I’m one of the odd minority of Christians that don’t keep
Christmas. You could call me a literalist when it comes to reading the Bible. I
believe it actually means what it says. While I have no particular problem with people wanting to
acknowledge or celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ…I don’t believe it
should simply be a continuation of a pagan holiday. While there is no evidence
that Christ or His disciples ever celebrated His birth, it is mentioned
prominently in the Gospels. Of course most modern Christians don’t actually
seem to have read the Bible as the ‘traditional’ story of Christ’s birth
doesn’t fit the facts as presented in the gospels.
December 25th is a day that was recognized for
centuries before the birth of Christ as the pagan celebration Saturnalia.
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman
celebration held in honor of Saturn, one of the Titans. Saturn was the father
of Jupiter, the Roman version of the Greek god Zeus. The practice
predated the birth of Christ by over 200 years.
The early Catholic church, in trying to make converts,
adopted many pagan holidays, practices and places of worship and simply stamped
the name Christ on them. From that practice we have the saying: “When in Rome
do as the Romans do”. That is the very opposite of what the God of the Bible
commanded His people to do. God’s people were not to worship Him the way other
nations worshiped their gods. God’s people were commanded to never do what
pagans do.
In the centuries since Christ many other pagan practices
were folded into the celebration that came around the time of the Winter
Solstice. Celtic and Nordic practices added what became Santa Claus, the Yule
log, the Christmas tree etc. These things are all clearly documented in history
books, and even the Catholic Encyclopedia, for anyone who cares to research them. None of these things has anything
remotely to do with Christ. Modern Christians observe the ‘Christ-mass’ because
it has become tradition…and because it feels good. Knowingly or unknowingly
those that observe the day do so on the authority of the Catholic church and
NOT on that of the scriptures.
I believe the Bible is abundantly clear that Gods people are
NOT to worship Him they way pagan nations worship their gods. The story of Cain
and Able clearly shows that God will not accept forms of worship that He
doesn’t command. And, Christ himself warns His people that they worship God in
vain when they substitute traditions for Gods commands.
It is easily argued that Christ was not born in the middle
of Winter in Israel. He was likely born in the Fall according to scholars. He
was probably born in the year 4 BC and not the year ‘zero’...as there was no year ‘zero’. The
scriptures say wise men came from the East bearing three types of gifts. It
doesn’t say there were three wise men. While Mary, or more correctly Miriam in
Hebrew, bore her child in a stable, he wasn’t there when the wise men came to
visit. His name incidentally was Yeshua…not Jesus. (There is no ‘J’ sound in
Hebrew.) Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua and means ‘savior’. Christ means
messiah, a title His followers gave Him later. So His birth name would have
been ‘Yeshua ben Yosef ‘or ‘Joshua the son of Joseph’. All these are facts that
most modern Christians don’t really even care about. They are more interested
in the ‘feel good’ tradition.
It is also most often overlooked that during this ‘feel
good’ time, there are more suicides than at any other time of year. More people
suffer from depression than any other time of year. And, families tend to go
into debt buying gifts for their children this time of year. Children have been
conditioned to expect gifts at this time of year regardless of their parent’s
ability to pay for them.
People think of this time of year as the time to show love
and good feelings towards others. People who would normally ignore the
homeless, and other disenfranchised people in our society, do ‘feel good’
things for them this time of year. The homeless, and everyone else, need to eat
every day but it makes those more well off feel good to feed the homeless on
that day. The Bible says to show love and good feelings every day of the
year…to all other people but, as has been pointed out, what the Bible actually
says is not really relevant to people who observe Christmas. Saving up for this
one holiday, during the middle of Winter, tends to make people feel ‘burned
out’ from the stress later. That’s what this holiday is about really…stress.
Every year Christ is talked about less and less. But, retailers love it…because
it makes people feel good!
Howbeit
in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men. (Mark 7:7)
