Why We No Longer Celebrate Christmas

If you are a disciple of Christ, questioning whether you should be celebrating Christmas, please allow me to share with you some biblical and historical facts to consider, which might help you make your decision.

I would like to share a letter I recently sent to a friend of ours, explaining why we no longer celebrate Christmas.  I hope this will also be encouraging to the growing number of people who are feeling the same conviction in their heart that we have. The letter states:

"I want to mention something to you, since you have mentioned Christmas a couple times to me.  It's not a problem with us if you want to celebrate Christmas, but we don't do so.  So you're probably shocked and wondering, 'Why not?!'  Well, in case you are thinking that, I want to share some of our reasons.

First of all, there is no place in Scripture where we are told explicitly, exactly what day Jesus was born on. And there is no place in Scripture where we are told to celebrate His birthday. Neither do we find any Scriptural record of the early Church celebrating His birthday. In fact, the date when the world celebrates Christmas is closer to the time when Jesus was conceived, rather than the time He was born. He was more likely born in the September-October time frame.

You can read more about this in my blog, called "The Birth of Jesus: On What Day was Jesus Born?" As you would have guessed, I have a blog about this topic, like so many other things the Lord has shown us from His Word.  We believe in living as Jesus did and according to His Word, not man-made traditions or worldly customs.

Christmas is really an invention of the Roman Catholic Church.  And it appears they chose it to fit into the time-frame of another festival that was celebrated by the pagans.  They did this with many of the pagan deities and festivals, replacing them with Christian themes and names.  All of the customs of Christmas pre-date (existed before) the birth of Jesus Christ. You can read more about that here.

Just like all the other man-made traditions of the Roman Catholic church, this one is not life giving.  We just don't see the life in it.  In fact, probably this holiday brings about more death than it does life.  It places so many burdens on people, even in the world, that they have to go shopping and buy all these gifts and they have to have a "merry Christmas".  Then if they don't have the money for the gifts or they cannot celebrate the holiday according to all the established customs, they feel very sad about it. It seems like this holiday drives people to copy the world and conform to the world, rather than be led by the Spirit and obey the Scriptures. This funny skit sums up what we mean.

To us, Christmas is just another day, and every day is alike.  Paul wrote, 'One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.' (Rom 14:5-6). Paul shows here that those with weak faith, who observe certain days, do so for the Lord. And those who regard every day alike do so for the Lord.

So I realize that was a bit of a long explanation, but we knew you would probably ask, so this is the best way we can explain it to you.  I hope you understand.

with love and blessings,
Len and Jennifer"

That's the end of the letter we wrote to our friend.  Actually she wasn't shocked like I assumed she may be.  Her reply said in part, "Yeah, I understand and I agree with this. It was cool though that you've written down for me these facts."

I'd also like to link to a similar letter that I just found online today by a sister in Christ, whom I have never heard of until now. It is excellent, and I highly recommend you read it.  She is an Ethiopian lady now living in the States, and it's amazing to me how the Lord led her to say very similar things to her friend that the Holy Spirit led me to say to ours.  I think it is just additional confirmation that the Spirit of the Lord has led us this way, in order to bring us into greater freedom.  And the Lord used her letter to encourage us.

Since this holiday is so popular with the world, even among those who don't know Christ personally, anyone who does not celebrate it seems rather strange.  But each person has to do for the Lord what they believe to be true and right. We're free in Christ to do so, and that's what we do.  Therefore, if you have faith to celebrate Christmas for the Lord, just allow others, who love the Lord, the same freedom not to celebrate it.

This is our personal decision as a family.  If you are considering whether you should celebrate Christmas, let me encourage you to read your Bible, learn the history behind the holiday, and seek the Lord in prayer about it.  He will be faithful to guide you. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will lead you into all Truth, and the Truth will set you free.  He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the links in the side bar. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." 

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

On What Day Was Jesus Born?

While reading God's Word a couple days ago on December 24th, I came across the verse in Luke 1 that said the angel Gabriel came to Mary in the sixth month of the pregnancy of her cousin Elizabeth, who was expecting John the Baptist. I wanted to learn more about when Jesus was born. So I went online and found a very good article that explains when John the Baptist was conceived and born.

Since Jesus was conceived six months after John, we know when He was born. It is most probable that Jesus was conceived on the Feast of Lights, which is celebrated on the 25th day of the Jewish month known as Kislev (this occurs during the November-December timeframe). So Jesus was most likely born on the feast of Tabernacles on the 15th day of the month of Tishri (this occurs in the September-October timeframe).

On this holiday, all the Jewish people would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from far away. Since Bethlehem was only 5 miles from Jerusalem, it’s reasonable to expect that all the inns in Jerusalem and Bethlehem would be full of visiting pilgrims attending the feast. This would explain why there was no room for Joseph and Mary in the inn and why she had to give birth to Jesus in a stable.

