I recently sat in a living room with several other Christian women who meet once a month to learn more about healthy living. As an icebreaker for this meeting, the hostess asked us to share how we keep things in perspective during the busy holiday season, as well as special traditions our families had. I realized how this question would have stressed me terribly a few years ago. When my turn came, I related that I did not have a great deal of experience yet, (long story) but we make an effort to give Jesus the gifts, to the “least of these”, rather than go crazy on junk no one needs, wants, or remembers this time next year. As the sharing moved around the room, one woman began to explain why they were not going to celebrate Christmas this year. Her explanation wavered between sheepish embarrassment to dogmatic conviction about “what the Bible says.” I know that conviction well. No one knew what to say. I knew what I wanted to tell her, but I also knew she would have to walk down that road to see what I see now.
You cannot ignore Christmas, no matter how hard you might try. And oh did we try, for nearly ten years. We came under conviction early on in our Christian lives that we were wrong to mix the worship of the one true God with traditions inherited from Paganism. The desire for our worship to be pure before God sparked our search for the purest form of our faith, seeking to go back all the way to what we believed were our authentic roots.
I don’t blame anyone for coming to this conclusion about Christmas, especially if you do as I did and study out the history of the Church and various holy days. During the Middle Ages, every month had some type of celebration adopted from various pagan cultures, renaming the days for saints, yet retaining the rituals of superstition and divination. I did not view this as an honorable history, but rather a church compromising in order to gain allegiance and control of the masses. In many countries around the world today you see a strange mix of traditional cultures with Catholic mass and rituals, mixing Jesus and Mary with whatever custom they can impress them upon. Watching documentaries of other cultures, I personally saw no difference in what they were doing and our culture’s worship of Christmas. (I felt the day was worshiped, not God, and still see this is the largest pitfall of our materialistic culture.)
I became a Christian after spending time in the New Age, so I was especially sensitive to avoid all references or participation in paganism, which at this time in my life, was perfectly right. All I could see in Christmas at that time was compromise, which is why I don’t judge anyone for choosing to not celebrate this day. However for me, my pure devotion quickly transformed into a source of superiority and pride.
Each year as the day rolled around we sometimes had a dinner with friends who shared the same conviction. There was literally nothing else to do. We would eat, play games, and lament how our families just did not understand. We personally didn’t mind being with our own families, but some did not respect our unwillingness to exchange gifts, which created awkward situations, so we tended to avoid them. The irony of our non-Christmas dinner fellowships wasn’t lost on me. I realized, we were still acknowledging the day, just in a different way.
When confronted with Christmas invitations and questions, I soon tried to not reveal that we didn’t celebrate it because the questions were uncomfortable. Do you believe in Jesus? Are you a Jehovah’s Witness? It took too long to explain. Even with the challenge it posed, this became an important feature of our unique spiritual identity. To ignore Christmas is like standing against a tidal wave.
When our eyes opened to the reality of what we have in Christ, and we began to rebuild our spiritual worldview, we had to face once again the question; What do we do with Christmas?
We did not have a new set of facts. History cannot be changed. And this was in fact our conclusion. Try as we might to pretend it didn’t happen, Christmas has become the shining star of the entire year of holidays for the whole western world, and even in many countries which do not generally embrace Christianity. As we looked at the issue again, we had to go back to the testing method which originally prompted our discontent with the Hebrew Roots Movement. Fruit. The unintended result of rejecting Christmas had only caused people to shy away and assume we did not even believe in Jesus at all. Only atheists and cults deny Christmas. (Here’s your sign…once again.) If you are in fact wanting people to know about Him, this is counterproductive to say the least. This only added to the ways in which we gave the wrong impression about Jesus, which were many. The only things we had to show for our pious obedience were sheer boredom, miffed family members, and a distraction away from Jesus, not toward Him.
