The Truth About Christmas

The Truth about Christmas is quite interesting. Many Christians believe in Christmas; but as Christians (to be specific – as Seventh-day Adventist) are we to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was born on December 25th? Are we to go out and buy a tree and decorate it? Are we to spend our money on gifts and do nothing for the poor, the hungry, the people that are cold outside from a lack of clothing while claiming to be missionaries? We will see where it comes from: how it got into the church, how we can do better and different, and what is the work we should be doing at this time as missionaries. Let’s Begin!

When was Jesus born? It is known among many inside the church and outside that Jesus was not born December 25th . The reason is that the shepherds were not out in the fields with their sheep at that time.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Luke 2:8 

Shepherds always brought their sheep in from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them no later than October 15, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed. (See Ezra 10:9; Song of Solomon 2:11)

To add that the census of Caesar Augustus is mentioned in luke 2:1-2, but historians are not certain when it was issued. It is improbable that he would call citizens of the Roman Empire to return to their native homes, to be enrolled in the census in the middle of the winter. Even his own armies avoided marching during the hazards of winter weather.

Notice what the Prophet says:

Christmas as a Holiday.–“Christmas is coming,” is the note that is sounded throughout our world from east to west and from north to south. With youth, those of mature age, and even the aged, it is a period of general rejoicing, of great gladness. But what is Christmas, that it should demand so much attention? . . . {AH 477.1}

The twenty-fifth of December is supposed to be the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, and its observance has become customary and popular. But yet there is no certainty that we are keeping the veritable day of our Saviour’s birth. History gives us no certain assurance of this. The Bible does not give us the precise time. Had the Lord deemed this knowledge essential to our salvation, He would have spoken through His prophets and apostles, that we might know all about the matter. But the silence of the Scriptures upon this point evidences to us that it is hidden from us for the wisest purposes. {AH 477.2}

In His wisdom the Lord concealed the place where He buried Moses. God buried him, and God resurrected him and took him to heaven. This secrecy was to prevent idolatry. He against whom they rebelled while he was in active service, whom they provoked almost beyond human endurance, was almost worshiped as God after his separation from them by death. For the very same purpose He has concealed the precise day of Christ’s birth, that the day should not receive the honor that should be given to Christ as the Redeemer of the world–one to be received, to be trusted, to be relied on as He who could save to the uttermost all who come unto Him. The soul’s adoration should be given to Jesus as the Son of the infinite God. {AH 477.3}

Brothers and Sisters, don’t you just love the Prophet. Notice What a Historian says as well about this:

“… of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below” (Origen, in Levit., Hom. VIII, in Migne P.G., XII, 495).

Where did Christmas come from?

The word for Christmas in late Old English is “Cristes Maesse”, the Mass of Christ, first found in 1038, and Cristes-messe, in 1131.Christmas came from the Roman Catholic Church. “A feast was established in memory of this event (Christ birth) in the fourth century. In the fifth century the western church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the Roman feast of the birth of Sol [the latin word for sun] as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed.”

God told us never to worship the sun or host of heaven (Deut 4:13-19)!

The birth of the sun is relating to the birth of Tammuz. He was born December 25th. Semiramis Nimrod’s wife after he died had a baby which was Tammuz which she said that the sun god (which is so called her husband Nimrod) that was Tammuz father and he was the spirit of the sun. We see that people were easily deceived because of pagan customs. This is also a false Christ because she was virgin like Mary.

Here is some more information on Christmas from other Historians:

“Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church . . . the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt.” “Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas,”Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, “Christmas”.

“Christmas was originally a festival of the Winter Solstice. It was customary to hold great feasts in honor of the HEATHEN GODS. The early teachers of Christianity PROHIBITED THESE FESTIVALS as unsuited to the character of Christ. Yet the symbols and customs of the old festivals
are adapted to the new, and so we find Christmas patterned with many customs of pagan origin.” “To the mind of the Puritans, Christmas smelled to heaven of idolatry… The Puritans abolished Christmas as a hateful relic of Popery.” The Customs of Mankind. “There were non-Christian elements present in the origin of Christmas. The giving of presents was a Roman custom. The Yule-tree [modern ‘Christmas Tree’] and the Yule-log are remnants of old Teutonic NATURE WORSHIP.” Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia.

