Almost two thousand years ago, in the land of Palestine, there occurred a great and important event- the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father sent His Son to live on earth as a human, to teach mankind the true way of salvation and then to give His life to pay the penalty for our sins.
The birth of Christ was assuredly a very important event, and we enjoy reading the description of it in the Gospels. Joseph and Mary were at Bethlehem, and Mary was about to give birth, but there was no room for them at the inn. They spent the night in what we could call the barn, and there Mary gave birth to Jesus; His cradle was a hay manger. Shepherds were spending the night in the open fields with their flocks. They saw angels appear in the sky and heard the message, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (`). As the shepherds rejoiced at this wonderful event, so we should rejoice and be glad that Christ was born and that through Him we have salvation.
When did this eventful birth take place? Strangely, no one knows the date! But people the world over commemorate it on the 25th of December and call that day “Christmas.”
Many churches have special Christmas services, and in general it is a time of activity and good will. Many people consider it the best season of the year.
To Christians the question comes, “Is this commemoration taught in the Bible? And what is the origin of the Christmas tree, the decorations, and Santa Claus? Since the date of the birth of Christ is not known, how was December 25th selected? By whom was it authorized, and for what reasons?” It is the purpose of this article to answer these questions and determine what the Christian attitude should be toward the holiday of Christmas.
PAGAN ORIGIN
Many works, by many scholars have depicted the pagan origin of the Christmas celebration. One of the more indicting books is 4000 Years of Christmas by Earl W. Count, Professor of Anthropology at Hamilton College. Here are some excerpts from that work:
“We do not know its beginning…we do not really know when the Christ Child it venerates was born; or the time and place when Christmas was first celebrated; or exactly how it was that, over the centuries, a bishop-saint of Asia Minor and a pagan god of the Germans merged to become Santa Claus.
“Although the Christmas story centers in the Christ Child of Bethlehem, it begins SO LONG BEFORE His coming that we find its hero arriving on the scene after more than half of the time of the story has gone by.
“CHRISTMAS BEGAN OVER 4000 YEARS AGO, as the festival which renewed the world for another year. The ‘12 days’ of Christmas; the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents; the carnivals with their floats, their merrymakings and clownings, the mummers who sing and play from house to house; the feastings; the church processions with their lights and song- ALL THESE AND MORE BEGAN CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST WAS BORN. And they celebrated the arrival of a New Year.” (Page 18.)
“For that day (25th of December) was SACRED, not only to the PAGAN ROMANS but to a religion from PERSIA which, in those days, was one of Christianity’s strongest rivals. This Persian religion was Mithraism, whose followers worshiped the sun, and celebrated its return to strength on that day. The church finally succeeded in taking the merriment, the greenery, the lights, and the gifts from Saturn and giving them to the Babe of Bethlehem” (page 27).
“It happened that the date (December 25th) did fall in the midst of the Saturnalia. Far from being an invention to compete against ROMAN and PERSIAN PAGANISMS, the birthday of Christ (?) ran the danger of being swallowed up in pagan merrymaking. The (church) Fathers tried strenuously to keep Christmas strictly a churchly celebration. It was part of their unremitting struggle to break the grip of the pagan gods upon the people. And they broke the grip – after a battle of centuries. The pagan Romans became Christians- BUT THE SATURNALIA REMAINED” (page 28).
“When was Jesus born? NO ONE KNOWS. December 25 is no more the historical date of His birth than is any other” (page 50).
“Christmas, as we have seen is OF THE MEDITERRANEAN…For the Mediterranean world already had not merely centuries, but millennia behind it, when Christ was born; and even the religion which He founded had traveled several centuries before it discovered its need of Christmas” (page 86).
“Renewal and rebirth: AFTER 4000 YEARS, the festival that has grown about the birth of the Christ Child remains an affirmation that all things can be made anew” (page 91).
CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS
The evolution of the Christmas celebration has taken several centuries. Most of the features of the celebration are taken for granted by the 20th century public with little thought given to the origin of these popular festivities. Listed below are several time-honored aspects of the Christmas season and their origins:
TREE
“…we can find enough instances of the use of trees, even decorated ones such as the pine tree on which images of the god Attis were hung amid rows of ribbons at a spring festival, to convince us of the ultimately PAGAN ORIGIN of our customs” (Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays; Myers; page 310).
