Asking The Hard Questions
ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS
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DOES IT REALLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE WHICH DAY I KEEP?
DOES GOD REALLY CARE WHETHER I'M OFF ONE OR TWO DAYS AS LONG AS
MY ATTITUDE IS RIGHT ?
DOES GOD GIVE MEN THE RIGHT TO CHANGE A DAY HE HAS MADE HOLY?
AREN'T THESE JUST PICKY OR FRINGE ISSUES WHICH HAVE NOTHING TO DO
WITH MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD ?
BECAUSE MY MINISTER CLAIMS THAT THE JEWISH CALENDAR IS RIGHT,
SHOULD I JUST ACCEPT IT AND NOT PROVE IT FOR MYSELF?
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There is a controversy in the churches of God regarding the Holy Day calendar. It seems as if everyone in "authority" has given their input in this matter. There appears to be an endless array of misconceptions and contradictions. The old adage, "You can't teach an old dog new trick!," seems to ring clear when it comes to people not wanting to change an established body of beliefs that they all came to accept without actually proving to themselves whether they are right or wrong. It is the intention of this article to clear up some of the problems that have been addressed about the calendar, and why the mainstream organizations want to cling to the Jewish Hebrew calendar, even though many of them admit that they base the acceptance of the calendar on "assumptions," "possibilities," and "don't knows!"
Prove All Things
Is there anything we should take for granted when it comes to the truth of God? Is there anything we should just leave to a man or group of men when it comes to defining how or when we are to obey our Creator? How do you know you are right about the days you keep holy? Have you ever really proven it to yourself, or did you just take a man's word for it? What if the man was wrong? Do you think he alone will have to stand before God and give an account for himself as well as for you? God tells all of us, "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom. 14:12). "Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good" (I Thes. 5:21). "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). Even if that man was right, should not we still have the attitudes of the Bereans? "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the scriptures daily to see whether these things be so" (Acts 17:11).
If we have learned anything from our past mistakes, hopefully it is to stop relying on men. Don't take anything for granted. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to sifting truth from error. Never again stay in your comfort zone, hoping no man or group of men will come along with a personal agenda to sway you toward their beliefs.
The Jews Change The Holy Days
The Jewish calendar recognizes only the molad [new moon] of Tishri, as the seventh month, but it is not always the first day of the month. "As the moon moves around the earth, there is one moment that it is exactly between the earth and the sun. At that moment the earth faces the dark side of the moon. Already for about a day before this moment the moon has not been visible from any point on the earth and it will remain invisible for about a day more. This moment is called the molad, the birth of the new moon. The Jews use the molad as the official beginning and end point of the cycle of the moon" (Understanding the Jewish Calendar" pg. 71, by Nathan Bushwick). Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year] or beginning of the new year, is determined by order of 29 and 30 day months. Therefore, in order to arrive at the first day of Nisan [Abib], the first month, the Jews count backward 177 days from Tishri 1 to find Abib 1. This causes the Feast of Trumpets to be postponed, or "pushed off', from the true conjunction by one and sometimes two days. This means you will be celebrating the Feast of Trumpets on a different day than God commanded. This throws all the Holy Days of the year into different days than on the days God commanded them to be kept. If God didn't want us to celebrate His feast days on specific days of the month, He would not have mentioned specific days of the month (Lev. 23:5-8; Lev. 23:24; Lev. 23:27; Lev. 23:34-36).
History tells us the Jewish calendar was fixed in 358 or 359 AD by the Patriarch Hillel II. He was the highest order of Judaism. Added to this calendar were certain situations that prevented the Feast of Trumpets from falling on the day of the true conjunction of the new moon. These situations are called the four dechios, or postponement rules. These rules developed gradually after 100 to 200 A.D. The postponement rules are as follows: The first rule states that if the new moon occurs after 12:00 noon, the Feast of Trumpets is postponed until the next day. This rule was added because of visual sighting of the crescent moon. Although God nowhere said the new moon should begin with the visible observance of its crescent. The Jewish medieval scholar Maimonides states that, "The new moon is defined as the moment in which the sun and the moon, in their uniform motion, become conjoined in a certain part of the sky, which occurs in the same way everywhere in different areas" [in contrast to the varying times at which the crescent first becomes visible]" [Sanctification of the New Moon]. In the event that the closest sunset might be the following one, it could easily lead to the Feast of Trumpets postponed to the next day. God's Feast of Trumpets is actually on the day of the "true" new moon conjunction. But why this rule anyway? Visual sighting of the moon has not been used by the Jews for centuries. This is just another Jewish tradition.
The second rule prevents the Day of Atonement from falling the day before or the day after the Sabbath. This is avoided so that there not be two days in a row on which it is forbidden to prepare food. The Jewish traditions are so strict in regard to observing the weekly Sabbath that this created a great hardship on them. This second rule also prevents the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles from falling on a weekly Sabbath, in which case the Jews would not be able to perform their traditions of arava [beating of the willows on the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles]. All of this means that the Feast of Trumpets cannot fall on a Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday. And since the Passover is determined by counting backward 163 days from Tishri 1, the Jews' Passover will never fall on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. If the first two rules of postponement apply in any given year, the Feast of Trumpets can be off by two days from the true conjunction, which is the only new moon day that is Holy to God.