“December 25 was the date of the Roman pagan festival inaugurated in 274 as the birthday of the unconquered sun which at the winter solstice begins again to show an increase in light. Sometime before 336 the Church in Rome, unable to stamp out this pagan festival, spiritualized it as the Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness,” New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 223.

“Christmas…was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth.” “A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ’s birth] in
the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed,” Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 ed.

Now, let’s see how this practice entered into the church…

“The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence. . . . The pagan festival with its riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. Christian preachers of the West and the Near East protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ’s birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their Western brethren of idolatry and sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival,” New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, p. 48. And so, the church established the birthday of the Savior to coincide with the heathen feast day. “…the Latin Church, supreme in power, and infallible in judgment, placed it on the 25th of December, the very day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their goddess Bruma. Pope Julius I was the person who made this alteration,” Clarke’s Commentary.

“The decorated tree, St. Nick, yule log, wreaths, cookies, berries, mistletoe, bonfires, roast goose, roast pig, wassailing, caroling, and other familiar fixtures were added or embellished for the Christmas-Saturnalia in various countries. When the Protestant movement attempted to rid itself of the excesses and sins of Roman Catholicism, there also came an opposition to Christmas that almost obliterated it entirely in England. “In England, for example, the Puritans could not tolerate this celebrating for which there was no biblical sanction. Consequently, the Roundhead Parliament of 1643 outlawed the feasts of Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, along with the saints’ days,” Celebrations, p. 312.

The Christmas Tree is in the bible. Notice what the bible says, Jeremiah 10:1-5:

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, 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 ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They [are] upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also [is it] in them to do good.

Something Better 

It would be interesting if you study who St. Nick really is. I believe that we have seen a little of the truth about Christmas-and the truth is that historically, Christmas has nothing to do with Christ and his birth. As Christians we should not adopt these pagan customs and have the beliefs of Rome in our lives. But God would not have us go through this season doing nothing, in love and mercy God has given us something better. God has given us “light from heaven”. I encourage all to read the chapter on Christmas in “Adventist Home”. Here are few of those quotations that show something better we can do during the season of Christmas:

The enemy plans that human minds and hearts shall be diverted from(1) God and his(2) cause, to praise and honor one another. God has been left out of the question, and positively dishonored. Christmas has been made a day of feasting of gluttony, of selfish indulgence. Now let every family consider this matter in all its bearings. Let the parents place it in all its wonderful significance before their children and friends, and say: “This year we will not expend money in presents upon ourselves, but we will honor and glorify God. We will testify of our gratitude to him who gave his Son to die as our sacrifice, that we might have the gift of eternal life.” Let us show that we appreciate this gift, and respond as far as it is in our power, with thank-offerings. Let us celebrate Christmas by remembering God, instead of remembering our friends and relatives with gifts which they do not need. {RH, December 11, 1888 par. 20}

The Day Not to Be Ignored.–As the twenty-fifth of December is observed to commemorate the birth of Christ, as the children have been instructed by precept and example that this was indeed a day of gladness and rejoicing, you will find it a difficult matter to pass over this period without giving it some attention. It can be made to serve a very good purpose. {AH 478.1}

The youth should be treated very carefully. They should not be left on Christmas to find their own amusement in vanity and pleasure seeking, in amusements which will be detrimental to their spirituality. Parents can control this matter by turning the minds and the offerings of their children to (1) God and His(2) cause and the salvation of souls. {AH 478.2}

Christmas will soon be here,–a season of the year when much money is spent in buying presents. Let us practise self-denial and self-sacrifice. Money is greatly needed to place our(1) sanitarium in running order. Let us work intelligently and earnestly, and spend in self-gratification nothing that is needed in the work of saving souls.(2) Buy books upon present truth for those who need them. It is not ministers alone who are entrusted with talents and the work of ministering. Every child of God is pledged to do his utmost by self-denial to save the pence, the shillings, and the pounds. (3)Put your money into the Lord’s treasury, that it may be invested in special lines of missionary work. We are to serve God with heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Every capability is to be put into active exercise. Our talents are to be used to please God, not to glorify self. {RH, November 14, 1899 par. 3}