The
Reason for
The Season
{All Biblical quotations herein are from the New International Version of
the Bible (NIV) unless otherwise noted. All Bible "notes" quoted herein are
from The NIV Study Bible published by Zondervan. A bibliography of other
books quoted follows the article.}
The Ghosts of Christmases Past
As the last of the Thanksgiving dinner left-overs are sent out to the trash,
and the background music blaring over the loudspeakers in the groceries and
malls of the land changes from old Beatle tunes to "sounds of the season,"
the yearly lament rises up from Christian circles- "Whatever happened to
the old-fashioned Christmas? It's all become so crass and worldly." And out
come the bumper stickers and T-shirts- emblazoned with "LET'S PUT CHRIST
BACK IN CHRISTMAS" and "JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON." Most Christians
are convinced that Christmas has been corrupted in recent times by all the
"worldly" people in our American society. They yearn for what they feel must
have been the "good old days"- perhaps in the time of the "Waltons," or at
least farther back, in the days of "Little House on the Prairie." The holiday
would have been "holy." Families would gather around the hearth to hear Dad
read the Christmas story. "Worldly" amusements and revelry would have no
place in that simpler time. It would just be hymn-sings around the
popcorn-bedecked fir tree.
So let's check this nostalgic picture against the historical record. Let's
trace just when Jesus was the "Reason for the Season."
Surely if we go back 100 years we'll find a holier Christmas:
"The old English disport [entertainment] of mumming at Christmas is of great
antiquity... [one author of the 1800's] says, under the heading 'Mummers':These were amusements derived from the Saturnalia [ancient Roman celebration
in honor of the god Saturn, held in December], and so called from the Danish mumme or Dutch momme- disguise in a mask.
Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were disguised as bears, others like unicorns,
bringing presents. Those who could not procure masks rubbed their faces with
soot or painted them. In the Christmas mummings the chief aim was to surprise
by the oddity of the masks, and singularity and splendour of the dresses.
Everything was out of nature and propriety."
[Ashton p. 126]
You might notice the similarity of mumming to the kind of outlandish activity
one may see in parts of the Mardi Gras parades from New Orleans shown on
TV in modern America. Here is part of a speech by a character called OLD
FATHER CHRISTMAS in a typical English "mumming play" of the 1800's:
"Here comes I, Father Christmas, welcome, or welcome not,
I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot."
"Although it is Old Father Christmas, he has but a short time to stay
I am come to show you pleasure, and pass the time away.
I have been far, I have been near,
And now, I am come to drink a pot of your Christmas beer;
And, if it is your best, I hope in heaven your soul will rest.
If it is a pot of your small,
We cannot show you no Christmas at all."
[Ashton p. 129]
In other words-- Old Father Christmas won't be "blessing" you and your Christmas
celebration if you give him some of your inferior beer!
We must not have gone back far enough. How about 200 years earlier, in
the 1600's?:
[A writer in 1633 said,] "If we compare our Bacchanalian Christmasses and
New Year's Tides [seasons] with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we
shall find such near affinity between them both in regard of time (they both
being in the end of December and on the first of January), and in their manner
of solemnizing [celebration] (both of them being spent in revelling, epicurism
[gluttony], wantonness, idleness, dancing, drinking, stage plays and such
other Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these
Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian [after Bacchus, god of wine and revelry]
Festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate
them."
[Ashton p. 6]
This was back in the time of the "Puritans"---a group which had much influence
in the early years of the American colonies. Let's read more about Christmas
in their time:
"It was, probably, the exceeding license of Christ-tide [the Christmas season]
that made the sour Puritans look upon its being kept in remembrance, as vain
and superstitious; at all events, whenever in their power, they did their
best to crush it..."
[Ashton p. 21]
"Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England in 1655, and a Puritan, tried
his best to eliminate the revelries, claiming them to be of pagan origin
and therefore, 'unacceptable to all God-fearing people and an abomination
to the Church of Christ.' The Puritans took some of these beliefs to the
New Americas with them, and for a time the same stringent rules applied there.
However, when Charles II was restored to the throne of England in 1660, yuletide
feasting soon became customary once again; and it still is."
[Bush p. 22]
"...the popular love of Christmas could not be done away with by restrictive
legislation... its keeping was in-bred in the people, and they hated this
sour puritanical feeling, and the doing away with their accustomed festivities."
[As one member of the House of Commons commented at the time,] "These poor
simple creatures are mad after superstitious festivals, after unholy holidays."
