Once again I find myself caught in the frenzy known as Christmas, whether I wanted to be or not. I have posted twice on the subject of Christmas. First, I posted on the true pagan roots of Christmas and why I don’t celebrate it. Then I posted on the Biblical date of Christ’s birth found in Luke chapters 1 and 2. It was not December 25th which is Saturnalia, the wicked celebration of the sun god Baal.
In both of those posts, I left it up to the reader as to whether or not he or she should celebrate Christmas. I quoted Romans 14:5-10 as the grounds for the celebration of Christmas as long as they did it unto the Lord.
I recently was challenged in my thinking by an individual who showed me a few verses in Deuteronomy. After meditating on them I have come to the belief that Christians should not celebrate Christmas; no matter the intent of their heart. Consider two examples.
First, consider Cain and Abel. Both were taught by their father, Adam what God required in the way of a sacrifice. In Genesis 4:2-5 we see that Cain sincerely offered a sacrifice unto the Lord of the fruit of the ground. However, it was rejected because it was not what God required.
Second, consider the intent of the heart of King Saul who sincerely wanted to sacrifice the best of the animals taken from the Amalekites. This can be found in 1 Samuel 15:1-24. God told Saul to destroy all the Amalekites including their animals. Saul, however, spared their king and the best of their animals. Saul tried to place the blame on the people of Israel for his disobedience, but ultimately he was in charge and should have lead them to obey the command of God. What do we learn from this?
1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
Because Saul rejected the command of the Lord, he was rejected from being king of Israel.
God is more concerned with our obedience than the intent or sincerity of our hearts when, out of disobedience, we offer a sacrifice to Him.
So what does that have to do with the celebration of Christmas?
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add to thereto, nor diminish from it.
Jeremiah 10:1-6
1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; 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.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
God is crystal clear that He does not want His people to learn the customs of the pagans (heathen) nor does He want us to worship Him in the same way that pagans worship their gods. Their customs are an abomination to the Lord and He hates them.
The customs of Christmas are pagan. It was the Catholic “church” that took those pagan celebrations and gave them a Christian name so the Christians and pagans could be united under the Roman Empire.
Many Christians have said and will say, “But that is not what those Christmas customs mean to me!” “I am celebrating it unto the Lord!”
The LORD is more concerned with our obedience than He is with the sincerity of our hearts in our sacrifice of praise when we do it in disobedience to his Word.
For those who have children, imagine you tell one of them to go clean up his room and you will come check on him in 30 minutes to see if he has done what he was told to do. Thirty minutes later, you go into his room to find it a complete mess and your son is on the bed drawing a picture for you because he loves you. As you chasten your child, he says, "But why am I being chastened? ...I was making this drawing for you." Yes, he did a sacrifice of love in making a drawing for you, but he failed to do what he was told to do and there are consequences to disobedience.
Celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the same day (December 25th) and in the same way that pagans celebrated their sun god Baal (almost 2000 years before Christ came) is an abomination unto Him.
Some will say, "But that was in the Old Testament. That was for Israel back then and not for us today. We are not under the law, we are under grace. We can celebrate anything we want if we do it unto the Lord."
We are under grace. We, who are saved, were saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ alone and nothing else. Does His grace abolish the law? Are we now free to live as we want and do what we want as long as we do it unto the Lord? Has God changed? Does He no longer require obedience in His people?
We don't obey His words as a means of salvation. Rather, we obey His words because we love Him and want to honor Him. Should Christians celebrate Christmas with the rest of the world or should we come out from among them and be separate? Christians should come out from among the world and be set apart.
