Party now, repent later — Rick Burgess exposes the spiritual danger of Mardi Gras

At surface level, Mardi Gras — the pre-Lent festival celebrated with parades, colorful costumes, beads, music, dancing, and feasting on rich foods — can seem like lighthearted, innocent fun.

But do its pagan origins and underlying ideology pose a spiritual threat to Christians who choose to participate in the festivities?

On a recent episode of “Strange Encounters,” BlazeTV host Rick Burgess addressed this query and warned his audience why this particular holiday is problematic for people serious about following God.

The history behind Mardi Gras is dark and complicated.

“A lot of historians link the modern version of Mardi Gras with ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman spring fertility festivals,” says Rick.

“In those days with these pagan nations ... this involved lewdness, sexual immorality, nudity, drunkenness, revelry of every kind. And it was associated with various gods (little g), most typically the god Pan,” he adds.

If various forms of debauchery and worshiping pagan gods weren't enough to give Christians serious pause, these pagan festivals, he explains, involved other perverse activities, including men cross-dressing as women and wearing masks in order to conceal their identities and participate in sinful behavior, which ignited the masquerade tradition.

Rick cites Deuteronomy 22:5, which forbids cross-dressing and calls it “an abomination to the Lord.”

But if pagan origins weren’t enough to steer Christians away from Mardi Gras, the ideology behind modern celebrations certainly should, he says.

“According to the modern tradition of Mardi Gras, it's the period of personal gratification, indulgence preceding the season of Lent” when Christians, but especially Catholics, “decide to give up something” for the 40 days leading up to Easter, he explains.

The idea of indulging in sinful behavior — gluttony, sexual immorality, drunkenness, or otherwise — before a religious season of penance is a deeply heretical idea, says Rick.

“You'll find nowhere in scripture that the scripture would call us to a time of sin in order to prepare for holiness” he says. “No, we're to repent of all sin, all the time.”

Ultimately, Rick sees Christian participation in Mardi Gras like this: “shaking our fist in the face of God almighty, and saying, ‘We're going to party and participate in sinful revelry and premeditated open rebellion against You, our creator — but don't worry, we're going to be good for 40 days so that You'll forgive us for what we're about to do."’

Scripture, he says, calls "us to holiness not for 40 days, not for a short period of time, but for every day, all the time.”

To hear more of his analysis and commentary, watch the episode above.

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