Question
Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas?
Answer
The answer to your question is yes and no. No, it’s not wrong to celebrate Christmas as a national holiday on which we visit with family, friends, etc. Yes, it is wrong to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.
God is very clear throughout the Bible that in order to please Him, we must do *exactly* what He says; no more, no less. For example, Moses said in 3 separate passages:
De 5:32 “Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. De 17:11 “According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. De 17:20 “that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment [to] the right hand or [to] the left, and that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
God has always wanted man to do *exactly* as He said. Moses understood that, and he stressed the importance of complete conformity to God’s will to the Israelites.
That same idea is stated in the New Testament. In Galatians 1, Paul condemns any other gospel than that which he preached:
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9, NKJV).
And John ends the revelation of God with the same idea:
18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19, NKJV).
So there you have it: God has always been interested in man’s doing just exactly what He said or directed through His Son and His apostles.
So the question is, where does anyone read in the Bible that Christians are to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday? The Christians of the New Testament didn’t; we don’t read of any of the Apostles teaching it’s observance. So why would anyone celebrate it as Christ’s birthday? In fact, no one knows when Christ was born.
Christmas didn’t exist until several hundred years after Christ’s death. It came into existence when a denomination “christianized” a local, pagan holiday. So again I ask, why would a true Christian celebrate it religiously?
The Bible teaches in passages like 1 Corinthians 11:23ff that we are to celebrate Jesus’s *death*, not his birth. Some people try to justify their attaching religious meaning to Dec. 25 by saying, “He’s so important to us, why wouldn’t we celebrate his birth? It was celebrated in the Bible.” However, this is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament because *no where* does the Bible say that the Christians of the first century celebrated Christmas.
It’s ultimately a question of Biblical authority: Is it okay to do something that is not authorized in the New Testament? And the answer, plain and simply, is no. Reread Galatians 1:8-9. Paul wanted to the Galatians to do exactly what he had taught them. Never in any of his writings will you find him promoting Christmas or anything like it. Therefore, if Paul didn’t celebrate it, why should I?
By Michael Molloy
