If You Don't Celebrate Christmas, Why Not?

jamespyles said:

In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event

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Hi again James,

We happily celebrate Christmas. Not because it was Jesus' exact birthday necessarily, but because it is the chosen day (corporately) to celebrate His birth. I'd be more than happy to celebrate any day of the year. And I agree that pagan origins are not consequential; what matters is the heart of giving and thanksgiving.

But beyond that, it's just a good day to get together with family and give gifts to each other, or play some games together, or just eat a good meal. It's especially fun for the kids... Presents!!!!

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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A lot of the things we hear about the christmas trappings are in themselves 'hear-say" .. of course we know he was not born dec25 .. but every weekend a baby's birthday is celebrated not being the actual day . i think we can let traditions rule other traditions and get buried in them until we are sour at the mouth .. i think that we should take what we have, or do .. and sanctify it unto the lord ....and do it UNTO THE LORD JESUS.
-like this -...if i buy meat from a market and i don't know its "pagan origin" or if it was sacrificed to idols .. i take it and i give thanks to God for it and it is sanctified unto him now .. and i cook eat and enjoy.
Just so, we don't know (not really ) the origins of so very many mingled little traditions .. So if i have a tree,i sanctify it to the lord to remember him who suffered the truth that "cursed is he that hangeth on a tree "- i put a star on it to remember the star that led the magi to JESUS its ALL ABOUT JESUS .. i give gifts to remember that God GAVE his only begotten son and i CELEBRATE JESUS .. we have this liberty to take what god has created and use it to his Glory and glory in Christ alone . i will not be ruled by men's traditions nor men's oppositions to traditions but by the Holy Spirit in the freedom he has afforded us through His own shed blood .ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS ! . if its not all about Jesus for you .. then Repent , be baptized for the remission of your sin and receive the promised holy Spirit and Live .

sometimes we impose religious froth . In all my life i have never celebrated anything but Jesus at this time of year.. the trapping only became agan " when "MAN" told me they were .. and more info now says a lot of those so called pagan origins don't match up with historic fact . (means they are possibly based on religious ferver only )so back and forth it goes -to what end ? Jesus is not glorified in either argument . and there is no scriptural basis for the basics of it . if we cast out everything that can be related backwards by fact or rumor to paganism we simply become slaves to what ever religious mindset blowing around in trends. and if we apply the standard to "one celebration" and not everything, then we are being hypocritical . after all meeting on a Sunday is related back to worship of "the sun" ..hence SUN-day . But i don't see many opposing doing so . (personally i don't gather on a Sunday because i believe in gathering every day of the week at some point where believers are available to do so .) SO .. whatever wrongful reason and motives and styles "OTHERS" do it for .does not govern the freedom I have to see Jesus in EVERY aspect of my life and honor him in it as i abide IN him and He IN me . and walk in obedience to the holy Spirit . i have heard So very many arguments over this topic over 30 years i myself have argued BOTH Sides of it . but when i reflect i realized -Never has the holy Spirit brought any conviction to my heart on the mater . an we are to walk in the spirit . It would be very different if i was practicing something overtly sinful like the idolatry of Mary -or the most common sin "Christians" (so called) commit of carnality in the practice of Gluttony without a second thought about the nature of that action . there are far worse things then celebrating Jesus with decorative Joy .

in short - it is not the trappings BUT THE HEART MOTIVE AND FOCUS that makes a "thing" good or bad . In scripture, in one place they made raisin sweet cakes dedicated to "the queen of heaven " and god called it detestable .. -another time earlier raisin cakes were handed out by the thousands at the celebration of bringing the "ark of the covenant into the city _ (i think it was ).. .. so are raisin cakes pagan .. NO they are raisin cakes they have no mind nor will . it is what our own heart attributes to "A THING".. which sanctifies it unto the lord Jesus or unto something else . -Celebrate JESUS ONLY for his sake and HIS name to HIS GLORY.

For me, it's partly to do with it not being his actual day of birth, coupled with the fact that we were not commanded to observe it.

The biggest grievances I have with the holiday are two fold... the name signifies a death sacrifice (mass of Christ) that I find disturbing. The other is how the children are negatively indoctrinated with santa claus to believe in a demi god, only to find out later that it was a lie. What do you suppose that does when the child then begins to learn about God? Maybe another mythical fairy tale? After all this God has the same description as as the last bogus diety....

jamespyles said:

In an odd way, that's one of the less attractive aspects of Christmas for me: the loot.

One of the more attractive things (I still think the lights are pretty and like the smell of fir trees) is when it inspires Christians to be more "Christ like," and by that I mean, to nicer to people, give to charity, perform random acts of kindness. One of my sons says that people should be that way all year round, not just for a few weeks a year, and my response is better for a few weeks than not at all.

