Why Christians should not celebrate Christmas

In the first place, Christmas is not a Biblical doctrine. If our Lord wanted us to celebrate His birthday, He would have told us when to celebrate it and how to celebrate it. Christ however never told anyone to celebrate His birthday. We also know from the Bible and from Church History that the Apostles and the early church never celebrated Christ's birthday.
In fact, there are only two birthday celebrations recorded in the Bible; and each of them is connected with murder. The Bible tells us in Genesis 40:22 that on one of Pharaoh's birthdays he murdered his chief baker while a big celebration was going on. The other birthday celebration recorded was that of Herod, when he had John the Baptist murdered. I personally believe that God purposely had these two birthday celebrations recorded to warn and to teach us and to show us that the Lord has no pleasure in birthday celebrations or anniversaries.
The Bible is God's complete and final revelation to man and it tells us everything we need to know for our spiritual lives (2 Timothy 3:16). We do not have to go outside the Bible for anything. God's Word tells us how we are to worship, how we are to give money for the support of the Lord's work, how to evangelize the lost, how to observe the Lord's Supper and everything else pertaining to Christian living. Not once in the Bible does God tell us to celebrate Christmas! We are told to remember the Lord's death, but nowhere are we told to celebrate His birth.
God's people are supposed to be Bible people. We are supposed to live by the teaching of God's holy Word. So the very fact that Christmas is never mentioned in the Bible is sufficient reason for us not to have anything to do with it!
Secondly, Christ was not born on December 25. Luke 2:7, 8, 15 "And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”
The point is that the shepherds were in the fields taking care of their flocks on the night Jesus was born. As the shepherds were watching their sheep, the message came to them of the birth of Jesus. It is a well-known fact that December falls in the middle of the rainy season in Palestine and that the sheep were kept in the fold at that time of the year. The shepherds always corralled their flocks from October to April. They brought their sheep from the mountainsides and the fields no later than October 15 to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed that date. So the birth of Christ could not have taken place at the end of December.
Luke 2:1 & 3 tells us that at the time of the birth of Jesus it was decreed that ". . . all the world should be registered. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city". This could not have taken place in the winter. Caesar Augustus, the ruler at Rome, would certainly not call for such an event in the middle of winter. Travel at this time of the year is extremely difficult; hence, it would be virtually impossible for everyone to comply with the decree if it had been given then. The Lord himself testified to the rigors of travelling in winter, for He told the people to pray that their flight at the end of this age would not be in winter (Matthew 24:20).
No one knows the exact day when Jesus was born, but in all probability He was born sometime during the first latter part of September and the first part of October. We can be reasonably sure of this because His earthly ministry lasted three and a half years and He was crucified on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, which corresponds to our April (John 19:31; Leviticus 23:5). If we go back three and a half years to the time when Jesus was 30 years old, when He began His public ministry, we come to the month of October. This was probably the month when our Lord was born.
We must however remember that it is not the date of Jesus' birth that is important. The important thing is that He was born and that He died for our sins. We are not worshipping a helpless infant lying in a manger. We are worshipping a risen and exalted Christ who has all power in Heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).
Where do we suppose Christmas originated? Certainly not with God! Christmas started with the sun worshippers during the time of Nimrod, the man who supervised the building of the tower of Babel. Thousands of years before Jesus was born, the heathen in every country observed December 25 as the birthday of a god who was called the sun god. Semiramis, the widow of Nimrod, was his mother. She claimed to be the queen of heaven and she had a son who was supposed to have been born on December 25; his name was Tammuz.
According to all the heathen religions of that time, Tammuz had a miraculous birth and for centuries his birthday was celebrated with feasts, revelry, and drunken orgies. The heathen celebrated Tammuz's birthday according to the very example he set for them. He was the world's greatest lover of women, strong drink, dirty jokes and other sensual fun. It is said that he loved everybody and everybody loved him and it was December 25 that all the pagan religions celebrated the birthday of Tammuz, the sun god.
This is all clearly brought out in Alexander Hislop's great book, The Two Babylons. Any reputable encyclopaedia will also verify these facts.
Some will say, "We cannot help it if we were born into a pagan world. We cannot help it if we were reared and steeped in pagan doctrines and customs." Oh, yes we can! Christ said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." There is only one righteous thing that we can do with these pagan holidays and that is to repudiate them and have no part in them. The virgin birth of Christ is a blessed fact, but the Christmas celebration is a wicked and ungodly thing.
It is plain to see, is it not, that Christmas is a pagan holiday that came out of pagan Babylon? As born-again believers, we should have nothing to do with it.
Thirdly, Christmas is a Roman Catholic Church holiday. As a Pentecostal, Protestant, why should I pinch Christmas from the Roman Catholics? They got it from the pagans, and I am happy to let them keep it.
