With Christmas in the American psyche for over 200 years now, it is difficult to think of the season without this celebration.  But do we ever stop to think of the origin of Christmas?  Is it really about the birth of Jesus some 2000 plus years ago or is it a pagan holiday that has been “christianized” & repackaged into the commercial powerhouse it is today?

Sometimes as I begin to write articles like this, there is a little voice in the back of my mind that says, “leave well enough alone” – that is, why can’t we just embrace the Norman Rockwellian tradition that Christmas has become & just leave it at that? But in pursuit of truth, we press on.

One notion of Christmas common among Christians is that it commemorates the day of Christ’s birth.  The story is lifted from the Bible (Mt 1:18-25 & Mt 2:1-11 & especially as depicted in Luke 2:1-20) & turned into Christmas programs all across the country.

But historians note several problems.  The first is that any decree to tax or count the people would not have taken place in the middle of the winter months when compliance would be most difficult, even though snowfall in the Mid-East is not as we experience it in parts of the U.S.  The second problem is that Christians are not historically known to commemorate Christ’s birth until fairly recently. So, not only is it unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25^th but Christians did not historically celebrate it until recently.  Our next questions then should be why?  What changed?

The pagan origins for the celebrating December 25^th are quite obvious.  Several winter festivals were celebrated on or around this date, including: Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, Yule, & others.  All of these days have the same theme – rebirth, especially from the cold deadness of winter.  For this reason, evergreen cuttings or entire trees were brought in doors to signify the existence & the hope of life.

The theory is, that by the 3^rd-4^th centuries in effort to absorb pagans & replace their beloved festivals, the Roman Catholic Church invented the idea that Jesus was born on December 25^th.  At any rate, this effect seems to be what happened since many of these other holidays have been subsumed by the Christmas story.

An interesting side note is that Christmas was not originally accepted, (& even illegal in some places) in America since America was founded mainly by staunch Protestants who were in the process of throwing off all things that smacked of Roman Catholicism.  But another reason Christmas lost standing in America shortly after the American Revolution is that Christmas was considered to be too “English”.

Between 1820-1850, due to a re-imaging of Christmas as a communal & family tradition the holiday gained a resurgence & has been part of American tradition ever since. 

With the resurgence came some of the more secular & commercial elements such as Santa Claus & gift exchanging – some of these are simply reversions back to the pagan origins.

So, Christmas in this way has made its transition from pagan holidays, to christianized holiday, to an almost completely secular tradition with only a gloss of Christian influence.

The answers range from a resounding “No! & Any Christian that does celebrate this day is compromising their faith” to “It is an innocent celebration that doesn’t go against Christian faith.”

Some Christians will try to emphasize the Christian aspects of the day while down playing the clearly pagan & in that way feel justified in celebrating the day.

As I have grappled with the holiday, a few verses come to mind – the first being:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  – 2 Cor 10:3-5 NASB

What better picture of the “destruction of fortresses” than taking over pagan concepts & replacing them with Christian concepts…taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

The next verses that come to mind are:

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. – Romans 14:5-6 NIV

I know these verses have been used by antinomians (no law) Christians to justify their almost licentious behaviors, so I am careful to utilize it, but in context these verses were about how some Jewish converts to Christianity were still keeping Jewish holidays & others were not – this seems to be directly applicable.  I mean, if it was being said here that it was no big deal for them to keep these days (so long as it was “to the Lord”) then when a Christian keeps Christmas as a “to the Lord” day – then what is the problem EVEN with the knowledge of the day's pagan origins.

Now, if a Christian kept Christmas without any reference to Christ then I could see how that may offend other Christians – for now it is no longer a destroyed pagan fortress being taken captive into the service of Christ – but it becomes something set up against Christ.

To conclude, I am not going to join a crusade against people who observe this day to the Lord…as a matter of fact I’d like to see more “fortresses destroyed” & taken captive to the obedience of the Lord – music, art, & education for starters.

Merry Christmas!

RESOURCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm

http://www.crosswalk.com/1457395/