一想到情人节，人们就会想到爱情, 心, 分发纸条和糖果, 等, but 情人节 has a deeper meaning that goes all the way back to the story of a minister in 3rd century Rome- 情人节. Minister 情人节’s passion was love; hence, he was called the “Minister of 爱” (Lyons).
BCK体育注册官网爱的真谛的瓦伦丁布道
他多次宣扬圣经中爱的真正含义. 今天，我们只有一个词来表达爱. We could say, “I love my parents,” “I love my spouse,” “I love cheeseburgers,” 和 “I love God.尽管这是同一个词, I hope we would love our God with a different love than we have for cheeseburgers.
Greek is a much deeper language than English, having three words for “love”- 厄洛斯, 费罗斯, 神. 费罗斯 是朋友或家人的爱， 厄洛斯 is the love for your spouse (one that should not be expressed outside of the marriage covenant), 神 is the unconditional love of God (giving everything 和 expecting nothing in return). 没有上帝，一个人也可以表达 费罗斯 和 厄洛斯，但从来没有 神 因为我们的肉体天生自私(里昂).
Because of 情人节’s immense sermons on love, many in Rome would come to him for marriage. 情人节 would teach the married couples 和 his congregation what a true Godly marriage looks like.
情人节 Upheld 圣经 Marriage 和 Refused to Worship Roman gods
公元268年，克劳迪亚斯二世即位. He proclaimed that he would not persecute Christians; although, 他发表了一些有问题的声明. Claudius II was a harsh, tall, strong emperor, also known as “Claudius the Cruel” (Odden). Claudius II was skilled in battle defeating any tribes that would try to invade Rome. Although, as time went on, more tribes were becoming a threat (Odden). 与此同时，他的军队数量也在减少! He came to the conclusion that the main reason for this shortage was that married men did not want to be separated from their families fighting in a foreign country (Lyons). 所以，克劳迪斯做了极端的事——他宣布婚姻为非法! Claudius made an edict, which became a law, that no minister could perform marriage ceremonies.
这对瓦伦丁来说显然是个大问题. 情人节 had to decide whether to follow the emperor or God. 情人节 had the conviction that he must obey God rather than man, 于是他继续主持婚礼. Claudius soon heard about 情人节 disobeying Claudius’ unjust law 和 threw him into prison (Lyons).
情人节 stayed faithful 和 true to God, despite the dark valley he was in. He continued to worship his God rather than Roman gods 和 followed God’s word rather than Claudius’ (Lyons). Along with that, the church supported 情人节 by sneaking in notes of encouragement. 情人节 would return the notes, always ending in “From your 情人节” (Lyons). 情人节 was eventually condemned to death by beheading 和 executed on February 14th, 270.
"没有比这更伟大的爱了, 一个人为他的朋友舍命”(圣经), 约翰15:13).
情人节成为节日
瓦伦丁被处决200年后，公元500年.D.人们开始偏离敬虔的婚姻. Many began celebrating the holiday 和 festival of Lupercalia, which occurred on February 15th. The name is derived from the Roman God of love, Lupercus, the Greek God of Pan. This event was horrific, filled with immense darkness 和 sexual immorality. An example of a pagan practice during this time was boys would kill a goat, 切下肉条, 然后把它们浸在血里. He would then seek a girl he desired to perform a spell on so she would fall in love. He would take the bloody flesh 和 slap her with it- how horrific! 如果这还不够糟糕的话, a “love lottery” also took place where all the names of the single woman were placed in a box. The single men would then pick a name 和 that would be their girlfriend for the year.
罗马的牧师们被这个异教徒的节日吓坏了. Eventually they decided enough was enough 和 the Roman Catholic Pope, Galatius began to devise a plan to eliminate these horrific pagan traditions. He started 搜索ing in history for something around February 15th to replace this holiday with. This is when he came across the martyr of Minister 情人节. Galatius then declared 情人节 a saint 和 made February 14th St. 情人节.
The “love lottery” practice was revised by the Church 和 replaced with names of Saints rather than single women. Whichever saint you would draw, you would pray for them in the following year.
应用程序
Instead of focusing on the worldly practices during 情人节’s day, 比如丘比特, 糖果, 还有纸心, 让我们专注于瓦伦丁BCK体育注册官网真爱的教导 神. Let’s rejoice in His love 和 overflow with it so others around us can experience God’s 神.
正如约翰福音15:12所说:“我的命令是这样: 爱 像我一样彼此相爱 爱 你”(圣经).
Dayspring Christian Academy partners with parents to raise citizens of excellence 和 character. At Dayspring, students learn to think creatively to become problem-solvers. 有很高的情商和社交能力, students can discern truth 和 meaningfully engage in persuasive discussions, 将圣经的原则应用到生活的各个方面. 了解更多BCK体育注册官网黎明基督教学院的信息, please call Karol Hasting at 717-285-2000 or register for a personal tour.
作品的引用
里昂,马克斯. 《BCK体育注册官网》.” Celebrate Our Christian Holiday Like you were There, The 圣经 Thinker LLC, 1 January 2012.
低角,谢丽尔. 《BCK体育注册官网》，2007年1月1日.