Grant Swart
Another year is coming to an end, and for me personally, another dreaded “festive” season is fast closing in. As a child, Christmas time was by far my favourite part of the year; school holidays, presents, friends, feasting and families. Even while our children were growing up and lived at our home, Christmas always had a very special place in our calendar, for all the traditional reasons and some of our own.
Those comforting, warm (Southern hemisphere) and fuzzy days of simple togetherness and caring have long gone and have been replaced with over-priced consumer goods, mad shopping frenzies, enormous traffic congestion, escalating crime rates and death on the roads. It is all very sad. Quite frankly, I would probably be safer, more comfortable and my normality would be less disrupted if I found myself evangelizing on some Far-Eastern quiet Bhuddist island on December 25 this year.
As the years have passed, the “festive” or holiday season, which includes Christmas time, has become a commercialized farce, along with other similar festivals such as Mothers Day and Valentines Day. The original meaning and “reason for the season” has been replaced with lavish parties, extreme festivities, entertainment and expensive gifts. No longer is it “the thought that counts”, rather the value of the gift which apparently demonstrates the level of affection one has for the recipient. Rarely is the birth of our Saviour brought into the picture on Christmas, except in some churches and, of course those are quite empty over the holidays. Almost half of the congregation has gone to the beaches and leisure resorts of the world and the other half are in the shopping malls. The vast majority of children in the world will never know the true meaning of Christmas or experience the love which can surround the day.
Additionally there is a war being waged on the traditional Christmas by the secular world, atheists and falsely religious. “Merry Christmas” is being replaced with “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”. This, of course, is being done in an attempt to promote a religiously tolerant society and an acceptance of a secular world religion. The battle for your bucks in the countdown of shopping days to Christmas has also become a major spiritual battle.
That brings me back to the controversial issue among many Christians, which is the celebrating of Christmas in the traditional way. The debate as to whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas on December 25, or any other date for that matter, has been raging for centuries. There are sincere Christians on either side of the debate, and many reasons as to why or why not Christmas should be celebrated by Christians.
One argument against Christmas is that the traditions have origins in paganism. Another argument is that the Bible forbids Christmas trees, and the passage in Jeremiah 10:1-16 is cited as biblical disapproval, even though that passage has no relevance to Christmas or Christians. Some regard the fact that the Bible gives no indication as to the birth date of Jesus as reason enough not to celebrate the day on December 25. Others, on the other hand, regard the fact that the Bible is silent on the issue as tacit approval by God over the celebration issue. Some say that because the world celebrates Christmas, Christians should avoid it. And so, on and on the arguments pro- and anti-Christmas are cited.
As in all things we should prayerfully seek guidance over the matter of Christmas, particularly if it is a divisive issue for the Christian family. Please tell us what you think about Christmas in our poll below.
God bless all those who, like myself, will be ever so slightly traumatized by the upcoming rush toward the end of the year and the fake celebrations of a Christ-less Christmas, and God also bless those who will enjoy every moment of celebrating the birth of our Saviour on December 25.
Particularly, I pray for God’s blessing on those who will not have a morsel of food, a drop of water or who will have to fight for their very life on the day that the rest of the world goes shopping and tolerates spoilt grandchildren demanding more expensive toys.
– Grant
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For the Love of His Truth 
Each year about this time, I begin emailing Christians NOT to celebrate Christmas. The #1 excuse Christians say it’s OK to celebrate Christmas, they shrug off any ‘negatives’, is: “What’s the harm in celebrating Christmas?” They see NO HARM–even knowing God doesn’t lie, and hates lies. They simply excuse themselves saying they feel that since Christmas has been celebrated for centuries–What’s the HARM? “Christmas is for the kids…”
Justifications for celebrating Christmas are many, all supposed to make us ‘feel loved’–and God is love..so Christmas is of God. But didn’t that tempting ‘red apple’ taste good to Eve as well!? Too many Christians base Truth on their own ‘feelings’ of well being, love. “If it feels good, it can’t be all that wrong!” is their Bible Truth. Then there’s the reply, “It’s good to give kids the feeling of being loved by giving them gifts.” Our culture is based upon having our dreams and wishes (prayers) coming true–carnal pleasures that fulfill our emotional needs…(but leave our souls empty). Christmas is about the Fleeting Joys that appear to bring substance to our existence through various joyful celebrations..fulfillment of our carnal nature to feel approved and respected….those warm, fuzzy feelings appeal to our flesh..and are temporal moments of passing pleasures of sin. Feelings of ‘belonging’ is the substance of friendship with the World. Feelings of ‘achievement’ to be a ‘giving’ person. All feelings self-exalt to say, “I’m really a good person, trying to be a better person.” Christmas is ALL about fulfilling our emotional needs through ‘carnality’….Christmas demonstrates the World’s Love achieved through Carnality–that’s..not God’s Love!
