Christmas is a hugely popular holiday celebrated by some 2
billion people worldwide. It’s become such an ingrained part of modern culture
that even people in nations with little or no Christian history or tradition
are celebrating it in increasing numbers.
Christmas is so big that it plays a key role in the
economies of many nations. In the U.S. retail industry, the day after the
Thanksgiving holiday is commonly known as “Black Friday”—not because it’s bad,
but because this marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and
stores that have been “in the red”—operating at a loss all year—suddenly see
their sales shoot up so fast that they are now operating in the black (at a
profit) the rest of the year. “Black Friday” is the biggest shopping day of the
year due to its Christmas sales.
Christmas is big— very big. Schools and colleges commonly
take a week or longer break at this time, some businesses shut down to give
their employees time off, many families plan trips and get-togethers, and some
people darken the door of a church for perhaps the first time all year.
So it’s not surprising that I get some pretty shocked looks
when I tell people I don’t celebrate Christmas. That’s pretty unusual for
anyone, much less someone who’s been an ordained minister for 15 years and
edits a Christian magazine.
So what’s up with this? Why would anyone not want to
celebrate Christmas like nearly everybody else? Are there valid reasons for not
participating in all the holiday hoopla?
American Late Show television program host David Letterman
is famous for his “top 10” lists in which he offers pointed commentary about
popular culture and current events. So here I offer my top 10 reasons for not
celebrating Christmas!
1. Christmas is driven by commercialism.
It’s not that difficult to recognize what really drives the
holiday in our age. Cal Thomas, an American syndicated columnist who often
writes from a Christian perspective, acknowledged uncomfortable truths about
Christmas in a December 2003 column.
“I’m not sure it’s
worth keeping Christmas anymore,” he began, lamenting that the holiday has
become a “road show of reindeer, winter scenes, elves and the God substitute,
Santa Claus, who serves as a front for merchants seeking to play on the guilt
some parents bear for ignoring their kids the rest of the year.”
He asks a great
question: “Why participate any longer in this charade where the focal point of
worship has shifted from a babe in a manger to a babe in the Victoria’s Secret
window? . . . No room in the inn has been replaced by no room in the mall
parking lot.”
But perhaps his
most insightful statement is this: “It’s instructive how just one season away
from lusting after material things can break the habit. It’s something like
liberation from an addiction or lifestyle choice. Being away from it can cause
one to realize the behavior is neither missed nor needed for fulfillment and
enjoyment.”
Having said good-bye to the Christmas habit several decades
ago, I couldn’t have said it better myself!
2. Christmas is nowhere mentioned in the Bible.
This is rather obvious, but most people never give it a
second thought. The books of the New Testament cover 30+ years of Jesus
Christ’s life, then another 30+ years of the early Church following His death
and resurrection, but nowhere do we find any hint of a Christmas celebration or
anything remotely like it.
Yes, the Bible does give us quite a few details of His
birth—the angelic appearance to Mary and then Joseph, the conditions
surrounding His birth in Bethlehem, the heavenly choir’s performance for the
shepherds in the fields outside the town. But nowhere in the Bible is there any
record of anyone observing Christmas or any hint that God the Father or Jesus
Christ expects us to do so.
3. Jesus wasn’t born on or near December 25.
Surprising but true! Remember those shepherds who were
“living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night”? (Luke
2:8). December weather around Bethlehem is often miserably cold, wet and rainy.
No shepherd in his right mind would have kept his flocks outside at night at
that time of year!
The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary says this passage
argues “against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather
would not have permitted” shepherds to be out in the fields with their flocks
then.
And Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays
tells us that Luke’s account of Christ’s birth “suggests that Jesus may have
been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea,
it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night”
(p. 309) rather than keeping them outdoors.
Also, Luke 2:1-4 tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem
because his parents came to that town to register in a Roman census. The Romans
were well known as highly efficient administrators. It would have made no sense
to have conducted a census in the dead of winter, when temperatures often
dropped below freezing and traveling was difficult due to poor road conditions.
Taking a census under such conditions would have been self-defeating!
4. The Christmas holiday is largely a recycled pagan
celebration.
Again, surprising but true! Read it for yourself in just
about any encyclopedia.
Consider the customs associated with Christmas. What do
decorated evergreen trees, holly, mistletoe, yule logs, a jolly plump man in a
fur-lined red suit, sleighs and flying reindeer have to do with the birth of
Jesus Christ?
