Answer # 43

Many readers have asked us whether Jesus Christ was really born on December 25. Did Paul, the other apostles and the early New Testament Church celebrate Christmas? What is the origin of the Christmas tree - of "Santa Claus" - of the mistletoe and the holly wreath?

Most people in the Western world have grown up practicing Christmas customs and assuming these customs are Christian, but never questioning why! It is time we learned the facts. The holiday now called "Christmas" is rooted in pagan antiquity.

Christmas was celebrated by the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Assyrians 2,000 years before Christ was born. Yet Christmas was not celebrated in Jerusalem, where Christ founded the inspired New Testament Church, until A.D. 385, more than three centuries after God's true Church fled from the city. Why?

Did you know that the pagan Romans, long before the birth of Christ, called December 25 the Brumalia, or birthday of the new sun, after the winter solstice?

Christmas was originally celebrated in honor of the pagan false messiah. It was idolatry. You can find every one of these facts in any good encyclopedia or reference book in your public library.

Though the Bible never tells us to observe Christmas and never records any such observance by the apostles or the early true Church, it does condemn the adoption of pagan practices and dressing up paganism in Christian clothes.

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen ... for the customs of the people are vain" (Jeremiah 10:2-3, Authorized Version).

God warns His people not to borrow and use pagan customs or festivals to worship Him: "Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them [the heathen] ... and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise'" (Deuteronomy 12:30).

If the eternal God had wanted us to keep Christmas, He would have clearly shown us so. But He warned His people not to worship Him by means of pagan customs and pagan feasts. "You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way" (verse 31).