Christmas is neither Christ’s birthday nor a Christian Holiday
Posted: Saturday, May 28, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
One is normally called a “Scrooge” when anything derogatory is spoken of Christmas, but that is alright. Truth is truth, whether or not it is appreciated. The facts are, there is nothing actually Christian about it and should be avoided by those who are sincerely attempting to follow God’s word. Every tiny act concerning this holiday is a derivative of something pagan and and simply by saying one is worshipping God or remembering Jesus doesn’t change it in the least. If you want a biblical example to justify that last statement read this.
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:13-23 KJV)
Now with that shown, let’s go back to the activities of Christmas. First, it isn’t the day in which Christ was born. So that is imaginary. Nowhere in the bible is there any hint that Jesus wanted us to celebrate his birthday. He wants us to remember his death burial and resurrection, tells us so and tells us when and how to show it.
Everything about Christmas is imaginary and or make believe. The exchanging of gifts between family and friends is an act that is always thrown up as a good part of the Christmas celebration. No, it’s not. People buy many things they cannot afford and give them to people who do not need them. Does that make sense? Certainly not as an act of celebrating the birth of Jesus. Some gather up food baskets and especially for the needy. Then give them to those who don’t need them. This might have been a good gesture if they actually knew someone who was hungry and gave them food. But not in the name of a pagan celebration given a name by the Roman Catholic Church of “Christ’s Mass” in order to assuage the new converts from paganism who refused to give up their merriment celebrating. If a Christian sees someone in need, they will assist them any day of the year and give God the glory for it, not an imaginary fat guy with a red suit.
And all the little things from mistletoe, holly, evergreen tree with ornaments, the Yule log, the feast of turkey or goose, and on and on, are derivatives of some very similar act of the pagan celebrations of the sun god, and others. The Roman pagans celebrated the death and resurrection of their sun god, Saturn, during the winter solstice because the sun was considered to be dying and then replaced by a new one. The celebration of the new sun, Saturnalia. Emperor Constantine is reported to have been a member of the ’Sol invictus’ cult when he was converted to Christianity and is credited with being instrumental in the introduction of at least a portion of that celebration into a Christian observance.
An attempt to cover the all, or even most, of the pagan aspects which were “Christianized” into the now observed “Christmas” celebration would consume far too much space. We will briefly mention a few of the ones where Christians are far too easily influenced by these “fun” parts of the celebrations.
Santa is my choice, because many replace the Lord Jesus or even God with this man. Some encourage their children to pray for Santa to bring them nice gifts. And then give Santa the glory instead of God, when the gits are given! Just as we offer thanks for our meals, God needs to be thanked whenever we are given the means to buy our children gifts, and they should be trained to thank the proper one also. And when they reach the age that they learn that you had spoofed them, isn’t it possible they may think you have been spoofing them about God and his son? I am thankful today that I never once attempted to make my children believe the universal lie of Santa. We always let them know that we bought the gifts with our earnings with which God had blessed us. And yes, we bought them small things because all the other children were getting gifts.
Also, some argue that Paul gives us room for celebrating such a day in the book of Romans:
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (Romans 14:5-6 KJV)
But no, he is assuredly not commenting on the celebrating of a pagan celebration, his reference is concerning those converts from Judaism, which was under God’s Old Testament law, who were still regarding the days set apart by God himself during the days of the Israelites. Try to find some scripture somewhere, anywhere, that shows any tolerance of God towards those who worshipped other gods.
There is a very extensive four part research paper online that covers virtually every aspect of the those things observed during Christmas season. I urge all who have an interest in their souls, to read it. Click Here.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Wow, Joel, I think if I wrote this I'd be called a heathen and accused of being part of the 'war on Christmas.'
My argument against Christmas as a Christian holiday is much simpler, though, as the Apostle Paul spoke against observing special days (and months and years) in several recorded instances (Romans and Galatians I think.) And yes, he was referring to religious holidays. I guess this is another one of those things for those who have ears to hear...
A hearty bah humbug! to you, sir.I don't mean to creticize people for enjoying a day off with a good meal with family and friends. But, giving pagans and the apostate church of Rome credit for things belonging to God is beyond me. Thanks for taking it well...after all, I'm a bit senile you know. But not only that, I don't try to force anything on anyone. Just facts. And believe me, I've been called worse than a heathen. I'll bet you don't even know what the term heathen means?? It has grown to the point that it ridicules but in the begining it was not so. It simply meant people outside of the law of God. I do appreciate your comment.
Hi Joel. Nice work. Very specific and direct. As a new Christian when our children were little, and my husband not a Christian, we compromised on how we would deal with this issue. mainly because fighting over it, gave the devil too much power and children that Santa was not real, he was just for fun and it is God who is real and gave us the best gift - Jesus. Santa never got credit for anything. I always hated Christmas trees in my house, maybe because as a kid growing up we were poor and a tree did not signify Christmas for us. Anyway, it worked well enough. We applied this same compromise to Easter as well. The Easter bunny was not real, coloring eggs and all that fun stuff has nothing to do with the reality of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. We never equated the two. However, we have had some of the funniest memories and times coloring and hiding eggs. ( actually just a few weeks ago - I wrote about it.) I think as we grow as believers God reveals things to us that need changing in our lives. But once we have come to learn God's word, we need to trust and obey.
The passage that always sticks out to me at Christmas time is this:
"Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the Gentiles are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of hands of the workman, with the ax.. They decorate it with silver and gold; the fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple...... Jeremiah 10:1-4 Anyway, again good job.
The most important thing is that we are all continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of God and be obedient to the areas He is working in us. Blessings! TeresaAn excellent comment Teresa, and I appreciate it. And you know, I don't mind seeing anyone take part in Christmas so long as they know what they are doing, and don't glorify anyone except God and his son. We were what you call "dirt poor" when I was a kid and yet Dad always bought some oranges and bananas for us on Christmas. But he never told us Santa brought them. I also remember that he allowed us kids to go cute a small cedar and we made colored strips of paper (colored with crayons) and glued them (with flour&water) into chains and hung on the tree. You don't get kids happiness like that anymore.
Sir thanks info I agree with your articles, it's true that Christmass are a paganism style of worship and to be based in the bible we cannot find or read text that Christmass day dec. 25 is a day of our Lord God Jesus was born it was Roman paganism Rules. It's hard to please God when you don't obey his rules and to know his Plan of Salvation that everyone must know.Thank you Peter, for your comment and I agree with you.
Very Interesting. This is wonderful write up. In complete contrast to popular. I have always known thi sday as cirthday of christ. Christ birth is thoroughly Interpreted in Holy Quran Part no. 19. This part is named after Marry (Maryam).Thank You Azhar, for your comment.
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