So, the holiday season is coming. We’ve celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas is around the corner. Christmas has amazing memories for me; lots of warm feelings. But it seems that in the past few years I’ve encountered more Christians who are confused about Christmas, and maybe even apprehensive; should Christians celebrate Christmas at all? Are we merely giving in to a pagan tradition? Are we doing spiritual harm to our families?
First of all, there is NO command to celebrate Christmas in the Bible. Read it from cover to cover, you won’t find a command. So, it’s safe to say that if you choose NOT to celebrate Christmas you’re not violating some Biblical mandate.
However, if one looks deeply into the reasons given for NOT celebrating Christmas, you’ll find that they are weak arguments based on bad Biblical exegesis (study) and poor logic.
There are many reasons people propose as to the reason that one should NOT celebrate Christmas. Boiled down to the bottom line, the logic is simple: Christmas is taken from a pagan holiday and therefore should not be celebrated by Christians. In fact, the logic goes, it very likely might be a foothold for Satan to enter your life.
While many of these people are very well meaning, the logic is flawed; the conclusion is erroneous, the the whole train of thought shows a foundation of error that IS actually dangerous. Let’s look at some of the dangers of this logic:
One: One of the strong undercurrents of this mindset is a belief that we must protect ourselves from Satan’s delusions, and that we may be unknowingly tricked/seduced/led astray by some pagan influence. This leads to a heightened sense of awareness of all things that could be from Satan. When this happens, where is the spiritual focus? It’s on Satan, not on Jesus. This is such a problem – on so many levels:
2 Corinthians 3:18 says that by beholding (looking at) Jesus we are changed to be like Him. The same is true with Satan. The more we look at him, the more we are led towards him. Focusing on Satan does not lead to freedom, it leads to bondage, stress and fear.
There are whole movements, or sub-movements within various Christian traditions that are focused a lot on Satan – casting him out, rebuking him, etc. While there are elements of this that are Biblical, Jesus never went looking for demons. We should be obsessed with Jesus, not Satan. The more we are saturated with good, the less we have to fear from evil.
One of the greatest dangers from this is that at it’s core this mindset is legalism: I must do certain things to make sure I’m okay with God. It focuses us on behaviors, not on the transformation of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is legalism. I might loose my salvation if I celebrate Christmas. This is apostasy. Paul’s says that Jesus is the author and finisher; that He will keep us to the day of His return. This is based in fear – not hope. 1 John says perfect love casts out fear.
Transformation does not come by figuring out Satan’s delusions. It comes by “renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Renewing your mind does not happen by studying Satan’s lies, but by being filled up with His Word. Renewing your mind does not come by researching theories on the internet, but by being saturated in the Word.
Two: The history of the world is long. Throughout history, people have tried to explain the world and the universe and often created religions with their own systems of worship and symbols to explain it. The chance that just about ANYTHING in current culture has some type of pagan parallels is quite high. In addition, throughout history, mankind has synthesized things from diverse places and adapted/adopted them and moved forward – often with no regard to it’s origins.
The days of the work are all pagan in origin. When you say, “I’ll see you on Saturday” are you even acknowledging the god Saturn? No, probably not. Or Sunday? Or Tuesday? They’ve been stripped of their cultural underpinnings and reused.
There is an interesting give and take in religions. According to the Biblical understanding, God institute sacrifices after sin in Genesis. Pagan religions took sacrifices and went crazy with it. They built temples to worship in. Yet God instructed Solomon to build a temple. Was this a sin? Was it saying that God agreed with paganism? No, not at all. But, He was using something they understood to teach His lessons.
So, should we be surprised that someone somewhere had a similar symbol? Does that mean that Christmas is completely pagan?
Some of the research that you will read on the internet about the pagan origins of Christmas is shaky at best. Have you looked at www.snopes.com recently? It amazes me how gullible we are. We get an email forwarded from Aunt Betty about some disaster/virus/whatever, and we forward it on. And on. And on. But, with a little research, it is proved false. Recently, there’s a great little video about Einstein showing up his teacher who didn’t believe in God. Yet, that is most likely an untrue story, but it continues to be passed around, and I’ve never seen anyone quote a source that shows the evidence that this story is true! Yet we just accept it as true. We must think. We must research. We must study. We should not look quite as stupid as we sometimes do. In the issue of Christmas it’s no different. Much of the research is shaky.
