I write this because the Holy Spirit has pricked my conscience and I want to do right by my God by following His word rather than my feelings.
For some years now I have disagreed with the proclamation that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” or “Jesus’s birth was the first Christmas” and the Biblical account of his birth is the Christmas story, but worst of all, that He is “the true meaning of Christmas.” On the contrary, the first is a catchy modern-day phrase for the holiday while all the rest have been unscriptural story telling—with good intentions, but unscriptural nonetheless.
I kept it to myself (with the exception of my husband) and inwardly recoiled whenever I heard those words. A true Christian, whom I consider myself to be, believes that Jesus Christ is God’s son who was sent in the flesh to save us from our sins by dying on the cross in our stead, rising from the grave three days later and currently sits at his Father’s right hand until the word is given to retrieve those who believe on his name. This message is preached year-round, and at the last supper Jesus told his disciples to drink and break bread in remembrance of him—which resemble his blood and sacrifice on the cross (Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:24-26).
Jesus’s birth wasn’t celebrated annually in his day let alone turned into a holiday. But for many pastors (not all) the message above is exchanged for the story of Jesus’s birth during the Christmas season. His birth was a fulfilment of his first coming; his death on the cross was the required fulfilment for his second coming. If the truth is not taught, how do we expect others to know it? For myself, since knowing the truth about Christmas I have felt as if I am betraying my Savior and I dislike that more than the thought of giving up what I have enjoyed celebrating my whole life.
After researching this topic several years ago I came across information that I could not deny. I, like many human beings do, rationalized continuing to celebrate Christmas by saying it is a chance to reach people we don’t see at any other time of the year and show them the love of God in some fashion, but more importantly to share the good news of the gospel of Christ (can’t happen if only his birth is the focus). So after learning what I did I thought I was resolving the ongoing conviction in my heart and mind by reducing it to just celebrating it only as a secular good Samaritan type of holiday and keeping all religion out of it. Then I studied more and found the information in this article. It got to the point I recently had to ask myself “exactly where does my allegiance lie?” Religion is the basis of this holiday (for the religious), but is it of God?
—Responses to the following questions come from the encyclopedia Brittanica and World-history.org. The choice was made against quoting numerous sources since most are in agreement. All emphasis is mine.
Does Christmas have pagan/heathen roots?
In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged gifts. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, possibly to weaken pagan traditions.
Who was Constantine? Worldhistory.org: Constantine I, aka Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from 306 to 337 AD.
Constantine’s conversion to Christianity is seen by historians as a turning point in history, a fusion of church and state. Constantine immediately assumed complete control of the west. As the new Augustus in the west, he marched into Rome; one of his first acts was to issue the Edict of Milan, a toleration of all religions (it would later be co-signed by Licinius).
Constantine chose Byzantium (a coastal city in Italy) as his new capital because of its strategic location, among other things. As an alleged Christian convert, he had the opportunity to start fresh and commit solely to a Christian life and practice—he chose instead to please as many subjects as possible and keep the status-quo.
He rebuilt the walls, built cisterns, Christian churches (Hagia Irene), and pagan temples… During his years of warfare in the west he had always demonstrated religious tolerance with both pagans and Christians (he claimed to be a Christian since 312 AD)… He is even credited by many historians with making Christianity the official religion of the empire (although others credit Emperor Theodosius), despite the fact that pagan symbols of Sol Invictus and Mars appeared on his coins. While he tolerated certain pagan religious practices, religious freedom had its limits, pagan sacrifices were forbidden, temple treasures seized, gladiatorial contests ended (Christians disliked them), crucifixions were abolished, and laws were enacted against sexual immorality and ritual prostitution.
It is most commendable that Constantine put an end to the worst of pagan practices but that does not negate his continued support of the pagan/heathen religions rather than separating himself from them. This is not the action of one who has committed to a true conversion to Christianity. Matthew 4:10; 6:24; Luke 4:8; 16:13; Romans 6:6; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:9.
What is Saturnalia?
Saturnalia, the most popular of Roman festivals. Dedicated to the Roman god Saturn, the festival’s influence continues to be felt throughout the Western world.
Originally celebrated on December 17, Saturnalia was extended first to three and eventually to seven days. The date has been connected with the winter sowing season, which in modern Italy varies from October to January. Remarkably like the Greek Kronia, it was the liveliest festival of the year. All work and business were suspended. Slaves were given temporary freedom to say and do what they liked, and certain moral restrictions were eased. The streets were infected with a Mardi Gras madness; a mock king was chosen (Saturnalicius princeps); the seasonal greeting io Saturnalia was heard everywhere. The closing days of the Saturnalia were known as Sigillaria, because of the custom of making, toward the end of the festival, presents of candles, wax models of fruit, and waxen statuettes which were fashioned by the sigillarii or manufacturers of small figures in wax and other media. The cult statue of Saturn himself, traditionally bound at the feet with woolen bands, was untied, presumably to come out and join the fun.
The influence of the Saturnalia upon the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year has been direct. The fact that Christmas was celebrated on the birthday of the unconquered sun (dies solis invicti nati) gave the season a solar background, connected with the kalends of January (January 1, the Roman New Year) when houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and presents were given to children and the poor.