There is no place in Scripture where we are told explicitly, exactly what day Jesus was born on. And there is no place in Scripture where we are told to celebrate His birthday. Neither do we find any Scriptural record of the early Church celebrating His birthday. In fact, the date when the world celebrates Christmas is closer to the time when Jesus was conceived, rather than the time He was born.

We know that the Jewish Feasts are types of Christ, and that Jesus was sacrificed as the paschal Lamb on the Jewish Passover feast. This is explicitly stated in Scripture. And it was no mere coincidence, but rather a fulfillment of the feast, in which a lamb was sacrificed and its blood upon the homes of God's people protected their first born children from the death angel who was passing over.

Likewise, it is reasonable to expect that Jesus was also conceived and born on Jewish feasts, as well. If He was conceived on the Feast of Lights, that would be appropriate, since He is the Light of the World, who came as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory for God's people Israel (Lk 2:32). He came like the rising sun from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death (Lk 1:79). And if He was in fact born on the Feast of Tabernacles, what a perfect time it was, since it was a time of rejoicing and celebration of deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Leviticus 23:42-43)! Jesus has come to set us free from the bondage of slavery to sin. He has provided deliverance from hell, death and the grave for all who believe in Him!!!

Update: This article was originally posted December 26, 2010, and on July 31, 2018, I made a new discovery that corroborated my conclusion in this article. I happened to see Sid Roth's interview with Roy Reinhold, in which he explained how hidden Bible codes reveal the future. I highly recommend watching it! It was so amazing to me that I went to his website and found his five-part article on the Birth of Yeshua (Jesus), which he published on February 1, 2001. I was even more amazed to find that through his research into Bible codes, he discovered that the Lord Jesus was conceived on the first day of Hannukah or the Festival of Lights, just as I stated in this article. He states, "The matrix shows that as 24 Kislev was ending and 25 Kislev beginning, marking the beginning of Hanukkah, that the power of the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she conceived."

Then he states, "The matrix shows...1 Tishri as the exact day of Yeshua's birth." 1 Tishri is the Jewish New Year's Day called Rosh Hashana, meaning literally "head of the year." Rosh Hashana is know in English as the Feast of Trumpets, and it is marked by the blowing of the Jewish shofar, or ram's horn,  to commemorate the ram that God provided to Abraham in place of Isaac. This festival corresponds with going and telling the world that Yeshua Himself has become that ram and ultimately died in our place.

In 3 BC, 1 Tishri was on September 11. The center of the matrix that shows the Lord's birthday says, "Holiday of the Nativity" and "Sing (or Rejoice), My people." The complete matrix has many key words in it like "Yeshua (Jesus)," "Messiah," "Wonderful," "Counselor," "Son of Man," "born," "manger," "Beit (Bethlehem)," "Lekhem (Bethlehem)," "star," "angels," "shepherds," "Miryam (Mary)," and "Yosef (Joseph)." It also contains the words "Hakodesh (Holy)," "Ruach (Spirit)," "from heaven," and "to the earth," as well as many other key words that connect it with the biblical account of the nativity of Christ.

Reinhold goes on to state "Yeshua is the second Adam, and the rabbi's have long taught that Adam's birthdate was on 1 Tishri. So it is no coincidence that the second Adam has the same exact birth date." I had surmised that the Lord was born on 15 Tishri, and although he had also expected to find the same thing, he has discovered that it was actually 1 Tishri. I'd say that is amazingly close, considering my article had not been published yet when his was written, and I did not even know about his article when I wrote mine. I was off by 14 days from his findings with respect to the day of the Lord's birth.

Finally, his discoveries of the conception and birth dates of Christ in the Bible codes not only corroborated my conclusions, but he points out that "the conception of Mary was shown to be 271 days prior to the birth date," as would be expected, based on average gestation periods. And he discovered that the Brit Milah (dedication and circumcision) at the Temple--took place on 8 Tishri just as we would expect it to, according to Jewish custom that says it must be done on the 8th day. Glory to God! 

Here are the links to the five-part article by Roy Reinhold (part 2 contains the above information):

Exact Date Of Yeshua's Birth, part 1
Bible Code Matrix of Yeshua's Birth, part 2
Angelic Announcement to Mary & Yeshua's Conception, part 3
Brit Milah at the Temple on the 8th Day, part 4 
Other Scholarship Proving the Exact Date of Birth of Yeshua (Jesus), part 5

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, I also recommend reading In What Year Was Jesus Born?, The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ and The Son of Man, as well as the other articles on the Home Page of this blog. You can also find my complete collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.