{"id":61,"date":"2013-12-25T17:12:09","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T17:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/?p=61"},"modified":"2015-03-01T11:45:50","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T11:45:50","slug":"the-true-origin-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/2013\/12\/25\/the-true-origin-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Origin of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year after Thanksgiving, most people’s thoughts turn to Christmas. It is the time when professing Christians are supposed to focus on Jesus Christ. After all, it is the \u201cChrist-mass<\/em>\u201d season!<\/p>\n

Christmas is thought by most to be a wonderful time, focusing the participants on giving, family togetherness, beautiful music and decorations, feasting on special foods and singing Christmas carols throughout the neighborhood (as my family did every year). All of this is supposedly centered around the worship of Christ. Surely the Bible instructs us to do all this\u2014right?<\/p>\n

The answers will shock you!<\/p>\n

Why do people think that Christmas is wonderful? Most never reflect on\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0they believe what they believe or do what they do. We live in a world filled with customs, but few ever seek to understand their origin. We generally accept them without question. Most people basically do what everyone else does\u2014because it is easy and natural!<\/p>\n

Let’s carefully examine the roots of Christmas. Let’s look at why people follow the customs associated with it. Why is it kept on December 25th? Did the early New Testament Church keep it? This article is filled with facts from history that, when placed together, paint a complete picture. Let’s avoid all assumptions and only accept what can be PROVEN!<\/p>\n

Pagan Origin<\/h4>\n

In 1990, the Solon, Ohio (a Cleveland suburb) school board banned all nativity and other Christmas scenes on any school property because they felt it violated the separation of church and state. They were challenged in court when outraged parents opposed them, feeling that Christmas was being stolen from their children and the community.\u00a0The board lost the case!<\/em>\u00a0The citizenry had contended that Christmas was a worldwide tradition that was not part of, and transcended, religion. It was deemed to be secular\u2014a part of virtually all\u00a0cultures<\/em>\u00a0worldwide.<\/p>\n

The court decision affirmed that Christmas has no Christian roots! However, the court’s opinion also noted that bible reading and prayer obviously\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0associated with Christ-ianity\u2014a remarkable admission! The court concluded that Christmas-keeping and manger scenes could remain because they are not really part of either Christianity or religion\u2014but prayer and Bible reading, which are, must remain excluded from schools!<\/p>\n

Nearly all aspects of Christmas observance have their roots in Roman custom and religion. Consider the following admission from a large American newspaper (The Buffalo News<\/em>, Nov. 22, 1984): \u201cThe earliest reference to Christmas being marked on Dec. 25 comes from the second century after Jesus’ birth. It is considered likely the first Christmas celebrations were in reaction to the Roman Saturnalia, a harvest festival that marked the winter solstice\u2014the return of the sun\u2014and honored Saturn, the god of sowing. Saturnalia was a rowdy time, much opposed by the more austere leaders among the still-minority Christian sect. Christmas developed, one scholar says, as a means of replacing worship of the sun with worship of the Son. By 529 A.D., after Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinian made Christmas a civic holiday. The celebration of Christmas reached its peak\u2014some would say its worst moments\u2014in the medieval period when it became a time for conspicuous consumption and unequaled revelry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider these quotes from the\u00a0Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>, 1911 edition, under \u201cChristmas\u201d: \u201cChristmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church\u2026the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt.\u201d Further, \u201cPagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas.\u201d Under \u201cNatal Day,\u201d Origen, an early Catholic writer, admitted, \u201c\u2026In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is\u00a0only sinners<\/em>(like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world\u201d (emphasis mine).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Encyclopedia Americana<\/em>, 1956 edition, adds, \u201cChristmas\u2026was not observed in the first centuries of the Christian church, since the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth\u2026a feast was established in memory of this event [Christ’s birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered the feast to be celebrated forever on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of the Saturnalia, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no mistaking the origin of the modern Christmas celebration. Many additional sources could be cited and we will return to this later. Let’s begin to tie some other facts together.<\/p>\n

It was 300 years after Christ before the Roman church kept Christmas, and not until the fifth century that it was mandated to be kept throughout the empire as an official festival honoring \u201cChrist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can Christ Be Honored by Christmas?<\/h4>\n

The most common justification that one will hear regarding Christmas is that people have replaced old pagan customs and intents by asserting that they are now \u201cfocusing on Christ.\u201d I have heard many say that they are \u201chonoring Christ\u201d in their Christmas-keeping. The problem is that God\u00a0does not say this is acceptable to Him! Actually, He plainly commands against it!<\/em>Keeping Christmas\u00a0dishonors<\/em>\u00a0Christ! He considers everything about it to be an abomination! We will soon see why.<\/p>\n

Christ said, \u201cBut in\u00a0vain<\/em>\u00a0they do\u00a0worship<\/em>\u00a0Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men\u201d (Matt. 15:9<\/a>). Christmas is not a command of God\u2014it is a tradition of men. Christ continued, \u201cFull well you\u00a0reject<\/em>\u00a0the commandment of God, that you may keep your own\u00a0tradition<\/em>\u201d (Mark 7:9<\/a>). Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that!<\/p>\n

