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Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Is Christmas Dead?

I've heard it for years. You know, the complaints from Christians about Christmas. They range from "It's too commercial" to "It's too pagan." Is it true? Is Christmas a mistake for Christians to recognize? I mean, look, no one knows the date of Jesus's birth. December 25th? Well, maybe, maybe not. "Jesus came to save us. Why don't we just focus on that and leave all this commercial nonsense alone?" (I actually heard that.) Is Christmas dead? At least spiritually? I don't think so.

"But, look," I'm sure some are saying, "you know that our Christmas traditions all come from pagan celebrations, don't you?" No, actually, I don't. Oh, we've been sold that story for a long time -- so long we're believing it. But it's just not true. The first Christmas trees weren't documented until the 1600's, not the day of the druids or Babylonians or whatever. "It's all part of the Saturnalia celebration, don't you know?" No, I don't.

One of the key concepts in the New Testament, repeated over and over, even by Jesus Himself, was Jesus in the Old Testament. By that I mean the New Testament repeatedly claims that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One from the Old Testament. New Testament authors repeatedly point to Old Testament Scriptures to show how Jesus met the prophecies. Jesus Himself did that (Luke 24:27). If He thought it was important, I think I should also. As such, much of the story of His Incarnation is fulfillment of Scripture. It's in there. His virgin birth (Isa 7:14), birthplace (Mic 5:2), heritage (Gen 12:3; Gen 17:19; Num 24:17; Gen 49:10), His naming (Isa 7:14), His flight to Egypt (Hos 11:1), the deaths of the children in Bethlehem (Jer 31:15), and more are part of the prophecies fulfilled by Christ in the Christmas story. I think that's important.

One of the key concepts of His death and resurrection is that He died in our place. As it turns out, that could only be done by a human, not a deity. Only a sinless man could pay the debt for sinful Man.

Because something is used improperly does not mean that it should not be used at all. You know that. When folks in the name of Christ carry out atrocities, large and small, you can't conclude, "Well, I guess Christianity is false." In the same way, because the world has turned Christmas into a commercial enterprise, even banning Christmas in the process, doesn't mean that Christmas is wrong. The question is is it dead? Does Christmas -- the story of Christ's Incarnation -- have any reality or value in Christianity? I think it clearly does. So the next question is for you. Are you going to see it through the eyes of a hostile world or for what it really is, the story of the Incarnation -- God becoming flesh to dwell among us? Your call.

8 comments:

Bob said...

The great thing is that we can celebrate Christ incarnation everyday..
but we can only celebrate xmas on the 25th of December.

Craig said...

I’ve always found it fascinating that Jesus expected the religious leaders to have known all about Him because of their knowledge of the OT. Jesus clearly seemed to think that there is enough in the OT to lead to salvation.

Stan said...

Craig, I would have loved to have been on the Emmaeus road when He explained that all to them.

Bob said...

well think about the Revelation by John.
here we have what constitutes as the end time revelation to the believers, and yet few of us, if any, can understand it's mysteries. perhaps it was the same for the disciples. being a spiritual message, required spiritual revelation.
we shouldn't be too hard on the old testament people, because they were well; really, really old..
and stan; even if you were on the Emmaeus road, you wouldnt know it was Jesus. you cant have it both ways. you cant be on the road, and know that it was Jesus at the same time. that's just not fair.. i think your asking alot. but if you were on the emmeaus road and you were really old, then maybe..
and why is your robot question machine going on the fritz.?
its like the term: Mankind. who can really understand its meaning.
mankind= Mank-ind... simply too mysterious.

Stan said...

I'm thinking time travel, a "fly on the wall" kind of thing, where I could hear it (record it, take notes, something). On the other hand, I AM really, really old.

And you ARE a robot, so I don't think it's on the fritz.

Craig said...

Stan, I agree. It'd be fascinating to have heard Jesus expound on the OT. It raises questions for those who downplay everything in the Bible except some of the red letters, as to why they don’t treat the OT the way Jesus did.

Stan said...

Wouldn't it?

I think most of the people who discount the OT and just eat up the red letters typically don't do the latter, either. They end up, in the final analysis, downplaying it all.

Craig said...

I definitely think that they don’t treat all the red letters with the same reverence. If they did maybe they wouldn’t write off the OT so easily.