It’s that time of year again. The time for Christians and non-Christians alike to come out of the woodwork to proudly proclaim the good news of the pagan roots of Christmas, in an attempt to shut down everyone’s joy and cheer.
The primary argument for this is because of the supposed truth that Jesus wasn’t actually born around Christmas, along with the alleged facts that many of our Christmas traditions and even the day itself, was pagan before Christians came along and appropriated it.
It’s pagan, so Christians shouldn’t touch it.
But what isn’t pagan? I’d argue, nothing. Pagans have claimed everything. There’s not a day on the calendar that pagans have ever said, “whoa now, that’s a Christian holiday, so we should stay away from doing anything pagan that day or we might be confused for Christians.”
Pagans claim the calendar. They claim the trees. They claim the sky. They claim the earth. They claim everything.
So what does that leave us Christians with? Absolutely nothing.
An Tactical Apologetic for Celebrating Christmas
Dr. James White visited my church this weekend to lecture on the historicity of Christmas. Many Christians take for granted that Jesus was born months away from December. Dr. White argued that we can narrow down Jesus’s actual birth date to within two weeks of December 25 based on Biblical evidence and actual historical records of the tribe of priests Zechariah (John the Baptist’s father) belonged to. With that evidence, we can pinpoint with surprising accuracy the conception of John the Baptist, and therefore the birthdate of Jesus since they were conceived around the same time.
So the evidence is actually on our side, that Jesus’s birthday really was around December 25.
However, I want you to consider a different approach to this argument. Rather than going back and forth sharing contradictory evidence, I believe there’s a much better way to argue for celebrating Christmas.
It’s very effective to grant part of an opponent’s argument if it reveals a deadly crack in the whole.
So even though Jesus really was born on or around December 25, let’s grant our opponent their point for the sake of argument. What if he wasn’t? Ultimately I think their argument will fall apart under it’s own weight.
The Contradiction
If Christians should avoid pagan things, we can’t function. We can’t do anything. No day is God’s. Like I said earlier, pagans claim everything. They claim December 25th, but they also claim Easter. And they claim Sundays. Not only can we not celebrate any holiday whatsoever but we also shouldn’t go to church on Sunday, because we wouldn’t want to be confused to pagans.
We can’t have Christmas trees because pagans have worshiped trees. But we also can’t build tables or chairs or houses. Those are pagan things. Pagans worshipped trees after all. We can’t have wreathes because. We can’t use the symbol of a star because that’s pagan as well. We shouldn’t associate ourselves in any way with stars, or planets, or shapes. Pagans have even used bread and wine. So we shouldn’t take communion.
Finally, to not worship God is pagan. And by trying to convince us not to celebrate our Lord, they are falling into one of the greatest pagan traditions — refusing to worship God.
Ultimately, pushing this argument into the corners reveals the person arguing it can’t escape from it themselves. If they do anything Christian, they are doing something that overlaps in some unavoidable way with paganism.
In reality, the calendar doesn’t belong to the pagans. It belongs to God. Trees are God’s. Wreaths are God’s. Stars are God’s. God wasn’t doing anything pagan when he became flesh and was born in a manger and guided shepherds and wise men to him with a star.
Using an evergreen tree to remind us of the Trinity and lights to proclaim Jesus as the light of the world isn’t pagan. It’s undeniably Christian. Hanging wreaths on our door to show God’s victory over false gods and idols isn’t pagan. It’s Christian.
No matter when Jesus was born (it really was around Christmas) Christmas is Christian at it’s core. No matter what day it’s on or what false religions have done in the past, Christians are free use the calendar and all of God’s creation to worship him. That includes December 25th. And it includes lights and trees and wreaths and food and family.
So enjoy this Christmas and unapologetically worship your Lord and celebrate his birth.
