Is Christmas a sin?

[Rescued One]

I don't know how I ran across this thread in August! Sorry!

 

[David Jenkinson]

i've wondered more about this question the older I get. So this thread caught my attention. Here's a few of my takes.
The tradition of gift giving IMO seems shallow, as, shouldn't this happen at any time? What would Jesus think of this tradition? There's almost a guilt if you don't participate in giving something to people that are perfectly well capable of buying whatever they want whenever they want. So, I've begun to re-evaluate gift giving in that maybe my resources go to those that actually need it, year 'round, but maybe some extra around the celebration of Christ birth, because. But then I have mixed feelings, well giving is awfully nice, and would I actually give anything to these people any other time, just because? Probably not, so then I think maybe it's not so bad, and maybe Jesus would like that people give to celebrate His birthday, for giving sake, and then maybe we springboard off of that to give to those less fortunate, like toys for tots, which my wife and I love shopping for.
As for the tree, I've never been quite sure what to think of it. It certainly isn't biblical, that much is for certain. But neither is a picture of my mom, and I like to look at it and remember her from time to time. So I'm not necessarily thinking it's a sin to put up a tree with a star that is symbolic of the star of Bethlehem, as a remembrance of the birth of the very son of God. I'm not worshipping it, I'm revering it I guess, remembering, worshipping the Lord in a sense by celebrating his birth yearly. So, I'll probably be proven wrong here about that, but I've read the bible through several times and I'm not getting sense I'm terribly off base here.
But Christmas is once again approaching and this uneasiness about how secular the celebration has become surfaces, and I get a little more rebellious to the secular influence each year and change my habits a bit, slowly morphing into probably what will eventually be Christmas/Christmas Eve service and some personal prayer time with my wife, continuing the charitable monthly programs we do as usual. Sounds pretty good and peaceful to me.

 

[Sunshinee777]

Everything is sin in legalistic mind.
And they can’t seem to remember why Jesus died on the cross. Did He die in vain? No. There is reason why He died.
And rised from the dead.
People say that christmas is pagan tradition or something.
I really don’t care, when im celebrating christmas im thinking Jesus and praising Him, so it doesn’t matter to me if someone says it’s pagan holiday.
Im not celebrating santas birthday or satans birthday im celebrating Jesus, my thoughts are in Him. Altough im thinking not having christmas tree anymore because it’s nothing to do with Jesus in my opinion.

 

[ViaCrucis]

i've wondered more about this question the older I get. So this thread caught my attention. Here's a few of my takes.
The tradition of gift giving IMO seems shallow, as, shouldn't this happen at any time? What would Jesus think of this tradition?

What would Jesus think of people giving each other things out of love and generosity?

Well, the Magi brought Jesus gifts, and this seems to have been a good thing.

Jesus gives us the gift of Himself.

Jesus tells us to love others, and to give freely.

Gift-giving at Christmas seems like something our Lord would approve. The commercialization is gross, but the spirit of giving is thoroughly in keeping with our Lord's teaching and commandments.

There's almost a guilt if you don't participate in giving something to people that are perfectly well capable of buying whatever they want whenever they want. So, I've begun to re-evaluate gift giving in that maybe my resources go to those that actually need it, year 'round, but maybe some extra around the celebration of Christ birth, because. But then I have mixed feelings, well giving is awfully nice, and would I actually give anything to these people any other time, just because? Probably not, so then I think maybe it's not so bad, and maybe Jesus would like that people give to celebrate His birthday, for giving sake, and then maybe we springboard off of that to give to those less fortunate, like toys for tots, which my wife and I love shopping for.

You shouldn't feel guilty if you can't give gifts. There is no moral imperitive to give gifts on the Feast of Christ's Nativity.

If you can't, you can still give of your time, or give yourself by sharing your love with others--with friends, with family, with members of your church community, or with the homeless.

Gift giving isn't the point of Christmas. The point of Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation, God became man, He was born of the Virgin Mary. That's what Christmas is about. But because the Season of Christmas affords us the time to reflect on God's own generosity, of the Father's own gift of His Son to and for the world, the greatest of all gifts. And so in the spirit of that love and kindness of God, we can celebrate the Lord's birth by giving of ourselves in different ways (it doesn't have to be material goods).

As for the tree, I've never been quite sure what to think of it. It certainly isn't biblical, that much is for certain. But neither is a picture of my mom, and I like to look at it and remember her from time to time. So I'm not necessarily thinking it's a sin to put up a tree with a star that is symbolic of the star of Bethlehem, as a remembrance of the birth of the very son of God.

The evergreen tree is a symbol of the enduring and eternal life that we have in Christ--like the evergreen, Christ gives life that remains even through death. Candles (now usually electric LED lights) pointed to Christ as the Light of the World, the light of Christ can't be snuffed out--it illuminates even through the darkness of the world. So the Christmas Tree. The Christmas Tree originated among German Christians in the late middle ages, and became popularized by German Lutherans--Lutherans brought their Christmas Tree tradition with them when they immigrated to the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, etc.