When we want something bad enough, or don’t want to give something up, it is often in our human nature to change the meaning or conditions to achieve what we want. For instance, some have said the “unconquered sun” can be seen as a “type” in reference to Jesus, and the Christmas tree can represent the “tree” (a.k.a. cross) on which Jesus was nailed. All it takes is someone to devise a clever alternative to make what we want feel less convicting and it is much easier to justify giving in to our heart’s desires rather than standing firm on our principles—or God’s.
When is Christmas celebrated?
Christmas is celebrated by many Christians on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar. For Eastern Orthodox churches [a.k.a. Roman Catholics] that continue to use the Julian calendar for liturgical observances, this date corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve in most European countries and on Christmas morning in North America.
How is Christmas celebrated?
Christians and non-Christians participate in some of the most popular Christmas traditions, many of which have no origins in Christianity. These customs include decorating evergreen trees—or, in India, mango or bamboo trees; feasting (picnics and fireworks are popular in warm climates); and exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
As stated at the beginning, most sources agree with the information you have just read. Sadly, points of disagreement come from my own camp—fellow Christians, and it involves the practice of receiving a teaching as truth without reservation or further study because deep down it is something they want or, don’t want to have to give up because knowing the truth would mean taking action. Unfortunately, too many of us make use of willful ignorance to avoid having to do that.
Many (myself included) have been read “the Christmas story” since childhood either in church or at home and it is usually coupled with the declaration that it is Jesus’s birth. It just is not so! The bulk of evidence (explained shortly) strongly suggests that Jesus was born in the Spring. Let’s not ignore the appeal that Jesus himself made at the end of his life, “this do in remembrance of me” during the last supper with his disciples. He wants that to take precedence over anything else—including his birth.
“We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because [it’s] not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour’s birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. …
“It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. Because the day is not known, therefore superstition has fixed it; … Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals. … We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Saviour was born, it is the twenty-fifth of December. … regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son.” (Spurgeon, C. H. “Joy Born At Bethlehem,” A Sermon: Delivered on Lord’s Day Morning, December 24th, 1871. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, pp. 697-698.)
Dr. H. A. Ironside is quoted as saying,
“It is a lamentable fact that Babylon’s principles and practices are rapidly but surely pervading the churches that escaped from Rome at the time of the Reformation. We may see evidences of it in the wide use of high-sounding ecclesiastical titles, once unknown in the reformed churches, in the revival of holy days and church feasts such as Lent, Good Friday, Easter, and Christ’s Mass, or, as it is generally written, Christmas….” Dr. H.A. Ironside’s Lectures on the Book of Revelation (1920: p. 301)
Mr. Spurgeon’s statement that there is no possibility of discovering the “day” Jesus was born may well be true, though as you read further it is possible to discover the approximate month. My own conjecture as to the day of Jesus’s birth is not assigned to a date but rather a day of the week. Applying the consistency of God’s word helped me come to the conclusion that the seventh day of the week, Saturday, could be the day of the week on which Jesus was born. God the Father set that day apart as the holy day—the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8). Important events were centered around this day; The feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover) for instance, begins and ends on the Sabbath. It seems more than fitting that Jesus’s birth would be on a holy day.
The so-called “holy days” in Mr. Ironside’s quote are deemed so where they began—in Eastern Orthodoxy i.e. heathen origins (Roman Catholicism) and no amount of redefining them will ever change their origin. There are a million and one ways to justify and excuse participating in worldly celebrations, (of which we are all guilty) but are we strong enough to abstain from heathen celebrations that over time have been slowly overtaking true Christian worship? Easter, for example, was a heathen celebration taking place at the same time as Passover. (See my article, Are Easter and Passover One and the Same? at truthwithsnares.org)
Let’s read what the word of the LORD had to say through the prophet Jeremiah,
“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 an axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.” Jeremiah 10:1-4
The “signs in heaven” are in reference to God’s divine use of the sun, moon and stars (also referred to as a host) for His own purpose for His people, Josh. 10:13; 2 Kin. 23:5; Job 9:7; Isa. 13:10; 38:8; Ezek. 8:16; 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Amos 8:9. The heathen saw the same signs but did not understand what was happening hence, dismayed, and therefore turned them into gods to worship.
The month of Jesus’s birth
Luke 1:26-56. In the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy the angel Gabriel informs her cousin (the virgin Mary) that she is highly favored and blessed among women for she was chosen to bear God’s son who will be called Jesus. The Jewish custom at that time required the betrothed couple to be engaged for six months to a year before officially getting married. Mary, being old enough to marry means, as per their custom, she had not long been entered into puberty when they are considered no longer children (physically) but still quite young in age—probably 12 to 14. This means she was more than capable to handle walking and or riding a long distance. Not to mention that since she is carrying God’s son, He would see that she is well cared for and healthy. Shortly after learning the news Mary went into the hill country into a city of Juda (Luke 1:39) and went into the house of her cousin Elisabeth. Tradition identifies the city as Ain Karim, 5 miles west of Jerusalem—but is it? God’s word gives us the answer.