Is ‘Faith in Jesus’ to be expressed by remembering the Manger story? Not according to the Apostles — “Newly born baby” is very much Carnality…a warm, fuzzy infantile feeling–appealing to our primal needs of love, wonder, and security….A Mother’s pride and fulfillment of her fleshly desire to be honored as the ‘giver of life’…her ‘family’ as her purpose in life. Christmas is simply that delicious red apple Temptation handed to Christians to trust ‘Christmas’ Carnality for ‘happiness and joy’ it brings them. Foolish hearts longing for passing pleasures of sin eagerly bite down hard on that Christmas Apple every year–‘remembering the good times’. “Romantic love” Christians enjoy being seduced by the ‘lust of the flesh’…lying against ‘God’s love’ which is Self Denial! Christmas celebrations really produce greed, avarice, covetousness in the heart!–giving oneself over to seducing spirits, those warm, fuzzy passing pleasure feelings–(Oh, it tastes, smells, and feels SO GOOD! Santa Claus and his little troll demons are such ‘good friends’?)
How I wish the Saints would Wake Up and resist these lying Christmas demonic forces that wage war against the Truth about God’s Love!! One whole month each year these demons attack!! But very few will be able to resist such temptation! God bless those who speak out against all lies of “Christmas” World’s Love!!
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Thank you for your comment. I do agree with much of what you say about the deception disguised within the Christmas celebration (pagan festivals, misleading messages, etc).
However, I think there is a lot to be said in favour of the expressions and considerations such as those found around that time of year, but that those expressions and considerations should not be limited to, or evoked by, a largely unbiblical festival. I do agree that much of what people have come to love about Christmas is a fulfillment of carnal nature and ultimately pleases and glorifies people, rather than God.
While the deception surrounding Christmas has succeeded in blinding many to the actual harmful nature that the festival has and it’s pagan roots, the goodwill shown and done by many toward others can also not be ignored or frowned upon. Much of that goodwill is expected of the Christian; it is sad that it only seems to be adhered to for the fleeting moments and due to the emotional stimulus surrounding “Christmas season”.
It is a great pity that, as you say, greed, avarice, covetousness, etc, overwhelm so many during Christmas. I think it is best illustrated by the fact that the majority of those who celebrate Christmas, in what has become the “traditional” way, are unbelievers and live in the world for the rest of the calendar year.
Much of the happiness and joy Christmas brings is carnal, as you say. Much of the romantic love and, of course, the Santa “connection” is truly evil. I’m not so sure about the troll demons, but they do sound ominously evil in the way you describe them. Satan will try to use every thing, good and bad to deceive those who are blind and even those who have clearer sight. Christians were warned against that reality.
So while I am agreement with much of what you say regarding the celebration of Christmas, I would like to remind you though, that we are born in the flesh and we cannot escape that reality. We were created that way to glorify God in a physical world and while we are here we are extremely fallible.
If we try to impress God by the holiness of our actions, we will fail. If we place our condemnation of others and the influence evil has on their lives above our love and prayers for them, we fail. Being sensible about all things and understanding of the fact that Satan has tremendous power to deceive and hijack all things good, is better than outright bludgeoning of the saints with shouts of “Wake up and resist!”. If we adopt that attitude toward those who choose to celebrate Christmas in thankfulness for our Lord and Saviour being born in the flesh, we fail.
Let us look to Jesus and the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:18-25:
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
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I know I’m late with my reply BUT if I may add my 25 cents . . . . I have been struggling with this for a number of years and in 2010 I started REALLY praying about it and asking God to please give me answer about Christmas. If He wanted me to celebrate the day I will continue to do so but if it is not His Will I will never celebrate the day again. See, I no longer want the typical excuses people have for celebrating the day, I wanted to know what God wants. I wanted an answer from His Word.
I always read my Bible from start to finish – when I’m through I start @ Genesis again so I do not choose a book randomly when I do my Bible study. The evening of 24 December 2010 I prayed in earnest that God will please give me an answer and on the morning of 25 December I was @ Leviticus 10 – I read the Amplified – and I believe I received my answer on that day. I believe with my whole heart that we are not supposed to celebrate the day – that it is an abomination to God.
God bless!!!
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