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Question: I am writing about your obviously controversial article "The Top Ten Reasons Why I Don't Celebrate Christmas." The author is concerned about involving himself in pagan customs. We celebrate Thanksgiving and that's not about glorifying God, even if it should be. Should we stop celebrating that too?
Dec. 25 is a date. Who cares about the date? We don't know exactly when Jesus was born anyway. No, the Bible doesn't tell us to celebrate Jesus' birth, but we celebrate it on our own. So why wouldn't we celebrate His birth, that of the most wonderful Man ever to step onto this planet? Your author is going to teach people not to celebrate Christmas instead of teaching them about Jesus just because of the date.
S.P, Dover, Delaware
Answer: Thank you for sharing your comments concerning our recent article about Christmas. Questions often arise regarding how Christians should view religious holidays whose origins are not from the Bible. The perspective of The Good News is always to address the issue from the viewpoint, "What does the Bible say?"
As pointed out in the Good News article, Deuteronomy 12:30-32 explicitly commands that God's people are not to use pagan religious customs to worship Him. Christmas employs pagan customs such as decorated evergreen trees to honor Jesus Christ. And its date wasn't chosen at random or by research, but specifically because it was already the time of the pagan Romans' most popular celebration.
We don't expect our readers to simply take our word for it. But you should see for yourself what the Bible and the record of history have to say!
You might notice, for example, the origins of Christmas and its customs as explained in an editorial in the Dec. 11, 2006, issue of USA Today: "For Christmas is, in its origins and its symbolism, perhaps the most pagan-inspired of all Christian holidays. Its dating derives from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was determined by the winter solstice, that astronomical point in the year after which the periods of sunlight on Earth lengthen.
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