Christmas is neither Christ’s birthday nor a Christian Holiday by Joel Hendon
One is normally called a “Scrooge” when anything derogatory is spoken of Christmas, but that is alright. Truth is truth, whether or not it is appreciated. The facts are, there is nothing actually Christian about it and should be avoided by those who are sincerely attempting to follow God’s word. Every tiny act concerning this holiday is a derivative of something pagan and and simply by saying one is worshipping God or remembering Jesus doesn’t change it in the least. If you want a biblical example to justify that last statement read this.
When Saul was made the first king over Israel, he was chosen by God and was anointed by the prophet Samuel at God’s command. Things went well for a while but after some time, God instructed Saul to attack the Amalekites and totally exterminate them, including their cattle and other animals, because their way of life was sinful and completely unsatisfactory before God. When they went in and successfully destroyed the people, they kept some of the best cattle and brought them with them supposedly for sacrifices to God, along with the king Agag. When God saw what they were doing, he sent Samuel to see Saul an the following discourse too place:
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:13-23 KJV)
Now with that shown, let’s go back to the activities of Christmas. First, it isn’t the day in which Christ was born. So that is imaginary. Nowhere in the bible is there any hint that Jesus wanted us to celebrate his birthday. He wants us to remember his death burial and resurrection, tells us so and tells us when and how to show it.
Everything about Christmas is imaginary and or make believe. The exchanging of gifts between family and friends is an act that is always thrown up as a good part of the Christmas celebration. No, it’s not. People buy many things they cannot afford and give them to people who do not need them. Does that make sense? Certainly not as an act of celebrating the birth of Jesus. Some gather up food baskets and especially for the needy. Then give them to those who don’t need them. This might have been a good gesture if they actually knew someone who was hungry and gave them food. But not in the name of a pagan celebration given a name by the Roman Catholic Church of “Christ’s Mass” in order to assuage the new converts from paganism who refused to give up their merriment celebrating. If a Christian sees someone in need, they will assist them any day of the year and give God the glory for it, not an imaginary fat guy with a red suit.
And all the little things from mistletoe, holly, evergreen tree with ornaments, the Yule log, the feast of turkey or goose, and on and on, are derivatives of some very similar act of the pagan celebrations of the sun god, and others. The Roman pagans celebrated the death and resurrection of their sun god, Saturn, during the winter solstice because the sun was considered to be dying and then replaced by a new one. The celebration of the new sun, Saturnalia. Emperor Constantine is reported to have been a member of the ’Sol invictus’ cult when he was converted to Christianity and is credited with being instrumental in the introduction of at least a portion of that celebration into a Christian observance.
An attempt to cover the all, or even most, of the pagan aspects which were “Christianized” into the now observed “Christmas” celebration would consume far too much space. We will briefly mention a few of the ones where Christians are far too easily influenced by these “fun” parts of the celebrations.
Santa is my choice, because many replace the Lord Jesus or even God with this man. Some encourage their children to pray for Santa to bring them nice gifts. And then give Santa the glory instead of God, when the gifts are given! Just as we offer thanks for our meals, God needs to be thanked whenever we are given the means to buy our children gifts, and they should be trained to thank the proper one also. And when they reach the age they learn that you had spoofed them, isn’t it possible they may think you have been spoofing them about God and his Son? I am thankful today that I never once attempted to make my children believe the universal lie of Santa. We always let them know we bought the gifts with our earnings with which God had blessed us. And yes, we bought them small things because all the other children were getting gifts.
Also, some argue that Paul gives us room for celebrating such a day in the book of Romans:
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (Romans 14:5-6 KJV)
But no, he is assuredly not commenting on the celebrating of a pagan celebration, his reference is concerning those converts from Judaism, which was under God’s Old Testament law, who were still regarding the days set apart by God himself during the days of the Israelites. Try to find some scripture somewhere, anywhere, that shows any tolerance of God towards those who worshipped or participated in any celebration, under pretense or otherwise, of other gods.
There is a very extensive four part research paper online that covers virtually every aspect of those things observed during Christmas season. I urge all who have an interest in their souls, to read it. Click Here.