Are there Christians who do not celebrate Christmas?

Question

My older sister stopped celebrating chrismas because she told me it is no where to be found in the bible. I started to get curious and wonder why do we Christians celebrate? So I did a couple small internet searches and so easily God opened up my eyes. I can not believe that it is so simple yet so many people do not see that we shouldn't celebrate here are my points on why not. Are there more Christians out there who do not celebrate? and what are your reasons?

Coming directly from: http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn61/christmas_christians.htm

Christians Who Don't Celebrate Christmas: Here's Why

Why do some Christians not celebrate Christmas? Here are the reasons some gave for kicking the Christmas habit:

"I cannot find Christmas in the Bible nor can I find that Jesus Christ told us to observe Christmas. Santa Claus is a lie that some people teach their children every year. For that matter, Christmas is false since it has nothing to do with Christ or His birthday.

"Beyond this, business people, who make most of their income during this time of the year, have increasingly promoted Christmas. Well-meaning people go in debt during Christmas time to give gifts to other people, which in turn motivates other people to give gifts to them. It makes no sense to keep a religious holiday that is not biblical, that Christ never sanctioned, that promotes lying to children, that puts people in debt and that blinds people to what Christ really taught."

—P.A., Georgia

"It is a historical fact that Christmas is not the day or the season when Christ was born. So why observe a day that is a lie? Most people do not want to admit this fact. For example, how does the use of Santa Claus depict the birth of Christ? How does the Christmas tree depict Christ? Celebrating Christmas violates at least the First, Second and Third Commandments of God's Ten Commandments. Observing a pagan holiday is a sin. God condemns the worship of pagan gods.

"The Bible does not command people to observe the birth of Christ as a holiday. This day, Dec. 25, is the date that has been observed for centuries as a pagan holiday in honor of the pagan sun god. God commands those who want to serve Him not to observe pagan holidays or any custom that breaks His holy laws."

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Also, found on http://christianblogs.christianet.com/1131507661.htm IS WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT PUT UP CHRISTMAS TREES.

In ancient times the winter solstice was celebrated in Babylon as the birth day of Tammuz, the god of vegetation. According to the pagans, the god Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. This festival became known as the Saturnalia, and friends and family would exchange gifts. Jeremiah 10:2-4

SO GOD TOLD US TO NOT CELEBRATE PEGAN HOLIDAYS AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE CAME FROM THE PEGANS SO WHY WOULD WE PUT UP TREES?

WHAT ARE SOME CHRISTIAN OPINIONS?

Answer 1

The Christian Witnesses of Jehovah God follow the example of Christ & his early followers, in not celebrating birthdays, or other pagan holidays. . . Here are links to some online samples of their publications regarding the subject :



"Can a Pagan Holiday Be Made Christian?"

http://watchtower.org/e/20071215/article_01.htm

(discussion & history of the C-tree & Nativity scene)



"Christmas Customs---Are They Christian?"

http://watchtower.org/e/20001215/article_01.htm



"Has Christmas Lost Christ?"

- Jesus' Birth---The Real Story

- Was Luke in Error [regarding when Jesus was born]?

http://watchtower.org/e/19981215/article_01.htm



"'Peace on Earth'---A Mere Dream?" :

- The Christmas Spirit All Year Round?

- Jesus’ Birth---How It Brings Peace

http://watchtower.org/e/20061215/article_01.htm



"Beliefs and Customs That Displease God"

http://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm {see #3)



"God's Servants Must Be Clean"

- #2 Spiritual Cleanness

http://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_09.htm



"For those who don't celebrate Christmas, respect and good communication are key. . ." http://jw-media.org/region/americas/usa/english/releases/beliefs_practices/usa_e001214.htm

Answer 2

This is just one of those things that the church had co-opted to stop the pagans from having their annual Winter Solstice festival and the same thing with Easter and Halloween. They really didn't know when Jesus was born and decided that December 25 would be as good as time and any to celebrate his birth. The Catholic Church "saved" the pagan holidays by injecting Jesus into them. It is a good day to get together with family and friends and give gifts but it is also very stressful.



For many years the Holiday was not celebrated in The United States and Congress has even been in session on Christmas Day.

Answer 3

As you probably know Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas.



Here is a brief explanation of why we do not.



Is Christmas a celebration based on the Bible?



Date of the celebration

M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia says: “The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ’s birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source.”—(New York, 1871), Vol. II, p. 276.



Luke 2:8-11 shows that shepherds were in the fields at night at the time of Jesus’ birth.



The book Daily Life in the Time of Jesus states: “The flocks . . . passed the winter under cover; and from this alone it may be seen that the traditional date for Christmas, in the winter, is unlikely to be right, since the Gospel says that the shepherds were in the fields.”—(New York, 1962), Henri Daniel-Rops, p. 228.



The Encyclopedia Americana informs us: “The reason for establishing December 25 as Christmas is somewhat obscure, but it is usually held that the day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen, to celebrate the ‘rebirth of the sun.’ . . . The Roman Saturnalia (a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the renewed power of the sun), also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration.”—(1977), Vol. 6, p. 666.



