Context

Last year, we covered the same topic from a different angle. In Christmas, we touched on the chronology of John the Baptist’s birth and tied that to Jesus’s birth landing somewhere in the October timeframe. We also touche breifly on that in our Feast of Tabernacles, so we won’t broach that further.
This year, let’s explore some of the things that people often site to call Christmas is completely pagan
From there, we’ll discuss some of the origins we see in modern, Christian Christmas celebration
And we’ll conclude with what that all means for us

My Own Story

I was raised in a Christian home and spent years going to my grandmother’s house in Texas for Chrstimas every year
At home, we’d decorate a tree, make cookies, fudge, and all other goodies
One Christmas day, we’d have cinnamon rolls, open presents under a tree and then have family over for a ham and turkey
However, I’ve grappled with Christmas quite a bit in the last decade or so
- In 2007, a “movie” called Zeitgeist came out (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1166827/) and it made the rounds on YouTube
- In 2014, one of my best friends - a man who struggles with faith in general, asked me to watch it and give him my thoughts on it as a Christian who he respected
- When I watched it, a college kid, I was honestly undsure how to answer some of it
- At the time, I’d been learning more about who God is, understanding what is scriptural versus just a tradition that I’d been taught as truth (I was raised Baptist), and learning about the Hebrew and historical context of the Bible
- As such, I largely agreed with the stance that Christmas was pagan and should be rejected
- This was around the time my dad and I “convinced” the whole family to skip Christmas — lots of tears, frusteration, and division
- In more recent years, I’ve tried to prioritize better the things that the Bible emphasizes as main things: justice, faith, walk humbly, and demonstrate mercy
  
  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former — Matthew 23:23 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to Love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? — Micah 6:8
- The question I’ve griped with is: while doing Christmas “right” could certainly fall into “obedience” that Micah speaks of in some translations, how does that balance with justice and mercy? Where is the line in faith vs truth?

Pagan Roots

The most prevalent argument against Christ, primarily from that film are that Jesus and several other, pagan deities seem awful similar:
The items mentioned:

| Deity | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | Mithra (Persia, 1200BC) — lots of naked statues; known for killing a bull | Born of a Virgin | | Born on Dec 25 | | 12 Disciples | | Performed Miracles | | Dead for 3 days | | Resurrected | | Sunday worship | Horus (Egypt 3000BC) — the guy with a bird head and a staff | Born Dec 25 | | Born of virgin | | Star in the east | | Adorned by 3 kings | | Teacher at 12 | | Baptized | | 12 disciples | Dionysus (Greece 500BC) — brother of Osiris and Isis. Figure that one out. | | No source | | Horus is the god of kings, so kinda true but likely not three. We also don’t know that Jesus was greeted by three nor were they kings, they were wise men | | No source. Jesus didn’t teach at 12, he asked questions and they marveled at his wisdom | and had a ministry at 30 | Not mentioned / no source. Closest would be his association with the deity is embalming | | 4 followers of Horus and 16 blacksmiths | s/God">God of wine and pleasure | Born of virgin | Son of Zeus and a human, Semele. Semele died in a test from Hera and Dionysus was saved by Zeus sewing him into his own thigh until a baby | | No date mentioned | | He could inspire and create ecstacy. Beyond that, he did produce wine but never the water-to-wine and never anything beyond that really | | Wrong type of god, no source | | No source | | Trueish. Zeus saved him from dying before he was viable. In some tellings, he was first born of Persephone (Zeus’s daughter), eaten by a titan, and his heart was saved by Athena and resurrected by Zeus, then placed into Semele, impregnating her |

Banned in both England and America
- Christmas was banned in both Boston and Plymoth, by Puritans, from 1659 - 1681 (22 years)
- England’s Puritan parlaiment, in 1644, banned dancing, seasonal plays, games, carols, and especially drinking as these were seen as pagan rituals. They also required that stores remain open on Christmas and made celebrating a criminal offense. There were also town criers that called “No Christmas” on Dec 24
- In England, the ban was lifted in 1660 by Charles II (16 years) and was not a legal holiday until 1856. Some schools continued to hold class until 1870 (200 years after the ban)
- Remeber: America has only been independent for 246 years — about 20 years longer than some areas of England had Christmas. That’s a long time!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Tree
- Jer 10:1-5 You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you. The Lord says, “Do not start following pagan religious practices. Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe. For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold. He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together so that it will not fall over. Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot talk. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you. And they do not have any power to help you.”
- We don’t entirely know where this began but the most common beliefs are:
  - Ashira poles (doesn’t make sense given where they were common and had already vanished by time Jesus was born)
  - Martin Luther (this is oral-tradition) — saw stars through a forrest of trees and it made him think of how Jesus left heaven to come to earth. A Christmas tree was supposed to be an artificial version of that same vision
- The Martin Luther (1463-1546) theory makes the most sense as the tradition mostly stayed in Germany (where Martin Luther lived) until publicized by British royalty in the 1840s
Santa Claus
- St Nicholas - this was the OG. There are myths that he travelled to the Council of Nicea (325 AD) just to punch a heritic. The people loved him and he was deemed a Saint, so he was a good guy. He is the one that started the stockings as he paid a poor person’s dowry by dropping money down their chimney and it landing in a sock that was drying next to the fire. His German name was Sinterklass, which is now Santa Claus
- Kris Kringle — Santa’s less famous name. In the US, he was known as this. It’s origins apparently also tie back to Martin Luther who was not a fan of the Santa “Worship” as it distracted from Jesus. He proposed that we focus on the Christ Kindl (Christ Child), which developed into Kris Kringle; ironically becoming the opposite of what it was supposed to be.
- In the 1800s, poems were written (”The Children’s Friend” as well as “The Night before Christmas”) which ascribed the characteristics of a sleigh and Santa being a “chubbiy, plup, jolly old elf,” as well as listing names for the reigndeer
- Coca-Cola - Coke took Santa and made him a mascot, dressing him in red and white, their colors, and making hiim the commercial symbol he is today

What it means to us

Overall, Christmas has a loong history but doesn’t appear to have direct ties to Paganism
The closest thing we see to paganism is the “Sol Invictus” ceremony, which is mentioned in the same document as one that outlines that Christmas was already being celebrated on the same day. We have coins but know very little about what it actually was
Jesus celebrated Hannukah in the temple, which was not a feast outlined in the Old Testament. He had no qualm and used it to declare himself the light of the world
If we follow his example, we should take a time of festivity, regardless of it’s origin in scripture, and use it to point others toward Christ
So, where am I today?
- I largely approach Christmas with a bit of caution but do celebrate with a mini-tree and other decorations in my home, go to events, and give/receive gifts
- I do think it’s important to recall Exodus 32 (the golden calf). God has a way he wants to be worshiped and doing it our own way is not acceptable. He gives us the holy spirit to lead us and guide us, and human discernment to dig into truth and weigh options verse 5: When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”
- I do not believe that Jesus was born on Christmas, rather that he was born in October. However, this time of year acts as a good time to witness and we should seize that opportunity

Bible Brad

Explorer

Christmas (2022)

Context

My Own Story

Pagan Roots

Christmas Traditions

What it means to us

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