Posted on 12/12/2020 9:32:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Several years ago, in a documentary called “Religulous” (clever, right?), Bill Maher claimed that most of the story of Christ, especially the parts about His birth, were cribbed from pagan mythology. After all, Maher claimed, the Egyptian God Horus was born of a virgin on December 25th, was baptized, had twelve disciples, performed miracles, and ultimately died and rose again. Christianity, said Maher, is nothing but a cheap knockoff.
The problem is, as numerous critics have pointed out, Maher’s claims are complete nonsense. No original source material backs up his description of Horus or, for that matter, of Mithras or Krishna, two other deities Maher claims early Christians copied.
As ridiculous as “Religulous” is, some of its same claims about the origins of Christian holidays remain and tend to surface most at Christmas time. For example, how and when did the Church determine that date of December 25th? Was it to compete with the Roman festival of Saturnalia? And what about trees, and gifts, and lights? Where did all of that come from? And, what about those pagan stories that resemble Christ, of sons of the gods and “corn kings” who die and rise again?
Recently, historian and long-time friend of the Colson Center, Dr. Glenn Sunshine joined Shane Morris to talk about these things on the Upstream podcast. During his conversation with Shane, Dr. Sunshine answered some of the core questions about Christmas.
For instance, Sunshine argued that December 25th was not chosen as the date for Christmas in order to co-opt a pagan solstice festival. More likely, it was based on an ancient Jewish belief that people are conceived on the date of their deaths. Since Christ died on or around March 25th, some Church Fathers believed that Christ must have been conceived on that day and born nine months later… December 25th.
Was this Jesus’ actual birthday? No one knows, of course. Still, the choice to celebrate Christ’s birth at the end of December reflects a “sacramental” view of reality, which Christians have held through the ages.
In this more “enchanted” perception of the world, one that held sway in the Early and Medieval Church, nature itself was understood to have signified the life of Christ. The visible death of winter—the withering of the leaves, the dormancy of the ground, and the longer nights—symbolized to many Christians of centuries past the death Jesus came to die. The turning of the seasons and the increase in daylight symbolized the dawning of the Light of the World in a manger.
Many of our traditions, like Christmas trees, probably began as symbols of life in the midst of death. Dr. Sunshine suggests that this mingling of symbols of atonement with the joyous news of the Savior’s birth can even be detected in the Gospel narratives. For instance, could those swaddling clothes be the burial cloth Joseph carried with him in case of death?
Even more, the pagan myths that atheists often exaggerate to attack Christianity, Dr. Sunshine thinks, offer tantalizing echoes of Christ in other religions. C. S. Lewis also recognized this when he wrote in Mere Christianity of what he called “good dreams,” or “those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men.”
For Lewis, these echoes were not evidence of religious plagiarism, but that Christ is the “true myth,” the waking reality behind these “good dreams.” To celebrate Christmas well, focused on Christ as opposed to “stuff,” we do more than repeat old traditions. We are glorifying the King of Kings who came to save His people from darkness and make all things new.
You can get Shane’s podcast with Glenn Sunshine at breakpoint.org, and the latest “What Would You Say” video tackles this same question, “Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?” Watch it as a family, share it on social media, or with your church to help others answer this question that still stumps too many of us.
Here is the link to the Podcast for those interested in listening:
An annual ritual, for those that have not had this discussion in previous years.
I know the Pilgrims believed it to be pagan and would not celebrate.
A child is first taught to believe in the tooth fairy. This was good for a couple quarters.
Then the child was taught to believe in a miracle worker called Santa Claus. This was a gold mine.
Then the Easter Bunny came along, bringing some good candy.
After slowing realizing these characters were all fairy tales, the child finally hears about Jesus. After being lied to his whole life, . . . .
Christmas runs in two different directions which is part of its popularity and charm.
1. Trees and presents and yule and mistletoe and Santa and glitter and family and hugs and love and sharing life.
2. Religious and the brith of the Savior and the biblical story, no room at the inn, the angels and the shepherds and the kings and the prophecies.
It organ also runs historically in two different directions
1. Roman Saturnalian banquet - pagan holiday
2. The Birth of Jesus Christ.
The only problem with this is that there is no record in the Bible of when Jesus was born. Oh well - seemed like a good idea at the time.