“It is a fact that the Christmas tree stems from primitive PAGAN CUSTOMS. Its main features, green foliage and candles, were associated with the winter solstice when nature seemed dead, and green branches and trees were used in a magical rite to ensure the return of vegetation and the victory of light over darkness” (How Did It Begin? Customs and Superstitions and their Romantic Origins; Brasch; Chapter 25; “Religion and Its Symbols”).
GIFTS
“The custom of making presents at Christmas time is associated with the gifts presented to Christ by the wise men of the East; but, in reality, at least so far as English speaking people are concerned, it is derived from an old HEATHEN USAGE: (The New Standard Encyclopedia; “Christmas”).
The wise men (magi) gave gifts to Christ, but didn’t exchange gifts among themselves. Their gifts to Christ were not because of His birthday, for they arrived later. Gifts were given because Christ was royalty; He was a King:
“The people of the East never approach the presence of kings and great personages without a present in their hands” (Clarke’s Commentary; Vol. 5; page 46; Matthew 2:11).
The wise men didn’t institute a new custom, but merely followed an old, ancient, Eastern custom of presenting gifts to a king when coming into his presence. The magi approached royalty in the person of Christ, “born King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2).
“The interchange of presents between friends is a like characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the PAGANS, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows” (the Bibliotheca Sara; Vol. 12; pages 153-155).
WASSAILING
“Wassailing is singing carols from house to house or drinking to someone’s health and prosperity (toast).
“The wassailing bowl of Christmas had its precise counterpart in the ‘drunken festival of BABYLON’ and many of the other observances still kept up among ourselves at Christmas came from the very same quarter.” (The Two Babylons; Hislop; page 97).
CANDLES
“Burning candles at Christmastide is a custom which goes back to the ROMAN SATURNALIA” (Ickis; Chapter 3; “Christmas Cycle”, page 53).
KRISS KRINGLE (Santa Claus)
“From these (German) people were to come, although not quite yet, those most universal of Christmas customs; the Christmas tree, and the portly, beneficent, Kriss Kringle, known also as Santa Claus” (Myers; “Christmas Day”; page 314).
“Gradually the Presbyterians, Quakers, and Puritans accepted such customs as the Christmas tree, the giving of small gifts, and the Christmas feast. But they spoke violently against the corruption of the Christkindl, the Christ Child, into ‘Kriss Kringle.’ After Kriss Kringle was fully assimilated, there was much concern among almost all religious groups about the non-religious trend of the holiday” (Myers; “Christmas Day”; page 316).
“Santa Claus of today is in part an American contribution to the Christmas festival. Originally St. Nichols, a lean, pale eccentric, carrying a dark miter and staff of a bishop, was the bearer of gifts to children. It was the work of three (American) men that gave St. Nicholas the personality of our red-cheeked, white bearded ‘Jolly Old Santa Claus;” (Ickis; Chapter 3; “Christmas Cycle”; page 57).
DECEMBER BIRTH
The most respected Biblical scholars admit that Jesus Christ could not have been born on or around December 25. Since the rainy season in Judea commenced about October 15, shepherds, in advance of that time, had their flocks in from the open, damp fields. Thus, shepherds were not grazing their sheep at any time in December. (Luke 2:8) "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." The flocks had already been evacuated from the cold, open air for more than two months! December 25, a date greatly revered in ancient paganism, was the day manufactured for Jesus’ birth because the heathen wanted it so!
Mixed Religion
Mixing of religion has long been acceptable to paganism, but it has always been an abomination to God! Taking something that is good, and assimilating it with some “foreign” entity is abhorrent to the God of Heaven, Who Himself is holy, righteous and absolutely pure! Not only is such religious blending diversionary from God’s way, but it involves man in that which ends in death. (Proverbs 14:12) "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (And Proverbs 16:25) "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." From the annals of the prophet Jeremiah, who watched his nation decline and fall into such practices comes this stinging command:
"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. 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." (Jeremiah 10:2-3).