[Ashton pp. 27-28]
*** But perhaps this was just a problem among the "lower classes." What was
royalty doing in that century?:
"The death of infant Princess Mary in September 1607 did not interfere with
James I. keeping Christmas right royally in that year. There were masques
and theatricals- nay, the king wanted a play on Christmas night- and card-playing
went on for high sums, the queen losing [the sum of] 300 pounds on the eve
of Twelfth night."
[Ashton p. 21]
You'd think the castle in that year might have been a good place to find
"holiness"... this is the same King James who commissioned
the King James Bible, which was issued in 1611!
[Strangely, Christmas time was often the only time such gambling was allowed:]
"An ordinance for governing the household of the Duke of Clarence in the
reign of Edward IV. forbade all games at dice, cards, or other hazard for
money 'except during the twelve days at Christmas.'" [A similar law was
established during the reign of Henry VII.]
[Ashton p. 162]
Evidently we still haven't gone back far enough to find our pure Christmas.
So let's make a BIG jump, back to the 700's:
"There exists a letter from the year 742, in which St. Boniface, the "Apostle
to the Germans," complains to Pope Zacharias that his labors to convert the
heathen Franks and Alemans--Germanic tribes--were being handicapped by the
escapades of the Christian Romans back home. The Franks and the Alemans were
on the threshold of becoming Christians, but their conversion was retarded
by their enjoyment of lurid carnivals.
When Boniface tried to turn them away
from such customs, they argued that they had seen them celebrated under the
very shadow of St. Peter's at Rome [the cathedral that was the central
headquarters of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church]. Embarrassed and
sorry, Pope Zacharias replied to Boniface, admitting that the people of the
city of Rome misbehaved very badly at Christmas time. There was very little
he could do about it; however, the following year he succeeded in inducing
the Holy Synod of Rome to forbid the Romans, under penalty of law, from setting
such bad examples.
Alas for human frailty! The ban had to be repeated over and over, for centuries."
[Count pp. 43-44]
These kinds of quotations may be puzzling to you, as they would be to many
sincere Twentieth Century Christians. Just when was Christ in Christmas?
The full answer to that question may surprise you.
In the Beginning...
"Although the Christmas story centers in the Christ Child of Bethlehem, it
begins so long before His coming that we find its hero arriving on the scene
after more than half of the time of the story has gone by."
[Count p.11]
That statement sounds self-contradictory! How can there be a "Christmas"
with no "Christ"? Let the author of 4,000 YEARS OF CHRISTMAS clarify what
he means by that startling statement:
"Mesopotamia [land of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers] is the very ancient
Mother of Civilization... Christmas began there, over 4,000 years ago, as
the festival which renewed the world for another year. The 'twelve days'
of Christmas; the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents;
the carnivals with their floats, their merrymakings and clownings, the mummers
who sing and play from house to house [common Christmas customs in England
and other parts of Europe]; the church processions with their lights and
song- all these and more began there centuries before Christ was born. And
they celebrated the arrival of a New Year.
To the Mesopotamians, New Year's was a time of crisis. Once in a very distant
time, their chief god Marduk (or Enlil, who is more ancient still than Marduk)
had routed the monsters of chaos and had built out of a 'world without form
and void' an orderly world, and had created man. But the order remained an
uneasy one: it ran down, so to speak, during the year; toward its close,
after the crops had been harvested, the empty brown of the fields told that
life was dying. Then Marduk again had to do battle with the monsters of chaos,
so that death might not become complete. Thus he renewed the world every
year. It was a grim battle, fought in the regions below, and every time Marduk
almost lost his struggle.
It was the duty of man, in his puny way, to help as well as he could. And
much of the festival of the New Year constituted his lowly support of his
god. His leader and commander was the king, who held his power and his title
by the grace of the god.
As the Mesopotamians saw it, in the struggle of the New Year man faced a
three-fold problem: to purify himself of the evils which his sins of the
past year had brought upon him; to renew the strength which the year had
drained away; and, if possible, to find a substitute who could take the
consequences of the sins which he had committed.
The first and the last problems were solved by the notion of a 'scapegoat,'
which is familiar to us from its form given in the Bible...
The New Year's festival lasted twelve days, as our Christmas season is supposed
to do; in it the king repaired to Marduk's temple, to the court of the gods.
