#1. Christmas is not celebrated anywhere in the Bible.
Nor is my own birthday. So, what?
(a)
Jesus is not a baby right now but He is our risen Lord.
We are never told to honor just a baby Jesus alone,
but we are told to live unto a risen Lord (
2 Corinthians 5:15).
No Christian I know
only celebrates Christ's birth. And often in Christmas-related sermons I've heard over the years the fact that the manger was the precursor to the cross is pointed out. What, then, of your point here? It appears to address an issue that doesn't exist.
Tell me, does Christmas focus on a risen Lord or does it focus on His birth?
Both, actually. At least in my experience. Christ's birth is only meaningful in light of his atoning work as the Lamb of God.
(b) While there are biblical clues to Christ's birth date, the date of Christ's birth is nowhere specifically mentioned in the Bible and oddly his birth is coincidentally placed upon the date of the worship of other pagan gods, and a popular pagan festival, instead.
I'm sure there are many people who celebrate birthdays on days coinciding with pagan festivals. So what? Are you suggesting that the birthday parties of all these people are therefore pagan? That would be silly, obviously. But if their birthday celebrations aren't pagan merely because they occur on pagan festival days, why should we think the birthday celebration for Christ is pagan for such a reason?
Is it okay to worship God in any way we like? In
Genesis 4, we see Cain trying to bring the harvest of the ground unto God as a sacrifice instead of offering an animal sacrifice like his brother Abel did correctly (See
Genesis 4:3-7).
As the story of Cain demonstrates, if we worship
in contradiction to explicit commands from God concerning worship, then we do what is wrong. But we have no explicit command against celebrating Christmas in the Bible, so we may celebrate it without pang of conscience.
Jesus says he seeks for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (
John 4:24). Are we worshiping in truth if there are some pagan elements (which are a lie) mixed in with the truth?
No Christian I know who celebrates Christmas mixes pagan elements into their celebration.
#2. Christmas Trees.
21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth."
(
Deuteronomy 16:21).
God made trees. He doesn't have a problem with them. Pagan worship in the OT times often involved tree groves, though, hence their being forbidden near the altar of God. This was just part of the Israelites distinguishing themselves from the pagan nations around them. I don't see that these verses forbid Christmas trees, however. Nothing pagan about the tree I put up at Christmas time. And I live no where close to an OT altar to God.
2 "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people
are vain: for
one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (
Jeremiah 10:2-4).
Yes, and? All this was done
in service to pagan worship. This isn't why I have a Christmas tree. It's mere festive decoration. That's it. This passage, then, doesn't pertain to me - or any modern Christian who erects a Christmas tree for the same reason I do.
Celts and druids (witches) believe trees are sacred or magical objects.
Meaning, they holds some kind of significance spiritually for them.
And so? I'm not a druid nor a Celt and I don't believe my Christmas tree is a sacred or magical object.
Some people sing praises to the Christmas tree (without thinking about it) in Christmas carols.
??? What
are you talking about? How can a person sing praises to a Christmas tree
by accident? You are either praising the tree or you aren't; there's no praising it unconsciously. Goodness! Where did you get such an odd idea? In all the years I've had a Christmas tree, I've never once sung praises to it.
People give attention to a beautiful object and put presents around it (like a gift or offering) to this beautiful object.
I have never put a gift under my Christmas tree as an offering to the tree. None of the Christians I know who have a Christmas tree make offerings to it, either.
Some people dance around the Christmas tree. Sure seems like harmless fun, but what if the Bible is really condemning trees?
God made trees; they exist only because God created them. The Bible does
not condemn trees in general. I'm quite certain that God does not condemn my Christmas tree, either.
Also, why would you want to imitate a practice that is similar to the druids and put up a sacred special tree in your home?
Because, obviously, I am not imitating druids when I put up a Christmas tree! As I said, it is mere festive decoration. My tree has no druidic connection whatever. Druids also breathed, and slept, and ate. Am I imitating druids when I do the same? Of course not.
