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Wait! You Just Said Jesus Was Not Born on Dec. 25!
“You probably realize Christ was not born on December 25, and you may not think it’s important. But it really does matter. And it really is important that you not celebrate that day as His birthday!
Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons
This ancient Roman silver disk depicts Sol Invictus, the Roman sun god whose birthday was celebrated annually on Dec. 25—the date later adopted for the Christmas holiday.
Don’t you think it’s about time you stopped living like a Roman? Maybe you don’t think you live like a citizen of the greatest empire of the ancient world. But you do if you celebrate Dec. 25 as the birthday of the divine Savior. If you call yourself Christian, then it’s time you started living like a citizen of the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of ancient Rome. And a citizen of the Kingdom of God does not celebrate Christmas day as the birthday of Jesus Christ.
No matter how well-intentioned your Christmas celebration is, worshipping Him with practices taken directly from paganism is an abomination to God.
It’s commonly acknowledged today that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25. You can easily find this in many resources on the Internet. Even many churches readily admit this truth and openly tell their membership the facts.
I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to how easily sincere religious believers gloss right over this core fact. It was eye-opening. Let me tell you about it.
Echoes of a pagan past
Some colleagues and I recently went on a study tour of Italy, visiting sites connected with the story of the apostle Paul and the early Church. While visiting the ruins of a farm villa in southern Italy, the childhood home of Poppea, Emperor Nero’s wife, our guide was telling us what everyday life was like for a Roman.
By the first century A.D., Rome had declared no less than 80 days as holidays. The most important of these holidays was Dec. 25, the birthday of the sun, at the culmination of a several-days-long festival called the Saturnalia. Coming in winter, this festival of lights, food and revelry was a very popular occasion for all citizens. The year’s darkest period was the perfect time for a party!
As our guide described this festival he asked the group, “Did Jesus have a birthday on Dec. 25?” “Absolutely not!” he quickly answered. I caught a glance at a number of fellow travelers, all of whom were Bible-believing folk, and saw they were nodding their head in agreement.
He continued: “The text shows it was warm and there were sheep in the field. In the winter months the sheep are all indoors and not in the field,” he went on to say. “But,” he said, “if this new God we are serving is the big God then let’s put His birth date on Dec. 25 and make it a big celebration.” So they did. The rest is religious history.
Today we have a term for that—syncretism. It means a blending of ideas to create something different or new. In this case they blended a thoroughly pagan idolatrous winter festival into their version of Christianity.
Never mind that a straightforward reading of the biblical account of Christ’s birth shows it was not in the dead of winter. Never mind that a little digging into the history behind the Gospel accounts points to His birth being in the fall of the year. Never mind that the New Testament gives no command to observe His birth as a festival or holiday of any kind. Never mind, as my tour guide was saying, that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25 or anywhere close to that date.
Never mind these things because syncretism says we can do whatever we want when it comes to worshipping God!
A syncretized Christianity
What I already knew that day in Italy was dramatically reinforced by the open admission of a very smart and sincere teacher. It started me thinking about how much like the Romans people are today when it comes to religion. Rome borrowed the gods and goddesses and religions from Greece, Egypt, Babylon, northern Europe and other nations. They mixed them together in their version of “faith” and went on living their lives.
The church that succeeded to Rome’s position of power syncretized in adopting many of the pagan days, chief of which was Dec. 25 and the Saturnalia festival. To their concept of Jesus Christ they gave the biggest holiday and brought in elements of the sun god to complete an image of a new god made in their image.
Paganism was baptized with a form of biblical religion, and the new church was off and running. False doctrine, a triune god and completely foreign forms of worship became accepted teaching and practice, and ultimately the tradition to which succeeding generations of church teachers would subscribe.
Christmas today is a mixture of false religious teaching and commercialism. Throw in some new age abstractions and you have a perfect holiday that adapts itself to just about any culture on earth today. Even non-Christian nations like China and Japan have parts of the Christmas traditions attached to Dec. 25. They may not care about the religious symbols, but they do observe some form of the holiday in parts of the countries. Japan does a booming retail business during the Christmas season.
So what does all this mean for us in our modern world? Christmas is the world’s single biggest and most lucrative holiday. Sales during the Christmas season determine the commercial viability of many businesses. Eliminating Christmas would mean a severe economic slump for many sectors of the economy. This commercialism isn’t going away despite the sentiments of those who desperately want the religious message to prevail.
In fact, Christ cannot be “put back into Christmas,” as many call for, because He never was in Christmas in the first place! Further, Jesus wants nothing to do with a holiday deeply rooted in pagan worship to which His name was vainly attached. The fact that most people do not care about this truth makes it all the more serious when we consider what God says about such customs!
