With all our family's recent trips to Israel, keeping of Torah, and no longer celebrating Easter or Christmas many people seem to think we are converting to Judaism and denying Jesus as the Messiah. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
So with Christmas nearly here (or by the time I actually post this probably come and gone) I decided to write about the reason why we don't celebrate Christmas any more. (It could double for Easter. The history is almost the same.)
It's not because we don't want to celebrate Christ's birth, in fact we already have celebrated His birth this year on a holiday appointed by the LORD rather than worshipers of pagan gods.
I don't mean to judge anyone who celebrates Christmas. I know Christmas means a lot to people. I still miss spending Christmas with grandparents and cousins, although that has more to do with moving to Alaska then not celebrating Christmas. If we still lived in North Dakota we would probably still spend Christmas at Grandma's but we would spend it as a day of visiting with the cousins rather than as celebrating Christmas.
Sunburned - Part 1 ~ By 119 Ministries - This is a video that I got a lot of my information from. I highly recommend watching it.
(In fact I highly recommend all 119's teachings. If you ever wonder what our family believes go here and watch some of the apologetic teachings. They explain the basics very well and our family agrees with most of their beliefs.)
So, why exactly do we not celebrate Christmas?
This is what a few dictionaries and encyclopedias have to say about the history of Christmas.
"The observance of December 25 (as a Christian festival) only dates from the fourth century and is due to assimilation with the Mithraic festival of the birth of the sun." - World Popular Encyclopedia, Volume 3
"The transition from festivals commemorating the birth of a son god to a celebration ostensibly for the Son of God occurred sometime in the fourth century. Unable to eradicate the heathen celebration of Saturnalia, the Church of Rome, sometime before 336 A.D., designated a Feast of the Nativity to be observed. Many of the customs associated with Christmas also took their origins from the heathen observances. The exchanging of gifts, extravagant merriment, and lighting of candles all have previous counterparts in the Roman Saturnellia. The use of trees harkens back to the pagan Scandinavian festival of Yule." - James Taylor, "Christmas", in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (J.D. Douglas, ed; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), p.223
"December 25, the birthday of Mithra, the Iranian god of light and the day devoted the the invincible sun, as well as the day after Saturnalia, was adopted by the [Roman Catholic] church as Christmas, the nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of these festivals." - The New Encyclopedia Britannica
"Christmas... It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons [eg. Passover - death of Christ] rather then their birth... A feast was established in memory of this event [the assigned birth of Jesus] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the Roman feast of the birth of the sun as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth exists." - Encyclopedia Americana 1944 Edition
Not only do we celebrate the birth of the creator on the same day as pagan gods but also in the same way.
"Various symbolic elements of the pagan celebration, such as the lighting of candles, evergreen decorations and the giving of gifts, were adapted to Christian signification. Later as Christianity spread into northern Europe, the Celtic, Tentonic, and Slovic winter festivals contributed holly, mistletoe, the Christmas tree, bonfires, and similar items." - The Christian Encyclopedia
"Pagan celebrations on December 25 had included feasting, dancing, lighting bonfires, decorating homes with greens, and giving gifts. So when this became a Christian festival, the customs continued, but with a Christian meaning imparted to them." - Encyclopedia International, USA: Lexicon, 1980, p414
As you can see it is a very well know fact that we celebrate the birthday of Christ on the same day and in the same way as the worshipers of pagan sun gods celebrate their birthday. Why are we degrading the LORD, creator of all the universe, to the same level as all the pagan false gods?
Most people I tell that this is the reason we don't celebrate Christmas say "Well that's not what it means to me. For me the Christmas tree stands for eternal life, the presents for Christ's gift for us, etc"
Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way;, Deuteronomy 12:30-31
They weren't wanting to worship other gods, they were wanting to worship the LORD in the way the nations worshiped their pagan gods.
It doesn't matter how we think we should worship God, it matters how He thinks we should worship Him. Even though we give good meanings to Christmas it's still the same way pagans worshiped their gods and God specifically said He did not want to be worshiped in the same way.
It doesn't matter how we think we should worship God, it matters how He thinks we should worship Him. Even though we give good meanings to Christmas it's still the same way pagans worshiped their gods and God specifically said He did not want to be worshiped in the same way.
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23-24
It is not enough to worship Him in spirit, saying 'it only matters what it means to me', but you must also worship in truth, and the truth of the matter is He said "You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way".
If you type into Google 'should Christians celebrate Christmas', a article under the same name by bible.org, will be the first result to pop up. In the article they state "The pagan associations [with Christmas] were lost long ago". Does God forget things? If He said He didn't want to be worship in the same way as sun gods, He still doesn't want to be worshiped in the same way as sun gods. I am the LORD, I do not change; Malachi 3:6 He did not forget what Christmas used to mean.
The same article from bible.org states "We can make something evil out of it or something good". Even though we can try give nice meanings to to old pagan traditions, we are not God. If something started out as an evil sun god worship, we, as Christians, can not magically make it good. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;, Isaiah 5:20
That fact that it was wrong for the Roman Catholic church to adopt the birthday of Mithra as Christmas wasn't lost on Christians a few hundred years ago. Christmas was outlawed in New England from 1649 to 1658. It was condemned for its pagan roots by the Puritans. the Methodists, the Quakers, the Amish, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. It wasn't made a legal holiday in Massachusetts until 1856.
"Christmas was once banned in Boston. The Puritans forbade the celebration of Christmas because it was a 'pagan feast'. Episcopalians were the first in Boston to observe the holiday. They were followed by increasing numbers of young people who raised 18th century eyebrows with 'frolics, a reveling feast and ball'. But it wasn't until 1856 that the legislature, recognizing a losing battle when it saw it, gave in and made Christmas a legal holiday." - The Phoenix Gazette, December 22, 1967
Even Charles Spurgeon, a man highly influential among Christians of different denominations, was against Christmas.
"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all but abhor it. whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority." - Charles Spurgeon, Sermon on December 24, 1821
"When it can be proved that the observances of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them, but not till then. It is as much our duty to reject the traditions of men, as to observe the ordinances of the Lord. We ask concerning every rite and rubric, "Is this a law of the God of Jacob?" and if it be not clearly so, it is of no authority with us, who walk in Christian liberty." - Charles Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalm 81:4
"Christmas was once banned in Boston. The Puritans forbade the celebration of Christmas because it was a 'pagan feast'. Episcopalians were the first in Boston to observe the holiday. They were followed by increasing numbers of young people who raised 18th century eyebrows with 'frolics, a reveling feast and ball'. But it wasn't until 1856 that the legislature, recognizing a losing battle when it saw it, gave in and made Christmas a legal holiday." - The Phoenix Gazette, December 22, 1967
Even Charles Spurgeon, a man highly influential among Christians of different denominations, was against Christmas.
"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all but abhor it. whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority." - Charles Spurgeon, Sermon on December 24, 1821
"When it can be proved that the observances of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them, but not till then. It is as much our duty to reject the traditions of men, as to observe the ordinances of the Lord. We ask concerning every rite and rubric, "Is this a law of the God of Jacob?" and if it be not clearly so, it is of no authority with us, who walk in Christian liberty." - Charles Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalm 81:4
Maybe the reason we have such trouble remembering the 'reason for the season' is because it never really was the reason for the season.
I really think that this is something that we, as Christians, should think about. But we all must be fully convinced in his own mind, Romans 14:5, whether or not it is important. Let's just make sure we don't reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition, Mark 7:9 when it comes to Christmas.
Very well put. Thank you for the reminder too. Love you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Natalie. =) Can't wait to see you in a few months!
Delete