What Is The Real Reason For The Christmas Season

A

The Ghosts of Christmases Past

yearly lament rises up from Christian circles, "Whatever happened to the old-fashioned Christmas? It's all become so crass and worldly." So out come the bumper stickers and T-shirts with slogans like:

s the last of the Thanksgiving dinner

Let's put Christ Back in Christmas Jesus is the Reason for the Season

leftovers are sent out to the trash, and the background music at stores and malls switches to sounds of the season. The advertisements hit us with full force, and even our news programs remind us of how many shopping days there are until Christmas. And the

Most Christians are convinced that Christmas has been corrupted in recent times by all the "worldly" people in our American society. They yearn for what

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they feel must have been the "good old days"perhaps in the time of the "Waltons," or at least farther back, in the days of "Little House on the Prairie." The holiday would have been "holy." Families would gather around the hearth to hear Dad read the Christmas story. "Worldly" amusements and revelry would have no place in that simpler time. It would just be hymn-sings around the popcornbedecked fir tree. So let's check this nostalgic picture against the historical record. Let's trace just when Jesus was the "Reason for the Season." Surely if we go back 100 years we'll find a holier Christmas: "The old English disport [entertainment] of mumming at Christmas is of great antiquity... [one author of the 1800's] says, under the heading 'Mummers': These were amusements derived from the Saturnalia [ancient Roman celebration in honor of the god Saturn, held in December], and so called from the Danish mumme or Dutch momme- disguise in a mask. Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were disguised as bears, others like unicorns, bringing presents. Those who could not procure masks rubbed their faces with soot or painted them. In the Christmas mummings the chief aim was to surprise by the oddity of the masks, and singularity and splendour of the dresses. Everything was out of nature and propriety." [Ashton p. 126] You might notice the similarity of "mumming" to the kind of outlandish activity one may see in parts of the Mardi Gras parades from New Orleans shown on TV in modern America. Here is part of a speech by a character called Old Father Christmas in a typical English "mumming play" of the 1800's: "Here comes I, Father Christmas, welcome, or welcome not, I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot. Although it is Old Father Christmas, he has but a short time to stay I am come to show you pleasure, and pass the time away. I have been far, I have been near, And now, I am come to drink a pot of your Christmas beer;

And, if it is your best, I hope in heaven your soul will rest. If it is a pot of your small, We cannot show you no Christmas at all." [Ashton p. 129] The English here is a little hard to understand. The last line is an unnecessary double-negative, a modern day equivalent might be "we ain' t gonna' give you no Christmas." The main point of this section is that Father Christmas (the holiday personified) offers religious blessing based on whether he gets good beer or not. The whole emphasis was on "getting" and partying, not on any Bible teaching or story of Jesus. Is it possible that we may not have gone back far enough? How about 200 years earlier, in the 1600's?: [A writer in 1633 said,] "If we compare our Bacchanalian Christmasses and New Year's Tides [seasons] with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we shall find such near affinity between them both in regard of time (they both being in the end of December and on the first of January), and in their manner of solemnizing [celebration] (both of them being spent in reveling, epicurism [gluttony], wantonness, idleness, dancing, drinking, stage plays and such other Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian [after Bacchus, god of wine and revelry] Festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them." [Ashton p. 6] This was back in the time of the "Puritans"- a group which had much influence in the early years of the American colonies. Let's read more about Christmas in their time: "It was, probably, the exceeding license of Christ-tide [the Christmas season] that made the sour Puritans look upon its being kept in remembrance, as vain and superstitious; at all events, whenever in their power, they did their best to crush it..." [Ashton p. 21] "Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England in 1655, and a Puritan, tried his best to eliminate the revelries, claiming them to be of pagan origin and therefore, 'unacceptable to all God-fearing people and an abomination to the Church of Christ.' The Puritans took some of these beliefs to the New Americas with 2

