Why do Christians continue to celebrate Christmas?

[Kerensa]

With all due respect, this is at least the third discussion in these forums on this exact same topic in as many months. And funnily enough, no minds seem to have changed on either side.

It boils down to this, surely: if Christmas means something wonderful to you, celebrate it. If Christmas means something bad to you, don't celebrate it. And have the decency to respect other Christians' choices in the matter while you're at it. God is not going to send anyone to hell for celebrating Christmas. Or for not celebrating Christmas. Seriously.

I will say one thing, though: those who choose not to celebrate Christmas (which is fair enough), but feel the need to go around telling others that Christmas is wrong and evil and pagan and even satanic, are doing a lot to promote the stereotype that Christians are insufferable self-righteous moaners whose religion sucks all the joy out of life. And that's not going to win many hearts for Christ, honestly.

 

[Tree of Life]

I wouldn't see that as cool if I was God.

Thank God you're not God!

'

Saint Nick is based on satan, satan is behind the whole idea of 'Santa'. More children in this world believe in Santa than God!. 'Santa's little helpers' (the supposedly cute little elves) are really demons, - Look up 'krampus'.

lol

We don't need a pagan holiday or a dedicated season to honour the birth of Jesus. We dedicate an entire day to him every week of every year, - the Lords day. But if Christians want to celebrate Christs birthday on the same day as the birth of the pagan sun god then that's fine, but if I was God I would HATE that. The whole idea of 'Christmas' is based on everything that God dislikes; paganism, idolatry, consumerism, false gods, greed, satan, fortification (mistletoe was hung up for people to have orgies underneath). I could go on, it's like a slap in the face...

I see you saying a few things here:

1. If Christians want to celebrate the birth of Jesus on the 25th, that's fine - they are free to do so.
2. But you personally hate this idea because of its connections to paganism
3. If you were God, you would continue to hate this idea

Again, thank God you're not God and your preferences don't get to determine how others freely worship God!

 

[Ing Bee]

When it's roots are clearly founded in pagan beliefs. The idea of 'Santa' and his reindeer's are satanic. No where does it say in the Bible that Jesus was born on the 25th December. It blows my mind that Christians today are still celebrating this pagan holiday?

Could you provide some primary source evidence that this claim is true?


Mike Winger does a thoughtful job of addressing this issue.

Additionally, there are several criteria (some of which Mike points out) that would need to be met in order for celebrating Christmas to fall under that category of "pagan worship". Among other things:

1. The intent of the activities would HAVE to be explicitly directed toward a pagan deity. This is one reason why I recently counseled a Christian sister from attending a Hindu celebration that a friend invited her to. There is not way to participate without implicitly agreeing with the worship going on, even if it is "festive". I know of no Christian whose Christmas celebration is explicitly given to a pagan deity. Read 1 Corinthians 8 to see how Paul deals with this.
   
   
2. Celebrating Christmas would have to be unambiguously linked to pagan worship in the minds of the non-Christian population at large. This is a missional reason rather than a matter of essential doctrine. Again, this is Paul's rationale for rejecting meat sacrificed to idols when it is explicitly served as such by a pagan dinner host in 1 Corinthians 8.
   
   Note that skeptics say things like "Ha, you didn't know but you are ACTUALLY worshipping x,y,and z on Christmas!" Even if they were correct (which they are not, watch the video) you can't "accidentally" worship a pagan deity while "intentionally" worshipping the birth of Christ.
   
3. It would need to be factually demonstrated (primary sources) that the Christmas celebration
   a) came after the pagan practices (in the case of Mithras, this is clearly not the case)
   b) wasn't a strategic move on the part of Christians (tearing down strongholds)
   c) was more than coincidentally aligned with the pagan holiday. (just because someone's birthday celebration aligns with another anniversary doesn't mean they are linked)
   
   
4. No celebrations magnifiying Jesus are acceptable to God other than those he explicitly lays out. Repeatedly in the New Testament, Christians are people of joy and thanksgiving to God. All such joy and thanksgiving is necessarily connected to the work and person of Jesus. It can not be wrong to celebrate the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, that inaugurated God's final expression of love (Hebrews 1:2, Romans 5:8, Galatians 4:4-5).

Clearly, there are activities that can happen at Christmas that are not pleasing to God: drunkenness, gluttony, lust for things, inhospitality, greed, etc. But these happen all year around. What a wonderful expression of Christian love to use the reflection of the Birth of the Savior to welcome in the stranger, to share the feast with the poor, to care for widows and orphans.

