Christmas & The Christian: How Christmas Is a Non-Essential Good
Christmas & The Christian
How Christmas Is a Non-Essential Good
Christmas has become a part of Western Culture the same way the color black is part of the punk/Emo Scene of the 90s-00s. It's become a holiday and tradition that is assumed and looked forward to by almost all in Western countries, especially the U.S.. For many Christians the mere thought of Christmas being passed by or ignored is inconceivable to the Christian walk. The Reason for the Season is Jesus! We can't stop Christmas or we will stop the focus we have on Christ’s Birth! Is this true? Will Christianity stop existing if Christmas was no longer celebrated? This along with other traditions, myths & misconceptions make up the world of Christmas for most of us.
In The U.S. Christmas was made a Federal Holiday on June 28th, 1870. The conception of the holiday came about in the late 330s A.D. when “Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century(1).” There is much speculation and reason for believing the birth of Jesus took place in Oct, Nov, Dec, Mar, or April. The reality is that we don't know the exact day or month Jesus was born and that’s not a bad thing. The traditional date for the celebration was begun by Pope Julius I and it has remained standard to practice the celebration of Christmas and Jesus' birth on Dec 25th as a result.
In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule, Rome celebrated Saturnalia & Juvinalia, and Europe celebrated every winter with feasts and festivals from the past year's gains and harvests. These celebrations were the embers of the fire we call Christmas today. The popularity of celebration at this time was seen as an opportunity by Pope Julius I for spreading the gospel by focusing on the birth of Christ. This made Dec 25th all the better for injecting a holiday for Jesus' birth; Its free real estate! And it was obviously successful. There are obvious issues with the adoption of pagan or non-Christian practices and we can see the commercialization of Christmas throughout the world. Obviously Christians should avoid pagan and worldly practices, especially overtly sinful practices, but participating in exchanging gifts or other innocent Christmas traditions should be of little concern for the Christian.
In the History of the U.S., Christmas, unlike Thanksgiving, wasn’t celebrated by the pilgrims who settled in the 1620’s(1). These Pilgrims were more Orthodox than most and didn’t follow the tradition of Christmas as a result. Not until the 19th century did Americans begin to embrace Christmas. From this point forward Christmas would take on major changes and become a uniquely Western American holiday that would be unrecognizable to Pope Julius I. The core of Christmas remains, the Christ was born and we celebrate the coming of the fully God, fully man Jesus who died and rose for our sin and salvation.
Christmas today has Many misconceptions on the birth of Jesus. Here are a few of them. The first being, It was a silent night when Jesus was born. Well, if Jesus was both fully God and fully man then we must assume Jesus would act in the same manner as any other infant on the day of its birth and years after. He would have cried! Tears and boogers and all. There are some babies who don't cry when born but that isn't commonplace. Just like a baby should, Jesus would have cried when he was hungry or cried when he soiled his ancient diper. Now don't stop singing ‘Silent Night,’ it's a good song; it’s just simply not accurate to the reality of a child being born.
Next is the three wise men. The three wise men we see in the nativity, well, they weren't present for the birth of Jesus, and we aren't told how many wise men trekked to Jesus. Crazy, I know, but they most likely didn't find Jesus until he was between 1 & 3 years old. In Matthew 2:1-6 we read "After Jesus was born" the wise men arrived in Jerusalem. So not only was it after Jesus's birth but the "wise men'' didn't go straight to 123 Nativity street where Jesus lived. They went to Herod and asked where Jesus would be. When they were told Bethlehem, they still had to go and find him. All of this on top of the fact the wise men came from the far East, likely Persia or Babylon. Anywhere from 1081 miles(1740Km) to 1678 miles(2740Km) in a straight line. Driving 60mph, it would take 18-30hrs of non-stop driving; they had camels and maybe horses. So, the wise men didn't see Jesus' physical birth, and that's okay. Keep those wise men with your nativity set, they just showed up later on. What matters is the gifts they brought, signifying Jesus as King(Gold), His Deity(Frankincense), & His coming death on the cross(Myrrh).
Lastly we have Good old Saint Nick, he isn't so bad. Our Santa Clause can be traced to the real life Saint Nicholas of Patara(modern day Turkey), born in A.D. 270 and served as Bishop of Myra until his death in 345. Saint Nicholas’s name comes from the Greek meaning “victore of the people.” This Suited him well, following his parents example of helping others, going on to serve the needy and help the poor. Most notably, old Nick went and tossed three bags of gold coins, over three nights, into the home of a widower. The widower was father of three daughters, and was contemplating selling off his daughters to slavery due to their poverty(2). Thankfully,Because of Nick the father never sold any of his daughters. Over time this visit would evolve into the all night venture of Santa Claus visiting all the good little girls and boys on the night of Christmas Eve.
Saint Nicholas is also well known for his likeness to Conor McGregor in his bout during the Council of Nicea against Arius of Alexandria. When Arius said the divinity of Christ was not that of God but simply a perfect creation of God, ole Nick took a swing or two and decked the heretic Arius. We can all sleep safe knowing that sant won't only give gifts to all the good boys and girls but also oppose the heretics and defend the faith!
In closing, let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Christmas is not a pagan thing. There are pagan and worldly practices many attach to Christmas, due to other celebrations on and around Dec 25th, but Christmas is not pagan. Christians didn’t practice any celebration for the birth of Christ until some time in the 330s, focusing instead on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Focusing on the practice of Easter and the sacraments of the last supper. Jesus cried as a baby, the wise men didn’t arrive at the birth of Christ, and we can't say it was only three wise men. Santa is based on a real saint, He isn't innately good or bad, but he sure is holly & jolly. So let us all take a deep breath and enjoy the family, enjoy the food, the stories and toys we will see and receive. Most importantly, Remember Jesus was born, the God man who would be and is our Salvation.
Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Heretics!
Writer: Thomas Kindrick
Editors: Jonathan Eckmann, Thomas Kindrick
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