We will see that God plainly commands, \u201cFollow not the way of the heathen.\u201d But most people do not fear God, and He allows them to make their own decisions. Human beings are free moral agents\u2014free to obey or disobey God! But woe to those who ignore the plain Word of God!<\/p>\n

Was Christ Born on December 25th?<\/h4>\n

Christ was born in the fall of the year. Many have mistakenly believed He was born around the beginning of winter\u2014December 25th! They are wrong! Notice the\u00a0Adam Clarke Commentary<\/em>, volume 5, page 370, New York edition: \u201cIt was custom among Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts about the Passover [early spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain.\u201d The first rains began in early-to-mid fall. Continuing with this same quote: \u201cDuring the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As\u2026the first rain began early in the month of March-esvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact\u2026See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke 2:8<\/a>\u00a0explains that when Christ was born, \u201cthere were in the same country shepherds\u00a0abiding in the field<\/em>, keeping watch over their flock\u00a0by night<\/em>.\u201d Note that they were \u201cabiding\u201d in the field. This never happened in December. Both\u00a0Ezra 10:9-13<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Song of Solomon 2:11<\/a>\u00a0show that winter was the rainy season and shepherds could not stay on cold, open fields at night.<\/p>\n

Numerous encyclopedias plainly state that Christ was not born on December 25th! The\u00a0Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0directly confirms this. In all likelihood, Christ was born in the fall! A lengthy technical explanation would prove this point.<\/p>\n

Since we now know that December 25th was nowhere near Christ’s actual birthdate, where did the festival associated with this date come from?<\/p>\n

Now read this quote under \u201cChristmas\u201d: \u201cIn the Roman world, the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchanging of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birthdate of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into Gaul, Britain and central Europe. Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season. Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life, have always been associated with the winter festival, both pagan and Christian\u201d (Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>, 15th ed., vol. II, p. 903).<\/p>\n

A final quote about the selection of December 25th as the birthdate of Christ is necessary. Note an article in\u00a0The Toronto Star<\/em>, December 1984, by Alan Edmonds, entitled, \u201cWe owe a lot to Druids, Dutch\u201d: \u201cThe Reformation cast a blight on Christmas. By then, of course, clever ecclesiastical politicians had adopted the Pagan mid-winter festival as the alleged birthdate of Jesus, of Nazareth, and thrown in a few other Pagan goodies to make their takeover more palatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

December 25th was not selected because it was the birth of Christ or because it was even near it. It was selected because it coincided with the idolatrous pagan festival\u00a0Saturnalia<\/em>\u2014and this celebration must be carefully examined. In any event, we do\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0know the exact date of Christ’s birth. While God certainly could have made it known, He chose to hide it from the world’s eyes!<\/p>\n

What About Santa Claus?<\/h4>\n

Parents reason that they\u00a0owe<\/em>\u00a0the whole Christmas myth to their children! Christmas traditions are focused primarily on kids, and they are certainly the center of most of what happens. I know because I kept seventeen Christmases. My older sister and younger brother and I were the recipients of much and the givers of very little on that day\u2014and it all started with the Santa Claus lie.<\/p>\n

Some years ago, a priest in New Jersey told his Sunday school class that Santa was a myth. The outrage from parents and his supervisors was swift. He had \u201ckilled Santa!\u201d He had \u201cdestroyed family tradition!\u201d He had \u201cusurped family authority,\u201d the article continued. He was officially censored by his superiors for being \u201coverzealous and insensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

His crime? He told the\u00a0truth<\/em>!<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Langer’s Encyclopedia of World History<\/em>, (article \u201cSanta\u201d), \u201cSanta\u201d was a common name for Nimrod throughout Asia Minor. This was also the same fire god who came down the chimneys of the ancient pagans and the same fire god to whom infants were burned and eaten in human sacrifice among those who were once God’s people.<\/p>\n

Today Santa Claus comes from \u201cSaint Nicholas.\u201d Washington Irving, in 1809, is responsible for remaking the original old, stern bishop of this same name into the new \u201cjolly St. Nick\u201d in hisKnickerbocker History of New York<\/em>. (Most of the rest of America’s Christmas traditions are even more recent than this.) \u201cOld Nick\u201d has long been recognized as a term for the devil.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Revelation 2:6<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a015<\/a>, we read about a \u201cdoctrine of the Nicolaitanes,\u201d which Christ twice tells His Church \u201c[He] hates.\u201d Let’s analyze the word Nicolaitane. It means \u201cfollower of Nicholas.\u201dNikos<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cconqueror, destroyer.\u201d\u00a0Laos<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cpeople.\u201d Nicolaitanes, then, are people who follow the conqueror or destroyer\u2014Nimrod. If you have believed that following Christmas is an innocent Christian custom, let this truth sink in!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year after Thanksgiving, most people’s thoughts turn to Christmas. It is the time when professing Christians are supposed to focus on Jesus Christ. After all, it is the \u201cChrist-mass\u201d season!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.inkhive.com\/preus-plus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}