“Humbug” is “language
or behavior that is false or meant to deceive people.”
That may give you a
whole new perspective on Ebenezer Scrooge’s pooh-poohing of Christmas. He
thought Christmas celebration was contrived to deceive people.
Considering all
the trappings that have evolved around Christmas, he might have been onto
something.
Semi-related side note
for the fun of it: Here’s a thing of
intrigue… Question - what do the following songs have in common? Winter Wonderland,
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasing…), Sleigh Ride, Let it Snow, White Christmas,
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Silver Bells, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Have
a Holly Jolly Christmas, and, There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays? (Answer
at the end)
There are a lot of
Christians who oppose Christmas celebration because of its pagan and commercial
connotations. (i.e., The Dec. 25th birth of Tammuz, the Baal tree of
Jeremiah 10:10, Santa Clause, with his Godlike qualities of omniscience and
omnipresence, the extreme accompanying commercialism, etc.) Even the name “Christmas”
is somewhat dubious. People say, “Keep Christ in Christmas,” I say, take “mas”
out of Christmas!
These are usually the
same people who don’t like Easter. They aren’t just the Jehovah’s Witnesses and
Armstrongites (WWCOG). In colonial America, for example, the celebration of
Christmas was outlawed in certain places. There are believers whom you know in
your churches that are clenching their teeth throughout the holidays because
they don’t subscribe to the celebration of Christ’s birth, especially in late
December.
But, the question
remains, should the nativity of Christ be celebrated? There are those who would
argue that the emphasis in the Bible is not on His birth, but on His death and
resurrection. Yes, the Passion of our Lord is the foundation of the Gospel, but
is the nativity celebration forbidden in Scripture? Is it encouraged by word or
example in the Bible?
1.
The Prophets
were excited about the birth of the Messiah. They foretold it with great
expectation. Isa 7:14, 9:6 and Micah 5:2 are classic examples.
2.
Simeon lived to
see the baby Jesus. Once he celebrated the newborn King’s arrival, his life’s
desire was complete and he had no more reason to live on this earth. Luke 2:25,
etc.
3.
Anna prayed and
served God in the temple – longing only for the arrival of God on earth. Luke
2:36-38
4.
The Angels were
pretty pumped about the incarnation. You will have a hard time finding as much
angelic hubbub as you witness in the Christmas story. They announced, they
instructed, they protected, they gathered, they proclaimed and then they
warned. No, they didn’t sing, as far as we know.
5.
The Shepherds
were anything but disinterested concerning God’s Gift of a Savior. Just try
getting a shepherd to forsake his flock to attend a birth! They did. Luke
2:8-20
6.
Wise Men from
hundreds of miles away had been studying this possibility for generations and
convened a caravan to traverse entire nations to celebrate Christmas by the giving
of costly gifts.
7.
Christmas was so
special to Mary that she wrote a song! (it wasn’t “Mary did you Know?”) Luke
1:46-55
8.
Herod, the
original Christmas Grinch, was also moved by this heaven-sent, earth-changing episode,
but not in a good way. He was not at all enthralled by the prospect of a Bethlehem
Manger scene on the courthouse lawn. Christmas literally drove him mad!
9.
Paul was not one
to discount the birth of Christ. Galatians 4:4
10. God Himself gifted us with the world’s
favorite Bible verse…and it is a Christmas verse. John 3:16 (be sure to read verse 17 also)
No, the Lord was not
born on December 25th. Go ahead and have your celebration in
September or October, when He was probably born…but people will think you are
crazy and it will not help your testimony when you try witnessing to them.
No, the evergreen tree
was not part of the décor in the original manger scene. It could be argued that
it is a pagan symbol, or that Martin
Luther introduced the lighted tree as an object lesson about Christ being the Light
of the world. Do what you want with that.
Yes, gift giving regarding
the nativity does have biblical roots per the wise men!
Yes, celebration of the
coming of the Lord to be born of a virgin, live an exemplary and spotless life,
die a substitutionary death and victoriously rise from the dead is honorable
and not to be discouraged.
If He had not been born
as prophesied, we would not have the opportunity to believe in Him and have
everlasting life.
So, yule logs, Kris Kringle,
mistletoe, holly, sleigh bells, credit card debt, honey-cured spiral hams and
all the other trappings aside, by all means, celebrate the birth of Christ and
knock off the “bah humbug!”
Answer to our earlier
question: The composers or lyricists of these songs were Jewish!
No comments:
Post a Comment