What Should We Do About Christmas?

Many people know the pagan origins of the ubiquitous Christmas holiday—origins that are not at all hidden. In fact, when Christmas comes around each year, we usually see articles or blog posts explaining where these traditions came from. If you have been a Tomorrow’s World subscriber for a while, you probably remember Mr. Wallace Smith’s “Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?” from our December 2021 issue—and, if you’re a new subscriber, you can still read it right here at TomorrowsWorld.org.

It may not come as a shock to you that there are Christians who choose not to keep Christmas. You may be one of them. You might have come to that decision through your own study—maybe the pagan origins of Christmas caused you to think twice about keeping it. If so, you’re not alone.

But, of course, the vast majority of people in Western nations still keep Christmas. According to Gallup, 93 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas in one way or another, whether religious or secular—a figure that has been more or less consistent for decades (“What Percentage of Americans Celebrate Christmas?,” News.Gallup.com, December 23, 2019). In Great Britain as well, 93 percent of people celebrate the Christmas season, and in Canada, 92 percent do so (“Christmas and New Year’s Survey amongst 1,000 British people reveals habits,” Statista.com, December 18, 2019; “In Canada, Christmas traditions change as fewer people see religion as the reason for the season,” AngusReid.org, December 19, 2019).

And many of these celebrants know that the origins of Christmas are not Christian at all. You probably do, as well. If you’re not sure, just look it up in virtually any encyclopedia or relevant online article. For example, here’s a quote from the online Encyclopædia Britannica: “In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged gifts. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine” (“Does Christmas have pagan roots?,” Britannica.com, December 6, 2020).

As Britannica reveals, feasting and exchanging gifts on December 25 were among the many pagan customs observed under the Roman Empire. And this date was only adopted in the fourth century by what had become the mainstream “Christian” church—hundreds of years after Christ’s ministry.

Though December 25 is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the date itself and several of the customs we’ve come to associate with Christmas actually evolved from pagan traditions celebrating the winter solstice. “Christmas is really about bringing out your inner pagan,” historian Kenneth C. Davis told “CBS This Morning.” According to Davis, Christmas was celebrated as early as the fourth century, suggesting that it had almost nothing to do with Jesus Christ (“The unexpected origins of popular Christmas traditions,” CBSNews.com, December 25, 2018, emphasis added).

These are remarkable quotes—but, again, they probably don’t surprise you, especially if you are a regular reader of this magazine. Even if you’re not, you’ve probably already seen articles and videos elsewhere explaining the pagan origins of the Christmas traditions. These facts are not kept secret.

Most people don’t find the origins of Christmas surprising. For most, the bigger question is, Why does it matter? Should anyone even care where Christmas traditions came from? After all, isn’t the big issue about honoring Christ—and aren’t the other details trivial?

Why Celebrate Christmas if It’s Pagan?

Most people who know the origins of Christmas have rationalized to themselves why they should still keep it. “Well, it’s not really a religious observance,” you may hear. “It’s just a fun, relaxed social event to enjoy with friends and family.” That’s what a lot of people think. A 2017 survey found that while 82 percent of Americans planned to gather with family or friends on Christmas Day, just 46 percent considered the day more of a religious holiday than a cultural observance (“Americans Say Religious Aspects of Christmas Are Declining,” PewResearch.org, December 12, 2017). That was a drop of 5 percent from just four years earlier, when a slight majority said they saw Christmas as more of a religious holiday. The trend is that more and more people are seeing Christmas as primarily—or entirely—a social and secular observance.

On the other hand, many of those who are religious are well aware that the origins of Christmas are pagan, but convince themselves that this isn’t a problem, arguing, As long as I do it for Christ, it’s okay.

But is it okay? Does this line of reasoning even make sense? As one British website reminds us, “Christmas makes no sense… the basic facts of the annual ritual just seem to defy logic and meaning. What do brightly lit trees and mistletoe have to do with the birth of a prophet in Bethlehem thousands of years ago? What does a jolly, portly man in red and white garb have to do with Christianity? What’s the meaning behind the Yule log?… Many people have a general inkling about the way old pagan traditions and celebrations fed into Christmas as we know it today” (“The Pagan Roots of Christmas,” History.co.uk).

Indeed, many people really do know that the roots of Christmas are pagan—but they keep it anyway. What about you? What should you do about Christmas?

To answer that question, let’s break it down to two other fundamental questions—the first being, Does God condone lying to children?