Sure, they may not think it is a god or idol exactly because your not bowing down to it or praying to it, but does that mean we can just put statues of demonic idols in our home and God would be okay with that?
But my Christmas tree isn't a demonic idol. It's a decoration. I did not buy tinsel from a witch; I did not buy Christmas tree lights from a Satanist; I did not buy garland from a sorcerer. I got all my stuff from Canadian Tire.
Is Christmas something in the Bible or is it more like a tradition of men and or after the rudiments of the world? Think about it.
I have. Have you? Doesn't look like it to me...
What you have set out here is a false dichotomy. There aren't just the two options you've described. Christmas isn't in the Bible but it isn't therefore a "tradition of men" or a "rudiment of the world." Christmas for me is a celebration of Christ's birth. The world may think of Christmas differently, as an exercise in consumerism and fairy tale, but that's their problem, not mine. I can celebrate the Lord's birthday on December 25th without it being in the Bible and without it being a mere tradition of men. Really, I would not celebrate Christ's birthday at all if I didn't read
in Scripture of his birth.
Should we let a world recognized holiday tell us how we are to worship our Lord? Or do we let the Bible alone tell us how we are to worship our Lord?
The world doesn't get to ruin a perfectly good Christian celebration just because it's twisted Christmas into something carnal and worldly. I don't celebrate Christmas like the world does.
Certainly, we follow the guidelines of Scripture in how we worship God. It is
legalism, though, that demands that
only what the Bible prescribes concerning worship Christians are allowed to observe in their worship. I don't recall the Bible saying pianos were okay in worship. The Bible doesn't say anything about choirs, or quartets, or solos, either. What about song leaders? Are they evil because they aren't mentioned in the Bible? How about recordings of worship music? The Bible says nothing about them. Are they therefore out-of-bounds for Christians? How far do you want to take your legalism?
In fact, Jesus says that men were transgressing God's commands by their man made traditions. Christmas is a human tradition of man and it is nowhere to be found within the Scriptures; And we are told not to imitate the way of the heathen or the customs of the world. Christmas is very much a custom or celebration of the world.
This is silly. It is a tradition of men to go fishing in the summertime. Is summer fishing evil, then? It is the tradition of men to go on summer vacations. Is it wicked to do so? It is the tradition of men to barbecue meat during the summer. Is barbecuing therefore a sin? It is the tradition of men to wear pants and a shirt. Is doing so a vile, worldly act? Men
could wear togas, or long robes, you know. How legalistic and irrational do you want to be?
Yet, Christmas is a time where you feel compelled to give out of pressure.
Not in my family.
#5. The focus of Christmas is materialism and not the worship of Christ on this day.
Most do not actually celebrate Jesus's birth on this day but they actually focus more on the gift giving and the decorating and in celebrating or having a good time with their family.
So? How others may celebrate Christmas has no bearing on how I celebrate it. You are guilty here of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Atheists, psychics, and people of many faiths celebrate Christmas. It is the one time of year where everyone gets together to give and whereby some say they are doing it to honor Christ's birth. Everyone is one big happy family celebrating and exchanging gifts and excited over their newly received material goods. Everyone including Christ haters are celebrating Christmas along with Christ lovers.
But this isn't exactly true, now, is it? Unbelievers celebrate a very different Christmas from mine. They are busy with consuming, and Santa, and boozing it up. I'm focused on Christ, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World. Because this is so, there is a natural separation between my celebration of Christmas and the celebration of Christmas of the World. I "come out from among them and am separate" by putting Christ at the center of Christmas, not by letting the World ruin Christmas for me as you would like it to do.
Christmas is technically a thing of this world. It is world recognized holiday.
Nonsense. Kitchen sinks, and airplanes, and soap are of the world. Ought we to forego these things because the world uses and enjoys them? Obviously not.
Anyways, I say all this in love and with the hope you will investigate the origins of Christmas on your own and seek the Scriptures with God in deep prayer and fasting on this matter. I know that if you will seek the truth, God will show it to you.
I have sought the truth from God and He has shown me that Christmas is perfectly all right to celebrate.