This is a tough one for most people. If you are anything like me then you love the holidays. The decorating, the scents and smells, the lights and candles, the giving of gifts to those you love and more. I looked forward to the season all year long and couldn't wait to start baking cookies and drinking homemade egg nog.
When I started to research the history of this winter holiday I was shocked at what I found. Every single part of it had its start in ancient paganism. I was sick at what I read. I couldn't believe it. My cherished holiday was pagan through and through. Knowing what Yahweh thinks about paganism being mixed in with the worship of Him I knew this was something that our family had to discuss. Once we sat down and discussed it there was no question but that we had to turn away from celebrating it.
When family and friends heard that we don't celebrate it anymore they made comments such as, "It might have started out as pagan but we've turned it into something good when we celebrate Christ's birth and what could be wrong with that"? To that I say that there are many examples in the Word where believers chose to mix paganism in with their worship of the One, True God, Yahweh and not one time did He allow it but in every case punished those who did. We do not have the right to take something pagan and decide to use it to worship Him.
The day we know as Christmas was celebrated by pagans for centuries before the Savior was born. It is the pagan day for celebrating the birth of the sun god. This started approximately 500 years after the flood during the time of ancient Babylon and the Tower of Babel. The son of Nimrod and Semiramis was Tammuz and one the ways that people worshiped him was by worshiping an evergreen tree. There are many references in the Scriptures where Yahweh through His prophets warned the people about worshiping green trees. Since all trees are green but evergreens stay green all year this is the tree He is referring to.
Down through the centuries this worship continued in many forms in different cultures. As Rome became a world power it turned into the pagan sun worship of Mithraism named Saturnalia. This winter festival was called the Nativity of the sun. As the baby Christian church was adopted by Rome as the state religion under Emperor Constantine in the mid-300's AD, pagan festivals were simply re-named in order to lure the pagans into this "new" way to worship.
Everything from yule logs to giving and receiving of gifts to lighting candles and decorating trees were adopted into the new religion. Pagans of the time were satisfied that they were missing out on nothing by switching to Christianity. Christ became just another name for their sun god, the one they had been worshiping for thousands of years. They did not use the true name of our Savior, Yahshua, but chose a pagan name instead, Christ meaning anointed one. Then went one step further and married the name Christ with the word mass, the Roman pagan celebration of the sun.
Early true believers did not celebrate the birth of the Savior. There were several reasons. One is that He was not born in the winter months. No one truly knows when He was born but the flocks were still in the field and by winter they would have all been brought indoors. Two, they celebrated His resurrection, not his birth or his death. His birth was unimportant and the culture of the time did not celebrate birth days. The only time that was important was His resurrection. I will expand on the True Names on that page rather than here.
So we have a pagan sun god festival with all of the trimmings and today we have a so-called Christian holiday with all of the same trimmings. Same festival, different name. How do you think Yahweh looks on it? When you read His Word you will have a clear understanding how He does.
Do your own research. Use the internet or some of the sources I have listed. One day we will all stand face to face with Him. We won't get away with saying, "I didn't know". We all have the ability and the tools to find out the truth.
As Joshua said, "as for me and my house we will choose to serve Yahweh".