Some #BiblicalCalendar advocates say that if we follow the Jewish calendar, we should keep the same #DayOfPentecost, but that is illogical.
We are not Jewish. Such a statement should not surprise you. There are a number of things Jews believe which we do not, and even Jesus had to counter many of their erroneous beliefs in His day. Yet, some want to criticize certain things we do, such as following the oracles of God, in spite of the obviousness that we are not Jews.
More to the point, does honoring the oracles of God mean we have to keep all Jewish traditions? Of course not! Paul, one who often confronted the Jews of his day about their errors, was the very same one who wrote the passage often quoted in defense of using the Jewish calendar.
3 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
~ Ro 3:1-2
Obviously, Paul, who still considered himself a Pharisee after conversion (Ac 23:6), did not blindly follow the religious leaders of his day. If he did not, then it should be obvious that the oracles he wrote of to the Romans did not envelope all Jewish traditions.
As Jim Franks said in a recent In Accord video, we keep the same calendar. We use that calendar to determine God’s holy days. Therefore, not keeping the same date for Pentecost is not a calendar issue! Instead, it is a difference of interpretation from that of many of the modern day Jews.
Counting
More to the point, the Jews “count” from the annual sabbath, which in reality gives a fixed date for Pentecost. However, I have never understood how this is not obviously incorrect. In fact, it is as plain as the nose on my face.
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
~ Lev 23:15-16
Seriously, does God have nothing better to do than give us busywork? Is it logical to have us “count” the date to Pentecost if it will always fall on the same day year after year? No, of course not! Only those who are blind in their ambition to pull away followers after themselves (See! We are different!) keep beating that drum.
“From the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering” is the key, and the wave sheaf was symbolic of Jesus presenting Himself to the Father after His resurrection.
Also in support of counting weeks, from which Pentecost is sometimes called Feast of Weeks, is the fact that Strong’s H7676 can also be translated “week”! The weekly Sabbath marks the end of another week, so it eventually became associated with the time period of a week. Counting seven weeks and adding one day always puts Pentecost on what we call Sunday.
So, why do we depart from the Jewish tradition of giving a fixed date for Shavuot? Because it is logical, and it does not contradict keeping the same calendar to do the required calculations.