The new American Standard Bible calls the customs “delusion,” or more literally, “vanity,” meaning empty, useless and standing for nothing. As today, the people of ancient Israel rejected God’s plea for purity and grasped that which pleased them from the religions around them:
“And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.” (II Kings 17:15).
Syncretism is the attempt to harmonize preferred qualities of various world religions, making a more desirable creed. It is the way of man, cut off from his Creator. God allows no fusing, intermingling or uniting of “foreign” elements with His inspired and revealed and delivered way of life!
Two churches of the New Testament had syncretistic problems with their doctrines and customs; they obviously acceded to a marriage of Christ’s faith and paganism:
“But I (Christ) have a few things against thee (Pergamum), because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” (Revelation 2:14).
“Notwithstanding I (Christ) have a few things against thee (Thyatira), because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” (Revelation 2:20).
IDOL ABOLITION
With Israel, God was not satisfied merely with abstinence from the relics of heathenism. He commanded His leadership to hunt down and to root out of Canaan all vestiges of “foreign” religion. He charged that the seven great (but godless) nations residing in Canaan be defeated, destroyed mercilessly, and no covenant or marriage be made with them (Deuteronomy 7:1-5). Notice the reason for such:
"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jubusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
"And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before three; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
“For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
"But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire."
For this cause, they were to break down heathen altars, smash their religious pillars and groves, hew down the Asheim (symbols of Asherah, Canaanite mother-goddess, prominent in their fertility cult) and burn their graven images with fire! In Exodus 34:11-16
"Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
"Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
"But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
"Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
"And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods."
Israel was warned to abstain from any covenants with heathenism, “lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.” Israel and Judah were to destroy any semblance of idolatry, which would deter them from faithful allegiance to God. Consorting with the customs and ideology of “Foreign” nations was considered spiritual fornication, unfaithfulness and whoring after strange gods (Hosea 4:10-19).
"For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.
"Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
"My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
"They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
"I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, not your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
"Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The Lord liveth.
"For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
"Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
"Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.
"The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices."
Christians are not in a position to destroy all forms of improper religion in their respective lands. However, they can follow these instructions and the mind of God, by destroying such evil influences in their own lives! As the temple of the living god, they can remain holy and undefiled! (I Corinthians 6:19-20) "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." They can separate from religious incursions (II Corinthians 6:14, 7:1)! "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" and "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." They can expose and reprove such destructive error (Ephesians 5:11)! "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." They can walk as the wise (Matthew 10:16)! "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." They can understand how God feels about such practices (Deuteronomy 7:25-26)! "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."
CONVERTED HEATHENISM?
People erroneously think that a man, institution, or church can sanctify something that God won’t sanctify. Man cannot legitimatize paganism by putting a “Christian” stamp on it, or by clothing it in “respectable” garb. Unless something fits within the will of God, and is part of “the faith which was once (for all) delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) it cannot be surreptitiously included within the gospel of Jesus Christ. Man is simply incapable of turning something that is profane into something that is sacred.
“It is interesting… to see how the genius of the human mind has been able, through the centuries, to give them (heathen customs) a different and sacred meaning” (How Did It Begin? Customs and Superstitions and Their Romantic Origins: Brasch; page 324).
Cohabitation with idolatry is defiling:
“I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.” (Ezekiel 23:30).
PUT CHRIST BACK INTO XMAS?
To place Jesus back into Christmas assumes that He was once in it, that He once had something to do with it. Understand some facts from history:
“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 birthday of the sun.” (World’s Popular Encyclopedia; Vol. 3).
“Gradually a number of prevailing practices of the (heathen) nations into which Christianity came were assimilated and were combined with the religious ceremonies surrounding Christmas. The assimilation of such practices generally represented efforts by the Christians to transform or absorb otherwise pagan practices.” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; Vol. 1; page 805).
“The pagan symbolism was taken over, and, in the Christian view, elevated. Jesus became the (pagan) ‘Sun of Justice’ and the ‘Sun of Righteousness.’” (Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays; Myers; page 310).
“Our Christian festival (Christmas) is nothing but a continuation under a different name of their old solar festivity (Saturnalia).” (The New Golden Bough; Frazer and Gaster; page 653).