Christmas affords the opportunity to reflect on the overwhelming generosity of the Father who sent the Son into the world; it provides an occasion for remembering the humility and love of the Son who took on the weakness of a poor, infant living in a Roman-occupied province.

For those brothers and sisters who take a hard and dogmatic stance against Christmas celebration, here are some things to consider:

• Does NOT celebrating Christmas make you more self-righteous?
• Does it make you more judgmental toward your Christian brothers and sisters?
• Does it cause you to identify more with what you don't do rather than what positive attitudes and actions should characterize those who have received the Incarnate Word, God with us?
• Is NOT celebrating Christmas of central concern to Paul and the apostles (1 Corinthians 15)?
• Have you done the hard research of looking at prime source materials or have you accepted internet memes of skeptics and rabble rousers? For example, if you want to know if the Gnostic "gospels" in the Nag Hammadi library are consistent with the 4 New Testament gospels, reading them would be primary source research; watching a youtube video, reading a blog, or listening to a sermon would not be.
• Have you fallen into the logical fallacies of composition (throwing the baby out with the bath water), false cause (Christmas is celebrated around the time of certain pagan festivals therefore it is a pagan festival), etc.?
• Is this stance enriching your delight and joy in the Savior?

For those brothers and sisters who celebrate Christmas with freedom and joy, let's consider:

• How we can remove materialism from our Christmas celebration
• How we can include more people in our celebration
• How we can more intentionally reflect on the implications of the Incarnation of Jesus
• How we can utilize the good will around this time of year to share our gospel hope
• How we can imbue our Christmas traditions with deeper meaning, love, and delight in the Father who sent the Son
• How we can be more sacrificial in our giving to those who aren't connected to us and can't "give" back
• How this "boost" each December 25th can help us, (in the words of Scrooge), keep Christmas all year 'round.
• How we can incarnate Christ in our neighborhoods and communities.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Kerensa]

For those brothers and sisters who take a hard and dogmatic stance against Christmas celebration, here are some things to consider:

• Does NOT celebrating Christmas make you more self-righteous?
• Does it make you more judgmental toward your Christian brothers and sisters?
• Does it cause you to identify more with what you don't do rather than what positive attitudes and actions should characterize those who have received the Incarnate Word, God with us?
• Is NOT celebrating Christmas of central concern to Paul and the apostles (1 Corinthians 15)?
• Have you done the hard research of looking at prime source materials or have you accepted internet memes of skeptics and rabble rousers? For example, if you want to know if the Gnostic "gospels" in the Nag Hammadi library are consistent with the 4 New Testament gospels, reading them would be primary source research; watching a youtube video, reading a blog, or listening to a sermon would not be.
• Have you fallen into the logical fallacies of composition (throwing the baby out with the bath water), false cause (Christmas is celebrated around the time of certain pagan festivals therefore it is a pagan festival), etc.?
• Is this stance enriching your delight and joy in the Savior?

For those brothers and sisters who celebrate Christmas with freedom and joy, let's consider:

• How we can remove materialism from our Christmas celebration
• How we can include more people in our celebration
• How we can more intentionally reflect on the implications of the Incarnation of Jesus
• How we can utilize the good will around this time of year to share our gospel hope
• How we can imbue our Christmas traditions with deeper meaning, love, and delight in the Father who sent the Son
• How we can be more sacrificial in our giving to those who aren't connected to us and can't "give" back
• How this "boost" each December 25th can help us, (in the words of Scrooge), keep Christmas all year 'round.
• How we can incarnate Christ in our neighborhoods and communities.

Merry Christmas!

This

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

When it's roots are clearly founded in pagan beliefs. The idea of 'Santa' and his reindeer's are satanic. No where does it say in the Bible that Jesus was born on the 25th December. It blows my mind that Christians today are still celebrating this pagan holiday?

Since children /babies/ usually believe whatever their parents tell them,
(I did, and I'm pretty sure you did also)
how
then does God expect children to learn the truth ? Is this even possible ?

 

[Mario David]

Christmas for me, I celebrate Jesus birthday. Yes most likely he was not born that day and we might never know which date exactly was he born but that day I choose to celebrate his birthday.

