Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

Everyone, whether secular or Christian, knows that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. However, have you ever wondered why we do this by putting up a decorated tree, take our children to the mall to sit on Santa's lap, and give everyone in our immediate lives a wrapped gift?

What are the origins of these "traditions" and should modern day Christians participate? That's an important question that President and founder of CARM, Matt Slick, recently addressed in an article titled "What are the origins of Christmas and can a Christian celebrate it?" I highly suggest you follow the link and read the article in its entirety, but I will attempt to highlight the main points in this blog post.

Slick begins with the statement that "Christmas is the most popular holiday in America. Both the secular and the sacred celebrate it, but for different reasons." This is very true, in fact a poll done by a major Christian bookstore chain in 2010 showed that even 55 percent of atheists celebrate Christmas and 89 percent of agnostics and those with no religious preference celebrate the holiday.

The Origin of the Word Christmas: 

 "The word "Christmas" comes from two old words: Christes maesse. It means, "the Mass of Christ." This comes from the Catholic Mass, that practice where the priest re-offers the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross during the time of Communion."

Why December 25th?

 "The origins of Christmas go back to before the time of Christ when many ancient cultures celebrated the changing of the seasons. In the northern hemisphere in Europe, for example, the winter solstice, which was the shortest day of the year, occurs around Dec. 25^th. These celebrations were based on the decline of winter."

"December 25^th specifically coincided the day of the birth of the sun-god named Phyrgia a culture in the ancient Balkans. In the Roman Empire, by the time of Christ the winter festival was known as saturnalia. The Roman Church was unable to get rid of saturnalia, so early in the 4^th Century, they adopted the holiday and tried to make it a Christian celebration of the Lord's birth. They called it the Feast of the Nativity. This custom has been part of western culture ever since."

The Christmas Tree:

"One of the symbols of the life found in the celebration of saturnalia, was the use of evergreens. These plants which stayed green all year long, were often used in different cultures as symbols of life and rebirth. They were sometimes decorated as a form of worship in varied cultures in religious ceremonies dealing with fertility."

In the article, Matt Slick also gives us a interesting lesson on the origin of the use of mistletoe. So from the obvious lessons of the origins of these traditions it is clear that they all stem from pagan practices. As the article also discusses the likely hood of Jesus being born on December 25th is very low, in fact He most likely was not born in December at all. My own further investigation would show that we basically have these traditions because the Roman Catholic Church in their effort to convert the pagans to Christianity they allowed them to keep their pagan traditions such as celebrating saturnalia, but now with a Christian "flavor."

So given this history, should we as modern day Christians celebrate Christmas? Our first Christian church fathers, the Puritans of the 17th Century did not, and even Jehovah Witnesses do not celebrate the Christmas holiday. Matt Slick gives us a clear answer to this from scripture. Again, please go to CARM's website and read the article in its entirety, but in a nutshell the answer is yes, we as Christians are free to celebrate this holiday. Basically, we are honoring our Lord and Savior by recognizing and celebrating Him coming into this world to save us, exactly as the prophet predicted 700 years before His birth. For as long as we as Christians do not get caught up in these pagan traditions and the unfortunate commercialism of today's Christmas celebration, then there is nothing wrong or un-biblical with us participating. However, as Slick notes in the article, if we do not feel right about it, if it feels like a sin against our conscience, or it causes us or someone else "to stumble" then we should not participate and that is OK as well. 

On a personal level, I do celebrate Christmas with my family, but in the same way I treat Halloween, I make sure my children know the origins of the traditions that we have and understand that they are just that...."traditions."  I suppose I should expound on the Halloween mention. I know it is not a Christian holiday, but for my family its a perfect time to evangelize and hand out tracts and that's what I instill in my boys.
As the spiritual leader of the household I make sure that it is understood that Christmas is a day set aside to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and nothing more. 
And from a evangelism stand point, what more perfect and effortless time to talk to people about Jesus? How incredibly simple to hand someone a Christmas Cash bill and say "Merry Christmas". Get out in the public square and open your bible to Luke 2 or Matthew 2 and start reading out loud. So, if you are new to the evangelistic lifestyle or rekindling that passion for the lost, there is no better time to begin than the Christmas season. So get out there and be that voice of one crying in the wilderness, seeking the lost because there might not be tomorrow!