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Giving gifts is a good thing. Calling it loot attempts to turn a positive into a negative. If I buy a wedding ring for my wife, is it "loot"? If I buy a book for my brother, is it loot? What about clothes? Or fun toys like frisbees and basketballs for the kids? If we all go and watch the tennis together as a celebration of family, is it a "wasteful" thing? I understand the concern for unnecessary plastics and rubbish in general; but I find the argument similar to those who thought Mary should not have poured oil on Jesus' feet, there's a time for giving gifts. If one feels uncomfortable with the "loot", give other kinds of gifts e.g. write a letter, build something, charity options etc.

For us, Christmas = family first and foremost. There is very little emphasis on Jesus' birthday.

I also agree that it's better to be socially encouraged to give than to just "expect it" all year around. But whatever works. My mother in law gives all year round (literally) and doesn't keep a Christmas tradition of any kind. All power to her.

EastCoastRemnant said:

For me, it's partly to do with it not being his actual day of birth, coupled with the fact that we were not commanded to observe it.

The biggest grievances I have with the holiday are two fold... the name signifies a death sacrifice (mass of Christ) that I find disturbing. The other is how the children are negatively indoctrinated with santa claus to believe in a demi god, only to find out later that it was a lie. What do you suppose that does when the child then begins to learn about God? Maybe another mythical fairy tale? After all this God has the same description as as the last bogus diety....

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Yeah I forgot about this point, very much agree. My wife and I have been deciding how to deal with the "Santa" side of things with our daughter. We've decided we'll tell her the history of where the idea of "Santa" came from so there's no mystery or belief that he exists in the real world today.

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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The example that we have in the Bible is not one where God said to repurpose pagan altars and assimilate pagan traditions, but rather God said to tear down pagan altars and to not worship Him in the same way that the pagans worshipped their gods (Deuteronomy 12:4, Deuteronomy 12:31). So it was not just the Israelites worshipping pagan gods that God found detestable, but also the way that pagans worshipped their gods. God gave specific instructions for how the temple to be built and I think that He would have been displeased if the builders had decided that they could build it in whatever way they wanted because all God really wanted was just a temple. Our goal is to demonstrate our love for God and our faith in Him about how we should live, so we should seek to worship God according to His instructions rather than having the attitude that we can worship God in whatever way we want and He should be happy with what He gets. This is not to say that man-made traditions for worshiping God are bad, but that we should be careful to not to set aside the commands of God in order to establish our own traditions. As such, it is far more important to keep the holy days that God commanded to be kept than to be concerned with whether or not we should observe a man-made tradition. So I don't see anything wrong with the man-made tradition of celebrating Messiah's birth, though I did it on Sukkot, but without Santa, Christmas trees, wreaths, and mistletoe, though I did sing Christmas carols about his birth.

Soyeong said:

The example that we have in the Bible is not one where God said to repurpose pagan altars and assimilate pagan traditions, but rather God said to tear down pagan altars and to not worship Him in the same way that the pagans worshipped their gods (Deuteronomy 12:4, Deuteronomy 12:36). So it was not just the Israelites worshipping pagan gods that God found detestable, but also the way that pagans worshipped their gods. God gave specific instructions for how the temple to be built and I think that He would have been displeased if the builders had decided that they could build it in whatever way they wanted because all God really wanted was just a temple. Our goal is to demonstrate our love for God and our faith in Him about how we should live, so we should seek to worship God according to His instructions rather than having the attitude that we can worship God in whatever way we want and He should be happy with what He gets. This is not to say that man-made traditions for worshiping God are bad, but that we should be careful to not to set aside the commands of God in order to establish our own traditions. As such, it is far more important to keep the holy days that God commanded to be kept than to be concerned with whether or not we should observe a man-made tradition. So I don't see anything wrong with the man-made tradition of celebrating Messiah's birth, though I did it on Sukkot, but without Santa, Christmas trees, wreaths, and mistletoe, though I did sing Christmas carols about his birth.

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A few verses come to mind:
1 Corinthians 9:20
1 Corinthians 10:25, 31
Colossians 3:17, 23

If we can eat food offered to idols, can't we practice "pagan" rituals if our heart is to worship God and love each other? It seems to me the heart motivation is what is important, not following a dead covenants laws that were intended for a specific time and a specific group of people. If God gave me ten commandments today, He definitely wouldn't tell me not to worship a graven image, because I have never been tempted to do that in my life. Is He an old law? Or a living Person Who we are in relationship with? Maybe I go on a tangent... This is all I will say on the matter.

Bless you and enjoy the day

jamespyles said:

Thanks for commenting, JellyQuest. I just hope I'm being clear in that I have no issue with supposed pagan origins of Christmas, nor is that the reason I and my family don't celebrate. Returning to my initial post, my wife of over thirty years and my three children are Jewish and non-believers, so we don't celebrate Christmas. Pretty much as simple as that.

I was primarily reaching out to other believers who don't celebrate Christmas and asking why not? Of course, people who do celebrate are perfectly free to comment as well.

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its ok .. i have argued both sides .. and now as you can see i have begun to realize not all traditions are bad its what we attribute to them . hanukkah is after all just a man made tradition . but it does not offend God .. nor does many christmas traditions .. some do and i have no part with those ones .

