Sunday chatter
On any regular Sunday, at Maumee General Baptist Church (Johnson, Indiana), several members of the congregation meet for lunch at whatever local restaurant was chosen for that week. It’s a routine that’s been in place for a few years.
The purpose is tri-fold, to be supportive of local businesses, enjoy some fellowship with our own congregation and other guests and to not have to cook and clean up after a busy morning of worship.
Recently, at such a gathering, while we waited on our food, Deacon Bruce Page (who’s also the adult Sunday School teacher), posed a question that evoked some interesting discussion.
The question: Should Christians include Christmas trees in their Christmas holiday?
We all contributed our take on it, not so much in debate just sharing our own take on it. It made for an interesting and amiable exchange of ideas.
Next day...
I don’t spend much time on Facebook, so I often don’t see posts the same day they publish. So, I was surprised and curious that the day after our lunch discussion, I was surprised to see a post from my friend, Pastor Brent Wedding of Hope Center Apostolic Chapel. It wasn’t exactly the same topic, but very closely related.
His info was well researched and interesting enough that I asked if I could incorporate it in this week’s edition. He was agreeable and below I’ve placed the entire post for your perusal. Interesting stuff!
The great debate: Should Christians celebrate Christmas?
At the end of the day, you do what God leads you to do. But let's not separate ourselves from each other over trivial things. The love of God is stronger than our differences.
But here is some great info for your research.
I've run this through several fact checks and it passes the accuracy testing.
Why Celebrating Christmas Is Not Pagan
A historically accurate, Biblically sound, culturally relevant breakdown
1. The Core Claim: “Christmas is pagan” is historically false.
The idea that Christmas is pagan is a modern myth popularized in the 1800–1900s by:
Historians across all fields—secular, Christian, and Jewish—universally reject Hislop’s claims for lack of evidence. Hislop’s comparisons between Christianity and ancient paganism are considered:
☙ Unhistorical
` ☙ Unsupported by primary sources
☙ Pseudo-scholarship
☙ Modern historians consider his work academically worthless.
2. The Early Church Did NOT Adopt Pagan Festivals
Many people claim Christmas was created to “Christianize Saturnalia” or the “winter solstice.” But historically:
A. Saturnalia was NOT on December 25
☙ Saturnalia: December 17–23
☙ Sol Invictus festival: December 25 (but far later)
Even then, Sol Invictus, becoming prominent, post-dates Christian celebration of Christ’s birth.
B. Christians avoided pagan holidays. The early church was...
☙ Persecuted by Rome
☙ Opposed to Roman idolatry
☙ Strictly against syncretism
They refused participation in pagan rituals. The idea that they borrowed from paganism contradicts everything we know about early Christian practice.
3. Christmas on Dec 25 Originated from Christian Theology—Not Paganism
The strongest historical evidence shows the date came from a Jewish-Christian belief about prophetic symmetry, not pagan festivals.
A. The Early Church taught “prophetic completeness”
Many early Christians believed:
☙ Great prophets died on the same date they were conceived.
This tradition appears in...
☙ Jewish thought
☙ Early Christian writings
☙ Rabbinical discussions of Moses, David, and patriarchs
☙ Western Christians dated His death as March 25
☙ Eastern Christians dated it as April 6
C. Add 9 months → Birthdate
☙ March 25 + 9 months = December 25
☙ April 6 + 9 months = January 6
This gives us...
☙December 25 → Western Christmas
☙ January 6 → Eastern Christmas/Epiphany
☙Both are derived from theology, not paganism.
This is documented in...
☙ Tertullian (AD 160–225)
☙ Hippolytus (AD 170–235)
☙ Julius Africanus (AD 160–240)
☙ John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)
This predates any connection to Sol Invictus.
4. Christmas Predates the Pagan “Sol Invictus” Festival
This is the single most important historical fact most people don’t know:
A. Christians mention December 25 as Jesus’ birth in AD 200
☙ Hippolytus (AD 200) explicitly writes Christ was born on December 25.
B. The pagan Sol Invictus celebration on Dec 25 was created around AD 274—at least 70 years later.
In other words...
☙ Christians weren’t copying the pagans.
☙ Pagans copied the Christians.
Several historians argue that Emperor Aurelian intentionally placed a new solar festival on Dec 25 to compete with growing Christian influence, not the other way around.
5. Biblical Foundations for Celebrating Christ’s Birth
Scripture never commands us to celebrate His birth, but Scripture clearly...
☙ Records the event
☙ Honors the event
☙ Presents it with heavenly celebration
A. Heaven itself celebrated the birth
☙ Luke 2:13–14 shows an angelic multitude praising God.
☙ If heaven celebrated the birth of Christ, the church is not wrong to do the same.
B. The incarnation is a foundational doctrine
☙ John 1:14 — “The Word was made flesh…”
☙ 1 Tim 3:16 — “God was manifest in the flesh…”
☙ Micah 5:2 — Messiah’s birth prophesied
☙ Isaiah 9:6 — His identity as Mighty God in human form
Celebrating the incarnation aligns with core Apostolic (following the teaching of the Apostles) doctrine.
6. Cultural Traditions ≠ Pagan Worship
Three important facts...
A. Using a day doesn’t make something pagan
☙ Paul teaches: “One person regards one day above another… Let each be fully convinced.” Romans 14:5-6
B. Redeemed practices are biblical
Israel took...
☙ Pagan instruments → used them in worship
☙ Pagan words (like τόρα, logos, even "Elohim") → used them for the true God
☙ Pagan calendars → reordered them around Yahweh
Sanctifying something is a biblical pattern.
C. Christmas trees are not pagan
Jeremiah 10 is not about a tree decorated with ornaments. It is about...
☙ Carving a wooden idol
☙ Covering it with silver and gold
☙ Praising it as a god
No Christian is bowing to a tree or calling it Ba'al.
7. Modern Pagans Claim Christmas for Themselves—But That Doesn’t Make It True
Wiccan and Neo-Pagan groups love to say Christmas is “stolen from pagans.”
But academically...
☙ Neo-paganism is a 20th-century invention
☙ They project modern ideas onto ancient cultures
☙ Virtually all their claims fall apart when checked against actual archaeology or primary texts
Historically...
☙ There is no evidence ancient pagans celebrated December 25 as the birth of any major deity
☙ The closest festivals were on completely different dates
☙ Their gods were not born in winter solstice stories (that’s modern mythology)
8. Conclusion: Christmas Is Christian in Origin and Practice
It is not...
☙ A pagan festival
☙ A Christianized Saturnalia
☙ Adopted from sun worship
☙ A Roman compromise
It is...
☙ A celebration of the Word made flesh
☙ Rooted in early Christian theology
☙ Affirmed by the early church centuries before pagan parallels
☙ Biblically consistent with honoring God’s redemptive acts
☙ Theologically tied to the incarnation—the foundation of the Gospel
☙ There is zero historical evidence Christians adopted a pagan holiday
☙ There is strong evidence pagans attempted to imitate Christian celebrations
The wrap!
My thanks to Pastor Brent Wedding for allowing me to publish his content here! He and his wife, Becca, are wonderful people that you could only be blessed by getting familiar with. If you’re in, or even just passing through, Peru, Indiana on a weekend, please consider including a visit to their church and don’t be surprised to be amazed!
Pastor Brent and First Lady Becca Wedding
of
(Image via Pastor Brent Wedding)
Thanks for your visit today and if you’d like to chime in, hit me up in the comments! Civil engagement is encouraged and always a blessing.
Until next week,
Shalom, shalom!
Angelia