 

[Tutorman]

Using Catholic tradition is a poor argument. For the pre-Christian Romans, December 25 marked their most important holiday, Saturnalia. This was later renamed to ‘Sol Invicti’, which means ‘the unconquerable sun’, in honor of the Syrian sun-god Apollo. Ancient Egyptians also used to celebrate December 25 in worship of Ra, or Horus, the sun-god child of Isis and Orisis. In Mesopotamia, the mythical god Marduk, who was believed to fight against the cold and darkness, was also worshipped on this day. The Aztecs on this day would sacrifice children in worship of their sun-god, Huitzilopochli. North-western Europe hosted festivities for the Nordic god Balder, while the Ancient Greeks dedicated the day for Adonis and Dionysos. For the Ancient Persians, December 25 represented the birth of Mithra, the sun-god. All of which pre-date Christian celebration of Christmas, of which there is no record that the early church even cared about it.

All myths that are put forward by those who know absolutely nothing

 

[Archivist]

Still waiting for a person who says it is wrong to celebrate Christmas to say that they refuse to take the holiday.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

That’s your opinion. You are entitled to your opinion. However, people on this thread have no business telling those who do celebrate Christmas—the vast majority of Christians—that they are wrong for doing so.

I’ve asked several times but no one has answered, do you accept a work holiday for Christmas?

Who is seeking Truth according to Scripture ? This makes a difference.

"no one answered"? You might find that there are Ekklesia who work six days a week, including on xmas,
as Scripture directs. *no so-called holidays not directed in Scripture.

 

[Archivist]

Who is seeking Truth according to Scripture ? This makes a difference.

Scripture makes it clear that Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem. That’s what we commentate at Christmas. Scripture makes it clear that wise men brought Him gifts. That’s why we give gifts at Christmas.

”no one answered"? You might find that there are Ekklesia who work six days a week, including on xmas,
as Scripture directs. *no so-called holidays not directed in Scripture.

I’m not seeing anyone posting to say that they do that.

Do you take the Christmas holiday?

 

[Kerensa]

You might find that there are Ekklesia who work six days a week, including on xmas,
as Scripture directs.

I didn’t know Scripture directs us to work on Christmas. (I for one will be working this Christmas, because I work in a care home — a Christian one, too — and we need people on shift at all times regardless of the day. I expect it’ll be a happy and blessed shift, too.)

By the way, if you were thinking “Xmas” is an appropriate way of showing Christmas’s un-Christianness by removing Christ from it, it doesn’t work, sorry. The X in Xmas is a very old abbreviation for Christ — it’s actually meant to be the letter chi, the first letter of “Christ” in Greek.

So a joyous and blessed Christmas to you, whatever you do that day!

 

[Archivist]

I didn’t know Scripture directs us to work on Christmas. (I for one will be working this Christmas, because I work in a care home — a Christian one, too — and we need people on shift at all times regardless of the day. I expect it’ll be a happy and blessed shift, too.)

By the way, if you were thinking “Xmas” is an appropriate way of showing Christmas’s un-Christianness by removing Christ from it, it doesn’t work, sorry. The X in Xmas is a very old abbreviation for Christ — it’s actually meant to be the letter chi, the first letter of “Christ” in Greek.

So a joyous and blessed Christmas to you, whatever you do that day!

A blessed Christmas to you as well! I used to date an RN so I understand that those in the nursing care field sometimes have to work on Christmas, Easter and other holidays.

 

[Toro]

The day only has as much power as you give it.

If the day is holy to you, let it remain holy and given to the Lord. If it is a day of spending time with friends and family, come together in the name of the Lord and with the Lord.

Anyone abstaining nor partaking in the traditions of the day are pleasing to the Lord IF the other 364 days of the year they willfully hate their neighbor.

The day matters not, as every day is to be for the Lord. it is what we do with that day and where our heart is that matters.... not bickering over the possible pagan roots as NO MATTER what we do on Christmas day......

365 days of the year we WILL still be partaking of a wicked corrupt world that has MANY pagan roots... it doesnt mean we have to BE of the world, but we are all in it until we are called home.

Exchanging presents, a jolly fat guy, flying reindeer dont change that.

 

[NW82]

All myths that are put forward by those who know absolutely nothing

Very true, but it doesn't diminish my point. The fact that many cults and religions did in fact have celebrations on the 25th of December, when people are saying it didn't happen, is the point; and in some fashion the early Catholic Church did adopt those pagan celebrations days to attract converts. Many of today's customs used in the Church can be traced back to the 4th century, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.

"The use of temples, and those dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church" (Newman, 1878).

