(Christian Holy Days) The Modern Christian church now orders its members to attend services on every Sunday and on all other Holy Days. The Church makes the Services mandatory on Holy Days and on every Sunday, since the Christians have prayers and offerings as a community and the Services is the crucial activity which shows the worship of the community. Since this crucial activity shows the worship of the community as a whole, the need to attend services on the Holy Days and on Sundays is looked upon by the Church as a serious obligation. Sidelining this is considered to be a grave sin. However on convincing grounds like illness, infrequent needs of charity and the like may allow people to be exempted from the obligation. (Catholic Home Study Service: Sundays and Holy Days)

Still several people celebrate the Holy Days and attend services only as a matter of practice. They may be surprised and filled with excitement regarding the traditions revolving around Christmas, Lent or Easter. One should note the aspect of the materialization of Christmas here. Most of the believers stress upon the material gifts and profit making facilities associated with these festivals. The Holy Days are left rather to be an event to stress upon the commercial aspects of the occasion. Most of them are unable to donate to the church after spending a huge amount of money on the gifts since they do not want to disappoint their kids. Since their churches observe these holy days the Christian population actively involve themselves without even questioning whether these holy days are a real aspect of the Christian faith. These groups never find it worthwhile to investigate as to where these Holy Days originated from and if these days are actually holy to observe them. (Should We Observe Religious Holy Days Such as Christmas, Easter, and Lent?)

We could find that most of the arguments against observing the Holy Days have revolved amidst the wrong notions of 'law against grace'. It is quite evident that the contemporary Christian Holy Days were even not observed in the Church evolved by Jesus Christ established during 31 AD. (Religious Holidays or God's Holydays?) These Holy Days evolved with the traditions of men and are not mentioned in any of the Scriptures. (Should We Observe Religious Holy Days Such as Christmas, Easter, and Lent?) No Scriptures ever mentioned about the celebration of Christmas or Easter or Saint's Days by the people of God. Astonishingly, however, most seeks its origin to the pre-Christian practices. Bible has never...

It was only after two hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ that the Christian Church was burdened with celebrations being translated from the outside polytheistic religion. (Religious Holidays or God's Holydays?) "The practice began as a pagan festival in worship of the sun god, and was adopted by the Catholic Church as a memorial to Jesus' birth. The holy days initiated in the Old Testament are not in effect today for Christians, but the record of them in the Old Testament teaches some useful lessons" (Should We Observe Religious Holy Days Such as Christmas, Easter, and Lent?)
However with all its criticisms the Holy Days are imbibed with their meaning not only for the Jews but also for the Christians even in the contemporary era. The Holy Days are considered to be of more significance than mere an obligation; they go on revealing to people about the broad structure of salvation. The celebration of the Holy Days enables both the Christians and Jews to remember the deeds that God has performed and in the hope of all the deeds that he would still perform in future. These Holy Days thus constitute a component of God's holy and virtuous principles for both religions. They are imbibed with a perfect lesson for the Christians as well as the Jews. It is revealed that delineating some specific days as 'holy' satisfies the actual necessities of human beings. (Christian Holy Days)

References

Catholic Home Study Service: Sundays and Holy Days. Retrieved from http://www.cin.org/kc61-2.html Accessed on 12/1/2004

Christian Holy Days. Retrieved from http://www.abcog.org/holyday.htm Accessed on 12/1/2004

Harrison, Jeffrey J. The High Holy Days. A Time of Repentance. Retrieved from http://www.totheends.com/highholy.html Accessed on 12/1/2004

Religious Holidays - or God's Holydays? Retrieved from http://jacksonsnyder.com/arc/eli/pages/holydays.htm Accessed on 12/1/2004

Rossel, Seymour. Basic Judaism: Jewish Holy Days. Retrieved from http://www.rossel.net/basic06.htm Accessed on 12/1/2004

Should We Observe Religious Holy Days such as Christmas, Easter, and Lent? Retrieved from http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-bin/gospel_way/holy_days.php Accessed on 12/1/2004

Stevents, Elizabeth. High Holy Days. September 19, 2004. Retrieved from www.kuuf.org/HighHolyDays.pdf Accessed on 12/1/2004