Christmas, A Closer Look

A Closer Look At Christmas

Each year people put up trees with lights and ornaments. Decorations can be seen on houses. Presents are bought and given to loved ones. Some people connect this holiday with religion. A lady one time invited us to go by her “church” and see their Christmas scene. We received an announcement last week inviting everyone to drive by a church in the area and see their Christmas program. To quote their flier: “Come experience the magic of the season from the comfort of your car. As our gift to the community, we will be hosting our 7th annual FREE drive-thru living nativity. View scenes of costumed characters and live animals portraying events surrounding the birth of Christ. Come and experience the joy of Christmas.” Erroneously people speak of December 25th as being the Birthday of Christ. We have all heard the Christmas folklore. Three wise men follow a giant star in the sky and find baby Jesus in a manger. As is true with much false religion, there is usually an element of truth in what is taught. No where in the Bible can we read of December 25th or any date that would even be close to our December 25th as being the day Jesus was born. Let me quote extensively from Compton ’s Encyclopedia: The word comes from the Old English term Cristes maesse, meaning “Christ’s mass.” This was the name for the festival service of worship held on December 25th to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Although it is accepted that Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem a few miles south of Jerusalem, there is no certain information on the date of His birth, not even of the year (see Jesus Christ). One reason for this uncertainty is that the stories of His birth, recorded in the New Testament Books of Matthew and Luke, were written several decades after the event, and those who wrote of it give no specific dates for it.

For several centuries the Christian church itself paid little attention to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. The major Christian festival was Easter, the day of His Resurrection. Only gradually, as the church developed a calendar to commemorate the major events of the life of Jesus, did it celebrate His birth.

Because there was no knowledge about the date of Jesus’ birth, a day had to be selected. The Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Rite churches within the Roman Catholic Church chose January 6th. The day was named Epiphany, meaning appearance,” the day of Jesus’ manifestation. The Western church, based in Rome , chose December 25th. It is known from a notice in an ancient Roman almanac that Christmas was celebrated on December 25th in Rome as early as AD 336.

There you have it. Nowhere in the Bible can one read of Christmas. Observance of the Birthday of Christ was not done until 300 years after His birth and was not observed in the New Testament.

Let us also notice that New Testament Christians did not observe Easter either. The only time “Easter” can be found in any translation is in the King James Bible, Acts 12,4 “And when he had apprehended him he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternion's of soldiers to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” (KJV) The word translated as Easter is translated as Passover in every other passage in the King James Bible.

Man often wants to create his own religion. Unfortunately a lot of sincere people think of December 25th as the birth day of Christ and place a great deal of emphasis on that date. They then neglect what the Bible does say about His death, burial, and resurrection. They also neglect His word.

We as Christians do study and believe in the birth of Christ, read Matthew 1 & 2 with Luke 1 &2. Christ’s birth was in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah 7.14; Micah 5.2. Often we study the life of Christ as recorded in the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We abide in the teachings delivered by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, John 14.26. Christ commanded us to remember His death, by observing the Lord’s Supper the first day of each week, Matthew 26.26-29; 1 Corinthians 11.24-26; Acts 20.7.

I find it rather strange and sad that people neglect what the Bible does say and create a religious practice foreign to the Bible. —Dennis Tucker

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