When we looked at Christmas again, instead of seeing only paganism repackaged, we saw paganism redeemed, for the spread of the gospel. Just as Jesus took us who were broken, sinful, idolatrous, rebellious, and prideful – and redeemed us for His glory – we realized He can also do this with a day if it pleases Him to do so. The evergreen, the pagan symbol for eternal life, we see now as a symbol of their desire to overcome the problem of death, the problem only Jesus has the answer for. The lights symbolize the true Light of the World, that comes in our darkest, coldest nights. The day they dedicated to call back the Sun is now celebrated to the Eternal Son. It seems maybe God intended for things to transpire the way they have. Another miracle of Christmas is the success of its worldwide popularity, being presented as the day of Jesus Christ’s birth! If I were a pagan, I would not see this as a victory for my perspective, especially since most people don’t give a second thought to where the traditions came from in the first place.
As I sat in church during what was arguably my first real Christmas, fully embracing Christ, I was so moved by the focus on the amazing miracle and sacrifice of a God who was willing to come and give everything of Himself to His Creation. How could the Creator submit to a human birth, just as we are born? I related to Him in the birth of my own children and wondered what Mary must have thought as she held God in her arms. Thankfully she could not fully see the days ahead.
Did He command me to remember His birth? No. But part of the beauty of the New Covenant is found in the love offering our life becomes. In the Old Covenant people brought freewill and thank offerings when they desired to. I believe Christmas, for a genuine believer, becomes a time to present a thank offering to Jesus for the amazing gift He gave, which only started with His birth. We cannot stop at the manger. Our minds are drawn to the cross, and finally a risen Lord, and His ever-present Spirit, the true Spirit of Christmas.
I found it was not possible to ever completely separate myself from this holiday, but I am thankful that I am now in a new relationship with it that blesses me and gives me a chance to bless others in many ways. I don’t believe there is any other day of the year that provides a better stage to share the truth about Jesus, to find people with their ears and hearts a little more open. I am sorry for the years I missed that, and for all the frustration we put our families through. I have also seen how special this day is to those who don’t have the freedom to worship Him openly, and how they have risked their lives to honor their Savior on the day dedicated to His birth. I would much rather stand with them in their sacrificial love of Christ, than were I stood before, in pride against those who have given all for Him. What will you do with the day of the Son this year?
Thank you Jesus for being willing to come to our dark world and share in our human suffering and carry our humiliation. Your love is beyond understanding, beyond anything mortal man in all his vain wisdom ever dared to hope for – a God that would come down and unite Himself with us, in order to save us. Thank you that You are in us, and we are in You, forever! Maranatha!
Simeon’s Moment by Ron DiCianni
© 2010. Image used by Permission
www.TapestryProductions.com
Sarah,
Hello, You wrote: “You cannot ignore Christmas, no matter how hard you might try. And oh did we try, for nearly ten years. We came under conviction early on in our Christian lives that we were wrong to mix the worship of the one true God with traditions inherited from Paganism. ”
I want to comment on that. “No one can follow two polar-opposite masters — the authentic, historical, PRO-Torah 1st-century Ribi Yehoshua ha-Mashiakh (the Messiah) from Nazareth andthe 4th-century (post-135 C.E.), arch-antithesis ANTI-Torah apostasy developed by the Hellenists (namely the Sadducees and Roman pagans who conspired to kill Ribi Yәhoshua, displaced his original followers and redacted the NT).” [Quote: http://www.netzarim.co.il with some additions]]
This is written in the Torah Ribi Yehoshua taught and lived after all his life: “”Do not do like the practice of the land… in which you dwelled, and do not do like the practice of the land… to which I bring you, and do not walk in their traditions. Do My mi•shәpât•im′ and watchguard My khuq•im′ to walk in them.” (wa-Yi•qәr•â′ 18.3). [words found in the glossaries in http://www.netzarim.co.il%5D” This implies that according to the Creator’s words in Torah one shouldn’t celebrate xmas. It is forbidden to add and to remove mitzwot (commandments) from Torah (Devarim (Deuteronomy) 13:1-6 in Hebrew).