The chief priest stripped from him his insignia of rank; thus dispossessed
of his power, he knelt before Marduk's image and swore that he had done nothing
against the god's will. The chief priest, now speaking for Marduk, said
comforting words; and in the name of the god he reinvested the king, in token
that the kingdom was restored to him by the grace of the god...
In theory, the king must die at the end of the year; he should then accompany
Marduk into the underworld and battle at his side, while a new king took
his place on earth. But here enters the idea of a substitute or 'mock' king,
which saved the life of the real king. A criminal, real or fancied, was dressed
in royal garb; he was given all the homage and indulgence which is the king's
right, while the people about him held celebration. But soon his mock reign
was over; he was stripped of his kingly trappings and slain in the place
of the real king...
There were other deeds which Europe still repeats during these holidays,
although the ancient meanings have been lost: the building of bonfires in
which a special wooden image of Marduk's opponent is burned; and the custom
of exchanging visits and gifts.
This was ZAGMUK festival. Another, which both Persians and Babylonians
celebrated, was called the SACAEA. At this time, the masters and slaves exchanged
places; the slaves commanded, the masters obeyed. One slave was chosen to
be head of the household, and everyone paid homage to him...
As the old year died, the rules of ordinary living were relaxed, Then as
the new year arrived, the order of the world was recaptured. At this time
of crisis, when fates hung in the balance, the curtain of the future was
drawn slightly aside and, if you performed the proper magic, you could peer
into it and make resolutions to fit coming events...
Marduk and his court of gods have long disappeared. But to this day in the
Balkans and in Central Europe, on the twelve days of Christmas, troupes of
masqueraders go about, headed by a 'fool' or a 'wild man'... The girls still
recite magic verses and perform magical acts to learn who their true loves
will be. There are still the bonfires, and a special log which a young man
fells and brings home; and over this log [the Yule log] a ritual is performed
(with praise, now, to the Christian God); and on Christmas Eve it is burned
in the fireplace."
[In earlier centuries, the connections were even more obvious: take this
description of Christmas in the mid-fifteenth century in northern Europe:]
Holly, ivy and evergreens were up, candles and torches were lit, and mummers
clowned in the streets. There were singers, Christmas presents, fortune-telling
and much feasting and drinking. The people chose, not a mock king, but a
'Lord of Misrule,' an 'Abbot of Unreason,' a 'King of Bean,' a 'Pope' who
presided over the 'Feast of the Fools' or the 'Feast of the Asses.' They
made him a bald-headed, red-nosed clown, and set him on a donkey. He had
a retinue; like hoboes on a spree, these ancestors of ours squawked an 'anthem,'
danced about the donkey, and hied themselves to the church where they performed
a slapstick mass. The choir was vested in tattered robes turned inside out;
they wore orange peels for spectacle rims; they held their music sheets upside
down and jangled a gibberish response to the 'bishop' who read the service.
They rang the bells, they hop-skip-jumped through the church."
[Count p. 18-23, 44]
However, the story didn't just jump from Mesopotamia to Europe. There
was a connection through pagan Greece and Rome:
"In Greece there was an old God, Kronos, about whom we know little, even
though it is not hard to recognize that his festival was the old SACAEA gone
westward. The figures in the drama changed, the incidents also; but the plot
remained. In ancient Babylonia, it was Marduk who conquered the monsters
that lived before our world was created; in Greece, it was Zeus who fought
and overcame Kronos and his Titans.
The Romans believed in an ancient god of seed-time, Saturn, who had ruled
their country ages before their own day, before he was overthrown by Jupiter.
Whenever the Romans thought that one of their gods resembled a Greek god,
they concluded that the two were the same; then they took over the forms
of worship which the Greeks already had observed. So Kronos came to Rome;
the SACAEA entered into the SATURNALIA.
The first day of the Saturnalia shifted during the lifetime of Rome; at all
events, it began around the middle of December... and continued until January
first. In its midst was December 25, the day, as the Romans calculated, when
the sun was at its lowest ebb, ready to increase again and impart its strength
to the growing things of the earth. Hard upon this day came the CALENDAE
of January- January 1. The word itself has become the name which the Slavic
and Baltic peoples use for the days of Christmas festivities: Koleda, Kolyada,
Koledos, etc.
The Roman Saturnalia and the holidays which followed were boisterous indeed...
they masqueraded through the streets, ate big dinners, visited their friends,
wished them good luck at this time of tender fortune, and gave each other
good-luck gifts called STRENAE.
