So, it's that wonderful time of year. Trees, lights, presents, family meals, etc. Christmas carols, Advent candles, midnight Christmas Eve church services. Things that many people look forward to since the previous year. But not everyone thinks this is a wonderful time of year. Today I'm writing about a subset of Christians who think this is a time of malevolence and deviltry. You know who I'm talking about; the people who start railing that "Christmas" is a pagan holiday, stolen by the Romans to make it easier to draw pagans into the Byzantine empire. I've heard this for many years now, and have known some who are militant in attacking everything about Christmas. I think they're horribly misguided, and I'm going to lay out just three of the reasons why I believe that to be true.
1. Christmas refutes anti-semitism.
What could be more Jewish than to be born, circumcised on the eighth day of life, and to learn Torah in the Temple under the most learned of scholars of the day? To declare that the moneychangers in the Temple are defiling "My Father's house?" To quote the prophets to the Pharisees, telling them to "go and learn what this means; I desire mercy, not sacrifice?"
Marcion of Sinope (c. 85- c. 160) was the first major anti-semite voice in the church. He denied that the God of the Old Testament ( יַהְוֶה, Yahweh, YHWH, Elohim, etc.) was the "Father" of whom Jesus spoke. He referred to the OT God as the "demiurge" who created the physical world, while the "Father" to whom Jesus referred was a completely alien deity not in contact with our universe outside of His creation Jesus.
Matthew and Luke take pains to give us a genealogy of Jesus that shows He is of King David, and of Abraham. Why would this be important enough to write about were it not to demonstrate that Jesus IS, not was, a Jew?
2. Christmas refutes Gnosticism.
Gnosticism posits that the physical and spiritual realms are entirely different and separate from each other. It also holds that the man Jesus and the spirit Christ are two entirely separate and different persons. In this way, they claim that the "Christ" did not suffer death on the cross, or decay in the tomb.
What could be more "physical" about an existence that to be born, nursed as a baby, be cleaned up as any other baby, and to go through the physical rituals of Judaism? If Christ was nothing other than a spirit which descended upon the man Jesus, then why do the Gospels spend any time at all discussing His birth? Why would an angel have appeared to the shepherds proclaiming "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, The Lord" and "Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests" had this not been the true presence of God in physical form on the Earth?
3. Equating Christmas with Paganism is superstitious.
If, and this is a big if, we actually believe what the Bible says about Jesus and our salvation, then why would we fear a supposedly pagan holiday when we have been told, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Hebrews 2:14,15)
The devil has been rendered powerless, and we are no longer slave to the fear of death. How then shall a supposition of paganism in a holiday affect us? In Colossians, Paul wrote, " See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10\and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority" and, "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." Christmas and any religious opinions of it are dim images of what is to come, and these dim images are sanctified because their essence belongs to Jesus, who has freed us from the slavery of the fear of death.
Enjoy the holidays. Live a life of "Peace on Earth, and goodwill towards men."
1. Christmas refutes anti-semitism.
What could be more Jewish than to be born, circumcised on the eighth day of life, and to learn Torah in the Temple under the most learned of scholars of the day? To declare that the moneychangers in the Temple are defiling "My Father's house?" To quote the prophets to the Pharisees, telling them to "go and learn what this means; I desire mercy, not sacrifice?"
Marcion of Sinope (c. 85- c. 160) was the first major anti-semite voice in the church. He denied that the God of the Old Testament ( יַהְוֶה, Yahweh, YHWH, Elohim, etc.) was the "Father" of whom Jesus spoke. He referred to the OT God as the "demiurge" who created the physical world, while the "Father" to whom Jesus referred was a completely alien deity not in contact with our universe outside of His creation Jesus.
Matthew and Luke take pains to give us a genealogy of Jesus that shows He is of King David, and of Abraham. Why would this be important enough to write about were it not to demonstrate that Jesus IS, not was, a Jew?
2. Christmas refutes Gnosticism.
Gnosticism posits that the physical and spiritual realms are entirely different and separate from each other. It also holds that the man Jesus and the spirit Christ are two entirely separate and different persons. In this way, they claim that the "Christ" did not suffer death on the cross, or decay in the tomb.
What could be more "physical" about an existence that to be born, nursed as a baby, be cleaned up as any other baby, and to go through the physical rituals of Judaism? If Christ was nothing other than a spirit which descended upon the man Jesus, then why do the Gospels spend any time at all discussing His birth? Why would an angel have appeared to the shepherds proclaiming "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, The Lord" and "Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests" had this not been the true presence of God in physical form on the Earth?
3. Equating Christmas with Paganism is superstitious.
If, and this is a big if, we actually believe what the Bible says about Jesus and our salvation, then why would we fear a supposedly pagan holiday when we have been told, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Hebrews 2:14,15)
The devil has been rendered powerless, and we are no longer slave to the fear of death. How then shall a supposition of paganism in a holiday affect us? In Colossians, Paul wrote, " See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10\and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority" and, "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." Christmas and any religious opinions of it are dim images of what is to come, and these dim images are sanctified because their essence belongs to Jesus, who has freed us from the slavery of the fear of death.
Enjoy the holidays. Live a life of "Peace on Earth, and goodwill towards men."
Proclaim Glory to God in the highest because God is with us.
Smile, and enjoy the wide-eyed children looking at lights and Santa Claus.
As Therese of Lisieux put it, may we all become victims of Love.
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