them, and for a time the same stringent rules applied there. However, when Charles II was restored to the throne of England in 1660, yuletide feasting soon became customary once again; and it still is." [Bush p. 22] "...the popular love of Christmas could not be done away with by restrictive legislation... its keeping was in-bred in the people, and they hated this sour puritanical feeling, and the doing away with their accustomed festivities." [As one member of the House of Commons commented at the time,] "These poor simple creatures are mad after superstitious festivals, after unholy holidays." [Ashton pp. 27-28] But perhaps this was just a problem among the "lower classes." What was royalty doing in that century?: "The death of infant Princess Mary in September 1607 did not interfere with James I. keeping Christmas right royally in that year. There were masques and theatricals- nay, the king wanted a play on Christmas night- and card-playing went on for high sums, the queen losing [the sum of] 300 pounds on the eve of Twelfth night." [Ashton p. 21]

Franks and Alemans- Germanic tribes- were being handicapped by the escapades of the Christian Romans back home. The Franks and the Alemans were on the threshold of becoming Christians, but their conversion was retarded by their enjoyment of lurid carnivals. When Boniface tried to turn them away from such customs, they argued that they had seen them celebrated under the very shadow of St. Peter's at Rome [the cathedral that was the central headquarters of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church]. Embarrassed and sorry, Pope Zacharias replied to Boniface, admitting that the people of the city of Rome misbehaved very badly at Christmas time. There was very little he could do about it; however, the following year he succeeded in inducing the Holy Synod of Rome to forbid the Romans, under penalty of law, from setting such bad examples. Alas for human frailty! The ban had to be repeated over and over, for centuries." [Count pp. 4344] These kinds of quotations may be puzzling to you, as they would be to many sincere Twentieth Century Christians. Just when was Christ in Christmas? The full answer to that question may surprise you. In the Beginning...

Was James I an exceptionally evil king? He certainly had his difficulties, but he seems little worse than most of the rest of the kings. In fact, the same King James who commissioned the King James Bible, which was issued in 1611! Strangely, Christmas time was often the only time such gambling was allowed: "An ordinance for governing the household of the Duke of Clarence in the reign of Edward IV. forbade all games at dice, cards, or other hazard for money 'except during the twelve days at Christmas.'" [A similar law was established during the reign of Henry VII.] [Ashton p. 162] Evidently we still haven't gone back far enough to find our pure Christmas. So let's make a big jump, back to the 700's: "There exists a letter from the year 742, in which St. Boniface, the "Apostle to the Germans," complains to Pope Zacharias that his labors to convert the heathen

"Although the Christmas story centers in the Christ Child of Bethlehem, it begins so long before His coming that we find its hero arriving on the scene after more than half of the time of the story has gone by." [Count p.11] That statement sounds self-contradictory! How can there be a "Christmas" with no "Christ"? Let the author of 4,000 Years of Christmas clarify what he means by that startling statement: "Mesopotamia [land of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers] is the very ancient Mother of Civilization... Christmas began there, over 4,000 years ago, as the festival which renewed the world for another year. The 'twelve days' of Christmas; the bright fires and probably the Yule log; the giving of presents; the carnivals with their floats, their merrymakings and clownings, the mummers who sing and play from house to house [common Christmas customs in England and other parts of Europe]; the church processions with their lights and song- all these and

