Christians and Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all! Now since that’s out of the way, let’s look into the cheerful season. Christmas and Christians/non-Christians have different points of view on Christmas. Of course, that’s expected of some but not all.

The top scriptures I hear for not celebrating Christmas is:

Jeremiah 10:3-5

³ For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

⁴ They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple.

⁵ They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.”

Now while Christians can use these verses to say Christmas and Christmas trees should be banned, I do not agree with that. let’s look into why I don’t agree.

Christmas:

We aren’t entirely sure where Christmas really came from but it seems like the tradition came from many different traditions and forms of idol worship. Does this mean Christmas is idolatry? No way! Christmas is a holiday everyone can take part in. For the non-religious person, it’s a time to get cheaper gifts, spend time with their families, and take a break from work. For the religious person, it’s a time to celebrate their own holiday (or be offensive). For Christians, it is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Since we don’t know the actual date of His birth, we can at least dedicate this one day of the year just for Him. And just as his family was there with Him, we should enjoy his birth together with our families.

Christmas Trees:

Christmas has always had decorations mainly being red, green, and gold. Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, while green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter, and gold is the first color associated with Christmas, as one of the three gifts of the Magi, symbolizing royalty. Evergreens were common with the pagans of European descent as they would worship them. Eventually, once they converted to Christianity, they used the evergreens to symbolize the gift of God to the world who is eternal. They would also lease the tree out to birds who needed a home.

Final say:

While Christmas may have had certain roots in pagan ideology, most of the core comes from Christians that decided to use what they had and put it for Christ. Let’s say we have a person that loves shoes so much they worship them. When they find Christ (they weren’t believers) would they keep their shoes or use them to say, go to church? They would use them for good (go to church). We should be careful during Christmas for the reason to celebrate as Christians. Are we celebrating Christ’s birth or are we celebrating something else? Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.