The Lies of Christmas

Everyone knows that Santa Claus does not really come down chimneys on Christmas Eve—everyone, that is, except millions of children. Thalia Goldstein, assistant professor of applied developmental psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, notes that about 85 percent of American 5-year-olds believe that Santa is real. “Children’s belief in Santa starts when they’re between 3 and 4 years old,” she writes. “It’s very strong when they’re between about 4 and 8. Then, at 8 years old is when we start to see the drop-off in belief, when children start to understand the reality of Santa Claus” (“How many kids still believe in Santa?,” CNN.com, December 19, 2017).

What about children outside the United States? According to an international survey led by Professor Chris Boyle of the University of Exeter in the UK, “the average age when children stopped believing in Father Christmas was eight. A third of those surveyed also reporting feeling upset when they discovered Santa wasn’t real, while 15% had felt betrayed by their parents and 10% felt angry. Around a third (30%) also said that their trust in adults had been affected by their belief in Father Christmas” (“Here’s what age most kids stop believing in Santa,” The Sunday Times, December 6, 2020).

But Santa isn’t the only myth. There is no real evidence that December 25 is the date of Christ’s birth. In fact, Luke 2:8 records that the shepherds were out in the fields at the time of His birth—which would never have happened in the rainy and cold winter months.

And what about the Christmas story of three kings from the east visiting the baby Jesus in the manger? That’s nowhere in the Bible—at least not the way the popular story tells it. Scripture calls them wise men, not kings, and doesn’t reveal how many there were. It even says that “when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother” (Matthew 2:11). In context, we see that Jesus was at least a year old when the wise men met Him—and He was definitely not in a manger at the time.

Yes, the many Christmas traditions are riddled with errors and outright lies. Yet Scripture tells us that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). So, with an open mind, ask yourself, Would God really be behind such a fictionalized tradition? Would He condone millions of parents telling their children outright lies and convoluted myths about His Son?

Consider that the Apostle John tells us, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7–8).

So, who is standing up and warning parents to stop the lies of Christmas? Almost no one. Instead, we have “experts” like psychology professor Candice Mills, who explains, “Parents should keep in mind that most people, when reflecting on their childhood, decide that they want to celebrate Santa with their own kids—about 87 percent to 95 percent, in fact. They found something valuable about the experience and want to pass it on.” Mills believes that children benefit from discovering for themselves the truth that Santa is fictional (University of Texas at Dallas News Center, December 6, 2023).

Mills is one of many scholars who believe that when children learn that the people around them have been lying about Santa, “their reactions are generally quite positive” and that “they understand that even parents get joy out of the Santa myth.” From this perspective, the Santa myth is just one of many, as belief in various other myths and falsehoods “doesn’t necessarily disappear when we grow up” (“Don’t Stop Believing,” Psychology Today, December 6, 2021).

But stop and think for a moment. Has someone ever lied to you? How did you feel? When you found out, did it affect your ability to trust? Even if it was for a so-called “good reason,” did it make you cautious the next time the liar told you something? If being lied to affects us in such a way as adults, can we really believe that it does not affect our children?

I hope you are seeing that what’s good for your children is teaching them truth and being truthful. And what is the foundation of truth? God’s word is truth (John 17:17). By contrast, Jesus revealed a powerful lying spirit behind the Pharisees: “You are of your father the devil,” He said, “and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

Satan the Devil is the father of lying, and we shouldn’t want any part of him—and that means not taking part in traditions that, no matter how we sugarcoat them, are based on lies. The Apostle Paul drew a sharp contrast between those who follow truth and those who do not, saying that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness… who exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (Romans 1:18, 25).

We can be either for the truth or for the lie. We are either seeking to live God’s way of truth—following His Spirit and becoming conformed to His righteousness—or we are living the way of the lie, following errors and falsehoods that often masquerade as happy traditions and holidays. We must decide whether we will pass on truth or error to our children.

Let Scripture speak for itself—nowhere in the Bible will you find God telling you to do something deceitful, dishonest, or in support of error. That should tell us what to do about Christmas.

How Does God Want Us to Worship Him?

Let’s move on to our second fundamental question: Does God ever say that we can keep a pagan holiday if we use it to honor Christ? Some make this claim to explain their holding onto Christmas despite its obvious error. Are they right? Is Christmas acceptable as long as we use it “to honor Christ”?

We find some powerful principles in the Bible that give us the guidance we need. One is in the history of ancient Israel, whom God led out of Egyptian slavery thousands of years ago. Before the Israelites entered what was called the Promised Land, God gave them a serious warning not to pollute His worship with the worship practices of the nations around them. “Take heed,” God said, “that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way” (Deuteronomy 12:30–31).

