Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

 A few weeks ago I read an article in which a Christian suggested that we should not celebrate Christmas. Her reasoning was because it was first started by church leaders who wanted to draw pagans to Christianity by holding a celebration of Christ’s birth on the same day as a pagan celebration.  Her claim is that Christmas is a Christianized pagan holiday.

I have been outspoken myself about other holidays.  I strongly believe that Christians should not partake in Halloween.  Events like “Trunk or Treat” often sponsored by churches truly are an effort to Christianize a pagan holiday.

I have also spoken out about Easter, not because we should not celebrate it, but because we need to be aware of the connections that have been attached to it from a pagan religion that worshiped Easter, the goddess of fertility (the rabbits, eggs, and little chicks all come from this pagan holy day).

The Bible does not give any instruction to the Christian and the Church regarding celebrating Easter or Christmas.  To celebrate, or not celebrate, is not a question of obedience.  It is purely a matter of choice, and I would say, intention of the heart.

The Bible does say that we are to observe Passover, which is directly related to Yeshua’s (Jesus) sacrifice as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  His “Last Supper” was, in fact, the Passover meal called the Seder.  If you recall, Yeshua said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19).  I don’t believe He meant just the particulars of the meal that we now call Communion.  He was directly associating Himself with the Passover lamb which was to be sacrificed.  It’s blood painted on the doorposts that saved the people of Israel from physical death when the angel of death moved over Egypt killing all the firstborn of the homes without the blood.  Yeshua’s blood marks us as saved from eternal death.

We are to continue to observe the Passover, even as Gentiles, with the knowledge that the sacrificial lamb is Yeshua.  In Romans 5:7-8, Paul talks about Yeshua as the “Passover” who was sacrificed for us.  The Greek language did not have a word for lamb, and so they inserted Passover in its place.  Paul tells the Church that we should “keep the feast,” the Passover Feast.  So in truth, a more accurate celebration of Messiah’s death and resurrection would be not to celebrate Easter, but to celebrate Passover each year, with Him as our sacrificial lamb.

All this being said, I don’t believe it is wrong to celebrate Good Friday and Easter, as long as the pagan parts are removed.  I do think it is completely wrong to include tools of worship for a false god with the worship of the one true God.  That is why I try to refer to it as Resurrection Sunday rather than Easter.

So far we have Halloween, which is a pagan holiday that Christians partake in because they want to, and try to disguise the truth by Christianizing it.  And we have Easter, which is a pagan holiday that was combined with a Christian celebration in order to remove the Jewishness from Christianity.  It allowed for Yeshua (Hebrew/Jewish) to be called Jesus (Greek), and it removed the fact that He was sacrificed on the Jewish Passover Feast, which we should continue to observe as Christians, just as Christ did.

What about Christmas?  I see Christmas a bit differently.  It is not a pagan holiday that has been Christianized.  It is not a pagan holiday that has been blended with another.  Rather, the way I see it, it is a Christian holiday that hijacked a pagan holiday.  The purpose was to draw people to Christianity, and it completely took over.  For centuries, the world over, people have celebrated the birth of Yeshua on Christmas Day.  We all know that December 25^th is not His real birthday.  In fact, I have read that shepherds in the fields watching the sheep would have indicated that Yeshua was actually likely born sometime in the fall, not winter.  I don’t know if this is true or not.  But neither does anyone else.

There are so many symbols of Christmas that point to the birth of the Messiah, that it is difficult to say these are pagan symbols.  The candy cane, for example, which is designed to represent a shepherd’s staff, has red stripes for the blood of Yeshua and white to symbolize being cleansed from our sins.  The stars and angels, of course.  The ever-living evergreen which points tall and strong to God in the heavens.

Truthfully, if Christmas Day was set on December 25^th to detract people from their pagan practices and draw them to celebrating Christ’s birth, I think it worked.  Everyone knows what Christmas is, and even today, I would say that most, at least, have some vague idea that it is a Christian holiday that celebrates Jesus.  To be sure, there is a mighty work being done to remove the true meaning and purpose of the holiday from it, but it has not succeeded…at least not yet. 

We are not commanded in the Bible in any way, shape, or form to celebrate Christmas, but honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with it.  As long as we keep pure motives and truly use it as a time to worship God and praise and thank Him for sending His Son, and as long as we are awed by the miraculous birth, the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His prophesied promises, and overwhelmed by His love for us, then may our hearts be filled with joy that our Savior, which is Christ the Lord, came for you and me.