In conclusion, to follow Ribi Yehoshuas Torah-teachings includes to follow the Jewish khagim (holidays) like Ribi Yehoshua and precludes celebrations of easter, xmas and other non-Judaic religious celebrations.
All the best, Anders Branderud
Seven years ago, my husband and I stopped celebrating Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. Our daughter was 9 years old at the time. She was upset, but had no choice but to abide by our wishes, and my family was heart-broken. We stopped because of the ‘pagan origins’ of Christmas. We thought we were doing the “right” thing.
Those were long, awkward, empty Christmas days. And, yes, it was awkward when it came time to tell friends we were not observing it anymore.
My view towards Christmas changed as yours did. So, this year, 2009, my daughter (now 16 and anorexic) and I, celebrated Christmas with my family. My husband, however, very pridefully and disdainfully declined to participate in any way. He was so angry when I invited him to eat breakfast with my family, he could only grunt…he could not even speak. He was angry that my daughter and I put up a small tree and beautifully decorated it. He was angry that we went to have Christmas breakfast with my family this morning. He was working in the yard when we left.
You see, he has a friend (and I use that term loosely), that got him involved in the Hebrew Roots Movement about two years ago. A really weird sect, where they believe they are now Jewish, and are of the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation Chapters 7 and 14. That they are the ‘first fruits’, the ‘remnant’. They are both so full of pride and disdain and look down on us. He has told me that my beliefs are crap (his word). They even believe that if you call God by the name “God, Lord, Jesus, or Christ” – that God is angry because you used the wrong name and He won’t listen to your prayers or answer them. They use “Yahweh”, etc. This false religion has completely DESTROYED our marriage. He can’t see who I am anymore, because he is looking through the Hebrew Roots “filter”. He is addicted to bad news (the alternative news), scouring the web for Hebrew Roots propaganda that fits his particular sect, and keeping the Sabbath. Although his Sabbath keeping consists of sleeping till noon, eating a large meal, then watching “Andy Griffith” or “Bonanza” or “Beverly Hillbillies” on TV. If he’s not doing that, he’s on the phone talking to his “friend” about how they are persecuted for their beliefs, and how everyone around them is blind and lost and steeped in pagan practices.
All this to say: if this ‘religion’ was truly of God, and was truly The Way, then we would not be hurting so badly. Our daughter is anorexic because of the anger she has towards him. She wishes he was dead. That’s how bad it is around here. A demonic spirit of oppression follows him around. When he’s at work, the house atmosphere is normal and full of joy, but not when he is home. It’s as if he has his own personal rain cloud hovering over him.
They have added to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If one carries the Hebrew Roots Movement doctrine to its logical conclusion, they deny the deity of Jesus Christ. This is because they have added to the work of the cross – the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Narrow is the way, and few there be that find it – Jesus was simply saying that HE is the WAY, and that’s it. Nothing else. And we all know that it is human nature to try and earn our Salvation, i.e. keeping a Saturday Sabbath, keeping the Torah, etc. Most people miss the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel. It is Jesus Christ plus nothing else. He paid it all. What a glorious Saviour!
Thank you for posting – I needed to read what you wrote today. I have hope for my husband – that he will see the Truth.
Thank you for once again gently sharing the Love, Grace, and New Life that is in Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace,
– JGIG
I must say, this was an excellent blog. I, too, held on to the Hebrew Roots fallacies, but did learn of the pagan history of Christmas.
But since coming to the truth of the New Covenant, I have the FREEDOM to do as God calls me to do. The end of the commandment, as it says in I Timothy 1, is CHARITY. Love in ACTION. And yes, Jesus is the total fulfillment of charity as He came and showed us what TRUE DEDICATED UNSELFISH love is all about.
So… as we seek to be like Him, we give in love — and this time of year and every other day… we can do what He has called us to do.
Whatever day He was born… makes no difference to me. It is the fact that HE CAME… to save us from the kingdom of darkness and show us the LIGHT! Luke 1 and Colossians 1:13.
All Praise to JESUS!
Amen Sister! 😀
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