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| THE NATIVITY OF JESUS | ||
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 Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Or rather, How should a Christian celebrate Christmas? These are questions of concern for many sincere believers. In fact, many believers dislike the season and have refused to celebrate it at all. A number of reasons are given, and while I might agree with some of their concerns and some of the reasons offered against the observance of Christmas, I would not necessarily agree with their conclusions.One day I happened to catch a TV preacher denouncing the celebration of Christmas. He was saying it is pagan holiday, and that Christ could not have born in December. He used some Old Testament passages to show how the Christmas tree was idolatrous and an abomination. He quoted Jeremiah 10:2-4 which reads: Thus says the LORD, "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; For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. "They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter. Jeremiah 10:2-4 NASB. Then he quoted Isaiah 44:14-15: Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak, and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down before it. Isaiah 44:14-15 NASB. Finally, he quoted Jeremiah 3:13: Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God And have scattered your favours to the strangers under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,‘ declares the Lord. Jeremiah 3:13 NASB. It seems that the points of reference for this preacher were to "wood cut from the forest," "they decorate it with silver and gold," "he plants a fir" (an evergreen tree), "scattered your favours . . . under every green tree," and "falls down before it." The preacher went on to say, that at Christmas people take an evergreen tree cut from the forest; they decorate it with ornaments of silver and gold, and then fall down before it when they place their presents under the tree. His conclusion was that this is idolatry. If this weren't so sad, it would be hilarious, but sincere people hear this and become concerned. As a pastor, I have had people ask me questions such as, "Are we wrong to celebrate Christmas?" "Is this idolatry?" "What should we do about celebrating Christmas?" It is this mentality that I will address in this study. How should believers respond to such questions and to the criticism levelled against the celebration of Christmas and the Christmas season? Is it scripturally wrong to celebrate Christmas? Is it pagan? Everywhere we go during the season, the signs of Christmas are there with all their glitter, tinsel, lights, greenery, cards, festivities, carols, bells, Santas, manger scenes, angels, trees and presents--and the push by Madison Avenue and the gimmicks of the retailers. The Christmas season either makes or breaks many businesses. Should we play the part of Scrooge and say, "bah humbug!"? Should we call attention to the fact that certain of our Christmas traditions such as the yule log, the decorated tree, and mistletoe each have their roots in pagan festivals? Should we assert that celebrate Christmas is to promote paganism and materialism and thus is just not the biblical thing to do? I personally do not agree with that conclusion. In this short study, some of the arguments and issues are considered and so are some of the biblical options open to us as believers. J. Hampton Keathley Every year as December approaches there are those who look forward to the Christmas season while others dread even the mention of the name! Those who look forward to it sometimes go overboard in the way they celebrate Christmas while those who shun it go to the opposite extreme where they act as prophets of “doom and gloom!” These see Christmas as rooted in paganism and as a result are blinded to the actual event that Christmas is or rather should be all about. To the sincere Christian Christmas should be an event where the Birth of Christ is remembered and celebrated in a way that acknowledges the fact that Jesus came into the world as a human babe to eventually grow up to be the Saviour of the world. The Birth of Christ is rooted in the Holy Scriptures and not in paganism. What has happened is that a lot of worldly things have crept into this Joyous event. It does not mean that every tradition that attached itself to the Christmas season is inherently bad or evil but the true Christian must be careful not to celebrate Christmas in such a way that it becomes so worldly that it looses its real meaning. In the world we live in today we have inherited so many customs, traditions and words from paganism. In spite of this most of these have lost their pagan influence or significance and today simply mean a totally different thing. An example is the English word God. The word God to us refers to the Supreme Being, the Creator of heaven and earth yet the word God comes from pagan origin. The following information on the origin of the word God will help to understand why we use it in the English vernacular. GOD - The English word God is identical with the Anglo-Saxon word for “good,” and therefore it is believed that the name God refers to the divine goodness. (See Oehler's Theol. of Old Test.; Strong's and Young's concordances.) (From New Unger's Bible Dictionary) (Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (C) 1988.) Further information on the source of our word for God is listed below: Word origin: God - Our word god goes back via Germanic to Indo-European, in which a corresponding ancestor form meant “invoked one.” The word’s only surviving non-Germanic relative is Sanskrit hu, invoke the gods, a form which appears in the Rig Veda, most ancient of Hindu scriptures: puru-hutas, “much invoked,” epithet of the rain-and-thunder god Indra. (From READER’S DIGEST, Family Word Finder, page 351) (Originally published by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville New York, Montreal; Copyright (C) 1975) So the word that we use for the Supreme Being, God, comes from a very pagan origin. Thus the word God is used generically by many different religions to refer to their deity or “invoked one.” The point is that in spite of the fact that the word God is of pagan origin we do not think twice to use it. To us it has a different meaning to what it originally meant and so we continue using it without any qualms. In this compilation on Christmas I have mingled my thoughts with those of the late J. Hampton Keathley III, Th.M to produce a work that will help bring balance to the two extremes. It is my prayer that those who desire to celebrate Christmas will do so in a way that will bring honour to Almighty God and that they will not feel judged by those who are uncomfortable in celebrating this great event. Joseph Fenech Laudi
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