Joshua 21:9-11 says,
“And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.”
Elisabeth was of the daughters of Aaron Luke 1:5. Hebron is also known as Kirjath-arba (i.e. city of Arba) Gen. 23:2; 35:27; Josh. 14:15; 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11 &c. Remaining in or returning and settling in the generational birthplace or inherited land of their ancestors was common.
The distance from Nazareth where the angel visited Mary to Hebron in the hill country of Judah is approximately 80 to 85 miles. Regardless of how Mary travelled to arrive at her cousin’s house, if she managed a hefty twenty to twenty-five miles a day (likely much less) it would have taken her three or four days (give or take) and I imagine she did not travel alone. Being informed that her cousin was six months pregnant Mary must have immediately decided that she would stay with her the remaining three months of Elisabeth’s pregnancy until she delivered, (confirmed in Luke 1:56) which means she would need to pack for three months’ worth of whatever she would require. Knowing that ahead of time she would have needed an animal to carry her belongings and if it was a well-travelled route there would probably be some sort of caravan. Now what do you suppose the time of year makes the most sense for Mary to do all that travelling? That we may discover through Elisabeth’s husband Zacharias’ schedule and when he was visited by the angel.
Now scripture does not tell us exact information about her travel or about Jesus’s birth, and Mr. Spurgeon says, “there is no possibility of discovering when it [Jesus’s birth] occurred” but, through scripture and knowledge of Jewish customs back then we can use practical information to figure out an approximate timeline.
Zacharias: A priest of the course of Abia, [or Abijah; 1 Chr. 24:10] the eighth of the twenty–four courses into which the priests had been originally divided by David, 1 Chr. 23:1-19. Only four of these courses or “families” of the priests returned from the Exile Ezra 2:36-39 but they were then re-distributed under the old designations. The priests served at the temple twice each year, and only for a week each time. (Easton)
According to these redistributed 24 courses (families), 24 weeks fulfills six months of service. Service at the temple was year round so with 24 priests serving, the rotation would have to require a second week. Being the eighth, Zacarias’s first week of service was the last week of April. Luke 1:8-13 says, (summarized) while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, there appeared an angel of the Lord who told him his prayer is heard and his wife Elisabeth shall bear him a son, and they shall call his name John. If we calculate the time of John’s birth according to the first week of service that would mean the month of May is the month of his conception. We know because of verse 23 which tells us as soon as the days of Zacharias’s ministration were accomplished (the last week of April), he departed to his own house. 24) And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived and hid herself five months. The sixth month would be October and her delivery month January. This means Mary would have had to travel in the winter to return home and give birth in July.
However, his second week of service would be the last week of October. There is nothing to suggest Elisabeth conceived immediately (Nov. 1st), it only says “after those days” when his week of service was done. Bearing in mind that their seasons vary slightly from ours, if we calculate from mid-November and go forward six months we arrive at mid-May as Elisabeth’s sixth month and Mary’s divine conception. This puts John’s birth in mid-August. Six months after that brings us to mid-February (or so) for Jesus’s birth when the first signs of Spring begin to come forth. A month later (still in Spring) is Passover.
What do we think of when we think of Spring? A renewal of life—plants, flowers, trees, many species of animals are born in the Spring. Spiritually, and symbolically, new life springs forth in those who believe on Jesus’s name. It just makes sense that Jesus was born in the Spring. All this to say, the timing of the year according to Zacharias’s second week of service is more plausible for Mary’s travel to and from Elisabeth’s house and then to Bethlehem where she gives birth to Jesus because it allows for travel in the warm and milder months instead of the height of winter and rainy season.
A coinciding observation to consider: When Jesus foretold the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem (in A.D. 70) to his disciples and warned them of the signs to watch for to make their escape he said, “pray ye that your flight be not in the winter…” (Matt. 24:20). If those people were exhorted to pray against winter travel then it is quite logical that God the Father would protect Mary from having to do the same.
My final thoughts
We know God does everything in a complete manner according to His plan. Instead of Jesus’s birth being on a random date, does it not make sense that it begins a seasonal cycle? If Jesus was born in February at the beginning of the Spring season and we know Jesus died in March for he was eating his last supper with his disciples during Passover (also in the Spring) then one could say he completed his seasonal cycle of life—born in the Spring and died and rose again in the Spring.
I want to pose a question or two that I hope all who read this will sincerely ponder and be honest with themselves about. Is your conscience guided by your feelings of what others may think? Is your conscience based on your emotions especially if it is a tradition or holiday you really enjoy and “everyone is doing it?” Just keep in mind, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever as is God’s word. If God’s children said or did something that was offensive to him a couple thousand years ago (following in the ways of the heathen), why would it be acceptable for his children (Jew and Gentile alike) to offend him now? Regardless of the reason, Constantine embraced the change made by the Roman Catholic Church which ultimately serves mankind. Are we going to follow in his footsteps! Who are we more concerned about offending?
Kathy Beardsley 9/3/2024
Also see: This Do In Remembrance Of Me – Or Celebrate Christmas (Christ-mass)!?
Truth with Snares!? 
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