Christmas is not a pagan holiday it is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. Many anti-Christians will claim that Christmas was a pagan celebration. There are several claims often used. One is that Constantine invented Christmas from the Roman holiday Saturnalia, the feast dedicated to the Roman god Saturn. Another frequent myth is that Christmas was taken from Sol Invictus .
Historically we know that pagan celebrations and Christmas celebrations existed at the same time. Whether Christians baptized a pagan holiday or not doesn’t dismiss the birth of Christ and the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Continue reading more about Christmas here
It is important to know that Christians do not hold exclusivity to the truth. Just because a certain religion does not hold the —whole truth— does not mean it contains— no truth. God can, in fact, leave hints of truth in other religions and worldviews. Borrowing or “baptizing” pagan practices and Christianizing them would do nothing to dismiss the unique claim of Christianity.
The essence of Christianity is not an idea, not a system of thought, not a plan of action. The essence of Christianity is a Person: Jesus Christ Himself. That which is essential is the One Who is essential. To become truly real means to come to know Jesus Christ and to learn from Him what it means to be human.” ~Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)
The Reason for Choosing December 25
Although the date of Christ’s birth is not given to us in Scripture, there is documented evidence that December 25 was already of some significance to Christians prior to A.D. 354. One example can be found in the writings of Hyppolytus of Rome, who explains in his Commentary on the book of Daniel (c. A.D. 204) that the Lord’s birth was believed to have occurred on that day: Continue reading
Whether or not Christ was born on that exact day is not important what is important is the celebration itself. I celebrated my birthday 35 days after my actual birth date.
It should be noted that the abbreviated term Xmas does not necessarily take the “Christ” out of Christmas. Read why here
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