This write-up is in reaction to a video making rounds on social media which seeks to question the rationale for our celebration of Christmas on the 25th of December.

*Thanks for sharing this video. The contents are true but the message is entirely misleading.*

*Yes, the Catholic Church converted the pagan feast to the celebration of Christ's birthday but it is Christ's birthday all the same. Are the producers of this video trying to convince me that Christ is now an idol?*

*For Goodness sake, Christ is God and I don't see how celebrating his birth on this particular day makes me an idol worshipper.*

*My dear, Christ was not born on the 25th of December (according to historical records and Biblical research which is still a guess work) but whatever day I choose to celebrate Christ's birth, be it in January, February, March, September or December, what is important is that my celebration draws me closer to Christ, makes me a better Christian and helps me reflect on the lessons surrounding his birth.*

*Yes, the bible never said we should celebrate Christmas but as far as I know, I celebrate my birthday because I value my life, I also attend birthdays of people whose life has imparted on me, I celebrate my parents' birthday because I value them, I appreciate them for bringing me to life.*

*Birthdays are occasions to reflect on certain person's life and give them honour. Can a man forget his wife's birthday? What message does it send to her? How does she feel when her husband, the love of her life does not even say 'happy birthday'? It shows her she is nothing to him.*

*In the end, at the bottom of all these is the underlying argument about the divinity of Christ. Do you believe Christ is God? Do you believe Christ was born a man like us? We celebrate his physical birth. We remind ourselves that God at some point became man like us. Christ, who is God is not less than God and worshiping Christ by celebrating his birth does not make me an idol worshipper.*

*You see, a Christianity that is entirely based on what the Bible says and only what the Bible says; a Christianity that literally interprets the Bible as the text shows, a Christianity that takes no cognizance of the fact that people (human beings) were inspired by the Holy Spirit in the composition of the Bible, that God himself never threw the copy of an already written Bible to the earth, a Christianity that seeks to attack the Church using the same Bible that the Church itself edited (scrutinized, organised, added and removed books), is a Christianity that only seeks to destroy the body of Christ from within.*

*Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas based on what you read in the Bible, then why attack fellow Christians who do? Why make them feel bad for celebrating God in the person of Christ? Why take offence at people who wish you merry Christmas? How come those who do not celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December do not also celebrate it in September as they claim to be the actual birth time of Christ? Is Christ such an unimportant personality whose birthday does not deserve to be celebrated at all?*

*I think the Catholic Church deserves credit for its inculturation and I believe that Africa as a whole is yet to be fully inculturated and this may be the reason why our Christianity is still skin deep. We need to look into our traditional practices as a people and find ways of bringing in Christ as it was done in Rome with the conversion of Sun Worship to Son (Christ) worship.*

*How I wish Christians would make videos that attack sin and evil in our world today. How I wish we would be so creative as to come out against immorality and corruption amongst Christians? Why are we so passionate about trying to prove which Church or which sect is better than another?*

*What we should be attacking are those who take advantage of the festive period to commit sin. We should attack those who in the name of celebrating Christ’s birthday let go of their moral guard. We should attack those who say merry X-mas rather than Merry Christmas just in an attempt to remove Christ from the picture. We should attack those who simply decorate their houses and hang lights without attempting to decorate their lives with virtues and seek to become lights to the world.*

*We should attack Nigerians who create artificial scarcity and hoard basic necessities in a bid to make maximum profits during the Christmas season. We should attack those who suddenly inflate prices of virtually everything they had always had. We should attack those who bought fuel at N145 and are now selling at N300. We should attack filling stations who never have fuel when the product is available only for them to suddenly start selling at exorbitant prices when the product is scarce. We should attack those who are Christians who cannot be truthful, Christians only by mouth and not from the heart.*

*Rev. Fr. Evaristus Abu.*