“Christmas was generally celebrated in the West only after the triumph of Constantine, when the time of Christ’s birth was reckoned with the day of the Unconquered Sun on 25 December.” (From Christ to Constantine; Smith; pages 150-151).
“The assimilation of Christ to the Sun god, as Sun of righteousness, was widespread in the fourth century, and was furthered by Constantine’s legislation on Sunday, which is not unrelated to the fact the Sun god was the titular divinity of his family” (A History of the Christian Church; Revised; Walker; Section 13; pages 154-155).
“The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence…The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge; 1908 edition; III; page 48).
Put Christ back into Christmas? It can’t be done! Christmas is a borrowed heirloom that was lifted from the heathen scene 300 years after our Lord ascended to Heaven. He was never in the festival, nor has He ever condoned it. Mankind should be contemplating how they might better put Christ into their lives!
THE BIBLE IS COMPLETE
The date of Jesus’ birth is nowhere mentioned, nor even alluded to in Scripture. God is silent on the time of this great occasion.
It wasn’t part of Christ’s faith, nor apostolic teaching; neither was it ever thereafter included.
Christmas was not only omitted by Christ in His ministry, it was also lacking in the early history of God’s Church. Jesus never reminded anyone about the date of His birth. There would have been no motive for any such explanation as it was of no concern to the Apostolic Church. There is no emphasis of Christ’s birth until well into the second century, long after God’s chosen historians were dead.
UPHOLD BIBLE
Rejecting Christmas is in no way slighting or downgrading the actual fact of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. That historical event is of monumental importance to all Christians. The recorded accounts of that birth (Matthew 2; Luke 2) are to be held in the highest honor. The Church of God (Seventh Day) goes on record as believing totally in the truth of those Gospel narratives. The virgin birth, as related by God, is a vital part of the theology and Christology which we believe, accept and respect. This area of the New Testament should not be shunned nor neglected, as an oversight or overreaction against the pagan incursion of Christmas.
PROPER ATTITUDE
What should be the Christian approach toward the Christmas festival and those who observe it? How should one act and react? Surely, Christ’s disciples will temper their knowledge and earnest conviction with mercy and humility. A Christian must be and live above reproach, upstandingly and kindly, even in the face of pagan intrusion.
Wouldn’t it be wonderfully exciting if men and women everywhere simply believed the actual Word of God, and acted upon it? Wouldn’t it be exhilarating to see universal enlightenment to truth, light and righteousness? Wouldn’t that be some kind of world? It will happen, when Christ returns! Meanwhile, pray regularly that God would open more minds, soften more hearts and reveal Himself more personally to more people. Pray fervently for the multitudes who know better, but procrastinate about the things of God. They need to “get off the fence” and act! They need to be aware of the danger of compromising with the gospel of Christ.
WHAT DOES IT MATTER?
One is inevitably faced with the question: “What difference does it make anyway?” Quite a bit when we acknowledge that the date of Christ’s birth has not and cannot be established. Quite a bit when we understand the Scriptures are devoid of any suggestion of such celebration. Quite a bit when we confront the universally heathen origin of “The Mass of Christ.” Quite a bit when we discern God’s wrathful contempt for such paganism. It makes quite a large difference – if there is a living God. It makes a tremendous difference – if the Holy Bible is His personally revealed Word. It makes all the difference in the universe – if Jesus Christ is coming back to judge you.
God long ago uttered a stern warning to Israel about the inquiring of and the amassing to surrounding heathenism. That same warning stands, in principle, today:
“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them (heathen nations), after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:30-32).
CONCLUSION
Jesus taught us to follow Him. In the great commission as found in Matthew 28:19-20, He said the apostles were to teach the people of all nations, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Jesus did not command or ask us to observe the date of His birth and the people of the early Church did not do so. We should rejoice in His birth all through the year and seek to live as He taught us in the Bible.
Doing this, true Bible Christians will show love for others at all times of the year and they will show their love for God’s truth by not taking part in the observance or celebration of Christmas. We will do those things which God has commanded because we want to be among those who are spoken of in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Originally published and distributed by BIBLE ADVOCATE PRESS, a ministry of the CHURCH OF GOD (Seventh Day)