Let us not forget that this miracle baby came not to be born, but to die.  Let us remember that Christmas is not the be all and end all of the story.  It is the beginning of the end.   His birth was the beginning of God’s redemptive work that ended when that wee baby Yeshua grew to a man, bore our sins, died on the cross in our place, and then rose again from death to life- the boy/man/Passover Lamb of God who’s sacrificial blood causes the angel of death to by-pass our souls so we can live eternally with God.

Should Christians celebrate Christmas?  Oh, yeah.  Who else in the world has more reason to celebrate?

Sunday Services Cancelled…Because of Christmas

A friend and I were talking this week about Christmas.  She mentioned that the church she attends has canceled Sunday services on December 25^th this year because it happens to be Christmas day.  We discussed how we both found this disturbing, and I assured her she would be able to attend services at my church on that Sunday.

Unfortunately, after checking my church bulletin, I discovered that my church has done the same thing.  This led me to a search of the other churches in town.  As far as I can tell, the majority are going to have services of some kind on Sunday, December 25^th.

Pardon my language, but what the HECK is going on here???

Sunday is the day of the Lord.  And Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of His Son.  We attend church every Sunday to worship Him; to pray corporately; to receive teaching from His Word.  But when the celebration of His birth falls on a Sunday, we not only skip church, we outright cancel it?  Are you kidding me?

Everywhere I go, I see Christians spouting the need to keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas.  How do we keep Christ in Christmas if we cancel His holy day, set aside for worship and rest?  How do we keep Christ in Christmas when we replace worship of Him with family, presents under the tree, a bountiful table, and football… all celebrated (apparently hypocritically) in the name of the One we have replaced?

Christmas becomes more materialistic every year.  It is something Christians have lamented, and have worked too hard to counteract.  How many radio programs, books, and articles have been dedicated over the years to encouraging our brothers and sisters to keep the focus on Chris?  Don’t let the Santa Claus, gift buying and giving, decorations, and business overtake the true meaning of the celebration.  Remember “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

I guess Jesus is the reason for the season, and Christ is in Christmas, only when He doesn’t interfere with family, presents, food and football.

Never mind Christmas for one moment.  What about Sunday?  Do not Christians claim Sunday as their Sabbath?  Is it not considered the Lord’s Day?  Did God not command us to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy because He separated it from the rest of the days of the week for Himself?  (Exodus 20:8-11).

Check out Isaiah 58:13-14 (NKJV) – “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father.  The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Christians, we have moved far too far away from honoring the Lord on the Sabbath.  Truthfully I believe it begins with moving it from Saturday to Sunday in order to sever the link between the church and the Jews thousands of years ago.  It was a slippery slope that has landed us on a day that looks very little like a day to honor God, and mostly like a day to please ourselves.

I remember going to church Sunday morning and evening, and then again for prayer meeting on Wednesday night.  Today Wednesday night is reserved for youth group, and I would be hard pressed to find a church that has services on Sunday night.  Are we too busy with the things of this world?  Or are we too lazy and callous to care about dedicating a day each week to God?

Perhaps if we all spent more time in church, working at His business, and less on our own, we would not have a world so hell-bent on going to hell.  We would have children who find and attend a church once they go off to college.  We would still have prayer in school and children who honored their parents and teachers, and didn’t have more sexual experience than street walkers.  Maybe we would have people who helped their neighbors when they were down, and people who had the decency to get a job and work for a living.  Maybe we would see moral character on display.  Can you imagine that?

This whole thing about canceling church on Sunday because it is Christmas is the biggest bunch of hogwash I have heard in a while.  If I suggested that we cancel church on Easter Sunday, people would tell me that was absurd.  You tell me then, what is the difference??  We worship God on Sunday because WE decided to move it to that day.  We have removed God from more and more of that day to the point that He gets a whole 2 of 24 hours during the school year and one during the summer months.  Gee, what a sacrifice we make for Him.

WE have chosen to celebrate the birth of our Savior (it was never commanded in the Bible) in order to honor His sacrifice for us, and yet we hypocritically spend more money, time, and attention on Santa Claus and presents then we do on Him.  And now-  now we cancel the 1-2 hours of worship on HIS day so that we can celebrate His birthday without Him? 

Congratulations. 

We have removed Christ from Christmas.  I guess the next step is to remove Christ from Christian.  After all, why not?  We are really no different than unbelievers anymore, are we?