I shall be forever grateful to men recognized for their faithfulness, maturity and wisdom, who have gone before, especially men of the 1930’s and 1940’s who wrote articles for such journals as the Gospel Advocate and the Firm Foundation on the subject of “Christmas.” I could know, in those days,, that some time during the holiday season there would be several good articles written on the subject of Christmas, but it is not that way any more, for we have drifted! I may never have studied the subject as I have, had it not been for those good articles written on the subject of Christmas. I am therefore indebted to those men for creating within me a desire to study the subject for myself. I wish therefore, in this article, to give several reasons why Christmas should not be celebrated in memory of Christ’s birth as a religious holy day. Observe therefore the following reasons.
CHRISTMAS IS NOT A BIBLE SUBJECT. The first thought I wish to give is the fact that Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible, so in order to study the subject, one should consult some Of’ the good encyclopedias that are available and study them. Of course, the Bible mentions the birth of Christ, but this is not to say that it mentions Christmas, as we shall learn in further study of the subject.
CHRISTMAS IS A MISNOMER. Christmas is a misnaming of the day. The word is a combination of two words: One Greek (Christ’s) meaning the “anointed,” and the other Latin (misaim) meaning “to send,” but there is no way to prove that Jesus was sent to the earth on December 25th.
GOD HAS NOT COMMANDED IT. There is no evidence anywhere that God ever commanded anyone to observe the birthday of Jesus on this day or any other. It is the Christ of Calvary, not the babe of Bethlehem that is to be emphasized (I Cor. 11:26).
EARLY CHRISTIANS DID NOT CELEBRATE THE DAY. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Volume 3, Page 47 says: “There is no historical evidence that our Lord’s birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or early post‑apostolic times.”
SPECIAL DAYS FORBIDDEN. In Galatians 4:10 Paul writes: “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” IT IS OF PAGAN ORIGIN. Christmas did not originate with God; it originated in paganism. So the more pagan, heathenish, a church is, the more one may expect it to say and do about Christmas!
IN CONCLUSION: Space forbids giving other reasons why Christians should not observe Christmas as a religious holy day, but these are sufficient to challenge the honest heart to study more. This writer knows no reason why one cannot observe the day as he might any other legal holiday, but remember to keep it out of the church! It is no part of Christian doctrine! (1 John 4:1). Compare it with circumcision, which is hygienically permissible, but religiously forbidden. “Search the scriptures daily whether these things are so” (Acts 17:11).
Some churches have begun to mimic the man‑made churches with Christmas plays and even charge for such. Some have their Easter Sunrise services. This is not speaking as the oracles of God” (I Pet. 4:11).
-R.C. Oliver
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