The Bible provides guidance on how to approach holidays and traditions that don’t align with Christian values. These verses offer insights on navigating such practices thoughtfully.
Also Read: Bible Verses About Effort
Bible Verses About Pagan Holidays
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 – Do not worship the Lord in the way that pagans worship false gods
“and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.’ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates.” – Deuteronomy 12:30-31
Leviticus 18:3 – Do not follow the practices of the pagan nations
“You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.” – Leviticus 18:3
Jeremiah 10:2 – Do not learn the ways of the nations and be dismayed by their signs
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.”’ – Jeremiah 10:2
Colossians 2:8 – Do not be taken captive by empty philosophy and human traditions
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” – Colossians 2:8
Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 – Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’” – 2 Corinthians 6:14-17
Deuteronomy 7:26 – Do not bring detestable things into your house
“Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.” – Deuteronomy 7:26
1 Corinthians 10:20-21 – Do not participate in pagan sacrifices
“No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” – 1 Corinthians 10:20-21
Ephesians 5:11 – Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness
“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.” – Ephesians 5:11
2 Corinthians 6:16 – Do not defile your body, the temple of the living God
“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” – 2 Corinthians 6:16
1 John 5:21 – Keep yourselves from idols
“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” – 1 John 5:21
Exodus 23:24 – Do not worship or serve other gods
“Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.” – Exodus 23:24
Psalm 115:4-8 – Do not worship idols made by human hands
“But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” – Psalm 115:4-8
Acts 17:29 – We should not think that God is like an idol
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.” – Acts 17:29
1 Thessalonians 1:9 – Turn from idols to serve the living and true God
“for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” – 1 Thessalonians 1:9
Deuteronomy 32:16-17 – Worshipping false gods provokes God’s jealousy
“They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your ancestors did not fear.” – Deuteronomy 32:16-17
1 Corinthians 8:4 – Idols are nothing
“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.” – 1 Corinthians 8:4
Psalm 96:5 – All the gods of the nations are idols
“For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” – Psalm 96:5
Isaiah 44:9 – Idols are nothing and their works are worthless
“All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.” – Isaiah 44:9
Proverbs 14:12 – The way of idol worship leads to death
“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” – Proverbs 14:12
1 Corinthians 10:14 – Flee from idolatry
“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.” – 1 Corinthians 10:14
Isaiah 42:8 – God does not share His glory with idols
“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” – Isaiah 42:8
1 Peter 4:3 – We have spent enough time in doing what pagans choose to do
“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” – 1 Peter 4:3
Jeremiah 10:5 – Idols have no power
“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.” – Jeremiah 10:5
Psalm 135:15-18 – Those who make idols will become like them
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” – Psalm 135:15-18
Isaiah 44:20 – Worshipping idols is utter delusion
“Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’” – Isaiah 44:20
Revelation 9:20-21 – People refused to repent of their idol worship
“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” – Revelation 9:20-21
Acts 17:16 – Paul was greatly distressed by the idolatry in Athens
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” – Acts 17:16
1 Kings 16:31-33 – Idol worship leads to more sin and evil
“He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” – 1 Kings 16:31-33
Exodus 20:3-6 – You shall have no other gods before God
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or worship any form of them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” – Exodus 20:3-6
2 Kings 17:15 – Pagan worship leads to their own destruction
“They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, ‘Do not do as they do.’” – 2 Kings 17:15
Psalm 96:4 – Idols are false gods
“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.” – Psalm 96:4
Jeremiah 10:8 – Idols are senseless and foolish
“They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.” – Jeremiah 10:8
Romans 1:23 – Idol worship is exchanging the glory of God for images
“and into exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” – Romans 1:23
Acts 15:29 – Abstain from idol worship
“You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.” – Acts 15:29
1 Corinthians 10:7 – Do not be idolaters like the Israelites in the wilderness
“Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.’” – 1 Corinthians 10:7
Psalm 97:7 – All who worship idols will be put to shame
“All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols—worship him, all you gods!” – Psalm 97:7
Revelation 21:8 – Idolaters will have their place in the eternal lake of fire
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” – Revelation 21:8
1 Corinthians 10:19 – Idols are nothing, but demons are behind them
“Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.” – 1 Corinthians 10:19