The halls of the Romans were decked with boughs of laurel and of green trees,
with lighted candles and with lamps- for the hovering spirits of darkness
were afraid of light. Masters and slaves ate together on the occasions, and
sometimes changed places, the masters waiting on the slaves. The slaves chose
one of their number as leader of the household festival and as lord of the
revel...
To the pagans, the Saturnalia were fun. To the Christians, the Saturnalia
were an abomination in homage to a disreputable god who had no existence
anyway. The Christians, moreover, were dedicated to the slow, uphill task
of converting these roisterous pagan Romans. There were many immigrants into
the ranks of the Christians by this time, but the Church Fathers discovered
to their alarm that they were also facing an invasion of pagan customs. The
habit of Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first the Church
forbade it, but in vain. When a river meets a boulder which will not be moved,
the river flows around it. If the Saturnalia would not be forbidden, let
it be tamed. The Church Fathers now sought to point the festival toward the
Christian Sun of Righteousness."
[Count pp. 24-27]
Given the previous quotations about Christmas in the eighth and fourteenth
centuries, it doesn't appear the "Church Fathers" were too successful!
Before continuing our search for Jesus in the Season, here are descriptions
of the origins of a few more specific "Christmas" customs and words:
"Yule" and "Yule Log"
"
"The Anglo-Saxons and early English knew not the words either of Christmas
or Christ-tide. To them it was the season of Yule.
The author of an article titled 'Paganism in Modern Christianity' in 1882
wrote, 'The ancient name (Yule) for Christmas is still used throughout
Scandinavia. The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians wish each other a 'glad Yule'
as we say 'Merry Christmas'... the twelfth name of Odin, the Father of the
Gods, or Allfather [was] Ialg or Ialkr (pronounced yolk or yulg.) The Christmas
tree, introduced into Russia by the Scandinavians, is called elka (pronounced
yolka), and in the times just preceding, and just after, the conquest of
Britain by the English, this high feast of Odin was held in mid-winter, under
the name of Ialka tid, or Yule-tide. It was celebrated at this season, because
the Vikings, being then unable to go to sea, could assemble in their great
halls and temples to drink to the gods they served so well.'"
[Ashton pp. 6-7]
"Bringing in the Yule log... was a great function on Christmas eve- and much
superstitious reverence was paid to it, in order to insure good luck for
the coming year. [One writer of the 1800's, describing the Yule log custom
noted,] 'In some houses, when the faggot begins to burn up, a young child
is placed on it, and his future pluck [bravery] foretold by his nerve or
timidity. May not this be a remnant of dedication of children to the Deity
by passing them through the sacred fire?'"
[Ashton pp. 76-77]
Boar's Head
"The [pagan Germanic] god who cared for the fertile herd was Frey, after
whom Friday is named; his animal symbol was the boar. Even after the pagan
gods had passed away, the boar sacrifice was too enjoyable to be forgotten.
It survives in the feast of Merrie Old England in which the boar is treated
as if it were some royal personage- first the trumpets blow, the door swings
open, in marches a platter bearing a steaming boar's head, an apple in its
mouth; behind it troops a procession of lusty puddings. Cheers and laughter
from the spectators poised to attack it- valiant trenchermen [feasters] whose
ancestors worshipped Frey but of whom they themselves probably never have
heard. This too is Christmas."
[Count pp. 49-50]
Evergreens
"Box, bay, ivy, holly, yew, larch, juniper, pine, spruce, fir- all are shields
against the witches and the demons. The spines of the holly-leaves become
thickets to catch and hold the hags; juniper-smoke is a demon-chasing incense.
In the Tyrol [Austria], for instance, even city people smoke misfortune out
of their houses, while the farmer carries smouldering sprigs in a brazier,
along with a bowl of holy water, into every room and crevice, into the
stalls of the cattle, onto the threshing floor. Every animal is censed and
besprinkled; so, too, the beds of the girls and the doors to their chambers.
As the houseman makes his rounds, he keeps saying, 'In with the good luck,
out with the bad.' Finally, all the people of the household gather in a
circle, and each receives from the master a 'smoke blessing'... Weapons
against the weird and ghostly vermin were not only greenery, evergreen
incense and lights, but noise; shouts, horns, bells, even banging guns,
especially on New Year's Day. During the twelve days of Christmas... you
must avoid heavy work as much as possible, lest you be tripped up by one of
these invisible evil-doers... As in Rome and Babylon, the Twelve Days are
full of augury [fortune-telling] for the twelve months of the coming year-
to each of the twelve days its month of the same order... you may also learn
of your own fortune for the year if you go by through the proper magic acts.