When people are literally getting tossed to Lions because of their faith, it becomes necessary to “hide in plain sight.”
I wonder why this is so difficult for people to realize.
Some folks are too literal for their own good.
Other than the shepards were still in the fields with thier flocks. So probably no later than the end of October in the Judean hill country.
"Ok... let's go over this again. There is no evidence Christmas is pagan.
"I'll start with the date.
"Sol Invictus was not placed on 12/25 until 354 AD when the Philocalian Calendar records this but doesn't specify any festival with regards to sun worship. Prior to this, the Julio-Claudian fasti inscriptions say Sun festivals were on August 8th, 9th, 28th, and December 11th, and maybe October 19th. The Philocalian Calendar says Emperor Aurelian honored the sun with chariot races every 4 years Oct 19-22 (Steven Hijmans, "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas", Mouseion, Number 47/3 (2003), 277-298). Saturnalia was never on 12/25. Macrobius says Saturnalia began 14 days before January, which comes out to December 17th (Saturnalia 1.10.1-23), using Roman Calendrical dates. He says it lasted for 3 days, but according to the Fasti inscriptions, it lasted to the 24th during the days of the Republic.
"Yule was placed on 12/25 by King Haakon the Good in the 10th century AD to coincide with Christmas. This goes back to the early historian Snorri Sturluson, and his book
"Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway." Snorri says before this, “Yule was celebrated on a midwinter night, and for the duration of three nights" (p. 106). He gives no specific dates, but St. Bede in “The reckoning of Time,” (Section 329) said Northmen calculated their seasons according to the cycles of the moon, so the date of Yule probably changed every year. Pliny the elder also says the Gallic tribes calculated their months according to the moon (nat. his. 16.95.250). Last, according to the Chronicler, Theitmar, the Danes sacrificed to pagan gods in January after the 6th (The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Book 1.17).
"The Winter Solstice had no festive significance to ancient Romans. There were no celebrations planned for the date and they disagreed on when it was. The Julian Calendar does say 12/25, but Pliny the Elder says 12/26 (nat. his. 18.59.221), and Columella says 12/23 (De Re Rustica 9.14.12).
"The date of 12/25 was selected by Christians because (according to early authors like Dionysus Exiguus & Hippolytus) they believed Jesus was conceived on the same day he died and they thought he died on March 25th, so just count forward nine months.
"Christmas trees only go back to the 16th century in eastern Europe. The first mention of Christmas trees is in an Alsace ordinance in 1561. Almost no early pagans thought pine trees were sacred, let alone associated with 12/25. Germanic tribes believed the oak was sacred (Pliny, nat. his. 16.95). Maximus of Tyre said, "The Celts indeed worship Zeus, but they honor Him in the form of a lofty oak" (Dissertation VIII, section 8).
"The most likely explanation is they morphed over from paradise trees. Adam and Eve's festival days is 12/24 and used to be honored with an Adam and Eve play. In Europe, in the dead of winter, not a lot of trees are available, so they would get a pine tree and decorate it with fruits and cakes. After the play, they could eat the treats on the tree and the practice probably just morphed into Christmas. We have no record of Christmas trees prior to this time. See "Christmas: A Candid History" by Bruce David Forbes, pp. 48-59; Encyclopedia of Christmas by Tanya Gulevich, pp. 165-171.
"Santa Claus can only be traced back to Dutch immigrants in New York in the early 1800s. He came from the Dutch Sinterklaas, also known as St. Nicolas. His feast day was on 12/6 and was moved to 12/25 around this time to help make Christmas a family holiday. Newspapers promoted it and encouraged to give gifts on Christmas instead of New Years' like it traditionally was before this. Sinterklaas was rebranded from a catholic priest to look like a traditional dutchman from that time period, which included a big red suit (A dictionary of English Folklore, section: Santa). After this Santa was exported around the world and different countries added new spins. Stockings were also promoted around this time period and trace back to Clement C. Moor's “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” In 1927, in Finland, a radio broadcaster, Markus Rautio, morphed the old pagan deity, Joulupukki, into a Santa figure. Santa changed the Joulupukki figure, not the other way around.