Notice that the principle is not only Don’t worship idols—it’s Don’t worship the true God with idolatrous practices. That is an important detail! Sadly, in the history of mainstream “Christianity,” this is exactly what happened: Worship of Christ was mixed with pagan traditions. Author Stephen Nissenbaum notes, “It was only in the fourth century that the Church officially decided to observe Christmas on December 25. And this date was chosen not for religious reasons but simply because it happened to mark the approximate arrival of the winter solstice, an event that was celebrated long before the advent of Christianity” (The Battle for Christmas, 1996, p. 4). The early Christians lived among people who were observing days such as the winter solstice. Over time, there was tremendous peer pressure for Christians to conform to the pagans—which most did, instead of expecting pagans to conform to the standard of the Bible.

Nissenbaum continues, “The Puritans were correct when they pointed out—and they pointed it out often—that Christmas was nothing but a pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer.” He then refers to Puritan minister Increase Mather, who lived in the early days of colonial America and “accurately observed in 1687 that the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so ‘thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian’” (p. 4).

No, Christmas was not put on December 25 to reflect the birth of Christ. Rather, it was put there to co-opt keepers of Saturnalia and easily bring them into the church—precisely the opposite of God’s own instructions in Deuteronomy. The expanding mainstream church had to find some way to deal with the traditions of the pagans around them, and it chose to accommodate them. Indeed, “most of the Christian missionaries who moved into Central and Western Europe as the Roman Empire crumbled, followed the advice of [Pope] Gregory the Great. He wrote, in 597, that they should not try to put down pagan customs ‘upon the sudden,’ but adapt them ‘to the praise of God’” (The Pageantry of Christmas, 1963, p. 10).

That’s why we see the strange mix of pagan rituals and lip service to Christ in Christmas today. But is that what God wanted? Notice His clear instruction:

Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord; “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles…. 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 ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree” (Jeremiah 10:1–5).

These remarkable parallels with Christmas customs jump right off the page. Through Jeremiah, God specifically told ancient Israel not to learn how to worship Him by watching how the nations around them worshipped. But in the “Christian era,” that’s exactly what so many did—they transformed the worship of Christ by mixing it with the worship of Saturn, Mithra, and others.

Some will quote Scripture to claim that it’s acceptable to keep any day you like, including Christmas, as long as you honor Christ: “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it” (Romans 14:5–6).

But does this really mean we can keep any day if we call it by Christ’s name? We’ve just read what God thinks about mixing pagan practices with His teachings—and He does not like it. Does it then make sense that we could, from this one passage of Scripture in Romans, conclude that we can just take any day we want and make it holy time for honoring God?

Not at all. What Paul was addressing in Romans 14 was how people sometimes keep traditions by which they treat certain days differently from others. Specifically, he was talking about two different issues that had become controversial: avoiding meat that may have come from pagan temples and keeping specific fast days that were not commanded in the Scriptures. The Jews had many traditional fast days and still do. Romans 14 has nothing to do with whether we should adopt pagan practices and call them Christian.

God determines what is holy time. He determines what days we keep to honor Him. Jesus said He is the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5), so we cannot overrule our Lord by changing His weekly—or annual—days of worship.

Jesus also said that “the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23). As defined by the Bible, truth is God’s standard—not human traditions or customs. When we show honor to God, we must do so His way—and that includes keeping the days on which He wants us to honor Him.

The Right Way to Worship God

So, what should we do about Christmas? We should accept God’s offer of something better. We don’t need to settle for a festival steeped in pagan traditions. We can be different. In Leviticus 23, God outlines His annual Festivals, which teach us about Him and His plan of salvation: Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

Paul took the Gospel message primarily to a Gentile world, and the brethren he worked with and wrote to were coming out of pagan practices. Many people in the Roman world of the first century were keeping the Saturnalia, worshipping Mithra and other false gods. They had to come out of these practices to become part of the body of Christ, the Church of God—and Paul had to encourage them not to fall back into their old customs.

Notice what he wrote to the congregation in Colossae: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17, King James Version). Notice the word “is” in verse 17. Though most English translations include it, it isn’t present in the original Greek. Translators added it because of their doctrinal biases. What the verse actually says is that the body of Christ—His Church, not the world around us—should judge our observances. And those observances should not include pagan holidays. (For further clarification, request a free copy of Law or Grace: Which Is It? from the Regional Office nearest you, or read it right here at TomorrowsWorld.org.)

So, don’t let the world judge you for walking away from Christmas—for replacing the traditions of man with the ways of God. Don’t be discouraged. Your friends and relatives may not like it, but God is looking for those who are willing to follow Him no matter what.

Christmas does not lead us to truth. Instead, it obscures the truth. It’s not enough to know the origins of Christmas—we must act on what we know. That means following the truth—and that’s what we should do about Christmas.