The New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges: “The date of Christ’s birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month . . . According to the hypothesis suggested by H. Usener . . . and accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the invincible sun).



On Dec. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.”—(1967), Vol. III, p. 656.

Answer 4

My husband and I are leaving the mainstream "Christian" church for this very reason. For years we have been trying to serve and all of these churches celebrate christmas as well as Easter which the very name is from a babylonian fertility goddess. They can't even get the dates right for either Christmas or Christ's crucifixion even though the answers are right in the Bible. Anyway, we looked into joining a church that does not celebrate christmas or easter (with the accept ion of resurrection sunday) because true Christians should stick together for support, but the only one we found was the United Church of God which is a break-off sect of another church and it is in fact a cult and they believe they are "the one true church" when only God judges the heart of a man. We are still searching for a church based solely on the Bible without paganism mixed in. Anyone know of any churches like that?

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Are there Christians who do not celebrate Christmas?

My older sister stopped celebrating chrismas because she told me it is no where to be found in the bible. I started to get curious and wonder why do we Christians celebrate? So I did a couple small internet searches and so easily God opened up my eyes. I can not believe that it is so simple yet so...

Answer 6

I am a born again Christian and i do not follow christmas, Jehovah witness are a pagan form of Christianity and there is only one way, Jesus Christ!! they say they follow Him but their story's and rules constantly change specially their occult predictions of the return of Jesus, they even have different, modified Bibles, i reccomend the oldest modern-ish English version, the "king James Version".

Jesus said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me" if you going to be a Christian, follow the true word of YAHWEH not jehova, that's a made up name, because the Jews of old times were scared of mentioning his name so they rearranged the letters, look it up!!



YAHWEH bless, keep and make his face shine upon all, in the name of Jesus

Answer 7

Where in the Bible does it say not to celebrate Christmas.? Christmas comes from the word Christ thus it is not pagan while the winter solstice was celebrated by the pagan. Also that Christians do not celebrate festivals.

Answer 8

I think the Lord was a humble man, and wouldn't go out for the big celebration. Christmas began as our/man's celebration of the saviors birth. In this day and age, I would care to venture that at least half of the children don't know why we celebrate Christmas.

The Bible does say,

Jeremiah 10:2-4 2. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismaged at the signs of heaven; for the ; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3. 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 the axe.



4. they deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not



In my opinion, some Christians mature in the Lord and recognize that these things are not to be reverenced.

Answer 9

*sigh*

December 25th. This date marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, the turning point of winter when the days start to get longer again. Long before Christianity, Sun God worshipers set aside this date to celebrate the beauty of nature and the return or "rebirth" of the Sun.



With the obvious symbolism for Pagans, it is easy to see why MANY of the virgin-born savior gods were said to have been born on December 25th in hopes of winning credulous and superstitious converts.



It was in 350AD that Pope Julius I "set" Christs birthday on December 25th to keep up this long tradition.



December 25th wasnt known as Christ's birthday until 350 years after his birth.

Is a marketing tool folks. You have been had.

Answer 10

Hi Kristy,



It took me about 7 years to finally stop celebrating Christmas. From the time that I learned about the truth, I slowly moved away from the holiday. It has been a long and continuous fight. I grew up celebrating Christmas and all that comes along with it. Now, I have had nothing but contention with my family about it. Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate it. However, I don't agree with their position and reasons for all of their beliefs and am not a JW. I currently find myself one of a minority, like you probably do.



My opinion? Read the Bible and do the best you can to your ability. Retain your integrity and simply tell people that you believe as you do. They don't have to believe as you do, but they should respect your viewpoint. If they don't, ask them to respect it. There is no need to fight about it. With the information I know now, I would feel guilty for celebrating it. I do miss the folly, etc. But, I have to keep reminding myself of the origins and why I shouldn't be caught up in it.



Best of luck!

Kurt

Answer 11

You are 100% right! Now that we all know this, could you PLEASE tell me whats wrong with gifts and making kids and people happy? If you really want to get into it,, How about this one,,, Remember King Herod? You know , the one that chopped of John the Baptist head for a birthday gift for his daughter because he asked her what she wanted for a birthday gift? and she said John The Bapists head.? So he gave her that. Now there's a certain Religion out there and I'm sure you all know who, that won't celebrate having birthdays because of that. Would you tell me why "I" shouldn't celebrate the fact that I'm glad that I was born just because of that religion? If we were all still worshipping the TREE god or the SUN god or whatever the pagens back then were doing, I'd say we're in trouble!!!! Every year this is brought up!!! But here's where everyone that is haveing a problem with the CHRISTIANS celebrating CRISTMAS is going wrong. We're not worshipping a sun god or tree god or whatever. We're celebrating the fact that Jesus was born and we're happy and we want to share it with the world and have a giant birthday party, and sing songs to Him and about him and so on.. we give gifts and get together just like any other party!!!!! What about NEW YEARS EVE??? Do we have a problem there???Even the Christians know that Dec 25 isn't the right day...We'll never have the right day because someone will always have trouble with it. So we all decided Dec.25th Big deal!!!!It don't matter what day we use, someone will find a problem with it!!!! So what's the answer? God is going to send us to hell because we're singing songs of praise to His son on or about the pagens worship day? I DON"T THINK SO but I could be wrong!