None of these things have anything to do with Him, but they
have a lot to do with ancient pagan festivals. (Read the eye-opening details in
our free booklet Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Keep? )
And what about the date of Dec. 25? How did it come to be
assigned as the supposed date of Jesus Christ’s birth? Historians Gerard and
Patricia Del Re explain:
“The tradition of celebrating December 25 as Christ’s
birthday came to the Romans from Persia. Mithra, the Persian god of light and
sacred contracts, was born out of a rock on December 25. Rome was famous for
its flirtations with strange gods and cults, and in the third century the
unchristian emperor Aurelian established the festival of Dies Invicti Solis,
the Day of the Invincible Sun, on December 25.
“Mithra was an embodiment of the sun, so this period of its
rebirth was a major day in Mithraism, which had become Rome’s latest official
religion … It is believed that the emperor Constantine adhered to Mithraism up
to the time of his conversion to Christianity. He was probably instrumental in
seeing that the major feast of his old religion was carried over to his new
faith” ( The Christmas Almanac, 1979, p. 17).
It’s difficult to determine the first time anyone celebrated
Dec. 25 as Christmas, but historians generally agree that it was sometime
during the fourth century—some 300 years after Christ’s death. And then a
contrived date was chosen because it was already a popular pagan holiday
celebrating the birth of the sun god!
Similarly, virtually all of the customs associated with
Christmas are recycled from ancient pagan festivals honoring other gods.
5. God condemns using pagan customs to worship Him.
Since Christmas is supposedly a day to worship and celebrate
God the Father and Jesus Christ, wouldn’t it be a good idea to look into the
Bible to see what it says about how we should worship God?
The answer is quite clear. God gives specific instruction about
using pagan practices to worship Him— the exact thing Christmas does! Notice
what He says in Deuteronomy 12:30-32: “. . . Do not inquire after their gods,
saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You
shall not worship the LORD your God in that way . . . Whatever I command you,
be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it”
(emphasis added throughout).
And lest some think this is simply an Old Testament command
that no longer applies, the apostle Paul makes the same point in 2 Corinthians
6, where he addresses whether unbiblical religious customs and practices have
any place in the worship of God’s people:
“What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And
what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial
[the devil and/or demons]? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And
what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God . . .
“Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says
the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a
Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.’
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2
Corinthians 6:14-18; 2 Corinthians 7:1).
Rather than relabeling pagan customs as Christian, or
allowing members of the Church to continue their old pagan practices, the apostle
Paul told them in no uncertain terms to leave behind all these forms of worship
and worship God in true holiness as He commands. Jesus likewise says His true
followers “must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24)—not revel in recycled
pagan customs and symbolism.
6. Christmas is worshipping God in vain.
Since Christmas is a jumble of ancient pagan customs
invented by men, and a holiday found nowhere in the Bible, does God honor or
accept such worship?
Jesus provides the answer in His stern rebuke of the
religious teachers of His day, men who had substituted human traditions and
teachings for God’s divine truths and commands: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of
you hypocrites . . . ‘in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’ . . . All too well you reject the commandment of God,
that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:6-9).
In the 17th century Christmas was actually outlawed in
England and some parts of the American colonies because of its unbiblical and
pagan origins. They knew something most people today have forgotten or have
never known!
7. You can’t put Christ back into something He was never in.
Some people admit the many problems with Christmas. But
rather than face up to those problems, some assert that we should “put Christ
back in Christmas.”
However, it’s impossible to “put Christ back in Christmas”
since He never was in Christmas in the first place! He never so much as heard
the word “Christmas” during His lifetime on earth, nor did His apostles after
Him. You can search the Bible cover to cover but you won’t find the words
“Christmas,” “Christmas tree,” “mistletoe,” “holly,” “Santa Claus” or “flying
reindeer.”
Putting Christ back in Christmas may sound like a nice
sentiment, but it’s really only a misguided effort to try to justify a
long-standing human tradition rather than what the Bible tells us we should do.
8. The Bible nowhere tells us to observe a holiday
celebrating Jesus Christ’s birth —but it clearly does tell us to commemorate
His death.
As noted earlier, the Bible nowhere mentions Christmas or
tells us to celebrate Christ’s birth.
This is not to say that the Bible doesn’t tell us to
commemorate a highly significant event in Jesus Christ’s life on earth. It does
—but that event is His death, not His birth.