God doesn’t accept syncretized worship
Isaiah the prophet addressed this same kind of matter to Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah in the seventh century B.C. Judah had adopted customs and worship traditions contrary to what God had given to them at the beginning of their national history.
In the first chapter of Isaiah God states the problem with idolatry and forgetting who He was to them. In Isaiah 1:12 He shows a problem with the feasts and Sabbaths they had altered on the days they were to “appear before Me.” Their worship resulted in empty rituals on days God had specifically designed and commanded as His appointed feasts (Leviticus 23:1).
While people in Jerusalem still went to the temple of God on days He had designated, their actions rendered those days effectively meaningless for them. They incorporated elements of idolatry into the worship of God, and their attitude and actions were wrong in many ways. God hated their defilement of His time and occasions through living contrary to Him: “I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:13-14).
Regardless of any additional feast days or their calendar, the fact that they polluted something sacred to Him made it meaningless. That is an important lesson for us today. Today’s Christian world has a festival calendar completely different from the one God gave to His people for all time. Holidays like Easter and Christmas, to name only two, are steeped in pagan origins and symbols. God hates these days. They have no place in a biblically defined Christian form of worship!
The people of Isaiah’s time did not listen to the warning. In time God completely drew back His hand of blessing from them, and they were invaded by a foreign power. Their time on the world stage drew to a close. Their national sovereignty ended. The same will happen today to any nation that claims God’s name yet insults that name with the indignity of pagan trappings. America, Canada, Australia and Great Britain, along with other nations, will be judged by God for this and other sins.
Christmas and other pagan days presented as Christian celebrations are an abomination to God. Let’s paraphrase Isaiah’s words to hear what God says and feels about this: “I have had enough of your pious worship and take no delight in what you offer of your life for Me. You presume to appear before Me with something I value. Your offering and worship is empty and meaningless. Your religious celebrations mean nothing to Me. They trouble Me. I turn My eyes away and do not see. Though you make many prayers, I do not hear them. Your way results in death and not life” (Isaiah 1:12-15).
This sounds harsh and judgmental to a modern ear. So be it. It is far less than the reality God visited on Israel and Judah for their sins. God’s direct judgment on the nations has always been fair and not without warning to give anyone who hears the opportunity to repent.
It’s time to choose: Follow God or follow pagan traditions
Earlier I mentioned the home of Poppea, Nero’s wife. The home was near Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. It was covered with volcanic ash in the devastating eruption of A.D. 79.
The home we were in had been excavated, and you could still see the effect of the lava and ash that had covered the villa. That place and that event were a reminder to me that no culture—neither pagan Rome nor our neo-pagan world today—is exempt from judgment. Rome and its empire eventually went the way of all empires. Its time of power was eclipsed by the God of history whose determined purpose moves forward toward the day of final judgment (Acts 17:26; Acts 17:31).
Our tour guide acknowledged that Jesus wasn’t born on Dec. 25, the time of celebration following the end of the ancient Saturnalia. In his few words he admitted what is commonly known today among those interested enough to have looked into it. But he then moved on to another subject as if it didn’t matter. I wanted to say, “Wait—do you realize what you just said?”
Can you grasp what this fact means? How can you stand before God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and defend worship that is effectively meaningless and even defiant? It doesn’t matter how sincere you are. No matter how well-intentioned your Christmas celebration is, worshipping Him with practices taken directly from paganism is an abomination to God.
No matter how warm and family-oriented your festival is, it is futile and empty before God. Even if you don’t care, He does. He is a God of righteous judgment, and He commands all who hear the truth to repent—to put away such pagan trappings and begin to worship Him in the joyous meaningful manner He designed from creation. God is also merciful, and He desires us to worship Him in humility and sincerity.
It is time to stop living like a citizen of ancient Rome and begin living like a citizen of the coming Kingdom of God. This holiday season, you should turn things around and begin worshipping God in spirit and in truth. God is waiting to receive your sincere worship in spirit and in truth and hear your prayers!” From: https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/wait-you-just-said-esus-was-not-born-on-dec-25
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Bible Story: Adam and Eve and the Two Trees
“One of the first stories in the Bible is one of the best known but least understood. Adam and Eve’s choice between the two trees changed the course of history.
It includes a PDF download for family reading with a coloring page.
PDF to print for family reading
The story of Adam and Eve and their choice to eat fruit from the only tree that God told them not to eat from is one of the best-known stories of the Bible. This sad beginning has touched the lives of everyone who has lived ever since.
Let’s look at this true story and why it is still important today.
The main characters
There are four main characters: One good, one bad and two people who had to make a vital choice.