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more began there centuries before Christ was born. And they celebrated the arrival of a New Year. To the Mesopotamians, New Year's was a time of crisis. Once in a very distant time, their chief god Marduk (or Enlil, who is more ancient still than Marduk) had routed the monsters of chaos and had built out of a 'world without form and void' an orderly world, and had created man. But the order remained an uneasy one: it ran down, so to speak, during the year; toward its close, after the crops had been harvested, the empty brown of the fields told that life was dying. Then Marduk again had to do battle with the monsters of chaos, so that death might not become complete. Thus he renewed the world every year. It was a grim battle, fought in the regions below, and every time Marduk almost lost his struggle. It was the duty of man, in his puny way, to help as well as he could. And much of the festival of the New Year constituted his lowly support of his god. His leader and commander was the king, who held his power and his title by the grace of the god. As the Mesopotamians saw it, in the struggle of the New Year man faced a three-fold problem: to purify himself of the evils which his sins of the past year had brought upon him; to renew the strength which the year had drained away; and, if possible, to find a substitute who could take the consequences of the sins which he had committed. The first and the last problems were solved by the notion of a 'scapegoat,' which is familiar to us from its form given in the Bible... The New Year's festival lasted twelve days, as our Christmas season is supposed to do; in it the king repaired to Marduk's temple, to the court of the gods. The chief priest stripped from him his insignia of rank; thus dispossessed of his power, he knelt before Marduk's image and swore that he had done nothing against the god's will. The chief priest, now speaking for Marduk, said comforting words; and in the name of the god he reinvested the king, in token that the kingdom was restored to him by the grace of the god... In theory, the king must die at the end of the year; he should then accompany Marduk into the underworld

and battle at his side, while a new king took his place on earth. But here enters the idea of a substitute or 'mock' king, which saved the life of the real king. A criminal, real or fancied, was dressed in royal garb; he was given all the homage and indulgence which is the king's right, while the people about him held celebration. But soon his mock reign was over; he was stripped of his kingly trappings and slain in the place of the real king... There were other deeds which Europe still repeats during these holidays, although the ancient meanings have been lost: the building of bonfires in which a special wooden image of Marduk's opponent is burned; and the custom of exchanging visits and gifts. This was ZAGMUK festival. Another, which both Persians and Babylonians celebrated, was called the Sacaea. At this time, the masters and slaves exchanged places; the slaves commanded, the masters obeyed. One slave was chosen to be head of the household, and everyone paid homage to him... As the old year died, the rules of ordinary living were relaxed, Then as the new year arrived, the order of the world was recaptured. At this time of crisis, when fates hung in the balance, the curtain of the future was drawn slightly aside and, if you performed the proper magic, you could peer into it and make resolutions to fit coming events... Marduk and his court of gods have long disappeared. But to this day in the Balkans and in Central Europe, on the twelve days of Christmas, troupes of masqueraders go about, headed by a 'fool' or a 'wild man'... The girls still recite magic verses and perform magical acts to learn who their true loves will be. There are still the bonfires, and a special log which a young man fells and brings home; and over this log [the Yule log] a ritual is performed (with praise, now, to the Christian God); and on Christmas Eve it is burned in the fireplace." [In earlier centuries, the connections were even more obvious: take this description of Christmas in the mid-fifteenth century in northern Europe:] Holly, ivy and evergreens were up, candles and torches were lit, and mummers clowned in the streets. There were singers, Christmas presents, fortune-telling and much feasting and drinking. The people chose, not a mock 4

king, but a 'Lord of Misrule,' an 'Abbot of Unreason,' a 'King of Bean,' a 'Pope' who presided over the 'Feast of the Fools' or the 'Feast of the Asses.' They made him a bald-headed, red-nosed clown, and set him on a donkey. He had a retinue; like hoboes on a spree, these ancestors of ours squawked an 'anthem,' danced about the donkey, and hied themselves to the church where they performed a slapstick mass. The choir was vested in tattered robes turned inside out; they wore orange peels for spectacle rims; they held their music sheets upside down and jangled a gibberish response to the 'bishop' who read the service. They rang the bells, they hop-skip-jumped through the church." [Count p. 18-23, 44] "In Greece there was an old God, Kronos, about whom we know little, even though it is not hard to recognize that his festival was the old Sacaea gone westward. The figures in the drama changed, the incidents also; but the plot remained. In ancient Babylonia, it was Marduk who conquered the monsters that lived before our world was created; in Greece, it was Zeus who fought and overcame Kronos and his Titans. However, the story didn't just jump from Mesopotamia to Europe. There was a connection through pagan Greece and Rome: The Romans believed in an ancient god of seed-time, Saturn, who had ruled their country ages before their own day, before he was overthrown by Jupiter. Whenever the Romans thought that one of their gods resembled a Greek god, they concluded that the two were the same; then they took over the forms of worship which the Greeks already had observed. So Kronos came to Rome; the Sacaea entered into the Saturnalia. The first day of the Saturnalia shifted during the lifetime of Rome; at all events, it began around the middle of December... and continued until January first. In its midst was December 25, the day, as the Romans calculated, when the sun was at its lowest ebb, ready to increase again and impart its strength to the growing things of the earth. Hard upon this day came the Calendae of January- January 1. The word itself has become the name which the Slavic and Baltic peoples use for the days of Christmas festivities: Koleda, Kolyada, Koledos, etc.