Notice what the apostle Paul, conveying the instructions of
Jesus Himself, tells Christians: “For I received from the Lord that which I
also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was
betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take,
eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’
“In the same manner He also took the cup after supper,
saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes . . . Let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians
11:23-28).
And yes, many believers do what they consider a form of this
today in taking communion or “the Lord’s supper.” They fail to realize,
however, the full significance of these acts, or that what Paul is actually
describing here is the Passover — which is what Jesus Himself called this
observance (Matthew 26:18-19; Mark 14:14-16; Luke 22:8-13, 15).
And many have no idea of the real date of Christ’s death and
the annual Passover observance, but that’s an issue for another time. (Hint: It
isn’t “Good Friday” prior to Easter as so many mistakenly believe.) The point
is: Jesus clearly expects His true followers to commemorate His death—not His
birth—by observing the Passover.
9. Christmas obscures God’s plan for mankind.
Passover, mentioned above, has enormous significance in
God’s plan for humanity. The Old Testament Passover, described in Exodus 12,
was symbolic of Jesus Christ’s future role and sacrifice. As the blood of the
slain Passover lambs on the Israelites’ houses spared them while the firstborn
of the Egyptians were slain, so does Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on our
behalf spare us from death— eternal death.
Paul alluded to this great truth when he wrote in 1
Corinthians 5:7 that “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Similarly
John the Baptist, speaking under divine inspiration, said of Jesus, “Behold!
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Peter wrote that we are redeemed “with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19)—a clear
reference to the Passover lambs (Exodus 12:5).
A central key to God’s plan for humanity is Jesus Christ’s
sacrificial death on our behalf. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world” (Revelation 13:8)—meaning His death for our sins was planned before
the first human beings were ever created (1 Peter 1:18-20). Only through His
death to pay the penalty for our sins can human beings receive God’s gift of
eternal life (John 3:14-17; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
Christmas, in contrast, teaches us none of this.
Regrettably, because it is a hodgepodge of unbiblical customs and beliefs
thrown together with a few elements of biblical truth, it only obscures the
incredible purpose of Jesus Christ’s coming—as well as why He must return to
earth a second time! (For more details, request our free booklets Jesus Christ:
The Real Story and The Gospel of the Kingdom . )
10. I’d rather celebrate the Holy Days Jesus Christ and the
apostles observed.
God in His Word sets out many choices for us. Will we do
things His way or our own? Will we worship Him as He tells us to, or expect Him
to honor whatever religious practices we choose regardless of what His Word
says?
It’s always good to ask the question, What would Jesus do?
The answer, from the Scriptures, is quite clear as to what Jesus did. Jesus
didn’t allow His followers the option of adopting pagan practices in their
worship. He and the apostles plainly kept God’s Holy Days and festivals that we
find recorded in Leviticus 23.
As noted above, they kept the Passover (1 Corinthians
11:23-26). Scripture shows they also observed the Days of Unleavened Bread
(Acts 20:6; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The New Testament Church itself was founded
on the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), another biblical festival they clearly
observed (Acts 20:16). They likewise kept the Day of Atonement (called “the Fast”
in Acts 27:9) and the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2; John 7:10).
Christmas, meanwhile, is totally missing from the biblical
record.
Most people don’t know that the Bible includes a whole list
of festivals that God commanded, that Jesus Himself observed and that the
apostles and early Church were still keeping decades after Christ’s death and
resurrection. And unlike Christmas, these reveal a great deal about Jesus
Christ’s role and mission.
Each one teaches us a vital lesson in what Jesus has done,
is doing and will yet do in carrying out God’s great plan for humankind. The
differences between these and the tired old paganism and crass commercialism of
Christmas is truly like the difference between day and night. Why not look into
them for yourself?
I’ve given you my top 10 reasons for not celebrating
Christmas. What do you suppose God thinks of your reasons for continuing to
observe it?
Written by Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley is managing editor of Beyond Today magazine,
United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course. He and his
wife, Connie, live in Arvada, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. He also pastors
congregations in Denver, Colorado Springs and Frisco and teaches classes on the
Gospels at Ambassador Bible College.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas,
graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech.
It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in
which he has worked for more than 40 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing
companies in various capacities. He has been employed by the United Church of
God since 1995, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and
production of Beyond Today magazine, 35 booklets and the 12-lesson Bible Study
Course. His special interests are the Bible, archeology, history and the Middle
East.
