The Christmas Contradiction
A commentary by Jerold Aust
Senior Good News writer, Mobile, Alabama
Christmas is both colorful and popular. But it's also a contradictory
term. Here's why.
Christmas is a combination of two separate words—Christ and
Mass. From the Catholic perspective, "The Mass is described
as the most powerful prayer on earth. That is because it is the
Prayer and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ the 'Lamb of God' on
Mount Calvary nearly two thousand years ago. His sacrifice is made
present on the altar under the appearance of 'Bread and Wine' (http://www.threeinonegod.com/mass.htm).
To both Catholics and Protestants the Eucharist (Communion for
Protestants) represents the body and blood of Jesus—that is,
His death—through the taking of bread and wine. Also,
both Catholics and Protestants teach that Christmas celebrates the
birth of Christ. But it also suggests the death of Jesus Christ
through the literal meaning of its name, Christ-mas(s) or the Mass
of Christ, giving conflicting meanings to the very term Christmas.
Though the vast majority of professing Christians accept the notion
that Jesus was born on December 25th, both the Bible and secular
history indicate that Jesus was actually born in either late September
or early October.
Alexander Hislop, a Presbyterian theologian who belonged to the
Free Church of Scotland addresses this issue in his book first published
in 1858, "And first, as to the festival in honor of the birth of
Christ, or Christmas. How comes it that that festival was connected with
the 25th of December? There is not a word in the Scriptures about the
precise day of His birth, or the time of the year when He was born. What
is recorded there, implies that at what time soever His birth took place,
it could not have
been on the 25th of December. At the time that the angel announced
His birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they were feeding their
flocks by night in the open fields [see Luke 2:8]. It was not the
custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open
fields later than about the
end of October” (The Two Babylons (1959 edition),
p. 91).
Another biblical conflict is that God condemns the adoption of
pagan customs and celebrations as an acceptable means for worshipping
Him (Deuteronomy 12:28-30). The prophet Jeremiah also writes, "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).
Christmas observance did not originate in the Bible. Even The
Catholic Encyclopedia candidly admits that Jesus and His
disciples never kept Christmas and that it was added as a gentile
holiday, a clear departure from the early Jewish-Christian festivals
(New Catholic Encyclopedia, Early Christian Feasts, 1967,
Vol. 5, p. 867).
Christmas is a Catholic adaptation of the ancient Mid-Winter
Festival which was observed in pagan Rome under the name Saturnalia.
Secular history confirms its pagan origin. The book Man, Myth & Magic explains:
"Christmas has its origin in two ancient pagan festivals,
the great Yule-feast of the Norsemen and the Roman Saturnalia. The
Saturnalia involved the wildest debauchery. However, the festival
was far too strongly entrenched in popular favor to be abolished,
and the [Catholic] Church finally granted the necessary recognition,
believing that if Christmas could not be suppressed it should be
preserved in honor of the Christian God. "It
was only in the 4th century that 25 December was officially decreed
to be the birthday of Christ, and it was another 500 years
before the term Midwinter Feast was abandoned in favor of the word
Christmas" (1983, Vol. 2, Christmas, p. 480; emphases
added).
The alleged meanings of Christmas are contradictory as well as
contradictory to the scriptures. Jesus Christ can set us free from
such confusion. He has promised, "And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Jesus explained
that it is possible to worship God in vain by following manmade
traditions (Matthew 15:19)
 For a clear, accurate explanation of the
biblical celebrations Christians are supposed to observe simply
read, request or download our informative free booklet: Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days
We Observe?
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