The Roman Saturnalia and the holidays which followed were boisterous indeed... they masqueraded through the streets, ate big dinners, visited their friends, wished them good luck at this time of tender fortune, and gave each other good-luck gifts called Strenae. The halls of the Romans were decked with boughs of laurel and of green trees, with lighted candles and with lamps- for the hovering spirits of darkness were afraid of light. Masters and slaves ate together on the occasions, and sometimes changed places, the masters waiting on the slaves. The slaves chose one of their number as leader of the household festival and as lord of the revel... To the pagans, the Saturnalia were fun. To the Christians, the Saturnalia were an abomination in homage to a disreputable god who had no existence anyway. The Christians, moreover, were dedicated to the slow, uphill task of converting these roisterous pagan Romans. There were many immigrants into the ranks of the Christians by this time, but the Church Fathers discovered to their alarm that they were also facing an invasion of pagan customs. The habit of Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first the Church forbade it, but in vain. When a river meets a boulder which will not be moved, the river flows around it. If the Saturnalia would not be forbidden, let it be tamed. The Church Fathers now sought to point the festival toward the Christian Sun of Righteousness." [Count pp. 24-27] Given the previous quotations about Christmas in the eighth and fourteenth centuries, it doesn't appear the "Church Fathers" were too successful! Before continuing our search for Jesus in the Season, here are descriptions of the origins of a few more specific "Christmas" customs and words: "Yule" and "Yule Log" "The Anglo-Saxons and early English knew not the words either of Christmas or Christ-tide. To them it was the season of Yule. The author of an article titled 'Paganism in Modern Christianity' in 1882 wrote, 'The ancient name (Yule) for Christmas is still used throughout Scandinavia. The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians wish each other 5

a 'glad Yule' as we say 'Merry Christmas'... the twelfth name of Odin, the Father of the Gods, or Allfather [was] Ialg or Ialkr (pronounced yolk or yulg.) The Christmas tree, introduced into Russia by the Scandinavians, is called elka (pronounced yolka), and in the times just preceding, and just after, the conquest of Britain by the English, this high feast of Odin was held in mid-winter, under the name of Ialka tid, or Yule-tide. It was celebrated at this season, because the Vikings, being then unable to go to sea, could assemble in their great halls and temples to drink to the gods they served so well.'" [Ashton pp. 67] "Bringing in the Yule log... was a great function on Christmas eve- and much superstitious reverence was paid to it, in order to insure good luck for the coming year. [One writer of the 1800's, describing the Yule log custom noted,] 'In some houses, when the faggot begins to burn up, a young child is placed on it, and his future pluck [bravery] foretold by his nerve or timidity. May not this be a remnant of dedication of children to the Deity by passing them through the sacred fire?'" [Ashton pp. 76-77] Boar's Head "The [pagan Germanic] god who cared for the fertile herd was Frey, after whom Friday is named; his animal symbol was the boar. Even after the pagan gods had passed away, the boar sacrifice was too enjoyable to be forgotten. It survives in the feast of Merrie Old England in which the boar is treated as if it were some royal personage- first the trumpets blow, the door swings open, in marches a platter bearing a steaming boar's head, an apple in its mouth; behind it troops a procession of lusty puddings. Cheers and laughter from the spectators poised to attack it- valiant trenchermen [feasters] whose ancestors worshipped Frey but of whom they themselves probably never have heard. This too is Christmas." [Count pp. 49-50] Evergreens Box, bay, ivy, holly, yew, larch, juniper, pine, spruce, fir- all are shields against the witches and the demons. The spines of the holly-leaves become thickets to catch and hold the hags; juniper-smoke is a demon-chasing incense. In the Tyrol [Austria], for instance, even city people smoke misfortune out of

