And here we go again.

Churches sponsoring “sweetheart” banquets. Decorating their buildings with pink hearts and paper flowers. Family-friendly, life-affirming love-fests awash in hues of pink and red. It’s St. Valentine’s Day, which I find offensive on so many levels.

I tend to consider myself a feminist, a strong supporter of women’s rights and great admirer of women. But issues like this oppress women and, frankly, reveal their vulnerabilities. An otherwise strong, intelligent, independent woman—a leader, a thinker, someone we admire and trust—can and often is completely betrayed by her own DNA. By holidays like Valentines Day, where these women will make the men in their lives feel guilty and worse if they don’t cough up some significant (i.e. expensive) effort to express their love on Valentines Day.

The two main problems with that are (1) the men in their lives should, ideally, be expressing that love every day, thus making her feel more secure and less in need of chocolate hearts on February 14th (Ephesians 5:21 is a good place to start). And, (2), for her part, Sister Girl should re-read I Corinthians 13: Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.

St. Valentine’s Day is, simply put, a pagan holiday. Roll your eyes if you want to, it’s true. There is no salvation in it. There is no biblical truth to it. As Christians, we should not be observing St. Valentine’s Day, other than to lead people out of their ignorance and into the light of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul warned against the adoption of pagan traditions:

I Corinthians 10:14, 20-21:
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
20 … the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 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.

Origins of St. Valentine’s Day
In Ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honor Juno, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Feast of Lupercalia started the next day.

During these times boys and girls were segregated. However, the young people had a custom that began on the eve of the Festival of Lupercalia. The girl’s names were written on pieces of paper and inserted into jars. Each boy then drew a girl’s name from the jar and they were partners throughout the Festival. After being paired, the children would often continue to see each other throughout the year and on occasion even fell in love and got married.

Emperor Claudius II of Rome, also known as Claudius the Cruel, was having a difficult time recruiting men as soldiers. He believed that the men did not want to leave their sweethearts and cancelled all engagements and marriages throughout Rome. St. Valentine, a priest of Rome at the time, secretly married couples in defiance of the edict. He was eventually caught, arrested and condemned. He was beaten to death and beheaded on February 14th, around the year 270.

Lupercalia was a feast to a heathen God. Pastors and priests of the early Christian church did away with the pagan custom by replacing the names of the girls with the names of saints. They chose St. Valentine’s Day as the day of celebration for the new feast.

Our Christian Response

• How does any of this lead people to Christ?


• How does any of this glorify God?


• How can we possibly glorify God by emulating pagan rituals like Lupercalia?


• How can we possibly glorify God when we do not even know where these holiday traditions come from?

A girl doesn’t need a candy heart on February 14th to know she is loved. God loves her already. God sacrificed His only Son to prove His love for her. A wife doesn’t need flowers and diamonds on February 14th to know she is loved. God gave her something much more precious than diamonds.

St. Valentine’s Day works against the family. Works against women, most especially, as failure to observe this stupidity leaves a heart-shaped hole in their lives and sledgehammers their self-esteem. But it is, at the beginning and end of the day, a lie. A lie we, as Christians, should take no part in.

Look, I’m not against you showing your sweetie a little TLC and having a hearts-and-flowers day. But let’s have it in a way that glorifies God. In a way that uplifts us and makes us a whole and complete people, rather than oppresses us with the yoke of obligation and ritual. And let’s not plan it for the same day as The Feast of Lupercalia. Seriously, create some sweetheart’s day for, say, June 3rd, and I’m in. But, otherwise, I won’t set foot in the building. It’s just wrong.