Nov 26, 2018
By Jasmine Lynch
I love celebrations: birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, graduations, Resurrection Sabbath, Veterans Day, Labor Day, Dr. Martin Luther Kings Day—but I do not celebrate Christmas and Easter because of their pagan origin.
The birth of Jesus was predicted from Creation (Genesis 3:15) that He would be the seed of a woman. Throughout Bible prophecies you will find the birth of Jesus mentioned directly or indirectly. Isaiah 7:14 foretells that He would be born of a virgin; Isaiah 11:1, that He would be a descendant of Jesse and King David; and Micah 5:12 tells us that He would be born in Bethlehem. Then there are several scriptures that tell us how people would treat Him, the kind of life He would live, and how He would die. However, there is no specific scripture that gives His birthdate. Scholars (historical and Biblical) all agree that He was not born on December 25. Therefore, to celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25 is celebrating a lie. If it were true that He was born on December 25, would you as a Christian celebrate His birthday the way the world celebrates it today?
Christians are the light of the world. Jesus said that He is the light and the truth. As light bearers of the Gospel, why would you celebrate a lie about Him? The truth is, in Rome, December 25 was celebrated as the birthday of Mithra, the god of light. Christians began celebrating the birthday of Jesus around 250 AD. In 325 AD Roman Emperor Constantine re-assigned the meaning to the birthday of Jesus, the true God of light. The heathen also celebrated the birth of their sun god Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14-18) on December 25, thousands of years before Jesus was born. (Pagan Origin of Christmas, Easter, Halloween)
The prophet Jeremiah warned: “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not.” (Jeremiah 10:2-4) Is that the tradition of the Christmas tree today?
Although the Bible does not tell us the specific day on which Jesus was born, we can be very certain that He was not born December 25 because we know for sure He was not born in December. The shepherds would not be out in the field at night during the winter and rainy season. (Luke 2:9-11) It does not take a theology degree to discover this fact. It has been historically and Biblically documented that Jesus was thirty-three-and-a-half years when He was crucified. It is historically and Biblically documented that He was crucified around the Passover time—which has been during March/April from that time until now and has not changed. Count six months forward or backward from March/April and Jesus’ birth world be September/October. That is so simple that people can’t believe it. Let’s find corroborating evidence from the Bible.
It is necessary to start with John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, who was the fore runner of Jesus. I Chronicles 24:7-10 tells us that the eight-course called Abijah of the Priestly function fell to Zacharias which was in the fourth month, Tammuz (June). The first month of the Hebrew calendar was Abib (Deuteronomy 16:1).
Elizabeth got pregnant after Zachariah completed his priestly functions and went home, (Luke 1:5-25)
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he told her that Elizabeth was six months pregnant. (Luke 1:36) John would be six months older that Jesus. Therefore, Jesus was conceived at the beginning of the eleventh month Sebath (January/February) and born nine months later in the month of Tishri (September/October) “Chronology of Jesus birth”. (author unknown)
It is easy for Christians to get caught up in pagan celebrations because we follow traditions. Let’s face it, many of these are very enticing and fun especially for children. Not wanting our children to feel left out and different from their friends, we allow them to participate with their friends and classmates. They grow up thinking it’s ok and never bother to question the practice and so they continue the traditions. I remember one of my sisters saying she cannot believe that I take all the fun out of Christmas, telling my children that there is no Santa Claus bringing them gifts and not putting up a Christmas tree.
It wasn’t until I went to Rome and saw how the pagans used statues of the twelve apostles and Greek gods and goddesses to decorate the buildings that the priests used to live in (many of which are now museums), that I realized why there are so many admonitions by Paul to separate ourselves from the world. The Greeks and Romans had no problem mixing Christianity and paganism. Jesus did not ask us to celebrate His birthday, but asked us to celebrate His Crucifixion, and His return by the observance of the Lord’s Supper or Communion. (I Corinthians 11:23-26)
In the interest of full disclosure, I use the holiday to get together with my family and we have a family meal and fellowship with each other because that is when family members get holidays from work and can travel to be with each other. I use the time to teach the little ones, and now the grandchildren, why we celebrate the family and teach them the truth about the birth of Jesus and why He came. We should seize the opportunity to teach the truth at home, at work or at church, but we should not join in the heathen practices. I find that many individuals who come to church on Easter and Christmas have no idea of the truth. While you have them as a captive audience, you should use the time to teach the truth even if it destroys their idea of “fun.”
References:
Origin of Jewish/Christian holy days:
“Chronology of Jesus birth”/gestation events relative to the birth of Jesus and John (author unknown)
