Guest Column
by DAVID SWEET
Is Christmas really a pagan holiday? Not quite. Christmas began in the 4th century as a Christian feast commemorating the birth of Christ. December 25 may have been chosen to compete with various pagan feasts in mid-December, and especially “Sol Invictus” which had a brief run in Rome 250 years after Christ. But Christmas was never a pagan feast. Recent research suggests that December 25 was actually decided by counting exactly nine months from a traditional date for the conception of Christ. (Biblical Archeology Review, December 2010)
Nordic and Germanic pagan traditions, which we now associate with Christmas, developed several hundred years later. They were incorporated into the more ancient Christmas feast practices through typical cultural syncretism, minus their pagan meaning. As add-ons, they never affected the core Christian Christmas meaning.
The core meaning of Christmas survived quite well in spite of the pagan barnacles. There aren’t too many people today who worship fertility gods through the Nordic symbols we associate with Christmas, but there are millions who either honor Christ at Christmas, or for whom the pagan symbols are merely seasonal nostalgia. Ironically what distracts most from the meaning of Christmas is partially rooted in Christianity: Santa Claus. But that’s a subject for someone to write about who can afford bodyguards!
There’s no reason to strip Christmas of pagan-related symbols and traditions. They have been long emptied of their pagan meanings and in many cases were transfused with Christian meaning. The Apostle Paul had no problem eating meat routinely dedicated to idols because there was no real pagan meaning left in that act. But he drew the line at joining pagans at the feasts to idols.
Christmas is for contemplating the most amazing truth: that infinite God came for us by becoming one of us. God didn’t make a low-pass, or send an angel or pick a representative-human. Like the saying goes, “If you want the job done right...”
The God-Man was given no perks in his birth and life. He was born to a poor family of a subjugated race, in a backwater district. He had no political connections, no armies or money. By the sheer power of his perfect personality, his teachings, miracles and resurrection he split history in half – in three years of public ministry. Holy, immortal, invisible God became our servant! Even serving us to the point of dying on a filthy cross for our sins! It’s a truth that leaves even the angels flabbergasted! (1 Peter 1:12)
David Sweet is the pastor at Hays Hills Baptist Church.
