That time of year is upon us again, and as usual, we struggle with what to do. Should we carry on as we have done for years, celebrating an annual holiday mechanically, or should we finally ask ourselves some difficult questions?
When we look at what the world is doing, including the Christians, everyone seems to be totally engrossed in the celebrations. Anyone who questions Christmas celebration is called fanatic, narrow-minded and negative.
We do not celebrate this holiday any longer and I will tell you the reasons why.
First of all, this celebration is not a Bible doctrine. The Bible is God's complete and final revelation to man, and it tells us everything we need to know for our spiritual lives (II Timothy 3:16). We know from the Word of God and from church history that the early church and the apostles never celebrated Christ's birthday. We have been told, amongst many other things, to remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, not his birthday. God's people are supposed to live by His Word. Because the celebration of the birth of Christ is not mentioned nor practiced in the Bible is enough reason for us to not have anything to do with it.
The second reason, is that Christ was not born on December 25th. If the shepherds were in the fields caring for their flocks on the night of the Lord's birth, it had to be no later than October 15th, because shepherds in Palestine always corralled their flocks from October to April. No one knows the exact day when our Lord was born.
The third reason is because this celebration started with the sun worshipers in the time of Nimrod, the man who supervised the building of the tower of Babel. Thousands of years before Jesus Christ was born, heathens observed December 25th as the birthday of a god who was called the sun-god. Semiramis, the widow of Nimrod, was his mother. She claimed to be the queen of heaven and had a son who was supposed to have been born on December 25th whose name was Tammuz. You can read more about this in Alexander Hislop's book, "The Two Babylon's" and verify it in any reputable encyclopedia. Obviously, Christmas is a pagan holiday that came out pagan Babylon. Born-again believers should have nothing to do with it.
Fourth, this celebration is a Catholic holiday. They got it from the pagans.
Here is what Encyclopedia Americana has to say about Christmas and Catholicism.
"Christmas - it was according to many authorities NOT celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian churches as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth. A feast was established in the memory of the birth of the Saviour in the FOURTH CENTURY. In the Fifth Century the Western Church (Roman Catholic) ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol. The holly, mistletoe, the yule log and the wassail bowl are of pre-Christian times. The Christmas tree has been traced back to the Romans. It went from Germany to Great Britain."
Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say about Christmas:
"Christmas (i.e. the MASS OF CHRIST) was not among the earliest festivals of the church."
After Constantine became the Emperor of Rome, he forced all the pagans of his empire to be baptized into the Christian Church. Thus pagans far outnumbered true Christians.
Since the church worshiped the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, and every December 25th the pagans wanted to worship Tammuz, their sun-god, Constantine had the church combine the worship of Tamuz with the supposed birthday of Christ, and a special mass was declared to keep everyone happy. In this way, pagan worship was brought into the Christian church and called "Christ-mass".
Every time we say "Merry Christmas", we're actually mixing the precious and holy name of Christ with paganism. This should not be. In Ezekiel 20:39 God says "Pollute ye my holy name no more."
The World and Christmas
Christmas is of the world, and christians are commanded to "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15. The very fact that the world, which hates Christ and His blood atonement for sin, makes more fuss about Christmas than any other holiday proves to me that Christmas is not of God. If December 25th were truly the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, the world would have nothing to do with it!
People throughout the world, who for the most part have no awareness of the Bible or Jesus Christ, love to celebrate Christmas; even in non-Christian countries like Japan, Czech Republic, Poland and Russian. The world is married to the idol of Christmas. More people get drunk at this time of year than at any other time of the year. There are more big parties and more selfish spending than at any other season. The world loves Christmas, but it hates Christ.
Christmas is full of unscriptural traditions. The exchanging of gifts, the Christmas tree, the singing of carols and Santa Claus are all of pagan origin. These all crept into the church during or after the Fourth Century.
Perhaps the worst part of the Christmas celebration is that thousands of parents teach their children the falsehood of Santa Claus. This character actually was Saint Nicholas who was a Catholic priest in the Fourth Century. How many children grow up to finally learn the truth about Santa Claus, only to question whether Christ Jesus is also a myth? God's Word in Colossians 3:9 says "Lie not one to another". In Ephesians 4:25 we are to put "away lying," and to "speak every man truth with his neighbour". We should teach our children the truth about Christmas and bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
Christmas Condemned by the Puritans
The pagan history of Christmas has been well known throughout history. At one time the celebration of this pagan custom was forbidden by law in England. In 1644, Parliament declared Christmas to be unlawful; and consequently, it was abolished. The English Puritans looked upon the celebration of Christmas as the work of Satan.
At one time in early American history, the observance of Christmas was illegal. A law was adopted in the general court of Massachusetts about 1650, which required that those who celebrated Christmas were to be punished. The statute read, "Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas, or in any other way....shall be subject to fine of 5 shillings." The law's preamble explained its purpose was "for preventing disorders...(by) observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries to the great dishonor of God and the offense of others." After the Mayflower pilgrims landed in 1620, the first December 25th was spent in labor and cutting down trees "in order to avoid any frivolity on the day sometimes called Christmas."
Opposition to the observance of Christmas continued just past the second half of the Nineteenth Century. An article in the December 26, 1855 edition of the New York Daily Times stated, "The churches of the Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists were not open on December 25 except where some mission schools had a celebration. They do not accept the day as a holy one, but the Episcopalian, Catholic and German churches were all open. Inside they were decked with evergreens."
The Puritans knew the truth about Christmas and regarded it as a pagan holiday. It would be good if all believers followed their example. What further proof do we need that Christmas celebration is not of God? Truly the Lord's people should not celebrate Christmas. It is anti-God, Anti-Christ, satanic, and unscriptural. God's command is to "Come out from among them, and be ye separate.. and touch not the unclean thing." 11 Corinthians 6:17. God's command to all His people is, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Ephesians 5:11
Finally, God's Word forbids the observance of any holy days in this dispensation of grace. In Galatians 4:10-11 God says through the apostle Paul "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." There are no special holy days for the member of the body of Christ. The Lord want us to worship Him the same 365 days a year. We worship the living Christ Jesus, not a helpless infant lying in a manger or a dead Christ
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous English preacher of the last century, said::
"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas....we find no scriptural word whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because (it's) not of divine authority....probably the fact is that the 'holy days' (were) arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals....how absurd to think we could do it in the spirit of the world, with a Jack Frost clown, a deceptively worldly Santa Claus, and mixed program of sacred truth with fun, deception and faction."
While the world celebrated Christmas with its gift swapping and wild parties, what should be our attitude? God's Word makes it plain that we should have nothing to do with this pagan holiday. Let's not associate the birth of the holy Son of God with the pagan traditions of men. Let us heed God's command: "..be ye separate..." II Corinthians 6:17