Qualifications, and the Holy Days that Don't
If we are going to talk about "better" or "worse", then we will have to use some standard of quality by which to judge the candidates.
For starters, I think it should be a "sleeper". That is, it should be one that isn't celebrated as much as Easter or Christianity, so that the charge of "spin doctoring" would be harder to make. This eliminates Good Friday, because its tied to Easter "at the hip" so to speak.
It would be necessary that the day be KNOWN relative to the calendar year, just as Passover, Good Friday, and Easter are located within the year. This was what eliminated Creation Week, and any attempt to come up with a day of celebration for Creation, such as selecting the first week of the Jewish New Year, is going to have a air of "crockiness" hanging around it if it doesn't have a firm scriptural foundation.
The day must celebrate some significant event in Christianity, otherwise we would be creating something out of whole cloth and asking Christians to celebrate something that has little to no biblical basis. The Darwinists picked Darwin's Birthday for very logical reasons, and we should also for our competing day. This eliminates Ash Wednesday, since there is utterly no scriptural basis for this date other than it being 40 days before Easter. Why 40? Its a numerologically significant number obtained from the Old Testament. A further drawback is that, to put it bluntly, the counting of "Lenten" days is a real crock: Why are Sundays, which are perfectly good and proper days, not counted as part of the 40 before Good Friday, but the Sunday after Good Friday is counted? We need a day and an event that makes logical sense from a theological standpoint, not something that can be easily associated with primitive notions of mystical arithmetic that we already grant are irrelevant.
It would be great if the event the day is celebrating is a pivot on which a great biblical doctrine or truth turns, implying that it is firmly founded on the Scriptures. The more verses the better, and if it tied together related scriptures that are otherwise obscure or regarded as separate, that'd be a bonus since the ability to unify various scriptures scattered throughout the Bible is a hallmark of the truly great doctrines of the Church. The claim for Darwin Day is that evolution is just such a unifying principle (even though a lot of the practical work and research in biology doesn't rely on it one bit). To be honest, this is going to be a bit of a stretch for any existing doctrine to meet, since the ones currently used to refute Evolution by Natural Selection don't have a day associated with them.
What would be wonderful would be a hidden doctrine or truth that nobody's noticed before, but when revealed would make people slap their foreheads and exclaim "Wow! I didn't realize that, but it makes sense!" This, of course, leaves the doctrine open to accusations of being Gnostic or a possible heresy. This is where the I must re-emphasize the need of an event that has a firm scriptural foundation: to have real impact, the doctrine we're talking about should be understandable by anyone and everyone if everyone is going to buy into the need to celebrate the day that stands in for that doctrine, in the same way that Christmas "stands in" for the Incarnation and Easter for the Resurrection. Needless to say, this hidden doctrine's supporting verses should be numerous enough and simple enough to deflect charges of Heresy, and the supporting commentary shouldn't "wrest" the scriptures. Gnostic heresies rely on obscure and perverse interpretations of scriptures that appear simple and straight-forward enough to us normal people. A true biblical doctrine does not contradict any generally accepted ones that also have a firm biblical foundation, while Gnostic heresies usually contradict at least one key orthodox (generally accepted) doctrine.
What would be ideal would be a doctrine or truth that actually affects human beings in this day and age, not just Jesus (Christmas, Good Friday, Easter). This would eliminate Ascension, an event whose dating relative to Easter is known, but the impact is strictly limited to Jesus. To really pass muster, it should have real potential to affect people's behavior, making them better Christians and better members of churches. It should make Pastors and Evangelists add new sermons to their repretoire, and make them as important to preach for the betterment of the Church as sermons on stewardship, personal evangelism, and stifling gossip. Of course, this means it has the potential of goring some sacred cows, so that's going to be a drawback to implement in real life. We'll have to count on those "who have not bowed the knee to Baal" to take up the challenge, if such a doctrine or truth exists.
And while we are fantasizing, we may as well go "whole hog": to be perfect for our purpose of opposing Darwin Day, the doctrine should steal Darwin's fire. It would somehow give us the ability or permission to seize all of the facts and some of the theories, speculations, and justifications used to promote and and defend Darwinian Evolution, and harness them to either the service of Christ, His Church, or his followers. It should hit them in the spot that'll make the Darwinists squeal "Hey! That's our turf! Our Gig!" Right now, they're thinking "Should this research be published, since it would support (fill in the blank)?" After our adoption of the "perfect" doctrine, event, and day, the smarter ones will be worrying "Are they gonna grab this interpretation of my research and use it against us? Will they be able to use the evolutionary strategy I'm giving to explain these findings in ways that will oppose us?" I've remarked that Darwinists are among the brainiest on the planet so hijacking their output would be a coup.
Quite an order! Can there possibly be an event, recounted in the scriptures, whose day is known, that fits all of the above criteria?
Why YES. There DOES happen to be such a day that meets all of the criteria mentioned above.
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