As the early church began to expand into new lands, there were diverging opinions on how to handle local customs. One school of thought was to require converts to abandon their cultural traditions in order to embrace Christianity. Another tactic was to maintain local customs as much as possible but to give Christian meaning to them.
Richardson explains that the second strategy “was not an attempt to mislead, but more a cultural sensitivity to the people that were there.” She says that this is much like the missionaries today who try to take the gospel and put it into context that is meaningful to people within their frame of reference.
Hanegraaff also outlines the intentionality of establishing a rival holiday. “For instance in the case of Christmas, people don’t remember the name of the pagan god that was originally worshipped on December 25th.” Instead this holiday has been supplanted by the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior.
So is it ok to bring on the baskets, chocolate bunnies, and colored eggs? “Absolutely,” says Hanegraaff. "These basic symbols are springboards to talking about what is truly important... the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He urges that children be taught the representation of the symbols within a Christian context.
The resurrection is “the central event to the Christian faith. As he rose, we too shall rise. This is the apex of Christianity, anything that points to new life is pointing to the resurrection,” says Hanegraaff.
Richardson sites the example of Paul in 1 Corinthians 8, discussing the eating of meat that has been sacrificed to idols. “(Each person) should take the question before the lord individually to determine what he would have you do,” she says. Explaining, that if a particular custom is a stumbling block, then “it is right to remove that barrier and not participate in that custom.”
“The last thing I want to do is to cause more division within the body of Christ. We are going to disagree on some things, but as long as we are not disagreeing on the essentials - the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ then it is unimportant,” says Richardson.
Richardson herself quotes Hanegraaff regarding debate within the body of Christ, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things charity.”