Encyclopaedia Americana has this to say about Christmas and Catholicism: “It was according to many authorities NOT celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of a remarkable person rather than their birth. A feast was established in memory of the Saviour in the FOURTH CENTURY. In the Fifth Century the Western Church (Roman Catholic) ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol. The holly, the mistletoe, the yule log and the wassail bowl are of pre-Christian times. The Christmas tree has been traced back to the Romans. It went from Germany to Great Britain."
Encyclopaedia Britannica has this to say about Christmas: "Christmas (i.e., the Mass of Christ) was not among the earliest festivals of the church."
Just take the word Christmas itself and break it down. What does it mean? The mass of Christ. The mass is a prayer that is read or sung for the soul of a dead person. Born-again Christians do not have anything to do with masses and yet multitudes of professing Christians will say "Merry Christmas," never realizing that when they do this they are actually mixing the precious and holy name of Christ with a demon holiday.
The Lord tells us in unmistakable language that we are not to mix His name with any pagan holiday or with a pagan god. The Lord says in Ezekiel 20:39, "..... profane My holy name no more …"
Christmas (let me repeat it) is a Roman Catholic holiday. We got it from the Catholics and they got it from the pagans. It was on December 25 that the pagans of the Roman Empire celebrated the birthday of their sun god. After Constantine, the Roman Emperor, won the battle of the Milvian Bridge, he forced all the pagans of his Empire to be baptized into the Christian Church. Baptized pagans therefore far outnumbered the true Christians.
Since the Church worshipped Jesus as the Son of God, when December 25 rolled around and the pagans wanted to worship Tammuz, their sun god, Constantine knew that he would have to do something. So he had the church combine the worship of Tammuz with the birthday of Christ and a special mass was declared to keep everyone happy. As such, pagan worship was brought into the Christian Church and called ‘Christ-mass’. And yes, every time we say "Merry Christmas," we're actually mixing the precious and holy name of Christ with paganism!
That brings me to the next reason why I do not celebrate Christmas. Christmas is of the world, and we are commanded, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (I John 2:15).
The very fact that the world, which hates Christ and His blood atonement for sin, makes more fuss about Christmas than any other holiday proves to me that Christmas is not of God. If December 25 was truly the birthday of the blessed Son of God, the world would have nothing to do with it! One does not have to be a Christian to celebrate Christmas. Even in non-Christian countries like Japan, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia the people celebrate Christmas.
People throughout the world, who for the most part have no awareness of the Bible or Jesus Christ, eat up the Christmas celebration. To take Christmas from the world would be harder than taking candy from a child.
In Luke 16:15, Christ made this remarkable statement: "…. what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God”. Our Lord said that anything which men highly esteem is an abomination before God. Do people not esteem Christmas more highly than almost anything else? Does that not tell us that Christmas is not of God?
Let's face it the world is married to the idol of Christmas. In fact, more people get drunk at Christmas than at any other time of the year. There are more big parties and more selfish spending than at any other season. Does that not prove that it is not of God? The world loves Christmas, but it hates Christ.
Another reason why I do not celebrate Christmas is that it is filled with unscriptural traditions. The exchanging of gifts, the Christmas tree, the singing of carols and Santa Claus are all of pagan origin. These all crept into the church during or after the Fourth Century.
There are many unscriptural traditions that have cluttered up the story of the birth of our Saviour. For instance, many people believe that the wise men of the East and the shepherds were together in Bethlehem at the time our Lord was born. Nothing could be further from the truth though. The shepherds came to Bethlehem to see Jesus at His birth. The wise men came to Nazareth to see Jesus when He was almost two years old (Matthew 2:16).
Furthermore, the Bible says nothing about three wise men, nor does it say that they were kings. The fact is the Bible does not give their number at all, but merely states that they were wise men.
Perhaps the worst part of the Christmas celebration is that thousands of parents will teach their children the falsehood of Santa Claus. Children are taught that Santa Claus/Father Christmas makes his home at the North Pole and once each year he fills his sled with toys for the boys and girls who have been good throughout the year. If they are good, he rewards them by bringing them toys on Christmas Eve; and if they are bad, he passes them by.
Is it any wonder that many times when children grow up and learn the truth, they question whether Christ is also a myth?
The Bible says in Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds And we are commanded in Ephesians 4:25 to ‘put away’ lying and to "…. Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbour ...”
I know that some loving mothers are saying, "Don't you think we should give the children a good time? They do not understand all the paganism behind Christmas."
Let me ask a question of those mothers. Is it necessary to drag the holy name of our Lord down to the low level of fleshly gratification and drunkenness to show the kiddies a good time? A thousand times, no! Let's teach our children the truth about Christmas. God's Word says that we should bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Why should we dishonour the name of Christ in such a manner under the pretence of showing the children a good time? There are 364 more days in the year during which we can give gifts to our children.
