Should Christians defend Christmas?
by Nolan Bachman

As we turn on our TV’s or walk through the mall, we see people declaring Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Many businesses have decided to eliminate the term Christmas from their advertisements in order to be more sensitive to their customers. Christians are offended because the meaning of Christmas, Christ, is being lost to religious sensitive consumerism. Many have stood up against religious sensitive businesses because they are forgetting the reason for the season. But should Christians stand up and defend the term Christmas?

When we study the history of Christmas, we find that December 25 is probably not Jesus’ actual date of birth. Many scholars believe that Jesus was born in the spring because the Shepard’s would not be herding their flocks in the middle of winter. In fact, Christians decided to use December 25 to celebrate Jesus’ birth because of the pagan festivals. “The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras, the god of light. Various peoples in northern Europe held festivals in mid-December to celebrate the end of the harvest season. As part of all these celebrations, the people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with greenery, and joined in singing and gift giving. These customs gradually became part of the Christmas celebration.� (http://www2.worldbook.com/features/holidays/html/history.htm) Pope Julius decided to declare December 25 as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth to over shadow the pagan harvest festival. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. (http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/real2.html) There is nothing significant about the day itself that we need to defend. Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ. Are we dishonoring God by not using the term Christmas?

David instituted many festivals to give praise and worship to God. The festivals were held with good intentions and remember all that God had done for His people. After a while the festivals turned sour. Celebrations that once were a sweet fragrance in God’s nostrils became spoiled and were a burden. Many people still held the festivals with intentions of glorifying God, but the society turned into an excuse to engage in drunken orgies. God addresses Israel about their religious festivals through the prophet Amos: “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies, Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.� (Amos 5: 21-23 NIV)

America is doing the same thing to Christmas that Israel did to their religious festivals. Our culture has already taken Christ out of Christmas so why do we insist on keeping God’s sacred, holy name attached to a day that is drunk with consumerism? If we really want to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we need to do it everyday. One day a year is not enough. Sure, Christmas is a great time to remember Jesus birth, but the times we really need to remember it are when a homeless person asks us for something to eat or when we get into an argument with our spouse.
As Christians we feel the need to “stand up for God� as if God needs our help. Many Christians are upset that businesses are not using the term Christmas and they feel they are doing a “holy duty� by standing up against the secular culture. These are the same Christians that instigate rallies against homosexual marriage and abortion. They hold signs and throw abusive comments toward them saying they are going to hell because of their lifestyle. I am not sure where they see this kind of teaching in the Gospel. Somehow these actions and the actions of Jesus do not line up, but yet we justify our actions because we are “defending the faith.� I am not advocating homosexual marriage or abortion, but I am saying insulting these people in the “name of God� is wrong and needs to be stopped. These Christians are doing more damage to the name of God than our society is by not using the term Christmas.

The truth is that God requires obedience, not sacrifice (I Samuel 15: 22). God would rather we were obedient than to sacrifice for Him. Many Christians I know feel they are engaging in a form of sacrifice by defending Christmas. However, if more Christians were obedient, using the term Christmas would be irrelevant. The entire culture would recognize the birth of Christ by observing how we live. Now I am not suggesting we need to live under the Law, but we do need to live our faith more than a one day a week.

Personally I believe that disconnecting the name of Christ from the holiday season would be a breath of fresh air to God. God has been carrying the burden of Christmas for too long. American culture has twisted the Christmas story by forgetting Jesus’ birth and focusing on the gifts of the wise men. It is a day filled with greed and gluttony. Many families do honor God with the way they celebrate Christmas, but our society, as a whole, does not. Instead of defending Christmas, we should be defending Christ. Christ permeates out of us when we choose to submit to Him. Then we can live the life He is calling us to live. Using the name Christmas does not honor God. We need to honor God with our heart, soul and mind. Everything else falls into place after we do that. Just because something is religious, does not make it right.

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