Valentine’s Day celebration is observed every year on February 14th.
Some people say the day is dedicated to expressing love and affection to those closest to us, whether it be a significant other, family member, or friend. But for some Christians, celebrating Valentine’s Day can be an uncomfortable decision for them to take because they see it as a worldly event.
However, in most parts of the world, many Christians celebrate Valentine’s Day. They see it as a day to celebrate love and appreciate it in all its forms, including the love that God has for us.
But there are some people who think that as Christians, they should not celebrate Valentine’s Day. And they adduce many reasons to support their position.
Some claim that Valentine’s Day is a celebration that is focused solely on romantic love, relationships and sex; hence they may feel that it does not wholly align with the values and beliefs they want to uphold in Christianity.
On the other hand, there are multiple arguments in favour or against Christians observing Valentine’s day celebration. And everyone is correct in their own rights.
I will now share some of the arguments I can across on Christians celebrating or not celebrating Valentine’s day.
The arguments on Valentine’s day celebration
If you conduct research on the topic, you will see that there are contrary opinions on whether or not Christians should celebrate Valentine’s Day.
While many people think it is okay to do so, some others think they should not be part of it because the Bible did not expressively command us to celebrate it or that it is a “worldly celebration.”
For instance, on an online forum, I came across a post in which the writer claims that Valentine’s day celebration is forbidden in Christianity.
But is it?
I will now review the conversation under some short topics:
The devil’s way of propagating immorality among the youth?
The person wrote,
“Celebration of Valentine’s day is not part of Christianity. It is the devil’s way of propagating immorality among the young… Anyone who is born again should not be part of a Valentine’s Day celebration except for soul-winning. Many people who celebrate Valentine’s Day do not understand what love means. Therefore, they multiply unto themselves iniquity upon iniquity. The only love we should celebrate is the unfailing love of God for us; the love which translated to the death of His Son on the cross for us. This is the love we preach to the entire world.”
But if Valentine’s Day celebration is a forbidden fruit, how come many Christians celebrate and enjoy it? As you might guess, not everyone will agree with the above assertion.
Let’s look at another comment.
Valentine’s Day celebration has a clean root
On the first comment that “Celebration of Valentine’s day is not part of Christianity. It is the devil’s way of propagating immorality among the young“, Someone who replied to it called it a narrow-minded view, saying:
“I disagree with your standpoint on this matter. I am married and I celebrate Valentine’s Day with my wife because it is a day we use to make our marriage sweeter. If you even look at the origin of the original Valentine’s Day, you will see that it has clean, moral roots.
The devil has no creative power. He did not create Valentine’s Day or its ideals. All he does is to corrupt things that God created for good, corrupt God’s good intentions for our lives and just about corrupts anything good. Make the distinction and do not confuse people here with a narrow-minded outlook on Valentine’s Day.“
Narrow-minded or not, as the saying goes “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” Hence, I would like to read yours in the comment section.
For now we will take a look at another view on the matter, suggesting that Valentine’s day celebration has been corrupted by the world.
The secular society has infiltrated the true meaning of Valentine’s Day
Meanwhile, below is another comment in direct response to the post I excerpted above. It was written by someone else who thinks that it is okay to celebrate Valentine’s Day but points out that the world has corrupted the essence of the celebration.
Do you agree with him?
In his words,
“…The secular society has infiltrated the true meaning of the acts and ways of life of St. Valentine and turned the meaning of love he preached on its head and made it sound so vain, self-serving and totally off the trail. It has become a day for carnal activities and so hyped by the business folk that exploit the economic aspect to the whole vain jamboree.
… It is not a day for lovers to try all the raunchy, dirty postulations of kama sutra and spread diseases and immorality as we know it today. But it should be a day to recollect on the lives and times of the Saint Valentine and using his ways of life as a benchmark, examine our own lives and/to discover better ways to impact on the lives of those around us and live a more meaningful live. It is a day for one to share the spirit of agape love, oneness, loyalty, affection and send help to the ones who are all around you especially the less endowed.“
If you found that view interesting, here is another one:
Every day is Valentine‘s
Of course, we know that every day is not Valentine’s day celebration. But someone who has a piece of advice joined the conversation saying,
“Whatever you do, make sure you share something meaningful with others. Instead of eating away, give some to those who are in need. Every day is Valentine’s to those who understand the value of life. Cherish what God has given you and make life worth living, both for you and those around you.“
Having read other people’s comments on whether a Christian should celebrate Valentine’s Day, here is a question for you:
What’s your own opinion about Valentine’s Day?
I believe that if you are a Christian reading this, you must have your own opinions on Valentine’s Day celebrations. And I assume that it may or may not be contrary to some of the ones we have cited above.
However, I’m not going to suggest to you whether you should or should not celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day. The choice is entirely up to you.
Conclusion
Ultimately, whether or not a Christian chooses to celebrate Valentine’s Day is a personal decision.
However, if you choose not to engage in Valentine’s Day celebrations, respect the freedom of those who choose to do it. And if you decide to celebrate Valentine’s Day, do it in such a way that the name of God is glorified.
Therefore if it is you desire to please God with your life, and you do choose to celebrate it, you will agree with me you should not celebrate Valentine’s day with reckless abandon – in a way that dishonours the Lord.
What do you think?