I say, listen to God every day of the year.. listen for His still voice and praise His holy name. Know Jesus is the son of God. He came to set you and me free.. Every day. not just to remember on Christmas time... When you are all stuffing your faces on Christmas... think of the homeless people down the road from you... and think.. what would Christ do?

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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I agree that December 25th is nowhere near is day of birth and the Bible gives no commands to observe his birth,so i think with me i just don't like mankind telling me i should be observing his birth cause it seems like commands of men to me.

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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We celebrate Advent throughout December with a special dinner/dessert most nights, a special ornament (similar to the Jesse Tree), and a Bible story. Christmas Day, we work through a day of activities that are structured around the Christmas story. We do not give presents this day. The whole month is somewhat messily put together on my blog The Great Advent-ure. I mostly did it for my kids, in case they want to celebrate similarly when they are grown up. Every year I say I'm going to clean it up, and I never have. Maybe this year…?

The Great ADVENT-ure: Christmas Day

( I lifted this from one of the pages… You may be able to take off everything past "blogspot.com" and get to the main page)

In the week between Christmas and New Year's, we do many of the regular Christmas things, although all of them are not available. Many of the secular Christmas productions are over, for example. We watch secular Christmas movies, go to the light displays that are up through New Year's Day, buy presents, all culminating in, basically, the celebration of secular Christmas on New Year's Eve/ New Year's Day. Again, several activities… We update our calendars, eat party type foods, watch our favorite secular Christmas movie at the moment, stay up to bring in the New Year. The next morning, we get up and open stockings and presents and eat brunch.

It is never made sense to me, especially with children, that everything would be crammed into Christmas Day, and so much time left over until they go back to school. This has worked well for our family, but I don't know how it would work for others...

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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I was raised Christian but fell away for quite a few years. I always celebrated christmas until recently though when I learned what Christmas really was and where the customs and traditions came from. You may not be influenced about the pagan origins but in my honest opinion these 2 "Christian holidays" play a major part in turning people away from the true God and worshipping a false one. If it's not a big deal it would not only tell us in the Bible not to blend the worship of false gods into God's worship but these 2 "holidays" would not be mentioned in the old testament ( before the birth of Christ) as an abomination.

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

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You are correct that Jesus wasnt born in December. It appears it was September. I don't celebrate Christmas anymore since learning that God told the Israelites that they were not to serve Him the way the pagans served their gods. Christmas as celebrated today is full of the things that pagans used to celebrate their gods.

jamespyles said:

I know this is an odd question to ask on a Christian forum, but I want to know if I'm the only one who does not observe Christmas in any manner.

My wife and children are Jewish and non-believers. Thirty-three years ago when we got married, I knew she was Jewish but neither of us were religious, so as two secular people, we figured there wouldn't be issues.

Well, long story short, we both found faith but in different directions.

Frankly, I'm fine with not celebrating Christmas. We stopped many years ago when our children were young (they're all adults now). In all likelihood, Jesus wasn't born anywhere near December 25th and he left no directive to celebrate the day of his birth in any event. I'm not afraid of any "pagan origins" to Christmas and Easter, but since I didn't come to faith until I was about 40 years old, I never developed an emotional or theological attachment to either of those celebrations.

In a nutshell, those are my reasons. What about yours?

Click to expand...

I see no problem celebrating Christmas as a secular holiday, no different from Thanksgiving or New Years day or the 4th of July. As yourself and others have noted, Christmas' (and Easters') origins are from paganism, not Christianity. Paul said not to go above or beyond that which is written 1 Corinthians 4:6. Turning a pagan festival into "Christianity" would be going beyond what is written adding chapters and verses to God's word thereby changing God's word. If men do not follow the word of God, next thing you know there will be thousands of different religious organizations that all contradict and disagree with each other over various issue but all claim to be following the bible.............................wait a minute we have that now from lack of people following the bible....

I guess my reason is different, but for me it's no longer surprizing to be looked at and separated out as being 'different'.

Three years ago my husband died, just two days before Thanksgiving.
He loved Christmas so much, and he loved it innocently and fervently, like a child does.
The lights, the music, the presents, but also and equally he loved the reason for Christmas itself. For him there was just nothing like Christmas.
He was sincerely devoted to Jesus, and he looked forward to Christmas and the birth of Jesus with as much joy as he also looked for His return.

But with my husband's death that joy went out of Christmas for me.
so now it's a painful time of the year; one not to be celebrated but to be struggled with and gotten through one day at a time.
so i have no tree, no lights.
I send and receive cards, greatfull to be remembered, and I have a turkey dinner by myself. I play a CD with Christmas selections mastered and recorded by my daughter,
but there's no joy, no anticipation, no celebration.

I do not think you need to even be a Christian to celebrate Christmas because it can be seen as a day to remember perhaps the most influential hippie philosopher in the Western world.