by McKenna Von Gunten
I found this great article about, not only the
true meaning of Christmas, but a whole lot of other truisms that deal with
Christmas. Why do we celebrate it, where
did it really come from, the true time of Christmas (nobody really knows the
date), and how other cultures view it, celebrate it or not. It’s quite
interesting. The site is: https://justdisciple.com/christians-christmas-celebrate/. I can’t take credit for writing this, so I
give credit where credit is due. Hope you find it as interesting as I did.
The word Christmas and setting aside a specific
day to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth is not found anywhere in the Bible. There
is no biblical mandate that tells you about whether or not you should celebrate
Christmas as a Christian.
However, there are many Christians who do
celebrate Christmas. Their reason for celebrating is found in the Bible in
Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-21.
This story tells of how the angel Gabriel told
Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive and bear a
son and call Him Jesus. The Lord also reveals this message to Joseph, the man
Mary was engaged to. They then travel to Bethlehem due to a worldwide census
and Mary gives birth in a stable. After this, the Lord sends an angel to tell
shepherds herding sheep that the Savior of the world has been born, and a
multitude of angels start praising God. The shepherds then go see Jesus lying
in a manger and afterward tell everyone around them about this great news.
Another part of the story is of men traveling
from the East coming with precious gifts to give Jesus two years after He was
born. This is found in Matthew 2:1-12.
This is the story that Christians celebrate
during the season of Christmas because they recognize the incredible truths
that are in this special birth.
While Christmas is not in the Bible, we see
different characters in the events of Christ’s birth praising God and
celebrating the birth of the newborn King:
- An angel of the Lord appears
before shepherds at night and announces Jesus’s birth to them
- A multitude of angels appear in
the sky after the angel’s announcement praising God and giving Him glory
- The shepherds leave their sheep
to go to see Jesus lying in a manger, and afterward, they run to tell
people that the Messiah had been born
- The shepherds glorified God for
all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them by the
angel of the Lord
- Two years later, wise men from
the East come with gifts to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings
While this is not “Christmas” as we know it, the
Bible shows us that Christ’s birth was recognized as an important event and
that both angels and men celebrated God sending down His one and only Son in
the form of a baby. Should it not be true for us as Christians to celebrate the
truth that God came to live among us?
When you read through the New Testament, you do
not see any of the apostles or early church leaders in the Bible celebrating
Christ’s birth. Instead, you see them celebrating the Lord’s Supper and Jesus’s
death and resurrection. This is because historically and culturally,
celebrating deaths was much more common than births.
Although Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible,
it is biblical to celebrate the first coming of Christ and His birth. When the
shepherds found out about the birth of Jesus, they worshipped God and then told
everyone around them that the Savior of the world had come.
We are to do the same.
Many of the traditions that surround Christmas
are indeed from pagan backgrounds, however, many of the Christmas traditions
that Christians have used have been redeemed through celebrating the
significance of Christ’s birth.
As Christians, we are to be mindful of how much
we participate in the Christmas season yet that does not mean that Christmas
cannot be celebrated.
One person considers one day more sacred than another; another
considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own
mind. Romans 14:5
As Paul wrote in Romans 14:5, it is the personal
conviction of one person to make a day more special while another person
believes that all days are special. This implies that celebrating Christmas
is a personal preference.
The
History of Christmas
If Christmas is not found in the Bible, there
where did it come from?
In the Roman days, people used to celebrate the
winter solstice with a feast and lots of wine. This festival celebrated the
resurgence of the sun after the long days of winter. The holiday also
symbolized birth and light.
Later, Christians related the birth of Christ,
the Son of God, to be celebrated during this time. Churches now hold
candlelight services to help followers of Jesus to remember that He is the
Light who came into a dark world.
In Rome, the Romans also had a festival called
Saturnalia during December, which celebrated the Roman god Saturn, who was
their god of agriculture. During this time, businesses and schools would close
and Roman society would be turned upside down as those in lower societal
positions got to be honored and treated with respect and kindness by the rich.
During Saturnalia, families, friends, and neighbors
would give gifts to one another and their gods. The rich would also give
generously to the poor and do kind deeds to undo all of their bad deeds
throughout the year. It was supposedly called “the best of times” by a Roman
poet, which Charles Dickens later used in his story called “The Christmas
Carol” to describe Christmas and introduce Santa Clause as a jolly character.
The Romans also celebrated another festival in
the winter months which fell on December 25th called Juvenalia. This festival
celebrated the Persian god Mithra, the god of the sun, who used to be a Hindu
god. It was considered to be the most sacred day of the year by the Romans.
Many Hellenistic Jews and Christians would also participate in the Roman
holidays and traditions.
Christmas was not a known holiday until the third
century when Pope Julius I picked December 25th as the annual date to celebrate
Christ’s birth on the Georgian calendar. Supposedly, having Jesus’ birthday on
December 25th would allow Christians to still participate in the Roman
festivals celebrating Saturnalia and Mithra and help convince the Romans to
accept Christianity.
While
the Bible does not tell us exactly when Jesus was born, we do know that it
could not have been in the winter months because the shepherds were out in the
fields watching over their sheep. December 25th has, however, become the widely
accepted date of celebrating Jesus’s birthday.
After
the Roman period, European people started burning yule logs in the fire during
the winter months to keep their families warm. Yule logs burn three times
longer than regular logs and thus were very inexpensive for low-income
households. This became a tradition that lasted for about 12 days of the year,
between December 21st and January 1st. Later, this tradition was introduced
into Christmas where families would burn a small yule log on Christmas Eve.