The last two rules of postponement occur occasionally and have to do with regulating the years in the Jewish calendar. More will be said about this later. Since the Jews begin their year in Tishri, they move the Feast of Trumpets in order to adjust the years. Because of their strict traditions, they do not keep their molad of Tishri holy every year. We know that these postponement rules were not in effect in the time of Christ and the Apostles because the Jewish Talmud, written over a period of years beginning in 200 AD, states that Shabu'ot [Pentecost] occurred on the Sabbath (Ency. Talmudica pg. 542); something that can never happen using the rules of postponement. Simple calculation shows that if the Jews' Pentecost fell on the Sabbath, that would mean that the Jews' Passover fell on Friday. Counting 163 days backward from Tishri I to establish a Friday Passover would mean that the Feast of Trumpets fell on a Sunday; not allowed under the rules of postponement. The Talmud also states how to keep the Sabbath when it falls one or two days after the Day of Atonement (2d Division: Moed; Betsah (Yom Tob) 2 , Shabbath 1 53); something which can never happen with the current Jewish calendar.
Another problem that exists is the 19 year cycle. Every 19 years the Jewish calendar goes through one complete cycle of common years and leap years. Remember, the Jewish calendar is a fixed calendar so there is no variation as to when leap years will occur. This is another area where the Jews miss the mark occasionally because of their traditions. They know that God tells us to "Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel" (Num. 9:2-5). They understand this to mean that the Passover should not fall before the spring equinox. If they see the Passover will fall before the spring equinox, they simply add a 13th month to prevent this from happening. However, because of their fixed calendar tradition, a 13th month is added erroneously in some years, thereby causing God's people, who adhere to the Jewish calendar, to take the second Passover instead of the first. See Numbers 9:1-2,10-11 and 2 Chron. 30:1-3.
Should we discredit the Jews altogether because their traditions have led our "leaders" to err? By no means! The Jews have preserved the rules of determining hours, days, months, and years which God entrusted to his people Israel. Correct calculation is extremely important in determining the Holy Days, otherwise these days would fall at times and seasons not intended. "Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it" (Num. 9:2-3).
The Jews have done an excellent work in preserving many important characteristics of the calendar. Unfortunately, their traditions have led them into error on many points. This is obvious in regard to Passover and Pentecost; as the church well knows. Where the Jews go wrong is when they start adding their own traditions to the calendar and the law. God admonishes them and us, "Do not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Deut. 4:2) and, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deut. 12:32).
What do those in the position of "Authority" in the scattered Churches of God say:
They say, "We can not prove that the postponements were Jewish traditions, and may have been part of the Holy Day calendar from the beginning." Were they? God tells us that each new moon is the beginning of the month (Exodus 12:2). Hence, the word "month" is derived from the word "moon." But because of their tradition, the Jews are only concerned about one new moon out of the entire year, as has already been stated. And they don't celebrate that new moon properly.
Those who keep the Jewish Hebrew Calendar say, "There appears to be no dispute regarding the calendar calculations during the time of Christ and the Apostles."
Does this mean that Jesus and the Apostles kept the same days of Passover and Pentecost that the Jews did? We know they didn't, Actually, what we do know is that there were great disputes in those days in regard to many matters among the religious leaders. History tells us that there were two different calendars, possibly even four, in use in the days of Christ. The religious groups were vehemently opposed to one another in the matters of rituals, marriage, the sacred calendar, the correct observances of the Holy Days, and other points. Yes, there was a dispute. Jesus said, "And in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9) and, "Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do" (Mark 7:13).
Even after hearing what Christ said, they argue, "Without the postponement rules, the Jewish calendar would be in a perpetual state of confusion. Holy Days would fall on a Sunday. The lengths of years would be irregular. Calendar reformers would be tempted to tamper with this calendar more often."
This article contends that with the postponement rules the Jewish calendar is not only in a perpetual state of confusion that has already been tampered with, but is also contrary to God's commands. The length of years in the Jewish calendar are usually irregular. "A "complete" year is one in which both the months of Marheshvan and Kislev are full. It will have 355 days in an ordinary year or 385 days in a leap year. In a "normal" year Marheshvan is full and Kislev is defective, and there will be 354 or 384 days. Both months will be defective in a defective year, in which there will be 353 or 383 days. The year containing 353 days may begin on a Monday or a Saturday. The 354 day year may begin on a Thursday. The year containing either 355 or 383 days may begin on a Monday, Thursday, or Saturday. The year with 384 days begins on a Tuesday or Thursday, and the one with 355 or 385 days begins on Monday, Thursday or Saturday. Thus there are 14 possible combinations for the calendar year. "These forbidden days cause a great complication of the calendar" (Jewish Encyclopedia, Article, Chronology; Sect: Post Biblical Times pg. 65).
