‘Tis the season… But what season is it really? Well, we are definitely entering into the winter season, but not a Messiah honoring Christmastime. What does the world’s Christmas season truly look like? Pagan! It looks like a pagan winter wonderland.
When you hear Israelites (and others) say that “Christmas and its Christmastime traditions are pagan” how should and how can we fact-check those declarations? Let us keep things as straightforward as possible, for now, by utilizing two resources:
- 1.) The Scriptures aka “The Bible”
- 2.) The well-known English encyclopedia, Encyclopædia Britannica
So, let’s start with one of the first facts: Christmas and its traditions, customs and practices are not biblical. Let me say it again, in a different way—you will not find Christmas in The Bible. You will not find an instruction to celebrate any festival or holiday that even looks remotely similar to Christmas. You will, however, see prohibitive instructions against copying after other nations and their national traditions & worship ordinances, some of which share striking similarities to Christmas traditions (Jeremiah 10:1-4).
“The influence of the Saturnalia upon the celebrations of Christmas and the New Year has been direct. The fact that Christmas was celebrated on the birthday of the unconquered sun (dies solis invicti nati) gave the season a solar background, connected with the kalends of January (January 1, the Roman New Year) when houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and presents were given to children and the poor. Concerning the gift candles, the Romans had a story that an old prophecy bade the earliest inhabitants of Latium send heads to Hades and phota to Saturn. The ancient Latins interpreted this to mean human sacrifices, but, according to legend, Hercules advised using lights (phosmeans “light” or “man” according to accent) and not human heads.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saturnalia-Roman-festival
“Yule, festival observed historically by Germanic peoples and in modern times primarily by Neo-Pagans, coinciding with the winter solstice (December 21–22 in the Northern Hemisphere; June 20–21 in the Southern Hemisphere). The pre-Christianfestival originated in Scandinavia and was later subsumed, along with other pagan celebrations, into the Christian holiday of Christmas.”
“Yule” became a name for Christmas about the 9th century, and in many languages yule and its cognates are still used to describe that holiday—jul in Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish; joulud in Estonian; joulu in Finnish; and jol in Icelandic. The Christmas holiday is still referred to as Yule in the Scots language. According to the sagaof King Haakon Haraldsson (also known as Haakon I Adalsteinsfostre or Haakon the Good) of Norway, who ruled in the 10th century, the Norse Yule celebration and Christian Christmas celebration were merged during his reign. Haakon became Christian after a visit to England, and after his return to Norway he put into law that Yule should be celebrated at the same time as Christmas. Everyone was required to have ale from a measure of grain and keep the holiday while the ale lasted or else be subject to a fine.
From this point Christmas continued to overtake Yule, although some vestiges of the original celebration remain. One of these is the Yule log, still popular today although usually in altered form. It is thought that the original Yule log was a large log that burned throughout the entire multiday festival, for as many as 12 days. A popular modern take on the Yule log is a roulade-style cake decorated to look like a log.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yule-festival
If you didn’t know (or if you still don’t believe), that some of the world’s most beloved & treasured Christmastime traditions, practices, and rites come straight from pagan festivals, you can read and fact-check these two pages as well:
https://www.britannica.com/facts/Christmas
https://www.britannica.com/list/7-winter-solstice-celebrations-from-around-the-world
The last link above references other winter pagan celebrations/festivals. Again, Christmas is not a biblical winter celebration, but there is a biblical winter celebration that should be celebrated by those who follow Christ… Why? Because The Messiah Himself made a huge declaration during that winter festival… And what winter festival is it? The festival or feast of Dedication, or as it’s called in Hebrew Hanukkah/Chanukah:
Some people who profess belief in the Bible and claim to walk after The Messiah today, will say things like “Well… just because He was there, it doesn’t mean that He celebrated Hanukkah!” (But aren’t we supposed to walk after Him?) Do you think that He would’ve rebuked those who were there celebrating, if it was not an acceptable festival unto The Father? Do we read of Him whipping the people out of the Temple, as He did when He whipped the money changers out of the temple? Instead, He talked to those who considered themselves to be dedicated Israelites, as they were there celebrating Hanukkah; He responded masterfully to their request & question:
Read verses 25-42 on your own to see His response and the reaction of the people.
The questions for all of us today are: why follow/keep the traditions of the world? Why follow/keep pagan practices, while claiming to be a follower of Christ & The Bible? We cannot do both, we cannot serve two masters. Let us, therefore, check ourselves, let us consider if we are truly dedicated to Him, dedicated to testing all things & holding on to that which is good, functional, and truth, while turning away from all that is dysfunctional, vanity & falsehood. If you still believe that “Jesus is the reason for the season”, then keeping with old sayings, as cliched as they may be, seriously ask yourself after reading the Scriptures “What would Jesus do?” According to Scripture, I can emphatically tell you that The Messiah, the Son of YAH, would not celebrate nor encourage Christmas keeping, instead, He would celebrate and encourage Dedication/Hanukkah to The Father, just as we read.
I believe that’s enough for now, and if our Father in Heaven allows me, I will blog more this week about what Hanukkah is, and how we can celebrate it in our homes, and with our families & friends. Until then, you can check out this other blog about the pagan holidays which masquerade as good & holy, biblical festivals:
I highly encourage you to check out this Hanukkah playlist of teachings by Moreh Yoshiyahu from The ARK:
Until next time, shalom ✌🏾
~Yahrahn
Check out these 12 memes & images:
What Is He Brewing? 