People
also believed that burning the yule logs cleansed the air and that the ashes
could guard against evil spirits. Today, although no one today in America keeps
these scented items in their house to keep away evil spirits, retail stores all
over America sell scented pinecones, holly, and ivy garlands to help people get
into the Christmas spirit.
By
the end of the sixth century, the holiday and its traditions had spread to
England. However, when the Puritan pilgrims came to New England, they made
Christmas illegal because many of the traditions were from Roman and Celtic
cultures which honored other gods. It was not until 1870 that Christmas was
declared a federal holiday in the United States and many people started to
associate it with Christ’s birth.
How Christmas is
Viewed Today
Since
Christmas was made a national holiday, it has become one of the most important
and biggest days of the year for Christians, specifically American Christians,
all around the world.
Interestingly,
Christmas is considered by people in other cultures as a Christian holiday. In
India and Nepal, Hindus have a festival called Tihar or Deepawali which is
called the Festival of lights. Celebrating this festival is part of being a
Hindu. Christians will not celebrate Hindu festivals because of the meaning
behind the practices. Likewise, Hindus will also do not celebrate Christmas
because it is for the Christian God and part of being a Christian.
In
many other cultures, to be Christian is to celebrate Christmas. However, today,
the message of the gospel that is meant to be presented at Christmas time in
many countries including America has been traded for presents, stockings, and
Santa Clause resulting in consumerism, materialism, individualism, and
nationalism.
You
should be careful that you do not borrow from other cultures to change the
gospel message or encourage new believers in other countries to follow our
Christmas traditions because it is part of being a Christian. You must also be
careful that you do not lose the gospel message while presenting Christ to
others in both your own culture and the cultures you are living and serving in
around the world because our culture today has created many traditions to fit
into the context of what we want to celebrate.
If
you were to ask a person what they think Christmas is about, their response may
include delicious food, family get-togethers, snow, Christmas trees, presents,
and Christmas carols instead of Jesus coming to earth in human flesh to live
among His creation, die on the cross for their sins, and rise again so that
they could live in a right relationship with God the Father through Him forever
and forever.
Sadly,
only 57% of Americans believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, laid in a
manger, visited by wise men who brought Him gifts and were led by a star and
that angels announced His birth to shepherds.
Many
Americans may not realize this, but during the Christmas season, they also tend
to buy more, give more, volunteer more, and do actions of kindness for people
that they normally never would. This is very similar to the mindset and
practices of the Romans, who would give generously and exalt the poor.
Although
we as Christians are to give generously to people and share what we have
(Deuteronomy 15:10-12), we cannot earn the right favor with God or undo our
actions for the whole year by doing kind actions towards others. Adopting this
mindset as a Christian can be dangerous, as we can start believing that doing
good works will earn us favor with God so that we may receive salvation and get
into heaven.
However,
the true message of the gospel is that we are saved not through our works but
by the finished work of Christ on the cross and His grace (Eph. 2:8-9).
In
sharing all of this with you, I want to emphasize that celebrating Christmas is
not bad. As a Christian, you are free in Christ to celebrate Christmas or not
celebrate it if you want to. But, you do need to make sure that celebrating
Christmas is not the pinnacle of your faith.
Concerns with
Celebrating Christmas
After
reading about the history of Christmas and how it is celebrated today, you may
wonder, is it okay as a Christian to participate in celebrating Christmas?
There
are valid reasons for being concerned about celebrating Christmas in the way
that the world does.
Participating in Pagan Traditions
Some
Christians are concerned with taking part in traditions that have pagan roots.
See
to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit,
according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of
the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians
2:8 ESV
Indeed,
a lot of the ways we celebrate Christmas are not from the bible, but as
Christians who have been set free to follow Christ, we can find creative ways
to celebrate what God has done for us by setting up reminders in our homes and
our hearts.
As
a Christian, you should be careful not to celebrate tradition rather than Jesus
Christ. We are not to be part of the world, but rather to be a light in the
world for Christ. You are to fix your eyes on the things above and not on the
things of this world.
Some
Christians can get too caught up in celebrating Christmas traditions, buying
presents, and planning vacations that they forget to celebrate the miracle of
Christ’s birth. As a Christian, you are a witness for Christ, and thus your
actions and behaviors should reflect the desire for Christ to be known in this season.
Participating in Commercialization
As
a Christian, you should be careful not to get caught up in consumerism and
materialism.
Christmas
has become majorly commercialized in America and parts of Europe. The
significance of the birth of Christ has become lost as people celebrate the
season rather than celebrate the coming of Christ into the world.
Satan
has distorted our world and of course does not want us to celebrate the first
coming of Christ. However, even though there is no command to celebrate
Christ’s birth, we can still thank God for the gift of His Son for us.
If
you are giving presents out during Christmas time, it should be a
representation of the gift God gave us. Thus, buying gifts for someone you love
because you want to show them how much you appreciate them for who they are is
not wrong. Instead, you are to have the mindset that giving gifts represents
the love that God the Father has for you and the reminder that He sent His one
and only Son down to earth to live and die so that you may receive the free
gift of salvation.
Christmas Trees and Idolatry
Another
concern is that Christmas trees are not biblical. People take the passage in Jeremiah 10:1-16 where the prophet
writes about not cutting down a tree and then carving it into an idol,
decorating it with silver and gold, and bowing down to worship before it. Isaiah 44:9-18 also speaks on this same
issue.
So, enjoy the Season because of the REASON, and may your New Year be as new as 2022!
Merry Christmas &
Happy New Year to all!
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