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Saint Valentine's Day - The Way For Christians To Show Love?
Topics: Valentine's Day and the Bible, holiday, christianity, Faith
Posted by BostonGal Mon Jan 28, 2008 17:03:23 PST
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Ahh, February, 'the month of love'. On February 14th, Little

children, in schools around the earth, will be expressing

their love with hand-made Valentine's Day cards. Grown-ups

will be doing the same with more extravagance.  It

seemed a quaint time of secret admirers and romantic offerings

and of course, those sweet, little candy hearts and chocolate

delicacies. But now, we are all grown up and God

has shown us what true love really is and the best ways to

express it.

First, though, let's look at the origin and some of the

customs associated with St. Valentine's Day.

 

Did you know that this little rhyme most of us have said (and

maybe still do) is actually a Valentine's Day rhyme?

"Roses are red, violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet, and so are you!'

 

Chocolate, in particular, has an interesting tie-in with

this holiday.

Late in the 17th century, the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico

put several women on trial on a heinous charge. The Inquisitor

charged, these women had indulged in the drinking of chocolate

and, under its influence, had consorted with the devil himself.

The accusation surprised no one, for the dark, mysteriously

seductive drink of the cocoa plant had been famous since the

time of the Aztecs as a powerful incantatory tool.

Attributing such power to chocolate may seem ridiculous but in

a few days, untold numbers of people will observe Valentine's

Day by presenting a symbol of their love in the form of

chocolates. When they do, they will be paying unwitting homage

to the power of food as magic. Would you be surprised to know

that this seemingly innocent holiday is saturated with

paganism?

 

Many hundreds of years ago in the days of the Roman

festivals to pagan gods, there was a feast called the

Lupercalia. It was customary at this feast for young Romans to

put into a box the names of young maidens and then draw the

names out by chance. The girl whose name he drew became the

young man's partner for the Lupercalia festival, a festival

honoring Juno, goddess of women and marriage, and Faunus, or

Pan, god of nature.

Pan was a goat-shaped demon who many considered to be

a representation of Satan himself.

 

(Is St. Valentine's Day losing a little bit of its

sweetness?)

 

The Lupercalia had always been celebrated on February 15th. In

the year 496 BC, Pope Galasius of Rome chose a substitute

patron for 'Christians'. To remove its pagan connection, the

'new celebration' was to honor a bishop by the name of

Valentine. On February 14th, about 270 BC, he was executed on

Palatine Hill, where once stood an altar to Pan.

At that time, those who claimed to be Christians
 now honored St. Valentine on the day of

his martyrdom, that day taking on many of the customs of the

ancient Lupercalia. (But of course, they were merely

exchanging one pagan celebration for another.)

There is little known of Bishop Valentine's life but the best

authorities say he is the churchman who was beaten and

beheaded on February 14th because he had cured his

jail-keeper's daughter of blindness. He is buried in the

church of St. Praxedes at Rome, where a gate was named for

him, Porto Valentini (Valentine's door or gate.) The name was

later changed to Porta del Popolo.

 

But, we really have something better than a Valentine's Day card,

we have the ultimate message of love from the not so secret

Admirer, Jehovah God and an incomparable gift from his Son, Christ, Jesus.

 

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his

only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in

him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life." John

3:16

Do you want something sweet to eat as proof of someone's love?

We have the sweetest of all.

"Taste and see that Jehovah is good, O You people; ..." Psalms

34:8 Oh yes, God is downright delicious!

 

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