I heard something ridiculous on the radio this morning on the way to the church. This local minister has a talk show, and today he had a guy on who wrote a book about why, as Christians, we shouldn’t celebrate days like Christmas. They even went so far as to say that Jesus “would never attend a Christmas party.” I couldn’t believe it. I was fuming and arguing with them (out loud, unfortunately) the whole way here.
And wish I could’ve gotten on the air. I mean, I can see why people get worried. If you ever visit the Christianity.com Forums, you notice every year there are arguments about Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. Well, now that I look there doesn’t appear to be one this year. Anyway, they all center around people who have apparently just discovered the true origins of our religious holidays, and thinks that a Christian who knows would stop celebrating them.
If you’re unaware, Christmas began thousands of years ago as a simple winter solstice festival. The solstice is the shortest day of the year, so some groups called it the birth of the sun, because the days would be getting longer. This developed into a religious festival for people like the Emperor Constantine, who worshiped the Unconquerable Sun. The celebration was complete with evergreen trees (they show life in the death of winter) decorated with shiny things, and gift giving and eating. When Constantine decided that the Son was better than the Sun, he switched the celebration to the birth of Christ. Over time it became the Christ Mass, then Christmas, as we know it. There is a similar story for Easter.
These guys on the radio this morning were just like the posters on the forum. They talked about how the celebration of Christmas isn’t pleasing to God. They even compared it to the times Israel was carted off into exile for mixing worship with other nations. The only problem there is that we aren’t worshiping other gods!!!! They said that Jesus never celebrated, nor talked about Christmas (duh), and we shouldn’t celebrate any holy days that he didn’t. He said that those who did are treading on dangerous ground. But I think he’s in the more dangerous position.
He totally neglects what Paul says in Romans 14:
5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
The church became infinitely more complicated when the Gentiles came in. There were pagans, nonreligious, agnostics, and every stripe of belief making its way into the fold. What Paul was saying is,”Some of you celebrate the Jewish festivals, and some of you don’t. Some of you celebrate the winter solstice, and some the harvest festival, and some the fertility festivals. Some of you don’t celebrate any festivals at all. It matters not. Whatever you do, do it to God’s glory.” Paul was saying that it’s okay to celebrate other festivals, as long as we’re not celebrating or worshiping the gods that are associated there. And he was especially talking about the holiday that would become Christmas.
I have to work, but I’ll be back on this later…
Related: It’s That Time Again
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Elmo, I really enjoyed this piece and get such a kick out of your writing and your passionate disdain.
I’m borrowing this to reply to one of my commenters at my blog.
Thanks