their houses, while the farmer carries smouldering sprigs in a brazier, along with a bowl of holy water, into every room and crevice, into the stalls of the cattle, onto the threshing floor. Every animal is censed and besprinkled; so, too, the beds of the girls and the doors to their chambers. As the houseman makes his rounds, he keeps saying, 'In with the good luck, out with the bad.' Finally, all the people of the household gather in a circle, and each receives from the master a 'smoke blessing'... Weapons against the weird and ghostly vermin were not only greenery, evergreen incense and lights, but noise; shouts, horns, bells, even banging guns, especially on New Year's Day. During the twelve days of Christmas... you must avoid heavy work as much as possible, lest you be tripped up by one of these invisible evil-doers... As in Rome and Babylon, the Twelve Days are full of augury [fortune-telling] for the twelve months of the coming year- to each of the twelve days its month of the same order... you may also learn of your own fortune for the year if you go by through the proper magic acts. The green boughs can bring you luck, too, if someone switches you with them. Thus it is a good timeamong Slavs as well as Germanics- for the children to collect gifts from the neighbors by going around and switching them with green boughs and reciting good-luck ditties." [Count pp. 64-66] Wassailing A very old custom was that of 'wassailing' the fruit trees on Christmas eve... This custom of drinking to the trees and pouring forth libations [drink offerings] to them differs according to the locale... In some parts of [England] it used to be customary for the farmer with his family and friends, after partaking together of hot cakes and [fermented] cider, to proceed to the orchard, one of the party bearing hot cake and cider as an offering to the principal tree. The cake was formally deposited on the fork of the tree, and the cider thrown over it... The wassailing... is considered a matter of grave importance, and its omission is held to bring ill luck, if not the loss of all the next crop. Those who engage in the ceremony are called 'howlers.'" [Ashton pp. 86-87] The quotations above barely scratch the surface of the wealth of "Christmas" lore that is available in books on the topic. In fact, newspapers usually 6

cheerfully print articles at Christmas time documenting the totally pagan origins of most Christmas customs and concepts. Even the idea of a special "being" bringing gifts to little children at Christmas time is not limited to the American "Santa Claus." In Denmark it is a "sprite" named Nisse. In Italy it is an "elderly [male] fairy" named Beffania. In Spain it is the Wise Men. In Mexico it is the Sun God, the feathered serpent named Huitzilopochtli. And children in Switzerland are assured by their parents that the Baby Jesus himself (evidently He never grows up) sneaks in at night and leaves gifts. [Bush, pp. 37-46] So just where is Jesus in all of this [besides passing out gifts in Switzerland]? Mother and Child When you celebrated "Lincoln's Birthday" or "George Washington's Birthday" back in grade school, what was emphasized about those men? Didn't you color pictures of George crossing the icey Potomac, cut out silhouettes of these famous men as adults, memorize the Gettysburg address? Doesn't it seem a little odd, then, when people claim to be celebrating the birthday of Christ, they focus only on Him as an infant? Most people who celebrate birthdays of your own children, do not spend the day just talking about their birth- they have a party with games they enjoy now and with gifts appropriate to their age now. If you celebrate your boss's birthday, you certainly don't just drag out his baby picturesyou have a dinner and honor him for his accomplishments as an adult. Why is Jesus "frozen in time" as a baby for Christmas? "The earliest Christians were not interested in Jesus' birthday, but by the fourth century they had become very much interested. How this came about is the story of a soil growing. Christmas is a seed which sprouted in that soil. It sprouted when the Christians at last turned their eyes upon Jesus the infant and Mary His mother. There never would have been a Christmas as we know it without the Madonna and Child." [Count p. 30] "Over the years that followed Jesus' death, the Christians tended to lose sight of Him as the refuge