Without question, the most important part of Christmas for most people is buying and exchanging gifts but exchanging gifts has nothing to do with Christ's birthday. Perhaps some people say, "Didn't the wise men give gifts to Jesus?" They certainly did, but they did not give them to one another and their gifts were not birthday gifts, because the wise men did not come to visit Jesus until He was nearly two years old (Matthew 2:16). The shepherds came to visit Jesus at His birth, but the wise men came to see Him nearly two years later.
Giving gifts to a king was a common custom in the Far East and that is the reason why the wise men brought gifts to Jesus, because He was born to be King of the Jews. They were not birthday gifts! So there is no connection between Christmas and the birthday of Christ, in this respect.
Before leaving the matter of exchanging gifts, let me point out that even this is a part of Satan's antichrist program. The greatest Christmas celebration yet to come will be the awful days of the tribulation. During the antichrist's reign, all hell will be let loose. The two witnesses whom God will send to the people of the earth will be killed when God is finished with them. Guess who will kill them? According to God’s word the antichrist will put them to death. “When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.”(Revelation 11:7)
It is under the antichrist's reign that the last and greatest Christmas celebration will take place. As a result of the death of these prophets of God, the world will be so delighted and thrilled that they will exchange gifts with one another. Here is what the Bible says, "Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." (Revelation 11:9-10).
What further proof do we need that the Christmas celebration is not of God? Truly the Lord's people should not celebrate Christmas. It is anti-God, anti-Christ, satanic, and unscriptural. The call of God in 2 Corinthians 6:17 is, "Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” God's command to all His people in Ephesians 5:11 is, ".... have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them...."
What About The Christmas Tree? The Christmas tree is condemned by the Bible. Jeremiah 10:2-4 & 8 "Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple. But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine."
Here you have a perfect description of the Christmas tree, called by God, ‘the way of the heathen’ (or Gentiles as they were then). We are commanded not to learn that way or follow it! The Christmas tree is also viewed in this passage as idolatry. The fifth verse says that these trees cannot speak cannot walk and must be carried. Some people misread this to make it say that there is no harm in having a Christmas tree, but that is not what it says at all. Rather, the Prophet Jeremiah tells us that it is vanity and foolishness, and says, "....Learn not the way of the heathen.....”.
Some people will stay up all night to work on an old dead tree. They will trim it all up and stand away a little and admire their handiwork. Then many of them will sit up all night and look at that old Christmas tree. A green tree is mentioned 14 times in the Bible and in every instance it is linked with idolatry! There is not one place in the Bible where God commends the use of the ‘green tree’ in connection with true worship.
Perhaps some wonder why people have a Christmas tree during the Christmas celebration. You can search the Bible through and through, but you will not find a reason for it there. The first decorating of an evergreen tree began with the heathen Greeks and their worship of their god Adonia, who allegedly was brought back to life by the serpent Aessulapius after having been slain and each Christmas, multitudes of people will secure an evergreen tree and dress it up with bright glitter, lights, and tinsel, not realizing that they are following in the tradition of a pagan festival in honour of a false god!
No doubt there are many sincere Christians who think that they are honouring Christ by having their Christmas tree when, in reality, they are dishonouring Him by having anything to do with a heathen festival that God hates.
As you read these lines, perhaps you will say, "I have my Christmas tree but I don't worship it, and consequently, I see nothing wrong with it." Let me remind you, however, that you do not determine what is right and what is wrong. God determines what is right and wrong. If the Christmas tree is not an idol to you, why are you so reluctant to give it up? What are you doing down on your knees when you place your gifts under it?
I want to reemphasize that I do not know of a single thing connected with Christmas that is Biblical. One has to go outside of the Bible to learn of the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, the holly wreath, mistletoe, the Yule log, and all the other things that go along with the Christmas celebration. Let's be honest before God and admit that this is a pagan holiday and a trick of the devil.
Christmas is only good for one thing, to make money for shops, stores and business merchants. Christmas is not in the Bible. The Lord wants us to worship Him the same 365 days a year. We are not worshipping a dead Christ or a helpless infant lying in a manger, but we are worshipping a real and living Christ who lives all year round.
Sometimes well-meaning people will make the statement, "Let's put Christ back into Christmas." This sounds very good on the surface-but beloved, how can you put Christ back into something when He was never there?
While the world celebrates Christmas with its gift swapping and wild parties, what should be our attitude? God's Word makes it plain that we should have nothing to do with this pagan holiday. Let's not associate the birth of the holy Son of God with the pagan traditions of men. Let us heed God's command in 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”