The following post was originally published in December of 2012 on the original Refined4him website at blogger.com. It is here in its original format, unedited. I can no longer guarantee that any links associated with this post are still active. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

As you may remember from Part 1 in this series I introduced you to a brief history in Christmas and where it draws it’s pagan traditions. The pagan holidays honoring their gods during the winter solstice existed before the birth of Jesus Christ. However, in efforts to “Christianize” this pagan holiday (in hopes of complete conversion or meshing Christianity with pagans) Constantine and Pope Julius I established December 25th as the birth of our Savior. There was definite infiltration of paganism in the Christianity, and vice versa. What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:15). In this “gain”, Christmas adapted such pagan customs as feasting with family/friends, gift exchanging, and bringing in trees from outside and decorating them. So you would think that even doing these things would be sinning and we should abolish Christmas altogether, as the “Anti-Christmas” Christians would have? As you may recall from Part 1, the Anti-Christmas crowd argues that Christmas is a sin because it shares pagan customs, originated and is celebrated on a pagan holiday, and because the Bible doesn’t say to celebrate it. Let’s explore these arguments, shall we? (PLEASE NOTE: If you haven’t read Part 1 in this series or haven’t reviewed the links that I have posted in Part 1, please do so at this time. Otherwise this will not make much sense).

Christmas Is A Sin Because It Originated (Celebrated) From Paganism
Well, we can already determine this myth as busted, because if you may recall from it’s history, Christmas did not morph from paganism. It basically was painted over it. It only shares pagan customs. But is it a sin to celebrate Christmas because it was thrown on top of a pagan holiday? I am reminded by the story in the Old Testament when God commanded the Israelites to bulldoze the Canaanites and claim the Promised Land (see the book of Joshua). Here you have something that belongs to God’s people, and God if you will, being claimed (back) from those who do not belong to Him. Hmmm! Sound familiar? The same thing happened when Constantapopejul1 (combination of Constantine and Pope Julius 1, kind of like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s “Brangelina”) declared the celebration of Christ’s birth at the same time as the celebration of the pagan gods. Who won? Let me ask you this: How many people do you know who still honor the pagan gods at Christmas time? Pagan who? Most people couldn’t even tell you what paganism has to do with Christmas. In other words: the birth of Jesus dominates paganism. And may I remind you as to what came first? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5). Would you believe that Christ existed before His own existence? According to Bible scholars and this verse in John 1 this is so. Also God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:11). So the reason for the season, Christ, existed before paganism, and the idols of paganism, nature (trees/Christmas trees), existed before they became pagan idols. In other words pagans took what God created and began to worship it. They worship the creation, not the creator, as it is meant to be. When Christmas bulldozed and buried the pagan holidays, we took back what was rightfully ours. Our Savior, and a creation that is seen as just that and not a god.

Christmas Is A Sin Because It Shares Pagan Customs
So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 18:30). And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them (Leviticus 20:23). What customs are we talking about here? As you may recall from the links I posted in Part I on this series, the pagans feared spirits, unseen gods, weather, and they worshipped them, trees, rocks, acorns, etc. Some even offered sacrifices to trees and so forth. However, we carried the customs of feasting, gift exchanging, and tree decorating over from paganism to Christmas. I know many may say “that is wrong”. True. But what is lacking now that was back then? Idol worshipping. Most people these days partake in these customs because it is family tradition and they still honor Christ as the reason for the season, not Saturn. But I will elaborate more on the customs in Part III of this series.

Christmas Is A Sin Because The Bible Does Not Command It’s Celebration
This is actually the biggest reason why many say we should not celebrate Christmas. As a matter of fact, we used to receive a Christian magazine from England that basically said that we should not celebrate ANY holiday because it is not mentioned in the Bible. And if you did you would go to Hell. Notice I said “used to receive”. I can’t give you any scriptures to back this claim, because, it really isn’t in the Bible. The only thing that the Bible says that we should “celebrate”, or remember, is communion. And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:24-26). Now what I wonder is that if the Bible does not say to celebrate a holiday, does it make it a sin to do so? It doesn’t say that you can’t celebrate a holiday. But if you are on the fence of “you can’t celebrate Christmas because it isn’t in the Bible”, then you need to put down your fork at Thanksgiving, not make any “resolutions”, not attend a 4th of July firework display, and don’t even think about grilling a hot dog for memorial day. Also don’t even think about celebrating a “personal holiday”. What could that be you ask? Yours, or anyone else’s, birthday. No more birthday parties for you or your children. Hey! Not a single one of these is mentioned in the Bible. You may be saying to me “Man! You are sounding legalistic”. My point exactly.

Christmas Is A Sin Because It Is Celebrated On The Same Day As Pagan Festivities
Good argument! But if that is your stronghold, then you need to give up being a Christian. Why? It is true that the pagans claimed December 25th as the birth of Mithra first and that Constantine claimed it as Christ’s birthday second. But did you know that all seven days of the week were named to honor pagan gods? As we all know pagans worshipped the sun and moon as well, which is where Sunday (sun) and Monday (moon) come from. Tuesday is named after Tiw, the Norse god of justice. Wednesday named after Woden/Odin, a powerful Norse god. Thursday is named after hammer slinging Thor. Friday is named after the Norse god Frigg. And for all you Seventh-Day Adventists out there who think you are safe: Saturday is named after who? The Roman god Saturn (http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/funfacts/daysoftheweek.htm). So if you can’t honor Christ on December 25th because it “belongs to the pagans”, then you cannot honor Him any day of the week because those too are in honor of pagan gods and idols. So I guess you will just have to stop worshiping Christ, right?

Final Thoughts On Part II
So what have we gathered here? Yes, I said “we” because this is a learning process for me as well. We have learned that Christ existed before Mithra and any other false pagan god. We have learned that the pagans stole God’s creation and used it as idols for worshiping (hence causing Christians to think that it is an abomination to God to have anything to do with His creation). Sort of like when the homosexuals hijacked the rainbow for their gay symbol, even though it was God’s promise to Noah to not wash earth away with a massive flood again. We have learned that the Bible does not say that it is a sin to celebrate holidays or birthdays. Therefore we cannot say that it is offensive to God to do so, because no one ever said it was. We just need to steer clear of any celebration that is ungodly. We also learned that the seven days of the week “belong to the pagans”, as “does that pagan Christmas holiday”, rendering Christians who will have nothing to do with a pagan honored day without a single day to worship Jesus Christ. Sad. But there will be more on this in Parts IV and V. Yes… this blog post is a beast. Until then…God bless.

More links that I have found that may be of interest:

No Christmas: http://thebibletruthsite.tripod.com/whynottocelebxmas.htm

Go Christmas: http://www.equip.org/articles/should-christians-celebrate-christmas-