of those who labor and are heavy-laden. What mattered the most to them was that, at any moment, He would reappear to be the stern but righteous judge of all mankind. The world was to begin anew with a day of wrathful judgment. To people who thought this way, the date of Jesus' physical birth could not matter. To celebrate it would have seemed at best pointless, and at worst an evil thing... in 245 A.D. the great Church Father, Origen, declared it to be a sin even to think of keeping the birthday of Christ, 'as though he were a king Pharaoh.'" [Count p. 31] But by the fourth century... "The thoughts of people had been changing. This is the same century in which we find Christians regarding Mary the mother of Jesus in a new light. She had long been revered, along with the other saints and apostles; but only along with them. But now, in this same fourth century, we see her emerging as the Queen of Heaven. The Divine Christ had been born both human and divine. Mary had done a thing which certainly no other woman had done. This in itself set her off from all other humanity; but there is something deeper than this bald fact. For Mary represented something which the human heart ached for, and the ache was not being solaced. The Gospels told of a Son of Man Who walked in the sun and the dust of the roads of Palestine. He healed the hurts of men, the hurts of body and soul. He called to Himself those who labored and were heavyladen, and promised them refreshment which no earthly power could give. But His followers could not keep in mind at once this Jesus and the stern Judge who sat on a throne in heaven and Who would some day return in glory to deal an even-handed justice to all mankind. It was a renewal of the world in this latter way, and not a renewal of the heart in the former way, which won. So the heart's ache remained. It became the burden of Mary. [Describing a mural in a medieval cathedral in France, one author wrote...] "There is heaven! and Mary looks down from it, into her church, where she sees us on our knees, and knows each of us by name. 7

There she actually is- not a symbol or in fancy- but in person, descending on her errands of mercy and listening to each one of us, as her miracles prove... She is there as a Queen, not merely as an intercessor... The same centuries and the same people who made of the birthday of a divine-human Infant a beautiful and tremendous church festival, brought into being new festivals in worship of Mary the Virgin Mother." [Count, pp. 34-36] "Trimming" the Tree We do find a description in the Bible that might be a Christmas tree. "...they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. they adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter" (Jeremiah 10:3-4) There is debate as to whether this verse is talking about a decorated tree, or a carved idol. But in either case, what does God think about it? We simply read the verses before it... "This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless:..." (v. 23) After all this, perhaps you are thinking, "Well, maybe others didn't have Christ as the focal point of Christmas. But I can! I'll trim out the tree and the pagan symbols (don't even buy them or set them up), and just keep the TRUE Christmas as it was intended. Let's consider that concept. Can we take all the TRUE parts of Christmas, and leave out all the paganism? The first demand would be to find those true parts. How about the date of His birth? "When was Jesus born? No one knows. December 25 is no more the historical date of His birth than any other. The Christians chose it to be His birthday only several centuries after He lived and died." [Count, p. 30]

