Should Christians celebrate
Christmas- An Introduction
Should Christians celebrate Christmas?
A number of unorthodox new religions
which profess to follow Christ insist that
Christmas is a pagan festival to be
shunned by all true Christians. Probably
the most notable of these religions is the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, who publish stinging
attacks on the celebration of Christmas
year after year. Other religious denominations that take
the same position include the World Wide
Church of Jesus (led by Herbert W.
Armstrong) and the Assemblies of
Yahweh.
However, these unorthodox religious
groups are not alone in their
condemnation of this most popular of
religious holidays. Many evangelical
Christians also believe that Christmas is a
pagan celebration dressed up in “Christian
clothes.” While many Christians mark
Christmas as a special day to worship
Christ and give thanks for His entrance
into the world, they reject anything to do
with Santa Claus, Christmas trees,
exchanging gifts, and the like.
Are there biblical grounds for rejecting all
or part of Christmas? What should be the
attitude of Christians in this matter? That
is the question before us. The answer
given here is that while certain elements
of Christmas tradition are essentially
pagan and should not be indulged at that
time of year, Christmas itself and many of
the traditions associated with it may be
celebrated by Christians with a clear
conscience. Those who are inclined to
reject out of hand such a position might
be interested to know that at one time
this writer would have agreed with them.
A closer examination of the issues
involved, however, leads to a different
conclusion.

Should Christians celebrate
Christmas- Celebrating Jesus’ Birthday
The most basic and common argument
brought against Christmas is that it is not
found in the Bible. Many Christians, as
well as groups like the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, feel that because Christmas is
not mentioned in scripture, it is therefore
not to be observed. In fact, the
Witnesses argue that since the only
people in the Bible who celebrated their
own birthdays were Pharoah (Gen.
40:20-22) and Herod (Matt. 14:6-10),
God takes a dim view of celebrating
birthdays in general. Therefore, they feel,
God would hardly approve of celebrating
Jesus’ birthday.
In answer to these arguments, a few
things need to be said. First of all, the fact
is that the Bible says nothing against the
practice of celebrating birthdays. What
was bad in the cases of Pharoah and
Herod was not that they celebrated their
birthdays, but that they did evil things on
their birthdays (Pharoah killed his chief
baker, and Herod killed John the Baptist).
Second, what the Bible does not forbid,
either explicitly or by implication from
some moral principle, is permissible to
the Christian, as long as it is edifying
(Rom. 13:10; 14:1-23; 1 Cor. 6:12;
10:23; Col. 2:20-23; etc.). Therefore,
since the Bible does not forbid birthdays,
and they do not violate any biblical
principle, there is no biblical basis for
rejecting birthdays. For the same reason,
there is no biblical reason to reject
entirely the idea of celebrating Jesus’
birthday.

Should Christians celebrate
Christmas- December 25
Another common objection to Christmas
relates to observing December 25 as the
birthday of Christ. It is frequently urged
that Christ could not have been born in
December (usually because the shepherds
would supposedly not have had their
flocks in the fields at night in that month),
so that December 25 could not have been
his birthday. It is also pointed out that
December 25 was the date of a pagan
festival in the Roman Empire in the fourth
century, when Christmas began to be
widely celebrated on that day.
It is true that there seems to be no
evidence for December 25 as the actual
birthday of Christ. On the other hand, it
has been shown that such a date is not
impossible, as is so commonly supposed.1
Nevertheless, it may be granted that it is
highly improbable that Christ was actually
born on December 25. Does this fact
invalidate Christmas? No. It is not
essential to the celebration of someone’s
birth that it be commemorated on the
same date as his birth. Americans
commemorate Washington’s and Lincoln’s
birthday on the third Monday of February,
even though Washington’s was February
22. If it were to become certain that
Christ was actually born on say, April 30,
should we then celebrate Christmas on
that day? While there would be nothing
wrong with such a change, it would not be
necessary. The intent or purpose is what
matters, not the actual date.
But what of the fact that December 25
was the date of a pagan festival? Does
this not prove that Christmas is pagan?
No, it does not. Instead, it proves that
Christmas was established as a rival
celebration to the pagan festival. That is,
what Christians did was to say, “Rather
than celebrate in immorality the birth of
Mithra, a false god who was never really
born and who cannot save you, let us
celebrate in joyful righteousness the birth
of Jesus, the true God incarnate who is
the Savior of the world.”
Sometimes it is urged that to take a
pagan festival and try to “Christianize” it
is folly. However, God Himself did exactly
that in the Old Testament. Historical
evidence shows conclusively that some of
the feasts given to Israel by God through
Moses were originally pagan agricultural
festivals, which were filled with idolatrous
imagery and practices.2 What God did, in
effect, was to establish feasts which
would replace the pagan festivals without
adopting any of the idolatry or immorality
associated with them. It would appear,
then, that in principle there is nothing
wrong with doing so in the case of
Christmas.

Should Christians celebrate
Christmas- Santa Claus
Perhaps the thing that bothers Christians
about Christmas more than anything else
is the Santa Claus tradition. Objections to
this tradition include the following (1)
Santa Claus is a mythical figure endowed
with godlike attributes, including
omniscience and omnipotence; (2) when
children learn that Santa Claus is not real,
they lose faith in their parents’ word and
in supernatural beings; (3) Santa Claus
distracts children from Christ; (4) the
Santa Claus story teaches children to be
materialistic. In the face of such weighty
objections, can anything good be said
about Santa Claus?
Before examining each of these
objections, let it be noted that Christmas
can be celebrated without Santa Claus.
Take Santa out of Christmas and
Christmas remains intact. Take Christ out
of Christmas, however, and all that
remains is a pagan festival. Whatever our
individual differences however best to
handle Santa Claus with our children may
be, as Christians we should be able to
agree on this much.
In conclusion- Christians should therfore take it to heart that the reason for 'Christmas' is Christ Himself who was given to us by God to redeem mankind back unto God, and as such, there should be a reflection of Him in all celebrations this season, even as we celebrate His birth, and should also endeavour to remember and reach out to those who do not know The reason for the season, Jesus Christ whom to know is Life eternal.

Wow. You've said it all.if others take it as a pagan day and we take it as our Lord Jesus birthday then we are free. Even tho we dont know the date he was born.

hmmm