Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 9/1/2010

Question
Can you tell me why any Baptist anywhere would ever entertain the idea of celebrating a holiday that originated in a pagan religion?  I used to think that of all the people in Heaven, only a handful of us would be there that hadn't soiled ourselves with pagan rituals such as easter and christmas.  Then I realized that we would be in the majority because down through the centuries no Baptists had ever celebrated those holidays until the 1900's through today.  Down through history christmas was illegal in many places and actually was illegal in America for centuries, and just because the Victorians tried to clean it up and make it what it is now, doesn't mean that the Lord respects the changes in His favor.  The origin of it means a lot to the Lord, and sugar-coating it doesn't change that.  Most people don't know that it was illegal as well as ungodly and don't care to find out, but the Lord expects us to seek Him and His will, not follow blindly without studying for ourselves.  You really can't take something evil and make it into something good.  The Lord only asks us to remember His death and resurrection, not His birth.  The facts are that Christians,(Baptists), down through generations wouldn't dare have anything to do with those pagan rituals and neither should we.  Again, only a handful of Christians in Heaven, (1900's  till now), will have taken part in those most ungodly celebrations and have to face the Lord of Glory and tell Him why.  You can respond if you want to, but we haven't celebrated xmas or easter in over 26 years and have studied it intensely  and know what we are talking about.                                     God bless you,  J

Answer
Hi J
   Thank you for your question.  There are some people who do not celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and if that is their decision, I do not have any problem with that.

   However, many Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ do celebrate Christmas and these are the things we modern Baptist churches do at that time.

    We read the scripture passages which record the birth of our Savior.
    We sing songs about Jesus' birth.
    We have a children's play which shows the birth of Jesus.
    We emphasize in our Sunday School and preaching messages addressing the birth of Jesus Christ.
    We teach our SS children the story of Christ's birth and who He is and of the salvation that He came to offer us by His grace.
    We have a fellowship with each other with an empathize on Christ's birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection.
We do not have Santa Claus or anything worldly.

     Are these things worshiping some pagan god? Who really does these thing worship?

     I have several times ask our people if they in any way understood Christmas was a pagan holiday. I have never had anyone say they believed they were celebrating a pagan holiday.  Most do not know anything about Christmas in the past at times was illegal or having supposed pagan origins.   They do not thing celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is pagan.

     There are true believers who love the Lord and worship the Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas. Just because several hundred years ago some pagans used this day for their worship of idols and false gods it does not mean that is what we are doing today?

   There is nothing sacred about a particular day. It is what is in a man's heart that defiles him.(Mark 7:20-23) If a child of God wants to remember Christ's birth on Dec. 25...then is that wrong simply because in Centuries long past some pagans celebrated on that day?   I have never heard of pagans worshipping on December 25th today.

     Paul in 1 Corinthians 8 explains that there is nothing evil in meat itself and placed the prohibition on eating such meat from that source was that IF it offended a weaker brother.  He said they should abstain in order not to offend or put a stumbling block before a baby Christian or the Jews who thought is was wrong.  This prohibition was in the context of a church that had both Jews and Gentiles in their congregation.  

 Note what Paul stated, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."  (2 Corinthians 3:6)    

   The principle God is teaching is clear.  "Things" to include days are not sinful. There is nothing evil about the 25th of December. If true believers want to honor and worship the Lord on Dec. 25 and remember His birth there is no scripture that prohibits it.  

   Do you know why the Puritans made Christmas illegal?   It reminded them of the Church of England which they were escaping and was in truth a political action in rebellion against England and its customs. These Puritans were the ones whose church leaders ruled the colonies with an iron hand.  They persecuted anyone who would not bow to their religious and civil authority by putting them in stocks and in prison.  Some Baptists died as the result of their hard handed punishments, which shows lots of things were illegal in the colonies which was not wrong.  They ran Roger Williams out of their colony in the dead of winter which was amounted to a death sentence.  They would not allow him to preach God's truth so he went to Rhode Island and formed the first Baptist church on American soil.  The Puritans baptized infants which is an unbiblical Catholic and Protestant practice.  They taxed the people in the colony to finance their church and colony.   These are the same people who murdered the innocent supposed witches in Salem, Mass, by burning them at the stack.  Burning those who disagreed with its religious practices was the practice of the Church of England.  I suppose they thought it wasn't wrong for them to murder people by burning them to death.  They believed and taught a works plus grace for salvation.  So they were not Baptists nor true Bible believing people.  They were outwardly very pious, but their piety was what they believed would merit them heaven.

   There was at Christmas time in New England the practice of "wassailing" in which people drank and were disorderly, which is the same thing that worldly people do at Christmas today.  True Christians are not involved in that sinful behavior.  You cannot expect lost people to appreciate the birth of Jesus Christ, whom they are rejecting.

   BUT....if you feel that you should not participate in Christmas....then there is nothing wrong in your decision.  Just be careful that you do not judge the motives of those who do and accuse them of celebrating a pagan holiday when they in truth are not and it is  the farthermost thing from their minds. Consider this...when Bible believing Christians who love the Lord celebrate Dec. 25 whose birth day are they celebrating?

   Thank you for writing.  I admire your devotion to Christ and desire to help others.  If you have further questions or comments please write.

Cooper P Abrams III
Romans 12:1-2
http://bible-truth.org
      "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity"  (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 )

For a clear explanation of God's plan of salvation please go to: http://bible-truth.org/gospel.html