The green boughs can bring you luck, too, if someone switches you with them.
Thus it is a good time- among Slavs as well as Germanics- for the children
to collect gifts from the neighbors by going around and switching them with
green boughs and reciting good-luck ditties."
[Count pp. 64-66]
WASSAILING
"A very old custom was that of 'wassailing' the fruit trees on Christmas eve...
This custom of drinking to the trees and pouring forth libations [drink
offerings] to them differs according to the locale... In some parts of [England]
it used to be customary for the farmer with his family and friends, after
partaking together of hot cakes and [fermented] cider, to proceed to the
orchard, one of the party bearing hot cake and cider as an offering to the
principal tree. The cake was formally deposited on the fork of the tree,
and the cider thrown over it... The wassailing... is considered a matter
of grave importance, and its omission is held to bring ill luck, if not the
loss of all the next crop. Those who engage in the ceremony are called
'howlers.'"
[Ashton pp. 86-87]
The quotations above barely scratch the surface of the wealth of "Christmas
lore" that is available in books on the topic. In fact, newspapers usually
cheerfully print articles at Christmas time documenting the totally pagan
origins of most Christmas customs and concepts. Even the idea of a special
"being" bringing gifts to little children at Christmas time is not limited
to the American "Santa Claus." In Denmark it is a "sprite" named Nisse. In
Italy it is an "elderly [male] fairy" named Beffania. In Spain it is the
Wise Men. In Mexico it is the Sun God, the feathered serpent named
Huitzilopochtli. And children in Switzerland are assured by their parents
that the Baby Jesus himself (evidently He never grows up) sneaks in at night
and leaves gifts. [Bush, pp. 37-46]
So just where is Jesus in all of this [besides passing out gifts in Switzerland]?
Mother and Child
When you celebrated "Lincoln's Birthday" or "George Washington's Birthday"
back in grade school, what was emphasized about those men? Didn't you color
pictures of George crossing the icey Potomac, cut out silhouettes of these
famous men as adults, memorize the Gettysburg address?
Doesn't it seem a
little odd, then, when people claim to be celebrating the birthday of Christ,
they focus only on Him as an infant? Even when you celebrate birthdays of
your own children, you don't spend the day just talking about their birth-
you have a party with games they enjoy now and with gifts appropriate to
their age now.
And when you celebrate your boss's birthday, you certainly
don't just drag out his baby pictures- you have a dinner and honor him for
his accomplishments as an adult. Why is Jesus "frozen in time" as a baby
for Christmas?
"The earliest Christians were not interested in Jesus' birthday, but by the
fourth century they had become very much interested. How this came about
is the story of a soil growing. Christmas is a seed which sprouted in that
soil.
It sprouted when the Christians at last turned their eyes upon Jesus the
infant and Mary His mother. There never would have been a Christmas as we
know it without the Madonna and Child."
[Count p. 30]
"Over the years that followed Jesus' death, the Christians tended to lose
sight of Him as the refuge of those who labor and are heavy-laden. What mattered
the most to them was that, at any moment, He would reappear to be the stern
but righteous judge of all mankind. The world was to begin anew with a day
of wrathful judgment.
To people who thought this way, the date of Jesus' physical birth could not
matter. To celebrate it would have seemed at best pointless, and at worst
an evil thing... in 245 A.D. the great Church Father, Origen, declared it
to be a sin even to think of keeping the birthday of Christ, 'as though he
were a king Pharaoh.'"
[Count p. 31]
[But by the fourth century...]
"The thoughts of people had been changing. This is the same century in which
we find Christians regarding Mary the mother of Jesus in a new light. She
had long been revered, along with the other saints and apostles; but only
along with them. But now, in this same fourth century, we see her emerging
as the Queen of Heaven. The Divine Christ had been born both human and divine.
Mary had done a thing which certainly no other woman had done. This in itself
set her off from all other humanity; but there is something deeper than this
bald fact. For Mary represented something which the human heart ached for,
and the ache was not being solaced.
The Gospels told of a Son of Man Who walked in the sun and the dust of the
roads of Palestine. He healed the hurts of men, the hurts of body and soul.
He called to Himself those who labored and were heavy-laden, and promised
them refreshment which no earthly power could give. But His followers could
not keep in mind at once this Jesus and the stern Judge who sat on a throne
in heaven and Who would some day return in glory to deal an even-handed justice
to all mankind. It was a renewal of the world in this latter way, and not
a renewal of the heart in the former way, which won.