Answer 12

yes, there are..like Bible Baptists. They just celebrate Christmas in their own time because it was not written in the Bible that Christ was born on the 25th of December.



For me, what matters is we celebrate Christs' birth



And about the christmas tree and stuff.... do you believe in sanctification? We may sanctify non-Christian traditions as long as it does not do harm. Because the Christians adopted the tree tradition, the pagans do not do it anymore because we sanctified it therefore, that pagan ritual died. God owns everything, even culture and rituals and I believe that as long as it was given to God and does not harm any important doctrines, it is okay.



If we really want to take every thing from the Bible, then we should all eat unleavened bread. It does not also say in the Bible that we have to celebrate the Lord's Supper every Sunday or every first Sunday of every month but we do it anyway. We should then all go to Jordan river to be Baptized.





For example, drums were used for pagan worship in Africa in the olden times but church use drums nowadays because it helps with the music and worship. It is also very effective in reaching out young people for Christ.





And the question is why would you or other people celebrate your birthday and not celebrate the birthday of the King? Though there is no date... I think it's proper for Christians to celebrate Christmas one way or another, December 25 or not.

Answer 13

Strange, I've never heard something like this out of a Christian before. Not that that's a bad thing though.



I know PLENTY of Christians who say that Christmas is for celebrating the birth of Jesus. Yet, Jesus wasn't born on December 25, so that doesn't make sense. I also heard Christians say that they celebrate Jesus and what he did for us on that day, but shouldn't they be doing that *every* day? I mean, what is it about one day that gives you "more" reason to celebrate Jesus? It's like you love your girlfriend/boyfriend more on Valentine's Day just because it's Valentine's Day. Shouldn't you love them *every* day?



I dunno. I guess it's mostly due to tradition growing up. My parents are devout Catholics and they don't celebrate Jesus at all on Christmas, so we just eat good food together as a family.

Answer 14

Yes, the ones who actually admit that the holiday has all its origins in earlier Pagan festivals, do not celebrate it for that reason. :) Then at the other extreme, you have those who refuse to admit to historical fact, say it's all theirs and that no one else has a festival that matters at this time of year. LOL Isn't religion awesome?

Answer 15

Being a born again Christian, I think it's neither a right or wrong thing. Christmas can be a great way to honor Jesus' birth and his mission on earth. The literal day of the year is irrelevant, so just having any designated day will do. I find myself not attracted to the whole ornamental decorating that goes with it(trees, lights, wreaths,etc.) And I don't like the mass consumerism we in America get involved with, but I'll still celebrate the holiday in my own meaningful way and give thanks.

Answer 16

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas or any other holidays, they instead, follow the command of Jesus our Lord to yearly observe the Memorial he instituted of his death.

Answer 17

I agree with that, but Paul explains that you should not be going around pointing out that this or that thing is pagan. If someone intentionally does something for pagan gods, then he is guilty. If you cause a brother to stumble, or feel guilty when he is innocent, then both he and you are guilty, because you caused your brother to stumble, and you caused confusion.



Our culture has customs, and traditions, they don't mention anything about other gods, we just have some symbols that are carried over from pre-Christianity. Many of our symbols that we use are from pagan roots. I don't think pagan culture is necessarily bad, it's just pre-Christian. It's only when we make statues and worship them, or honor pagan gods then we are committing paganism.



So as a Christan I'm not overjoyed to celebrate Christmas with pagan symbols, there is no tree in my house, but please don't judge other Christians.



Also there are cults out there that are taking advantage of people with weaker faith pointing out all these things wrong with Christian culture.



There are far worse things in our society that we should really be telling people about on our televisions and elsewhere than some traditions that we don't know much about the origins of.

Answer 18

Wow, you Christians really need to learn your history. The origin of Christmas has NOTHING to do with Jesus.

Answer 19

Some of us are able to enjoy the holiday season without using trees or santa clause. We can use the day as one of remembrance and worship of our Lord and Saviour without pagan worship. I personally see Christmas as a time to commune with my family and with the Lord and give thanks for His blessings to me over the past year. We give gifts but we dont put up trees or decorations and we dont tell the story of Santa Clause.

Answer 20

I'm sure the westboro church goes picketing on dead soldiers and gays instead of celebrating

Answer 21

Christmas started when the three kings gave gifts to Jesus to celebrate his birth.

Answer 22

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate it.

Answer 23

This article may be useful



http://www.sovereigngrace.net/should.htm

Answer 24

the only True book from God is the Koran. God bless America and the Holy Koran



Allah is Gods real name and he loved the world so much he sent the prophet Mohamed to bring us salvation and a promise of everlasting happiness in Allahs Kingdom

Answer 25

Christians are morrons, sorry but its true