Pros and cons regarding the celebration of Christmas by Christians

Pros and cons regarding the celebration of Christmas by Christians

     The annual celebration of Jesus’ birth is not taught in the Bible. “Celebration of birthdays -- even including that of Christ -- was rejected as a pagan tradition by most Christians during the first three hundred years of Christianity....” 10 But in order to counteract the heretical Gnostic claim that Jesus had not been a mortal person, Christians began to emphasize the Nativity account of “the Incarnate God as a lovable infant born to a holy mother”. 11 But they “condemned the inclusion of Saturnalia customs such as exchanging gifts and decorating homes with evergreens” and cutting and erecting and decorating trees (which is condemned in Jeremiah 10:3–4). 12
The Protestant Reformation in 16th century Europe resulted in the rejection of many teachings and practices of the Roman Church and a return to the authority of the Bible for the practice and teaching of the Christian faith. So these Protestants did not observe the celebration of Christmas, the “mass of Christ”, which had been established by Constantine.
     Presbyterians suppressed the celebration of Christmas in Scotland where it was considered a normal working day until 1958. 13 English Puritans abolished the celebration of Christmas in 1647, and they didn’t resume the tradition of caroling until the 1800s. Christmas was not widely celebrated in New England until 1852. 14 In 1836 Alabama became the first State to recognize Christmas. Some “fundamentalists still regard Christmas to be an un-Christian pagan holiday, which they do not celebrate”. 15
     In the light of these different traditions, legends, pagan associations, unbiblical additions to the accounts of Jesus’ birth in the Bible, and controversial history among Christians each person has to decide whether or not to celebrate Christmas and what to do during this annual festival in their various locations. Some groups within our society want to remove all references to Jesus, the Christ, from any public statement regarding Christmas. They are satisfied if it is only celebrated as a festive holiday for merry feasting and the sharing of gifts without reference to Christ.
Parents are challenged with the difficult task of trying to explain the relationship between the historic biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus and all of these legends and traditions as their children grow older and begin to ask questions about various details. Christian ministers and priests have to decide how to balance the biblical story with the non-biblical legends and traditions in services of worship and their preaching and teaching ministries. Companies have to decide how they are going to advertise and promote the celebration of Christmas to their customers. The leaders of governments and the representatives of their citizens have to decide how they are going to legislate that all of the people of their nations behave during this world-wide festival.

The basic significance of Christmas

     The basic message of Christmas is the announcement that God, the almighty creator of the universe, has come into the world in the human form of a person whose birth name is Jesus. This is the news of God’s incarnation in human flesh. The apostle John has given the appropriate meaning to this historic event in his statement that, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (referring to Jesus Christ), who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18 ).
In his account of Jesus’ life and ministry, John does not mention the details of Jesus’ birth that are cited by the other writers Matthew and Luke, not even the name of his mother, Mary, nor the presence of any shepherds or Magi who brought him gifts. In this account (John 1:1–18), John refers to Jesus Christ as “the Word” (verses 1 and 14) This term (“Logos” in the Greek language) was understood by the Jews to refer to “an agent of creation” and by the Romans in their knowledge of Greek philosophy as “the principle of reason that governed the world”. 16
     In regard to gifts, the gifts of the Magi that were given to Jesus and Mary and Joseph in their act of worship, or the gifts that are shared between family and friends in this Christmas festival, it should be recognized and emphasized in our celebrations that the primary and most important gift is God’s gift of “his one and only Son” (John 3:16) whom he sent into the world “to save the world” (John 3:17).
Without the message of God’s incarnation in human flesh and the gift of his Son, Jesus, for the salvation of the world, the celebration of Christmas by Christians or anyone else is just another secular festival among many on one’s calendar of annual holidays. There can be no “peace” on earth or real “joy” in a human’s heart apart from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The gifts of these blessings through the birth of Jesus Christ is worth celebrating and the sharing of God’s love to the world is worth repeating over and over again in gifts and contributions, but we Christians need to make sure that our Christmas celebrations are for the glory of God and nothing else; certainly not for the worship of any sun god, saint, or material gift.