References
Newman, J. H. (1878 ). Essay on the Development of the Christian Doctrine.

 

[Blade]

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:"

I cant speak for anyone else. I know Dec 25 was not Christ birthday. I know they didnt have parties or they never wrote about them. I know that 100o years is like one day and one day like a thousand years to God. So to God it has been over 2000 years or just over 2 days. So.. I know all heaven rejoiced when Christ came to earth.. born to take away the sins of the world..

HOLY JESUS YES! And...na.. not going to just sit by and let the enemy take the glory and praise ...nope..I am going to stand up.. rejoice and remind this world JESUS loved you so much.. He left heaven took your place.. In heaven.. there are those that worship none stop.. Creation is ALWAYS worshiping Him...this XMAS should be 365 every day of the year.. WHO would not want this.

So it was never SANTA 1st..of which was a real man that gave away gifts.. granted.. I when in the car turn the channel of the radio when they play WORLDLY XMAS music that do not give my GOD all the glory and praise... you know SANTA CLAWS IS COMING TO TOWN haha.. praise God

I have said this before.. If I was with someone that did not like this.. I would not celebrate it.. in respect to them being with them. I become all things... going home.. HELLO XMAS! Its when Christ came.. I will NEVER EVER forget this nor ever stop praising Him for it.

 

[danielmears]

The commercialism bothers me more than Santa and reindeer. We do need to make sure our children realize we are celebrating Jesus birth even if he was not actually born that day. There are some valuable lessons too in the Christmas story which I wrote about here.The Wonder of Christmas!

 

[Der Alte]

When it's roots are clearly founded in pagan beliefs. The idea of 'Santa' and his reindeer's are satanic. No where does it say in the Bible that Jesus was born on the 25th December. It blows my mind that Christians today are still celebrating this pagan holiday?

There is no clearly about it. That is all internet nonsense that various heterodox religious groups start circulating about this time of year. If you think otherwise please provide some credible, verifiable, historical evidence. And oh by the way, such evidence will be something written at or near the time in question by participants or direct eyewitnesses. Not what some anonymous person says online. Just because one thing is similar to another thing that does not prove that one copied the other.
.....Santa and reindeer are irrelevant. I have been a Christian since Johnson was president and I have never seen Santa in a church Christ-mas service. Christians are not responsible for how the world has commercialized Christmas, Easter etc.

 

[Der Alte]

begin

<NW82>Very true, but it doesn't diminish my point. The fact that many cults and religions did in fact have celebrations on the 25th of December, when people are saying it didn't happen, is the point; and in some fashion the early Catholic Church did adopt those pagan celebrations days to attract converts. Many of today's customs used in the Church can be traced back to the 4th century, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.
"The use of temples, and those dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church" (Newman, 1878).
References
Newman, J. H. (1878 ). Essay on the Development of the Christian Doctrine.<end>

end

This was published in 1878 how does this Newman guy know what happened 100s of years before? He doesn't unless he quotes sources from that time written by participant or direct eyewitness.

 

[Der Alte]

begin

<NW82>Using Catholic tradition is a poor argument. For the pre-Christian Romans, December 25 marked their most important holiday, Saturnalia. This was later renamed to ‘Sol Invicti’, which means ‘the unconquerable sun’, in honor of the Syrian sun-god Apollo. Ancient Egyptians also used to celebrate December 25 in worship of Ra, or Horus, the sun-god child of Isis and Orisis. In Mesopotamia, the mythical god Marduk, who was believed to fight against the cold and darkness, was also worshipped on this day. The Aztecs on this day would sacrifice children in worship of their sun-god, Huitzilopochli. North-western Europe hosted festivities for the Nordic god Balder, while the Ancient Greeks dedicated the day for Adonis and Dionysos. For the Ancient Persians, December 25 represented the birth of Mithra, the sun-god. All of which pre-date Christian celebration of Christmas, of which there is no record that the early church even cared about it.<end>.

end

All internet nonsense with no, zero, none credible, verifiable, historical evidence.

 

[Jipsah]

I think it’s because nobody really knows Jesus’ actual birthday so they picked Dec 25 which was also celebrated by pagans.

So what? The pagans are all dead, their "gods" never existed, and the dates of their feasts are irrelevant. Every date on the calendar belongs to our Lord Christ.

I think Christians today simply disregard the pagan aspect

As we should. Who cares what some extinct pagans may or may not have done? Our God lives and reigns. Every day is His.