You DO know, don't you, that there is nothing biblical about Christmas? What I mean is that you will find nothing in the Bible that tells us that we should have an annual holiday to commemorate the birth of Jesus. There are no commands to do so nor any examples of Christians doing so.
So, you can be a perfectly faithful follower of Jesus and never put up a Christmas tree, hang a stocking or put up a string of lights. Your spirituality and devotion to Jesus cannot be measured by whether or not you celebrate Christmas—that is, if we are using the Bible as our standard.
So if Christmas is not biblical, does that mean that it is sinful? No. Here is where we need to remember the rules of logic. "Not biblical" does not mean "therefore, sinful."
We do, however, need to make a distinction between Christmas as a HOLIDAY and Christmas as an EVENT.
As a holiday, Christmas obviously has huge commercial and cultural dimensions. And there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this. On the contrary, holidays can be wonderful things—reminders of past blessings and opportunities to make new memories. But the holiday of Christmas needs to be kept distinct in our thinking from the event of Christmas.
The EVENT of Christmas, however, is something that the Bible defines. For the EVENT of Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ. It has been accurately reported and explained to us in the New Testament. There was an actual birth in a real place in space and time, and it was a historical event that occurred 2000 years ago.
700 years before Jesus Christ came into the world His birth was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. One of these prophecies is found in Isaiah 40:3-5. |
