had mystical powers to ward off evil spirits: to them, the three leaves were symbolic of their own deities - the "Triple Goddess." This just one example of how the Catholic church has corrupted modern Christianity: they took pagan customs, symbols, and holidays and relabeled them to represent Christian concepts. This has happened all over the world - pagan statues of a mother with a child were renamed as Mary and Jesus, and various pagan crosses were re-purposed as the cross that Jesus was nailed to. There is no precedent for this kind of religious integration in the bible:
Deuteronomy 12:30-31God specifically tells the Israelites not to worship in the same way as other religions do because God has clearly defined for them (and for us) exactly how he wants to be worshiped.
Be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about [other nation's] gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates.
St. Patrick's Day is considered a "Holy Day of Obligation" in the country of Ireland. I wrote an article about the Catholic Holy Days of Obligation last year around this time - essentially, these days are, according to Catholic dogma, supposed to be celebrated by a cessation from work and a gathering for mass. The Catholic requirements for their holidays are similar to the commandments that God requires for the Sabbath and His Holy Days in Leviticus 23: that there be no work done and that there be a holy convocation or assembly.
In addition to being biblically unfounded, these "holy days of obligation" are not even standardized - the head Bishop of each country decides what days their country will celebrate. Ireland, for example, observes St. Patrick's day whereas other countries do not. By contrast, God's Holy Days, observed by His true church, are clearly defined in Leviticus 23 for everyone. No man has the authority to say who keeps what - God's church does what the bible says to do, when it says to do it.
St. Patrick's day usually falls during the season of Lent, a time of fasting and abstaining from indulgence which, coincidentally, is another unbiblical observance adopted by the Catholic church over the years. Despite this, in our modern culture St. Patrick's day is more commonly associated with revelry than reverence! Up until the 1980's, St. Patrick's day was a solemn holiday for the Irish people, and it was a day on which people went to church and spent time together as a family. While this is still the case for a small group of observers, it has, even in Ireland, become a day of partying and drinking as we are used to seeing in America - with vast parades full of people drinking themselves into a stupor.
St. Patrick's day usually falls during the season of Lent, a time of fasting and abstaining from indulgence which, coincidentally, is another unbiblical observance adopted by the Catholic church over the years. Despite this, in our modern culture St. Patrick's day is more commonly associated with revelry than reverence! Up until the 1980's, St. Patrick's day was a solemn holiday for the Irish people, and it was a day on which people went to church and spent time together as a family. While this is still the case for a small group of observers, it has, even in Ireland, become a day of partying and drinking as we are used to seeing in America - with vast parades full of people drinking themselves into a stupor.
The holidays of man are prone to being devalued by tradition, and this is exactly what happened to St. Patrick's day. It's celebration is not founded on God's immovable Word; therefore, it is no wonder that it has degenerated. By contrast, we obtain the details of God's Holy Days from God rather than by the traditions of men. They are perfectly preserved for us in the bible so that we, through reading and studying God's word, will never lose their meaning. God specifically included the keeping of His Holy Days as part of how we worship Him. We are to observe these days and only these days. Each one reveals part of the God's ultimate plan for salvation. What's more, they reveal God's plan in sequence and are intended to be instructive.
It's easy to see how St. Patrick's Day has degraded over time - it does not have God's everlasting Word as a foundation and does not have deep spiritual meaning behind it. The same can be said of every other pagan observance that people today call Christian: because God has not given the instructions for people to celebrate them, people have imputed whatever ideas they wanted into them until they are unrecognizable in modern culture. It's an interesting fact that there was a law enacted against celebrating Christmas in England in 1652 - there were people at that time that knew it was an outright pagan and unbiblical holiday - if only it were so today, so that people could turn away from these evil observances:
Isaiah 5:20It is no wonder God was so particular in laying out his Holy Days. It is a great misfortune that so many people do not keep the Law, which God has clearly outlined in the bible, but rather exchange God's Holy Days for their own holidays. Woe to them, because they have called evil good and good evil. A review of God's true Holy Days and how to observe them can be found here. God's Holy Days are a great blessing and an integral part of how God wants to be worshiped. Knowing them and observing them will lead you to a greater understanding of God's plan for all mankind, from Adam to present.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness
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