When looking at a synopsis of history, when God created the earth, sun, and moon, He established 30-day months, a 360 -day year. This can be substantiated by reading Gen. 7:11, 24 and Gen. 8:3-4. There were twelve months in every year (I Chron. 27:1-15). No need for leap years in the beginning. Deut.34:8 and Num. 20:29 imply the possibility that the same solar year may still have existed at the time of Moses. The first day of Tishri would have fallen on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, [the "forbidden"days], every 8th year. If Tishri 1 would have been postponed in the beginning, the month preceding Tishri would have consisted of 31 days, and some years 32 days. That means that the month of Tishri would have fallen short of 30 days. The Feast of Trumpets would not have fallen on the true conjunction as God commanded. Do you see something wrong with this picture? There would have been confusion. How irrational to think that the postponements may have been part of the calendar from the beginning.
Suffice it to say, the solar system no longer operates in harmony so as to make a 360-day year possible. The circuits of the heavenly bodies, including earth, are no longer compatible. But this problem does not justify using the postponement rules. It only justifies using a 13th month when necessary in order to achieve what God commands in the Torah. " Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season" (Num 9:2).
These same men in authority say, "We have chosen to accept the Hebrew calendar as preserved by the Jews and that this calendar is authoritative."
So why don't they keep all the Jewish holidays, 14 in all? And if this calendar is authoritative, then why change anything about it, such as Passover and Pentecost? Can you see the contradiction in this statement? If the Jews are wrong about Passover and Pentecost, could they not be wrong about other issues? It behooves all of God's people to find out.
Men in authority say, "The Bible tells us that the month of Abib is to be the beginning of months."
So why do they follow the tradition of the Jews who proclaim that Tishri is the beginning of months? The Jewish fixed calendar starts with Tishri as the beginning of the calendar year. The Babylonian exile, beginning in the 6th century B.C., had a great influence on the Jewish calendar. The months, which had for the most part, been designated by numbers or by agricultural information, began to be called by the Babylonian month names, and the rarely used Hebrew names disappeared. The new year, which had been celebrated in Nisan [Abib], was moved to Tishri, when the Babylonians celebrated their new year. Hebrew Calendar keepers say, "It is alright for Holy Days to fall back to back in the spring, but not alright in the fall."
What kind of logic is this? Where is this reasoning backed up by God's word? The reason they say this is because they have to justify why Holy Days fall back to back in the spring when not using all of the Jewish traditions, but only some of them. They know that the Holy Days will sometimes [of course all of the time for Pentecost], fall back to back in the spring because they are not keeping Passover and Pentecost the way the Jewish calendar says to keep them.
Again they say, "We can't keep the Day of Atonement on Friday or Sunday because it would be too much of a hardship since there is no preparation for the weekly Sabbath."
What is wrong with preparing for the weekly Sabbath on Thursday? And how does the Day of Atonement falling on Sunday interfere with weekly Sabbath observance? Is it a hardship for the weekly Sabbath? If so, then we should consider moving Pentecost to another day. God doesn't create the hardship, man does. People have had knowledge for thousands of years on how to preserve food for days on end. Mankind just doesn't want to be inconvenienced. Continuing their thinking, "If the postponement rules are wrong, God would not have allowed Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to keep the wrong days all those years."
God allowed Pentecost to be celebrated on the wrong day for forty years under the direction of Herbert Armstrong. It is not the intention of this article to dwell on the mistakes that Herbert Armstrong made. God allows error in the church and He sometimes blesses us in ignorance. But once we are no longer ignorant about an issue, it is our responsibility before God to resolve it. God is patient with us and allows us time to change. Error may go on for 40 years or 1500 years, but God will eventually make it known.
Those leading men say, "From time to time, a controversy over the calendar arises within the church that is never resolved to the satisfaction of all interested parties, and this problem crops up about every 20 years."
Should the Churches of God follow the instructions of God's Word or should we follow the traditions of man. "Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
"Why does this controversy continue to "crop up?"
Could it be that God will continue to make sure it "crops up" through different individuals, whether they be "minister" or "lay member", until the church finally realizes its error? The problem lies in the fact that men in their vanity say "God will not reveal this truth to anyone except to the leader or the board members, and God certainly wouldn't reveal this truth to a lay member, Would He?"
"Seek and Ye Shall Find"
If you have God's spirit, this article challenges you to put forth some effort and see if what you have read is true. Don't take this article's, nor any man's, word for it. Search the scriptures, study history, and read everything you-can on the subject of the calendar. Is it worth knowing the truth ? Is it worth finding the "pearl of great price?" "My son, if you receive My words, and treasure My commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding: Yes if you cry for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God" (Prov. 2:1-5).
"Asking the Hard Questions"
All of us need to be honest with ourselves by asking some poignant questions.
"Does it really make any difference which day I keep?"
"Does God really care whether I'm off one or two days as long as my attitude is right?"
"Does God give men the right to change a day He made holy?"
"Aren't these just "picky" or "fringe" issues which have nothing to do with my relationship with God?"
"Because my minister claims that the Jewish calendar is right, should I just accept it and not prove it for myself?"
No man or group of men can answer these questions for you. The choice is yours. But God recommends to choose life! " I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them" (Deut 30:19-20).
Church of God, In Truth
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