Speaking of shaky research: My favorite is when people quote Jeremiah 10 as a Biblical injunction against Christmas trees. Here’s the passage, taken from the New American Standard Bible – one of the most literal translations of the Bible:
1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2Thus says the LORD,
“(A)Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3For the customs of the peoples are (B)delusion;
Because (C)it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4″They (D)decorate it with silver and with gold;
They (E)fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter.
5″Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they (F)cannot speak;
They must be (G)carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they (H)can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”
Ok, so let’s take a look at this verse. Verse 3 is where many start to try to show Christmas was condemned by Jeremiah: it is wood cut from the forest (some translations will say a tree). Then, you have to skip over the rest of verse 3 and go to verse 4 – “they decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.” And at that point, you might make a case that this text is talking about Christmas trees.
However, to do that, you have to ignore the end of verse three which talks about a craftsman working on it – which my Christmas trees have never had. If you get past that, you have to go to verse 5, “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”
Now, I have never heard ANYONE try to get their Christmas tree to speak; I have never seen anyone try to get their tree to walk. This is obviously contrasting false gods that are created by human hands with the eternal God that can do anything!
This is horrible Bible study methodology. It’s taking things out of context, it’s taking bits and pieces to support a theory and ravaging the Word of God. It’s a horrible! We must be better students of the Word than this!
Conclusion of point 2 – Study. Research. Don’t just take what you see on the internet. Study the Word for yourself – just about anyone can make the Bible say anything they want.
Three: The argument that Christmas is pagan and therefore can impact your life ignore this text from Paul:
1 Corinthians 8:4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
I find this interesting. Here was food that was actively offered in a pagan ceremony and Paul’s saying, “so what? There’s no god but God! This has NO power over you!” And yet we live in fear of being contaminated by something pagan. Let this be clear. Jesus Christ has beaten Satan. Satan has no power over Jesus Christ.
Now, if you keep reading, it’s obvious that Paul does not want us to flaunt our freedom to the injury of others. If someone has come out of paganism, don’t let your freedom trip them up!
Connected to this is the fact that power does not reside in the object – power resides in God or Satan. I used to do some concert lighting. There’s a really big lesson that is quickly learned. If the extension cord that connects the light itself to power is not plugged in to the power source, the light will not turn on. There is no power in the extension cord. The “objects” are like the extension cord – are they connecting you to God or Satan? That’s the question – not the question of whether the cord is bad or not.
These symbols have been stripped of any religious/pagan meanings. They are simply things. We should not walk around being afraid of stumbling into something “pagan” that will contaminate us!
And Christmas is bad for many people. Christmas becomes a time of debt, greed, consumerism, and all kinds of crazy emotional/inter-personal stuff that is just destructive. This is sin! It’s a good thing gone wrong. But this isn’t because of paganism – this is people loosing sight of Jesus!
Four: Now, if I were Satan, I would try to do everything I could to get people NOT celebrating Jesus coming to earth. So, on one hand, I would take Christmas and make it a commercial, debt laden, shallow greedfest. At the same time, I’d get Christians to be afraid of it! If Jesus never came, then there’s no Easter (which I think should be celebrated more than Christmas!!!!). If there’s no Easter there’s no hope and Christianity is just another religion among many and completely worthless of true transformation.
While I was at it, I’d make Christians look foolish in the eyes of the unchurched. Why would Christians refuse to celebrate their holiday? Sure, some Christians might dress up on Halloween (which, if there’s a pagan holiday, Halloween would be it!), but they wouldn’t celebrate Christmas – which is when most everyone – Christian or not at least have some understanding of the story of a baby in a manger.
I would strip Christians of this great opportunity to share their faith when people are open to it. Just one story, but a week ago I interviewed a KTSY listener who started listening during the Christmas season when we play 100% Christmas music. She didn’t believe in God, but she got hooked on the station. After Christmas, she stayed with KTSY and has become a Christian. Why? Because of Christmas. The words of Jesus come to my mind… By their fruits you will know them….
So, what’s the bottom line? I challenge all of us to find better ways to celebrate Christmas – to make sure we celebrate Jesus. To make sure He is not replaced in our lives by some cheap alternative. But, let’s not get so caught up in a theory that sounds righteous, but is not sound Biblically, logically, or experientially.
Here’s some links to some other writers about this subject:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AskPastorJohn/ByTopic/63/2535_Should_Christians_celebrate_Christmas/
http://www.letusreason.org/Apolo16.htm
http://www.letusreason.org/Current18.htm