In Defense of the Christian Christmas

Every years I hear people say how Christmas was a pagan holiday and the early Christians took it and made it their own.. But that's not the whole story you are hearing.

"In 46 BC Julius Caesar in his Julian calendar established December 25 as the date of the winter solstice of Europe. Since then, the difference between the calendar year (365.25 days) and the tropical year (~365.2421897 days) moved the day associated with the actual astronomical solstice forward approximately three days every four centuries, arriving to December 12 during the 16th century. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to restore the exact correspondence between seasons and civil year but, doing so, he did not make reference to the age of the Roman dictator, but to the Council of Nicea of 325, as the period of definition of major Christian feasts. So, the Pope annulled the 10-day error accumulated between the 16th and the 4th century, but not the 3-day one between the 4th AD and the 1st BC century. This change adjusted the calendar bringing the northern winter solstice to around December 22. Yearly, in the Gregorian calendar, the solstice still fluctuates a day or two but, in the long term, only about one day every 3000 years." - Wikipedia

This means that at the time Christmas was first presented and celebrated, sometime 4th century, people knew the Winter Solstice as the 25th of December. The Winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. Where the tilt of the planet's axis is at the farthest away peak in the revolution around the sun. This is the case for Northern Hemisphere only, southern hemisphere would have been equivalent to June 25th or so.

For the early Church, that meant from this day on, the days grow longer and the light begins to prevail again. Its a symbol of how Jesus fulfilled the promises of old, and created a new promise between God and man. It is the start of new life. The early church knew that it was not a literal time of Jesus' birth, anyone reading the bible can surmise that his birth was most likely in spring or summer.

Yes it is true, many pagan celebrations and holidays begin, end or take place around this time of the year, such as the oft cited Saturnalia. And many of them also share this idea new life or a new cycle beginning now. But to say that Christians took the day and is not really correct. The Council of Nicea realized how many things were going on at the time and thought it would be good to also be able to celebrate a Christian holiday at the same time. It is easier, as any Christian going out into the world and sharing the gospel will know, to open conversation when you are sharing something in common. In this case, we can tell the world while the rest of the world is celebrating their religious holidays, about the grace and love of our Christ Jesus. It is very true, many of our 'traditions' are taken from pagan things, such as gift giving and Christmas trees, but adopting traditions of people again makes it easier to share with them. Besides who doesn't like decorating Christmas trees and opening presents?

When you hear people talk about how the holiday is losing its Christian roots, that's because it is. Christmas is a Christian holiday, hence the first part: Christ. It will be a Christian holiday until the end of time. If you do not agree with that, then I ask you, please do not celebrate it. You don't have to stop giving presents, stop spending time with your family, stop doing whatever tradition you do on Christmas, but for those of us who do believe, it is the day we celebrate and honor the birth of of our Lord Jesus, and the first step in God's salvation of the human race and to bring us back into the arms of our God. If you so wish to still celebrate it without the true meaning behind it, that is OK, but please do not try to ruin it, try to change it, or make things harder for the rest of us. I respect your choice to to believe it, or celebrate it, so please respect mine in my celebrations. 

Christmas is the second most important holiday in the Christian year. But people make it like it is the most important. Yes the birth of our Christ is important, but its main purpose is to fulfill prophecy and bring us hope. Hope came to the world as a baby. That hope grew to be a man which will bring us to the most important holiday. So embrace the hope that the season brings, hope of a life of grace and salvation through the baby we celebrate.

Also, for those out there that think X-mas is a bad thing, it really isn't and has been around for a very long time. The X refers to the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, Chi. The Greek X has a kh sound like 'ach!' or 'Achmed.' It is also the first letter of the word Χριστός meaning Christ. So to say X-Mas is still saying Christmas just with a Greek flare to it.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.