"Titus Flavius Clemens, known as Clemens of Alexandria, lived exactly at this time [third century A.D.], and was a contemporary of Origen. He speaks plainly on the subject, and shows the uncertainty, even at that early epoch of Christianity, of fixing the date: 'There are those who, with an over-busy curiosity, attempt to fix not only the year, but the date of our Saviour's birth, who they say, was born in the 28th year of Augustus, on the 25th of the month Pachon [May 20]... Some say He was born on the 24th or the 25th of the month Pharmuthi [April 19 or 20].'" [Ashton pp. 1-2] But how about some of the straightforward Bible details? Unfortunately, even those have become garbled. The angels didn't announce to the shepherds "Peace on earth, good will to men," as the King James translation puts it. As an adult, Jesus said, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." [Matthew 10: 34] What, then, did the angels say? The more accurate modern translations clarify it: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." It is those who please God who will have the true peace. And then there are the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men who show up next to the shepherds in all the nativity scenes. There is nothing in the scripture that says there were three of them.(The mention of threee different gifts in Matthew 2:11 is the only supporting evidence, but it does not say that one person gave each a gift or that everyone that came gave a gift). There is nothing that says they were kings- they are called simply "Magi." There is no real agreement by Biblical scholars on exactly what is meant by that term. It is clear from the scripture that they did not arrive on the birth night with the shepherds. They visit the Christ Child in a house [Matthew 2:11]. Immediately after their visit, Joseph takes Jesus and Mary and flees to Egypt. Yet, according to Luke 2:22, Jesus is presented at the temple in Jerusalem 40 days or more after his birth. So the Magi visited at least 40 days after the birth, and perhaps up to two years later. 8

What is there left of the story that is emphasized so much at Christmas? Don't we at least exchange gifts in memory of the gifts the Magi gave Jesus? No- not even that makes sense. They didn't exchange gifts with one another- they gave them to Jesus! And they gave the gifts not as birthday presents, but because they were visiting a king, and it is customary to offer fine gifts when visiting a king. One last note: Even the word Christmas is not understood by most Christians- especially Protestants. It is a shortened form of "Christ-mass": that is, the Catholic ceremony of the Mass held in honor of Christ. And what is the mass? It is not just a "memorial communion," as most Protestants consider the partaking of the bread and cup. The Catholics consider that, in the mass, the priest has the authority to change the bread and wine so that they actually become the flesh and blood of Christ, and the priest then offers this flesh and blood again and again. The ceremony is actually called a "sacrifice." Does the Bible Tell Us How We Should Worship? Perhaps, even after all of this information about the origins of Christmas, you are still wondering if there is some way to keep a "Holy Christmas" in your heart. After all, you don't think of pagan gods when you participate. And the lights are so pretty. And the spirit of giving seems so right. Surely, God looks on the heart. Can't He be pleased with Christmas if our intentions are pure? Wouldn't Christ be happy if we want to have a special day to honor His birth? Since Scripture does not contain a date, wouldn't it be acceptable to use a date that is commonly recognized by others as His birthdate? This brings us to the ultimate question after all, the only question that really makes any difference: What is God's will in this matter? Does God care what customs we use to honor Him? Let's look at the scriptures and see. "The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.' You must not worship the LORD your God in

their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. " Deuteronomy 12:29-32 Note that the issue in this passage is not the worship of other gods. The warning is to not adopt customs used to worship other gods, in order to worship the true God. At first you might think that this just applies to the abominable customs such as child sacrifice. Wouldn't it be all right to use the harmless customs, since they don't make you think of pagan gods? The problem with that approach is that you have forgotten that God's memory goes back a lot further than yours! While you are looking at a pretty custom that makes you nostalgic for your childhood, God may look down at the same custom and remember the horrible rites that accompanied it in ancient Babylon or Rome. There is a profound principle involved in religious symbolism and symbolic acts- which is what "customs" actually are: Your desire should be that the symbol or act evoke in you the same understanding and emotions that it evokes in yourCreator! But does God REALLY care that much about detail?: "They [earthly Israelite priests] serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: `See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.'" (Hebrews 8:5) "Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense... Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the LORD for the generations to come. Do not offer on this altar ANY OTHER INCENSE or any burnt offering or grain offering." (Exodus 30:1, 7-9) "Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, and added incense; and 9

they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to His command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD." (Leviticus 10:12) We would like to think that this kind of immediate retribution for what we might even view as a minor infraction of God's orders, is only an "Old Testament" response of God. But consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament: "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had... There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostle's feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need... Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostle's feet." (Acts 4:32,34-35; 5:1-2) The problem was not that Ananias kept some of the money, but, as the story unfolds, that he lied, and tried to pretend that he was generously giving the full proceeds of the sale, evidently to receive the praise of men. "[Peter said to Ananias] What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died... " (Acts 5:4-5) And three hours later, Sapphira came to see Peter, lied about the same incident, and received the same rebuke. She also fell down dead immediately. "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." (Acts 5:11) Thus we see that, even in the "time of grace" under the New Covenant, serious consequences can sometimes result from what, on the surface, seem minor matters.

There are two other examples in the Old Testament that illustrate God's reaction to "mixed worship": " So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and make it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.' So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry." (Exodus 32:3-6) "A pagan symbol evoked pagan religious practices... Immoral orgies frequently accompanied pagan worship in ancient times." (NIV Study Bible note on verse 6) Note that Aaron did not say the festival would be to a "calf god." He said it would be to the true God. He was just introducing familiar customs and religious symbolism from Egypt to calm the people down when they started complaining that Moses had disappeared. Later in Israel's history, after the kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon was shattered into the two rival houses, Israel and Judah, the Israelite king Jereboam worried how to calm his restless people also: "Jereboam thought to himself, 'the kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.' After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Daniel And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there." NIV Study Bible note on verse 28:

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"Pagan gods of the Arameans and Canaanites were often represented as standing on calves or bulls as a symbol of their strength and fertility... Jereboam attempted to combine the pagan calf symbol with the worship of the LORD, though he attempted no physical representation of the LORD- no 'god' stood on the backs of his bulls." " Jereboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah [the Feast of Tabernacles, appointed by the LORD to begin on the fifteenth day of the seventh month], and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings." (1 Kings 12:2633) Was the One True Eternal God of Israel happy with this "substitution"? "[The LORD] will give Israel up because of the sins Jereboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit." (1 Kings 14:16)

" [Jesus] replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written [Isaiah 29:13]: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."" (Mark 7:6-8) Not everything labelled a "tradition" is necessarily bad. We can have family traditions such as family reunions at the park every summer. It is when we start using "traditions" in worship of God that they can be a problem. God knew that traditions can get a hold on our emotions that is even stronger than the hold that truth can have on our minds. But if we are to be worshippers of the one God, we must worship in Spirit and in Truth, not in Traditions of men. We must grow up: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." (1Corinthians 13:11) It is time for God's people to begin reasoning as adults. You have been given information on the observance of Christmas. You must decide: IS Jesus REALLY the "Reason for the Season"?

So Jereboam invented his own traditions, on his own chosen calendar dates. Is this problem irrelevant in New Testament times?:

CAN we REALLY "put Christ back in Christmas"?

Bibliography •

A Right Merrie Christmas, Ashton, John © 1968; Benjamin Blom; New York/London

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4000 Years of Christmas, Count, Earl W. [Professor of Anthropology, Hamilton College] © 1948; Henry Schuman Pub.; New York

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The Origins of Christmas, Bush, Roger © 1982; Frederick Muller Ltd.; London

Bibliographic note: The three books listed, quoted in the above article, are all written from the perspective of men who enthusiastically endorse Christmas observance. They have not presented the pagan origins of Christmas, or the history of its observance, in order to evaluate "whether" it should be kept. As far as I can tell, they have all just honestly recorded the results of their research.

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(All Biblical quotations herein are from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) unless otherwise noted. All Bible "notes" quoted herein are from THE NIV STUDY BIBLE published by Zondervan.)

BY PAM DEWEY AND NORM EDWARDS 2007

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