"Father Christmas, surprisingly, pre-dates Santa Claus. But he is not a pagan deity. Instead, he was a medieval personification of Christmas. Richard Smart of Plymtree is the first to write about him, referring to him as Sir Christmas, and his task is to announce the birth of Christ (Oxford Book of Carols, no. 21, 41-3).
"Mistletoes do not go back to paganism. The first we hear of using mistletoe as Christmas decorations are in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection," (892, 980), and then William Coles mentions it is a decoration in “The Art of Simpling” (1600s). The tradition of kissing under it did not begin until the end of the 18th century in Britain. See "A dictionary of English Folklore," section: Mistletoe. Yule Logs do not go back to paganism, despite the name. Yule is also an English word to mean "mid-winter period." The first mention of yule logs is in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection (number 784)" and he calls it a Christmas log. It wasn't called a yule log until Aubrey's “In the west-riding of Yorkshire on Christmas eve” (1686, p. 134). St. Francis is credited for the first nativity scene in 1223 AD, Greccio. His followers then promoted the use of them during Christmas (Life of Saint Francis of Assisi - Saint Bonaventure. Chapter 10.7).
"There is no evidence anything associated with Christmas goes past these sources I mentioned here, and therefore, there is no evidence Christmas is pagan."
The most important Christian holiday is Easter. Everyone is born, very few have been resurrected.
Most of the trappings and current popularity of Christmas is a relatively recent development. As celebrations become more popular they tend to absorb traditions from other cultures.
I don’t care if it is or not, we enjoy the day to remember Christmas, and be with family, and we certainly don’t bow down and worship other gods, nor do we convert to paganism during this day no more so than the apostles and early Christians converted to paganism simply for buying the cheaper meats that were offered to pagan gods,p then sold for discounted prices
We enjoy the day to remember Christ.
Mom said they did not celebrate Christmas so much as religious even though they were Christians - they felt his death and resurrection were to be celebrated, his birth not so much.
So Christmas is not pagan, but not biblical, either.
Thank you!
A tradition to do might be one I have picked up this year.
The book of Luke has 24 chapters.
Read one chapter of Luke each day from Dec 1st to Dec 24th.
Luke documents how Jesus expands God’s kingdom and covenant by creating a new Israel that includes the poor, outcasts and others to whom Jesus brings restoration and reverses their life circumstances as He gives them freedom and release from the tyranny of evil and sin.
Throughout the book, we see that Jesus is indeed the messianic king, but He will reign over Israel by suffering. His actions usher in an upside down kingdom marked by self-giving love, and He challenges his disciples to follow His example and share in His ministry.
The milestones covered by Luke are:
Prophecy Fulfilled
Jesus’ Mission
The Prodigal Son
Road to Emmaus
God’s Plan for Mankind
“Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense” (Luke 1:8–11).
The day of Yom Kippur is the day in which incense was offered in this manner.
Based on this observation, Christians were able to calculate the birth of John the Forerunner as being September 23 + 270 days = June 24. They then observed that the Annunciation of Christ’s birth was six months after John the Baptist’s conception.
“In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary” (Luke 1:26–27).
Calculating September 23 and adding six months brings us to March 25. Through this reasoning, Irenaeus had established March 25 as the date of the Annunciation before the end of the second century. The Annunciation was being celebrated long before Christmas, since the Annunciation was miraculous, whereas the birth was a mere function of human biology. The date of December 25 is therefore derived from the date of Jesus’ conception.
https://www.thegoodshepherd.org.au/why-christmas-not-pagan
According to Orthodox Tradition, Christmas (Dec. 25th—Old and New Calendar) is in no way a taken-over pagan holiday, but goes back to the time of the Apostles:
And although Christmas is important, Theophany (Baptism of Christ, Jan 6th, Old and New Calendar) is much more important, being only second to Pascha!!!!
Now the pandemic threatens to cancel both of them! Lord have Mercy!!!!
Le sigh.
It is of little importance to me what date is picked. I celebrate Christ’s birth everyday
The 25th of December I enjoy giving gifts, admiring a lighted tree, and enjoying traditional foods.
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