Whatever you choose to do is up to you. It isn't for me to say that you should or shouldn't celebrate, or how you celebrate. It's ultimately your choice what you do and why you do it. I have made a choice as well. I made a decision several years ago to not celebrate the day at all.
Do I hate trees? No. Do I hate cookies? No way! They're my favorite sweet snack. Do I hate presents, gathering with my loved-ones, or bright, twinkling lights? No. No. And No. I don't hate any of those things. I love all of those things!
Well then...do I hate Jesus? Absolutely not. I love Jesus and his father Jehovah. And that actually is the reason I decided that the best path for me was to not celebrate the holidays.
It all began like this.....
Once upon a time, I started to study the Bible. During that time I celebrated Christmas big time. It naturally seemed like the thing to do. I was continuing to do what I had known. When I grew up, we always had it huge. We would visit two sets of grandparents' homes, both filled with family, food, gifts and all the Christmas fixin's. Then we had Christmas Day at our own home. Santa would come, leave gifts, and eat the cookies that we always remembered to put out for him. My mother would make tons of cookies, treats, breakfast casserole, and decorations. Everything was perfect. Full of fun. A lot of bickering and stress went along with it all as well, but ultimately, my brother and I scored big time from the stockings that we found filled with goodies & lots of other neat stuff to the biggest gift. Besides a few of the very religious ones in the family, there wasn't a lot of "Jesus" in our Christmas, but there was a lot of Santa!
And then I carried on the tradition with my kids. I tried to fit a little more Jesus into Christmas with my own kids. I'd tell them the little Christmas story. I'd talk about Jesus. Though, I must have done even better than my own parents at playing Santa, because when my oldest son figured out that Santa wasn't real, he was angry and told me, "That's the only lie you've ever told me." I was crushed. He was right. None of my blithering excuses and justifications about just having fun and make-believe seemed even good to me. He was so let down, and it was so unexpected. But that's not why I quit celebrating Christmas....
Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord.—Ephesians 5:10
During the holiday season, while running around, pressured to find most perfect gifts for loved-ones; spending money we didn't have, I watched the people hustle and bustle, materialism pushed everywhere, and I'd say to my husband,
"Jesus wouldn't have wanted this. There is no way that this is what Jesus would have
wanted for his birthday". Something wasn't right. Things about the holiday really started to bother me.
But it wouldn't be until a few more years that I quit celebrating Christmas....
As I was saying earlier, I started to study the Bible. I wanted to know a lot, like: how to decipher the book of Revelation, learn about what the Bible actually says about angels, what God really expected of us, and
what about the holidays? I learned more than I ever expected. I really did. But let's fast-forward to why I gave up Christmas:
Ready for the reason? It was the golden calf.
Yep, that's right. The golden calf. I'll share with you what I'm talking about, but I encourage you to pick up your Bible and read the corresponding scriptures for yourself.
After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they came to a place called Horeb, also referred to as Mt. Sinai. I am sure you remember that Moses went up the mountain and some grand things happened. At one point, he was there for 40 days and 40 nights, and he received the stones on which God wrote the 10 commandments. He also received the multitude of other laws that they were to follow as God's people, including that we should love Jehovah with our whole being and to also love our neighbor as ourselves, which Jesus emphasized later on. Big stuff. But what happened when Moses came down the mountain? What did he see?
When Moses descended from the mountain he saw that the people had become bored and anxious. They had said to each other, "Let's make us a god that will lead us out of this land." So Aaron, Moses's brother, took all of their gold earrings that they brought to him, melted them down and made a golden calf. The people delighted, exclaimed, "This is our God, who led us out of Egypt!" and they proceeded to hold a big celebration and worship the golden calf. In fact, Aaron even announced that there would be a "festival to Jehovah tomorrow."
They got up the next morning and even offered burnt offerings and presented communion sacrifices. "After that, the people sat down to eat and to drink. Then they got up to have a good time."
Now it may not seem so bad, right? After all, they said that they were worshiping the "God who brought them out of Egypt", yes? But there was a problem. The "image" that they were worshiping was that of a golden calf...the same as the pagan worship that they had learned while being in Egypt.
