The “Abomination” of Christmas

From Valerie Tarico’s excellent article,  Christianity’s Own War on Christmas:

Today’s Christian War on Christmas
Today most Christians have forgotten [their] history, but a conservative remnant still sees the celebration of Christmas as a concession to worldly influences. Retired Presbyterian minister G.I.Williamson complains that stores are open on Sunday but closed on Christmas. “There is no command to have a special day called Christmas. . . . If my church history books are correct there was only one day that was celebrated faithfully in the early Church. It was the Lord’s Day. And people used to greet one another by saying “Jesus is risen.”

Freelance fundamentalist Christopher J.E. Johnson of Creation Liberty Evangelism echoesthe old complaint that Christmas is fundamentally pagan: “God hates paganism and he hates idols and he hates the concept of false Gods, and that’s what Christmas actually represents.” He preaches that “one of the big problems in Christianity today is theDENIAL of the pagan origins of their traditions, or in other words, they lie to themselves (and to others) in order to keep from knowing the truth, and thereby preventing themselves from receiving conviction from the Holy Spirit that would force them to give up their fleshly lusts. To understand the abomination of Christmas being brought into the Church of Jesus Christ, we need to understand its origin.”

As with the bible, few believers know anything about the actual history of Christmas. Nevertheless, they get all up-in-arms because those nasty atheists and other non-believers don’t want to wish them “Merry Christmas.” After all, says them, the 25th day of December is the “Savior’s” birthday (which, technically, is not correct) and everyone (of all creeds and color) should honor that!

Yet, when the facts are known, it never occurred to the early believers to celebrate Yeshua’s birthday. It was just another day. They were much more focused on his resurrection.

Moreover, there is no Biblical directive to do so.

None of this even speaks to the pagan origins of many Christmas traditions, such as the so-called “Christmas tree.” And gift-giving? It was originally seen as a way to celebrate the New Year … not as a symbol of the gifts (supposedly) given to the Christ-child.

So go ahead, Christians. Throw your hissy-fits because someone doesn’t accept your holiday. It’s not going to change the facts.