So the heart's ache remained. It became the burden of Mary."
[Describing a mural in a medieval cathedral in France, one author wrote...]
"
"There is heaven! and Mary looks down from it, into her church, where she
sees us on our knees, and knows each of us by name. There she actually is-
not a symbol or in fancy- but in person, descending on her errands of mercy
and listening to each one of us, as her miracles prove... She is there as
a Queen, not merely as an intercessor... The same centuries and the same
people who made of the birthday of a divine-human Infant a beautiful and
tremendous church festival, brought into being new festivals in worship of
Mary the Virgin Mother."
[Count, pp. 34-36]
"Trimming" the Tree
After all this, perhaps you are thinking, "Well, maybe others didn't have
Christ as the focal point of Christmas. But I can! I'll trim out the tree
and the pagan symbols, and just keep the true Christmas as it was intended.
Let's consider that concept. Can we take all the
true parts of Christmas,
and leave out all the paganism?
The first demand would be to find those true parts. How about the date of
His birth?
"When was Jesus born? No one knows. December 25 is no more the historical
date of His birth than any other. The Christians chose it to be His birthday
only several centuries after He lived and died."
[Count, p. 30]
"Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clemens of Alexandria, lived exactly at
this time [third century A.D.], and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks
plainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty, even at that early epoch
of Christianity, of fixing the date: 'There are those who, with an over-busy
curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the date of our Saviour's
birth, who they say, was born in the 28th year of Augustus, on the 25th of
the month Pachon [May 20]... Some say He was born on the 24th or the 25th
of the month Pharmuthi [April 19 or 20].'"
[Ashton pp. 1-2]
But how about some of the straightforward Bible details? Unfortunately, even
those have become garbled. The angels didn't announce to the shepherds "Peace
on earth, good will to men," as the King James translation puts it. As an
adult, Jesus said, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the
earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." [Mat. 10: 34] What, then,
did the angels say? The more accurate modern translations clarify it: "Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests."
It is those who please God who will have the true peace.
And then there are the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men who show up next
to the shepherds in all the nativity scenes. There is nothing in the scripture
that says there were three of them. There is nothing that says they were
kings- they are called simply "Magi."
There is no real agreement by Biblical
scholars on exactly what is meant by that term. It is clear from the scripture
that they did not arrive on the birth night with the shepherds. They visit
the Christ Child in a house [Mat. 2:11]. Immediately after their visit, Joseph
takes Jesus and Mary and flees to Egypt. Yet, according to Luke 2:22, Jesus
is presented at the temple in Jerusalem 40 days or more after his birth.
So the Magi visited AT LEAST 40 days after the birth, and perhaps up to two
YEARS later.
What is there left of the story that is emphasized so much at Christmas?
Don't we at least exchange gifts in memory of the gifts the Magi gave Jesus?
No--not even that makes sense. They didn't exchange gifts with one another--they gave them to Jesus! And they gave the gifts not as birthday presents,
but because they were visiting a king, and it is customary to offer fine
gifts when visiting a king.
One last note: Even the word Christmas is not understood by most Christians--especially Protestants. It is a shortened form of Christ-Mass: that is, the
Catholic ceremony of the Mass held in honor of the birth of Christ. And what is the
Mass?
It is not just a "memorial communion," as most Protestants consider the partaking
of the bread and cup. The Catholics consider that, in the Mass, the priest
has the authority to change the bread and wine so that they actually become
the flesh and blood of Christ, and the priest then offers this flesh and
blood again and again. The ceremony is actually called the "sacrifice
of the Mass." Yet the Bible makes it clear that there is no need for this.
It says of the Old Testament priesthood and its difference from the true High
Priest, Jesus:
Day after day
every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and
again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away
sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one
sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
(Hebrews 10:11-12)
The Heart of the Matter
Perhaps, even after all of this information about the origins of Christmas,
you are still wondering if there is some way to keep a "Holy Christmas" in
your heart. After all, you don't think of pagan gods when you participate.
And the lights are so pretty. And the spirit of giving seems so right. Surely,
God looks on the heart. Can't He be pleased with Christmas if our intentions
are pure? Surely Christ would be happy we want to have a special day to honor
His birth--even if we have to accept a date originating in paganism, since
He didn't bother to tell us in the scriptures what the correct date is.
Click here to Continue the article
"Reason for the Season"