They took a pagan idol and placed God's name on it. Jehovah was very, very angry at this. He was not happy with the celebration even if it was for the celebrating of being released from Egypt. And even if they were attributing being saved to God. By placing his name on a pagan celebration, it was mixing false religion with true worship and that did not please him. Exodus 32:1-35
I was able to relate this to the holidays of today. Christmas has pagan roots. In fact, every single facet and detail to the holiday has either pagan roots or is distorted from the truth. Jesus said:
“God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”
When I see pagan celebrations with the name of Jesus put on to them, I think of the golden calf. When I see objects of the Christmas season "changed" to include or represent Jesus, I see the golden calf. To me, it is the same thing: the Isrealites took the golden calf and the pagan form of worship and put Jehovah's name on it, then celebrated this. At Christmas, we are taking a mix of pagan worship, putting Jesus's name on it, and celebrating.
Now of course people say, "Well, we are not worshiping in a pagan way." or "We are not worshiping the Christmas tree." But, is this entirely true? It is up to each one to decide this on their own. I'm not here to make that decision for you. It's up to each one of us to see if what we are doing is okay in the eyes of God.
When churches celebrate Christmas with the Christmas tree and songs of worship about our Christ King's birth, then I see that as a form of worship. Don't you see celebrations and singing in your church as a form of worship? There is certainly nothing wrong with singing about our king, but in connection with a holiday with pagan roots, considering the scriptures, I think that is crossing the line. I think it is tripping and falling over the line when the songs misrepresent details of his birth such as songs about the "three wise men" and the "star".
I love the singing. I love the joy. I love thinking about the birth of Christ, and about what his most-important birth means for us. I do. I just believe that if we were to acknowledge this birth once per year, then we would have been given a date that he was born. This would be just like how we were given the date of his death and told, "Keep doing this in remembrance of me." in regards to observing his memorial (Luke 22:19). I am pretty sure that this date would not coincide with the pagan sun-god's birthday, and I am pretty sure our direction would not include pagan 'rituals' and objects to celebrate with.
What matters the most to me is the knowledge that we can hurt God's feelings. This is profound to me. It seems unfathomable that we can cause him to rejoice, or on the flip-side, we can hurt his heart. Yet, it's true.
(Genesis 6:5,6; Proverbs 27:11)
So, when I think this out, and I know from his word that "God does not change" (Malachi 3:6; Psalm 33:11), and I know from his word that he is not a God of confusion (disorder), and then I see this holiday based on pagan roots, still holding on to traditional pagan details; it being held on the disgusting sun-god's birthday, and I wonder to myself, "How does this make God feel?" How does it make him feel to see people celebrating his own son, praising his own son, on the same day that held wretched pagan celebrations to a wretched pagan god? To see his son "honored" in a way that includes the exact same ways of worship that the pagans used..and still use in their own celebrations? Who is happy on this day, and who is sad? Is God happy? Is he sad? Is Satan happy? Is he sad?
Why isn't Jesus's birthday held on a different day? Why is it held on the sun-god's day? Well, many of us know that it was for the merging of the pagans and the Christians to try to keep peace in the Empire. So, naturally, the Christians were to adopt the pagan celebrations, apply whatever details they needed to "Christianize" them, and the pagans, not really caring how many gods they worship or who, didn't have to give up their traditional celebrations. A perfect meld.
But, in whose eyes? We see how Jehovah felt about the merging of pagan and true worship during the celebration to him with the golden calf.
Like I said, I made my own choice. It is up to each one of us to stand in front of our loving father and say, "I made a good choice, because I love you." It is not something to brush over, but something to think about. I certainly would not tell another what decision they need to make, but I will say, that every single one of the "positive" aspects of celebrating Christmas can be done at any time of the year, separate from a holiday. Gift-giving, family togetherness, twinkly lights, baking cookies, singing pretty songs, loving Jesus. It can all be done outside of Christmas. And that is the beautiful thing. It helps us to get together and give to others, not because we are expected to, or feel compelled to, during one specific time of the year, but because we want to do it stemming from our hearts. Yes, it takes a little work, but sometimes a little work is worth it.
Other scriptures that I consider:
2 Cor. 6:17
2 Cor. 6:14-17
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