Short answer:
No. Christians
should not celebrate Valentine’s Day. God forbids pagan practices, such as Valentine’s
Day, which honor false gods and goddesses. The Bible says that if a foreigner
joins the Israelites in worshipping God (“YHWH”) that person has to obey the
same commandments God gave His chosen people.
Scholars trace the origins of Valentine’s Day to the ancient pagan
Roman festival of Lupercalia and Saint
Valentine of the early Christian church.
Cupid, originally depicted as an athletic young man, was the Roman god of desire and
erotic love. He was the son of Venus, the goddess of love. The Middle Eastern
names for the goddess were Semiramis,
Ishtar, Astarte.
Semiramis’s husband was Nimrod,
the builder of the Tower of Babel regarded as the first antichrist.
After Nimrod died, Semiramis gave birth to a boy named Tammuz. She claimed the baby
was Nimrod, reborn as a god.
Tammuz and Cupid were both worshipped as the son of the goddess of
love. They personified the same pagan god.
Detailed explanation:
Many people in the
world today, whether Christians (who comprise approximately one-third of the
world population) or non-Christians, observe and celebrate various unbiblical
red-letter days in ignorant, or sometimes even blatant, violation of the will
of God Almighty, Creator and ruler of heaven and earth.
Pagan practices forbidden. God has commanded: “When the
LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to
possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed
to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be
destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying,
How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt
not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he
hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters
they have burnt in the fire to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:29-31).
God’s people should not imitate the ways pagans worship their gods,
which are detestable and disgusting to the LORD. "Do
not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though
the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are
worthless…” (Jeremiah 10:2-3a, NIV). Following any of the various
superstitious practices of other people who do things against the will of God
is a folly and just a waste of time.
Only for Israel? Some may argue that God’s commandments are only for Israel. No. The
Scriptures explain: “One ordinance shall
be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth
with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the
stranger be before the LORD. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the
stranger that sojourneth with you” (Numbers 15:15-16).
To paraphrase, if a
foreigner lives with or joins the Israelites in the worship of the one true God
(“YHWH”), that person is duty-bound to observe the same commandments God has
given to His chosen people – the Hebrew nation or Israel.
“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD,
to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one
that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:6-7).
The foreigners and
their descendants who will faithfully keep God’s laws will be numbered among
His people and taken to the kingdom of heaven. Needless to say, excluded are
those who imitate pagans in worshipping their gods – celebrating what we can
call unholy holidays.
Valentine’s Day. Although not actually a holiday, but
nonetheless an annual red-letter day fondly anticipated by many people,
Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14 each year. On this day, celebrants express
their affection for each other and send greeting cards and gifts to their
sweethearts and other loved ones.
Origins. Scholars trace the practice
to several origins: ancient pagan Roman festival called Lupercalia; Saint Valentine of the early Christian church; old
English belief that birds chose
their mates in mid-February; and the coming of spring as a time for lovers.
Lupercalia. The festival of Lupercalia was a pagan religious event
in ancient Rome celebrated every year near the Lupercal, a cave in
the Palatine Hill. (According to Roman mythology, a wolf in the cave nursed the infant twins Romulus and Remus,
the legendary founders of Rome.)
The ancient Romans
held the festival of Lupercalia on February 15 as a ritual for protection against
wolves. The name of the festival came from lupus (Latin for “wolf”),
pointing to a primitive god who
protected flocks from wolves.
Saint Valentine. Several Christian saints
were named Valentine, but the so-called “day of hearts” probably took its name
from a priest martyred by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus for ministering to
persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire.
According to
tradition, Saint Valentine was beheaded on February 14, around A.D. 269, at the age of 42 or 43 years. In
one story, Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. He fell
in love with her and, on the day of his execution, sent a letter to her – “from your Valentine”.
In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with Saint Valentine's
Day.
Birds’ mating season. In England, it was thought that the birds’ mating season began in
mid-February, they thus became a
symbol of Valentine’s Day often seen in greeting cards and decorations.
The coming of spring. At the onset of spring, many young people get “spring fever” – a hazy feeling of restlessness and excitement. As the temperature rises, birds sing, flowers bud, bees pollinate, and humans become more cheerful and predisposed to romance.
In Europe, Valentine’s
Day came to be celebrated as a day of
romance from about the 14th
century. Formal, written messages, called “valentines”, first appeared
in the 1500s. By the late 1700s commercially printed cards were being used.
Cupid, pagan god of love. Cupid (whose name means
"desire" in Latin) was
the mythological Roman god of desire, erotic love, attraction, and affection.
He was identified with the Greek god Eros,
also called Amor in Latin
poetry. The earliest images of Cupid showed him as a handsome, athletic young
man. By the mid-300s B.C., however, he
was portrayed as a chubby, naked infant with wings, holding a bow and arrow. Cupid
was known as the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The Middle
Eastern names for the goddess of love
were Semiramis, Ishtar, Astarte.
Nimrod, the first
antichrist. Semiramis’s husband was Nimrod, the builder of the Tower of Babel
regarded as the first antichrist. After Nimrod was killed, Semiramis became
pregnant and gave birth to a boy. She claimed the baby was Nimrod himself, reborn as a god.
Tammuz. The boy-god was named Tammuz.
Both he and Cupid were worshipped as the son of the goddess of love, although called
by different names in different countries. The two of them personified the same
pagan god.
Are you unwittingly
celebrating Valentine’s Day, which, unknown to most people, is honoring pagan gods and the first antichrist? Don’t risk losing your
spiritual salvation. God’s prophet said, “My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6a).
If you value love in
your life, worship God and obey His commandments. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is
love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John
4:16).
Excerpted from the booklet Unholy
Holidays by M.M. Tauson. Printed copies available at Amazon.com – For free
pdf copies of our e-booklets, click the Booklets and Google Drive tabs on the
menu bar.
Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless
otherwise indicated.
