Today's topic that we will be going over is the holiday known as valentines day. If you haven't already I suggest checking out my post on Christmas and Halloween because many of the points why I don't observe this day are also why I don't observe those days.
The Origin of Valentines Day
This "holiday" that is celebrated in February has it's roots in the pagan festival Lupercalia which is also called the festival of sexual License (Mat 7:18). Lupercalia is the ancient tradition of the Romans to praise Lupercus who is known as a fertility god.
So how did the ancient pagans celebrate this day? There were the priest known as Luperci who would manage the purification rites by sacrificing animals such as dogs and goats. They would then whip the ladies from the thongs that were created from the animal hide, they did this because they thought it guaranteed fertility and ease of childbirth.
It turns out that February gets it's name from februa "means of purification". This month was considered holy to the pagan deity called Juno Februata, she is known as the goddess of Febris (fever) of love, and women, as well as the goddess of marriage.
As you probably could have guessed there was a special tradition done on February 14th. What was this tradition? First teenage girls would put their names on billets, these billets would then be dumped into a container. Then the teen boys would pick a billet at random, sound familiar? This seems so innocent huh? Well, it wasn't. Once the boy drew the girl's name they would then be considered a couple and accompany in the erotic games that were occurring at the feast and parties all over Rome. Another thing you may find shocking is that afterwards the boy and girl would continue to be sexual partners until the next Lupercalia festival.
Just like Halloween and Christmas, Valentines day was Christianized and turned into a "Christian" holiday. This occurred in 494 A.D. when Pope Gelasius re titled Juno's festival as the "feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary". In 496 A.D. he moved Lupercalia from the 15th to the 14th and named it St. Valentines day. The Catholic church had their own way of celebrating this day, first some Catholic saint's names had been inserted into a box then both genders would pull the names and try to mimic the life of the specific saint which they had drawn.
The popular figure of this day is Cupid. Cupid was the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty and love. His Greek personage was Eros son of Aphrodite. He was known in fables to "knock up" many gods and humans. He would also shoot people with his bow, which caused them to fall madly in lust with someone. He did this not to help them but to drive them crazy with desire and laugh at them.
The biblical definition of love is quite different than the greek mythological version of love. Biblical love has emotion but it is not the ruling factor, biblical love is demonstrated through action for the well-being of another (1 Joh 3:17-18). Furthermore it is voluntary, it is something you can choose to do; Whereas the Greek "Eros version" of love is some overwhelming feeling that you cannot control. It's fleeting and doesn't last forever. People with this type of love go from one spouse or partner to another looking for the "One" because their not happy. This is because Jesus is the "One" and we will be married to him in heaven (Eph 5:31-32).
Why it Shouldn't be Celebrated!
Let's go over some scriptural reasons why we should have nothing to do with this abominable unholy day. To keep this article reasonably short I will just give six.
Reason #1. It's Pagan Roots
It is an indisputable fact as I have just shown that valentine's day has pagan roots. We see all throughout scripture to stay away from idolatry (Exo 20:3, 1Cor 10:14, 1 Joh 5:21). Even if someone uses the excuse saying well that not why I celebrate this day we can just point to the following passages to show that God hates it when his people adopts the customs of idol worshipers (Lev 18:3 -5, Deut 12:32, 1Cor 10:6-7). Christians are to worship God in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:24), which has nothing to do with valentines day.
2. Premarital sex is forbidden in the Bible
God loves us and wants what's best for us. That's why he created the institution of marriage. Marriage creates a sense of stability for raising a family. How many kids today feel unloved because one of their parents abandoned them, marriage prevents this kind of hurt. Likewise marriage reduces abortions because the parents are there to take care of the children.
Another reason why marriage is good is because when two people are in a monogamous relationship they are much less likely to get an std. STD's are the consequence of those who go from one person to another selfishly fulfilling their sexual desires without actual care for the other person.
(Rom 13:13 -14, 1Cor 6:18-20, 2Co 12:21, Gal 5:19 -21)
Reason # 3. Christian giving is done willingly.
The next thing that I wanted to talk about is that women feel entitled to get something on this day, just like on their birthdays. Well what's wrong with this? The problem is that men are forced to give gifts on this day contrary to 2 Cor 9:7. When a gift is given out of obligation/duty can we really say that it's done out of love?
I'm not saying that man shouldn't do nice things and give gifts to their beloved, it just why should they wait for a specific day that may never come. Do it when you have the chance (Gal 6:10).
Reason # 4. Stop Celebrating it for the kids!!!
Every year children are pressured into finding a partner for valentines day. It's bad enough that kids nowadays have so many unwed/unplanned pregnancies, and that std's are running rampant; do we really need a holiday to encourage this? It's a Christian father's duty to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4), we see in the OT that the Israelite fathers had to guard their daughters virginity until marriage or else they would've had to stone them for their whoredom (Deu 22:13-21).
Kids today have so much overwhelming temptation to sexual sin through television, the internet, and books; add that to their raging hormones and the fact that they are not fully mature and it's no wonder there aren't many virgin brides anymore. As Christians we are supposed protect our kids, which means not throwing a stumbling block for them to sin through valentine's day (Mat 18:6, Rom 14:13).
Reason #5. Christian's are Supposed to Be different!
Christians are told by Paul's epistle to not be conformed to this world (Rom 12:2), we are also told to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14-18). Wouldn't celebrating Feb 14 the same way that pagans do be disobeying this passage? Christians are also known as a peculiar people (1Pet 2:9), and the light of the world (Mat 5:14). Instead of partaking in the works of darkness we are supposed to reprove them (Eph 5:11).
Reason # 6 To not Offend Another's Conscience
Christians are called to not love the things of the world (1 Joh 2:15). We should avoid eating Pagan Holiday food/candy as to not wound the conscience of others (Act 15:20, Act 15:29, Act 21:25, 1 Cor 8, 1Cor 10:27-33).
In conclusion we see that Valentines day is not a Christian observance and should be avoided because of it ties with false gods. It also promotes whoredom / chambering which is another reason it should be avoided.
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