What is Christmas?

By Pastor Jeff,

In the gospel of Luke chapter 2 we have the account of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in this chapter we find the angels appearing to the shepherds in the field declaring, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” What a glorious event this was, and even today it is a special holiday that Christians and non-Christians celebrate. But sadly at least for me, we have many that not only declare that Christians should not celebrate Christmas but also are in sin if they do, well lets examine what Christmas is about, at least for me.

One of the reasons some declare that we shouldn’t partake in Christmas and many other holidays is that it was substituted for a pagan holiday. The 25th of December is believed to of been the celebration of “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti”, “the birthday of the Unconquered sun” a festival to celebrate the sun god initiated by the Roman emperor Aurelian. When Constantine was emperor he assimilated this feast as the birthday of Jesus. But new do have some writings that date back to the 3rd century claiming that Jesus was indeed born on the 25th of December (Hyppolytus, 170-236ad). But I have a question to those who oppose all association to pagan days, do you follow the pagan days of the week? After all Sunday was named after the sun god, Monday the moon god, Thursday after the  Greek god Thor, Saturday after the god Saturn, etc.

The idea that Jesus was not born on December 25th or in the month of December is in question by many, some assume that it was in the months of September or October based on the shepherds in the hill, I’ve even heard of His birth would of been in the spring time. Others look to Jeremiah 10:1-6 about cutting trees down, decorating them with silver, gold  as a reason to not allow Christmas trees in churches, houses, or anywhere else. I believe its not too hard to see the difference of making an idol, and worshipping it to having a simple decorated tree to appreciate, not worship! we have many other examples such as burning candles, ringing bells, decorations that have been associated with pagan traditions and hence are considered forbidden. How about the way we perform weddings which also is influenced by some pagan traditions.

It really does not matter too much to me if Jesus was not born on the 25th of December or if He was, what matters to me is that He did come, Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”  If you choose not to celebrate this holiday or any of the others I respect that decision, but if I choose to remember and celebrate this holiday on the 25th or any other day is my decision and I will not accept another’s condemnation of it.

To me, I love Christmas, the smells, food, time with friends, family, and the opportunity to share the Love of God with others that Jesus Christ is my reason for the season!

Picture care of YouTube.com