- God: The Creator who made everything.
- Adam: The first human being God created.
- Eve: The woman God created using one of Adam’s ribs.
- The serpent: This tricky, talking snake was the devil in disguise. The last book of the Bible tells us Satan the devil is “that serpent of old” (Revelation 12:9).
The creation of Adam and Eve
The Bible starts with God, who decided to create people who were like Him, who could become His children (1 John 3:1). He made the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the ground; but His plan was for people to actually become His sons and daughters if they made the right choices and tried to think and act like He does.
God breathed into the dust He had shaped into Adam, and Adam came alive! God gave him the job of caring for a beautiful garden with every type of tree and fruit imaginable. Then God gave him an important rule:
“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
God then let Adam name all the animals God had created. Perhaps while watching all the animals with their mates, Adam realized that he was alone as the only human being. In this way it seems God showed the value of companionship before He created Adam’s beautiful companion.
God put Adam into a deep sleep and took one of his ribs to use in making Eve. When God brought Adam and Eve together as husband and wife, He created the first marriage. This close relationship, like everything God created, was very good!
We wish that the idyllic story had continued and that we could say “they lived happily ever after.” God wanted them to choose life and happiness, but God’s enemy did not.
The temptation
Satan the devil hates God and hates human beings who have the potential to be God’s children. So he intruded on Eve one day in the garden. Eve probably hadn’t heard a talking snake before, but it seems she hadn’t learned to fear any of the animals in the peaceful garden.
The tricky serpent asked her, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). He wanted her to start thinking that God was unfair.
But Eve said, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’” (verses 2-3).
Satan, disguised as the serpent, then lied to Eve. “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (verses 4-5).
Satan called God a liar. He said, in effect, “You can’t really believe God.” He made it seem like God was keeping good things from Adam and Eve. He made the fruit seem very appealing; and when Eve looked at the fruit, it looked good and tasty. She began to believe that the serpent was right. If she ate it, she would become as wise as God!
So she touched it, and nothing bad happened. She took a bite, and she was convinced the serpent was right. She encouraged Adam to eat some too. He wasn’t convinced by the serpent, but he decided to eat as well.
The results
God was right, of course. Adam and Eve’s choice led to their death.
They chose the way of get. They chose to selfishly take things for themselves. They chose to decide for themselves what they thought was good and evil, but it didn’t make them more like God. God really knows what is right and wrong. People, following the lead of the devil, often get these things wrong. As the story of Adam and Eve shows, there are very bad results when people ignore God’s instruction and choose for themselves what they think is the right way to live (Proverbs 14:12).
After disobeying God, Adam and Eve were ashamed of their bodies and tried to hide from God. They felt guilty and had lost their closeness to God.
When God asked what happened, Adam blamed Eve (and basically blamed God, since He had given her to him). Then Eve blamed the serpent.
Along with death, Adam and Eve also earned other bad results. Their sin brought sorrow and conflict to families. They lost their home in the beautiful garden and had to work much harder to live.
Because their choice would make their lives miserable, God didn’t want them to “live forever” in misery (Genesis 3:22). God put angels and a flaming sword at the entrance of the garden “to guard the way to the tree of life” (verse 24). Their sin cut them off from God and from the gift of eternal life He wants to give.
Adam and Eve chose the way that leads to death for themselves and all their children.
But thankfully God had a plan to turn that around. Jesus Christ was willing to pay the death penalty for us. If we reject the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and accept what God says is right and wrong, God will open the way to the tree of life.
What the two trees mean for us today
Every person since Adam and Eve has also chosen the way of get. We have chosen to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. In that way we have listened to the lies of Satan and chosen to sin. We have eaten the forbidden fruit. We have earned death.
But the Bible says Jesus came to the earth as a second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45). He was willing to pay the death penalty for those who will repent. That means to turn around, stop going Satan’s way of get and start going God’s way of give—of love.
The apostle Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
When God forgives our sins, He gives us the help of His Holy Spirit to change our lives. When we accept that gift and grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it is like eating from the tree of life. It is choosing the way of giving and of outgoing concern for others. We must always choose that tree.
At the end of the Bible we see the tree of life again. Jesus told those who were striving to overcome sin and to obey God’s commandments: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7; see also 22:14).
When we choose to obey God’s law, the result is real happiness. God will be happy to have us live forever when we come to Jesus Christ the Savior in true repentance and do the good things that make us and the ones around us happy.
For more about what the two trees mean, see the article “The Tree of Life” and the article “The Fruit of the Spirit.”” From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/bible-study/bible-stories/adam-and-eve-and-the-two-trees/?
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