[Steve Myers] Here's something that many people don't realize, that Jesus was not born on December 25th. December 25th was not Christ's birthday.

In fact, I ran across an interesting quote from Pope Benedict. A number of years ago, he said this, "The idea that Christ was born on December 25th also has no basis in historical fact." He went on to say, "We don't even know which season He was born in. The whole idea of celebrating His birth during the darkest part of the year is probably linked to pagan traditions and the winter solstice." That's a pretty shocking statement from the Pope.

So, really when you come down to that, he recognizes this very fact that Christ was not born on Christmas Day. So, then the question is, should we celebrate Christmas? Well, here's a challenge. Look through your Bible, can you find any example of celebrating Jesus' birth? I mean, sure, you can find all kinds of passages that talk about His birth, but where do you find anything there that says we should celebrate it? That's become a big tradition.

Now, the Bible does say a lot about tradition. One of the verses that jump out at me is a verse that's found in Colossians 2:8 Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
American King James Version×. Colossians 2:8 Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
American King James Version×it says this, "Beware lest anyone cheat you," going onto it says, "through philosophy, according to the tradition of men." So, we could be cheated. Much like Pope Benedict was talking about, we could be convinced that Christ was born on December 25th and we should observe that and celebrate it. But biblically, we're told, don't celebrate things like this. You can't make this a Christian celebration.

So, here's the challenge. Check it out. Get out your Bible, look at what it really says, and see if you can find any example of where this should be celebrated. In fact, check out what God says we should celebrate.

That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.