Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?
Last week I listened to a YouTube video of a Christian who was talking about how some people go to church on Sunday while practicing magic and spells the rest of the week. Their reasoning doing this is that Christians do the same thing when they celebrate Christmas and Easter. They claim the holidays are pagan due to their origins.
The gal in the video said that she stopped celebrating these holidays for that very same reason. She believes that God moved her to do this. She said that it enables her to share the message of Christ with those who claim to be Christian but are practicing witchcraft. I applaud her for listening to the voice of God and for being obedient. However, she went on to say that witches are using this against all Christians. I have to disagree with this since our actions should not be driven by the condemnation of others. Like her, we must hear directly from God for ourselves.
I’ve been chewing on this a lot in the past few days and wanted to see for myself what these pagan origins are for Christmas.
A question to start with is what caused people to celebrate the birth of Christ in the winter time since it seems likely that Jesus was born in the spring?
One answer lies in the sky. Near the end of December is the winter solstice; a time when the hours of daylight shift from getting shorter and shorter to gradually getting longer. This has led to the belief that that sun is being born again. Celebrating this rebirth is one of the largest world-wide events that has occurred in both modern and ancient cultures.
There are many theories for how Christmas came about, but the strongest is that the winter solstice and the birth of Jesus were combined to create the holiday. Many take issue with this because of how the winter solstice was celebrated by the pagans of Rome, Egypt, Asia, and many other countries. It was a demonic holiday.
It’s not certain, but let’s just say that the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, was the first to throw a feast for His Savior on December 25th. Did he equate Jesus with the Sun? The sun is metaphorically used for Jesus throughout the Bible. Did Constantine have a vision or dream of this celebration? God often reveals His will through dreams and visions. With evangelism on his mind, did Constantine think that a celebration like this would help people to understand the true meaning of being born again? Or, on the other hand, maybe the idea was only one of convenience since all the festivities were already happening at that time of year. We will never know.
I do know that today Christmas would be totally empty if all God-fearing Christians stopped celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Days after hearing that YouTube video, I was skating at our city’s outdoor ice rink when a song about Jesus came on the loud speaker. It could be heard in the rink and throughout downtown’s main square. It was one of many songs that are played there throughout the Christmas season that proclaim the name “Jesus.” In that moment I was so proud of my city for sharing the gospel message even if it was disguised in a holiday song. I wondered how many people were changed for only hearing that name while walking by?
So many people are impacted by kind hearts during Christmas. How many people who normally never step foot in a church, will do so for the first time on Christmas? How many homeless people and orphans are showered with gifts of food and clothes? How many families are reconciled during a Christmas dinner? How many hearts turn to God in thanks for His son?
Surely, no one would disagree that these things are all good. The Bible says that every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. James 1:17
Wouldn’t it be just like the devil to use any means necessary to put an end to this? What better way than to make Christians feel guilty about a beloved holiday? If anything, celebrating Christ-mas has taken a day meant for evil and turned it to good. So I encourage you, don’t let anyone make you feel bad for celebrating the birth of our Savior – Jesus loves a good party where He is the guest of honor!
