Here's your answer...........
Statement: CP9001
IS CHRISTMAS CHRISTIAN?
Santa Claus. Christmas trees. Exchanging gifts with people you really dont care about or even know. Office parties which involve drinking and immorality. Is Christmas really Christian or pagan?
The best arguments against Christmas are the pagan myths and practices that have attached themselves like so many barnacles to a ship. But just as you dont abandon a ship simply because its got some barnacles on it, you dont need to abandon Christmas because non-Christians abuse it.
The Bible neither commands nor condemns Christmas. Nor is there any biblical principle violated by the celebration of Christs birthday. Scripture clearly teaches that anything is permitted as long as it does not violate biblical principles, and as long as it is done in faith, with love, and in a manner that edifies (Rom. 13:10; 14:4-5, 23; 1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23; Col. 2:20-22).
Often we are told that celebrating Christs birthday on December 25th is very wrong, for two reasons. The first is that Christ was probably not even born on December 25th. Thats probably true, but so what? We dont know on what day Jesus Christ was actually born, but what does it really matter? What matters is that we are commemorating the birth of the Savior of the world.
The second objection is more weighty when Christmas was originally instituted, December 25th was a pagan festival which commemorated the birthday of a false god. While this is a historical fact, what is often overlooked by the church is its intent in choosing December 25th in the first place. The church was not Christianizing a pagan festival, but was establishing the celebration of the birth of Christ as a rival celebration. Today the world has all but forgotten about the pagan gods of Greece and Rome, but at least a billion people on planet earth today consider themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Well, over the next few days Im going to be discussing what Christians should think of such traditional aspects of Christmas as Santa Claus and Christmas trees. But remember, there is nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world, I think its great. On Christmas, thats the CRI perspective. Im Hank Hanegraaff.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
On the date of Christs birth we recommend Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Zondervan) by Harold W. Hoehner (SB540/$17), who argues that Christ may actually have been born in late December or early January after all. This resource is available through CRI. For shipping and handling information, please call CRI or refer to our Resource Listing. To place a credit card order, call toll-free (888) 7000-CRI. To receive a free copy of our Resource Listing, fax us at (714) 858-6111 or write us with your request at P.O. Box 7000, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688-7000.
WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS?
People often talk about the spirit of Christmas and discovering its true meaning. Just what is the true meaning of Christmas?
In our secularized culture, non-Christians have reinterpreted the true meaning of Christmas to be good will toward men. By that expression they mean that people should get along with one another, have good feelings toward one another, and be nice to one another. It is this humanistic interpretation of Christmas that is celebrated in such holiday films as Its a Wonderful Life and White Christmas.
Not to appreciate the human longing for love, happiness, and goodness expressed in these films would be dreadful indeed. Human beings, Christians and non-Christians alike, have a tremendous capacity for feeling, and Christmas brings that capacity to open expression with an intensity unmatched the rest of the year. Rather than condemning these expressions of human emotion, Christians ought to acknowledge them and feel free even to enjoy and participate in them.
But Christians should also recognize, and help non-Christians to see as well, that the true meaning of Christmas lies elsewhere. When the angels announcing Christs birth sang about good will toward men [Luke 2:14], they were not singing about people showing good will toward other people, but about God showing good will toward men. The point is that in Christmas God acted in a magnificent way to show goodness and love toward us. By becoming a human being, dying on the cross for our sins, and rising from the dead, Jesus Christ overcame for us sin and the grave. In short, Jesus was born to overcome the very things that left unchecked would destroy the human spirit of love, tenderness, and selflessness celebrated by secularists at Christmas. Because Jesus Christ came to earth in Bethlehem, its a wonderful life both now and forever for those who believe in Him and through Him experience Gods good will toward them.
On the true meaning of Christmas, thats the CRI perspective. Im Hank Hanegraaff.
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