This is the time of year when people may ask you or me questions like, "Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?", or "Why don't you keep Christmas?"
If someone asks me, "Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?", I have my answer ready. I can say, "Yes. I finished my Christmas shopping about 44 years ago."
If someone asks me why I don't keep Christmas, there are several ways I can answer.
I do not keep Christmas because I believe the Bible. I also do not keep Christmas because I believe Jesus Christ hates Christmas with a passion. I think Christ hates Christmas because of what it represents to Him and to God the Father.
Most people in the world think Christmas represents the birth of Jesus Christ. Maybe that is what it represents to them. To God, it represents something different.
Christmas is a contradiction. It claims (if a day can "claim" anything) to honor Christ by remembering and celebrating His birth. But it does not in any way honor Christ, rather, it dishonors both Christ and the Father because of what it represents.
Christmas, like Easter, represents disobedience towards God based on human self-will and disbelief of God's word. It represents people's refusal to believe what God says.
God, in the Bible, is clear that He commands us NOT to adopt pagan religious customs and use them to worship Christ and God the Father. We are not to worship God the way the pagans worshipped their gods. We are not to adopt and adapt their customs.
Several of the clearest prohibitions against using pagan customs in our religious practices come from the Old Testament. Jesus Christ affirmed the authority of the Old Testament scriptures.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18). Referring to Old Testament scriptures, God says, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).
"Thus says the Lord: 'Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple" (Jeremiah 10:2-4).
"When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
It is clearly against God's commands to take pagan religious customs and use them to worship the true God.
Anyone can research the origins of Christmas customs and learn that they come from paganism.
Not only does Christmas represent disobedience to God in doing what He commands us not to do, it represents rejection of the annual holy days and festivals that He has commanded we keep, for it is the days like Christmas and Easter that serve as substitutes for God's annual holy days, which He commanded, but which those who keep Christmas generally do not observe. In effect, when people keep Christmas and Easter rather than God's holy days, they are saying to God, "we know better than you."
That is what Christmas represents, that is why I think Christ hates Christmas, and that is why I finished my Christmas shopping 44 years ago.
Christmas is a contradiction. It pretends to honor Christ and God, but it represents and in fact is rebellion towards God and Christ.
Here are links to related chapters or sections in Preaching the Gospel:
Traditional Christian Holidays, Chapter 2
The Annual Holy Days and the Plan of God, Chapter 2
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1 comment:
Indeed you speak the Truth; unfortunately the following Scripture is also True:
Isaiah 6:9 "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not."
I am convinced that if Christ Himself came down on dec. 25th and Condemned that day, and even raised the dead, as long as it remains popular and acceptable to cling to lies the world would continue in it.
In fact Zechariah 14:16-17 proves that even after Christ's Return there will still be resistence to giving up the traditions of men in favor of the absolutely obvious Truth of God; AND THIS DURING A TIME WHEN SATAN IS BOUND!!!
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