Text: He [Jesus] said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:9).
For many people, their fondest memories are Christmas season celebrations. Christmas occurs at the time of the year when the days are shortest, called the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice is important to pagan beliefs. Unfortunately, many of these pagan beliefs and practices have been incorporated into Christian traditions about Christmas.
For example, the twelve days of Christmas and Yule celebration are derived from German and Scandinavian celebrations that involved drunkenness, revelry and animal and human sacrifice.
Santa Claus is an amalgamation of several pagan traditions. This mythological person is given deistic attributes that can confuse a young child whose parents want to teach him or her the truth about Jesus Christ.1
It was surely divine foresight that the gospels make no mention of the day of the year Christ was born. Christ's birth was not celebrated at all until the fourth century. Interestingly, the church and puritans here in the United States initially resisted celebrating Christmas. It wasn’t until 1890 that all the existing states made it a legal holiday.
Unlike traditions, the truth of Jesus Christ never changes. Let us use Christmas as an evangelistic opportunity to explain the real purpose that the virgin born Son of God intervened in history. Let it be done without the confusing myths, crass commercialism, and pagan beliefs that originated with the traditions of sinful men.
1 The Unwrapping of Christmas video by Jeremiah films