I'm not worshipping it, I'm revering it I guess, remembering, worshipping the Lord in a sense by celebrating his birth yearly. So, I'll probably be proven wrong here about that, but I've read the bible through several times and I'm not getting sense I'm terribly off base here.

There's nothing in Scripture that would condemn our Christmas traditions. Where Scripture's condemnation does come into play is when we introduce our greed, our power, our seeking of glory into the things of the Church. Christmas commercialization, getting upset about a fictional "war on Christmas", etc are examples of how we belittle this sacred Feast and Holy Season of the Church.

One way we can avoid this is to follow the Church's liturgical timing. Christmas begins on December 25th, and lasts twelve days until the Feast of Holy Epiphany/Theophany (January 6th). Prior to Christmas the Western Church celebrates the Season of Advent. Right now we are about to enter the Western Christian season of Allhallowstide, consisting of the Eve of All Saints (Halloween), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. For Lutherans, the Eve of All Saints is also known as Reformation Day (the anniversary of Luther's nailing of the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517).

By living through the seasons and times of the Church Calendar we can take time to meditate and reflect on the various themes of Scripture concerning our Lord: The hopeful expectation of the coming of the Messiah (Advent), the Annunciation, His birth (Christmas), the visit of the Magi and His baptism in the Jordan River (Epiphany), His retreat into the desert and temptation (Lent), the week of His Passion (Holy Week), His death (Good Friday), His glorious resurrection (Easter), His ascension (Ascension Sunday), the sending of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), the time of the Church's mission as the people of the Gospel (Ordinary Time). Ordinary Time then concludes with Advent--looking forward to Christ's return (Advent simultaneously celebrates the expectation of His first Coming and also our expectation and hope of His second Coming).

In this way the Church Year is filled with numerous seasons, days, and times of reflection on God's grace, gifts, and Christ's holy life and atoning work for our salvation and the salvation of the whole world.

We dedicate all 365 days of the year to Jesus Christ our Lord.

But Christmas is once again approaching and this uneasiness about how secular the celebration has become surfaces, and I get a little more rebellious to the secular influence each year and change my habits a bit, slowly morphing into probably what will eventually be Christmas/Christmas Eve service and some personal prayer time with my wife, continuing the charitable monthly programs we do as usual. Sounds pretty good and peaceful to me.

Secular Christmas isn't the same thing as Christian Christmas. Secular Christmas starts far too early and ends too soon; Christian Christmas consists only of the Twelve Days of Christmastide.

Secular Christmas appropriated Christian Christmas symbols: trees, Santa Claus, gift-giving, etc. But those things really only make sense in an explicitly Christian context.

Santa Claus is simply St. Nicholas of Myra, whose Feast Day is December 6th. The fourth century bishop of the city of Myra (located in modern-day Turkey) who became well known as a man who would generously give away the wealth he inherited from his family. So the story goes, Nicholas as bishop would hear of the financial troubles of members of his diocese, and so would in the cover of night leave bags of money in their homes through the window. So observing of St. Nicholas' Feast Day often came to include acts of charity. In the Netherlands the tradition of having children leave their shoes outside the front door for St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas) to leave a gold coin developed, and the Dutch brought this with them to their colony of New Amsterdam in North America. New Amsterdam became New York after the British acquired it, but the Dutch customs never disappeared, but became interwoven with English traditions. Sinterklaas became Santa Claus, and was then merged with the British "Father Christmas" character. This amalgamated character became associated with the harsh winters of the far north, and thus was said to live in Finland with his reindeer. In America and some other places his place of residence shifted further north to the North Pole itself (though in parts of Europe he is still said to live in Finland).

The fictional Santa Claus, based on the very real saint, is still a deeply Christian symbol of charity, goodwill, and unconditional kindness. The elves, sleigh, reindeer, living in Finland/the North Pole, etc--that's just silly fluff. Silly fluff is fine, its fun (especially for children).

But the fluff isn't Christmas.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[1watchman]

Hello, i just want to get yalls opinion on Christmas and if its a sin or not? what do you think?

This is an old post, but when I came across it, I thought to share my view. Its puzzling to see something about Christmas on such a site as this???

Christmas is CERTAINLY not 'a sin' as was implied. I see it as a day set aside by man (and am not at all convinced it is the right day for the birth of Jesus Christ), but it is at leaset acknowledging His birth and gives background at how our Creator-God came into this world, to redeem fallen man: a worthy work of God for our good.
Some just enjoy getting personal gifts, and others worship our God and give thanks for coming down in the form of a man to save us by His own sacrifice in the flesh.
We need to remember that God is a Spirit, and needed to come in the form of a man to redeem us (those who will have Him, as John 1, 2, 3 show the sincere seeker). -1watchman