Celebrate Christmas and Jesus - Christmas is not a 'Pagan' festival and never was

𝑪𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 '𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 - 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏' - 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝑶, 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 '𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒏' 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔!

The significance of celebrating the birth of Jesus dates back to a few years of his life on earth, to the First Century, and Christians settled on the 25th December. Their rationale for the date was well-grounded in ancient ways of establishing important events and is well-known although it is unlikely to be correct. Nevertheless, its historicity is important in quelling myths about Christmas somehow being a 'Pagan' festival.

The photos below show our Christmas tree before and after decoration. My caption is from a much-loved Christmas Carol "Hark, the herald angels sing 'Glory to the new-born King'. The line "Light and Life to all He brings" is applied to the way our tree (all credit goes to Mandy Abraham) was transformed into a beautiful light-bearer.

This is at the heart of Christmas: Jesus Christ is the Light of our dark world, brings his Light into our lives if we put our faith in him, and he transforms us, for the better, permanently, giving us a new life of purpose, hope and love.

Let's turn to some of the myths that confuse people about Christmas. I extend thanks to John Daniels from The Naked Bible Group for this excellent summary.

I would recommend a podcast from eminent Old Testament scholar Dr Michael Heiser "No, Christmas is not a Pagan holiday" for a magisterial review of the data:

https://youtu.be/GTwS1FQg3RE?si=qzBcy3oSluhTdEsv

Dr Heiser also deals with the subject of Christ's birth date on another occasion: "What day was Jesus born?" https://youtu.be/3rFznc3Af64?si=f2zIB7hlLog5wAXL

𝐓̲𝐨̲𝐩̲ ̲𝟒̲ ̲𝐦̲𝐲̲𝐭̲𝐡̲𝐬̲ ̲𝐚̲𝐛̲𝐨̲𝐮̲𝐭̲ ̲𝐂̲𝐡̲𝐫̲𝐢̲𝐬̲𝐭̲𝐦̲𝐚̲𝐬̲ ̲𝐛̲𝐞̲𝐢̲𝐧̲𝐠̲ ̲𝐏̲𝐚̲𝐠̲𝐚̲𝐧̲

𝑀𝑦𝑡ℎ 1: 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎

Saturnalia was a Roman celebration of social inversion and revelry. It did not commemorate a sacred birth and there is no evidence that Christians merged the two

𝑀𝑦𝑡ℎ 2: 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 25𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑃𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙

Early celebrations of Christ's birth on December 25th appear before the widespread observance of Sol Invictus. The historical basis for the date is theological, not Pagan.

𝑀𝑦𝑡ℎ 3: 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑛𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠

The passage describes Craftsman carving idols, covering them with metal, and fastening them upright. A carved and metal covered idol is not a Christmas tree.

𝑀𝑦𝑡ℎ 4: 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑠

Early Christians rejected Pagan worship to the point of persecution they formed Christmas to proclaim the incarnation, not to attract pagans.

𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓!