In a previous post, I offered quick answers to 5 apologetics questions that I think every Christian should be familiar with. With many misconceptions and misunderstandings about Christmas, here are 5 Christmas-themed questions with "barebones" quick answers that can easily be committed to memory. 1. Was Jesus born on December 25th, AD 1? Although we celebrate His birth on December 25th, there is no biblical evidence that this is the actual date He was born. "AD" is an abbreviation for anno domini, which means "in the year of our Lord" in Latin. When scholars came up with the BC/AD system, they intended to divide world history based on the birth of Christ. However, they miscalculated the year of His birth, and it wasn't recognized until later that Jesus was actually born somewhere between 6-4 BC. (1) Matthew 2:1 records that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great. History tells us that Herod died in 4 BC, so Jesus would have been at least 4 years old by AD 1. 2. Is Christmas a pagan holiday? Every year, I see the inevitable "Christmas was a pagan holiday so Christians shouldn't celebrate it!" claim circulated on social media at Christmastime. Let's put it to rest, shall we? Christmas was never a pagan holiday. However, in the Roman Empire, there were certain pagan winter ceremonies such as Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, which might have been celebrated on December 25th, and Saturnalia, a week long festival that culminated around the same date. In the early third century, Christians began to associate Jesus' birth with December 25th. In the fourth century, they made it an official holiday. Why? Some argue it was because it coincided with the date of the Resurrection, others report that it was to challenge and contrast the existing pagan traditions.(2) Either way, it's interesting to note that Dies Natalis Solis Invicti honored the Roman sun god, and in Malachi 4:2, a prophecy about Jesus calls Him the "Sun of righteousness." I can't think of a better way to contrast the festival than to laud the birth of the true Sun—the Light of the world! 3. We three kings of Orient are? There are three inaccuracies just in the first line of this beloved Christmas carol.
4. Is the story of Jesus' virgin birth just a re-telling of ancient mythology? This frequent claim on social media disintegrates when we actually examine the evidence. Consider the three most common examples—Buddha, Horus, and Mithras. None of the earliest and most reliable sources indicate that these figures were born of a virgin.(5)
5. Was Jesus born in a stable? Although it is commonly assumed, the biblical account doesn't actually mention a stable, or a cave, as early church tradition suggests.(6) However, Luke chapter 2 mentions a couple of important details—that He was "laid in a manger" (a type of feeding trough for animals,) and that there was "no room at the inn." There's no mention of an innkeeper, and the word translated as "inn" is the Greek word kataluma, which might be better translated "guest room." In fact, Jesus uses the same word in Luke 22:11 in reference to the Upper Room, the site of the Last Supper. Mary and Joseph most likely did not attempt to stay at an inn, but it would have been customary for them to stay with Joseph's relatives in Bethlehem. With the house overcrowded due to the government-mandated census and the guest room occupied, Jesus was probably born on the lower level of the dwelling. This is where animals were sometimes brought inside at night to keep warm and safe from theft, which explains why there was a manger.(7) Have a well-informed and Merry Christmas! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to have my weekly blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
References:
(1) Alden A. Mosshammer, The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era (Oxford University Press, 2008) p. 319-356. (2) Lee Strobel, The Case For Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger (Zondervan, 1998,2005) p. 20. (3) Tertullian, Against Marcion, 3:13. (4) William Stob, "The Gospel of Matthew: Righteousness Through Obedience" The Four Gospels: A Guide to Their Historical Background, Characteristic Differences, and Timeless Significance (Ambassador Group, 2007). (5) J. Warner Wallace, Was the Virgin Conception of Jesus Borrowed From Prior Mythologies? Cold Case Christianity Podcast #53, 2015. (6) Justin Martyr, Dialogue of Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew, LXXVIII. (7) John McRay, Archaeology & the New Testament (Baker Academic, 1991) p. 80-82; Kenneth Bailey, The Manger and the Inn, 2008.
5 Comments
Terry Rostek
12/15/2016 07:36:22 am
Great job of providing simple accurate answers for us to use in conversation with others. Thanks
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1/2/2017 05:14:53 pm
Alisa, I have to respectfully disagree with you. I have become reluctant to celebrate Christmas in 2015 and I have stopped celebrating in 2016. I think that celebrating the Nativity is a wonderful thing, and I'm fine with you and other Christians celebrating that, but I don't think that it should be mingled together with a holiday that originated in paganism. In fact, many fail to see Christ in Christmas.
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Alex,
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David M
1/7/2019 12:14:12 pm
I just stumbled onto the ‘Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christmas’ b/c it’s pagan thing this year... While I still have a lot of mixed feelings about this, one of my first thoughts was, wow, why have I never heard anything close to speaking to this in church? I’ve heard very good arguments from both sides of this. YouTube provides a plethora of very believable people with great arguments and examples of history for and against celebrating Christmas. Enough so that it only serves to confuse me more. You can’t say well in the Bible it says to celebrate the birth of Jesus?! On the other hand so what if Christmas has pagan roots? If your hearts in the right place, Jesus knows your heart right? Yet the heart is deceitfully wicked?! Where does this leave one? I don’t know? I tend to think a lot of things about Christmas seem to be ‘of the world’ and pretty far from God. While it’s great to learn about the birth of Jesus and remember(even though it seems very well agreed on that it wasn’t Dec 25?) A lot of the traditions that go along with it certainly have pagan origins and seem outright evil. Santa, elves, magic... etc, I know at our house we’ve focused more on the stupid Elve on the shelve then the baby in the manger?! It’s up to you what to focus on? I have worked on not even mentioning Santa this year.. The pagan argument also seems sometimes a lot like ‘don’t eat this cause it causes cancer’.. Everything you do or eat in some study somewhere causes cancer. Well paganism is in everything as well. The days of the week, money, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Easter... As I’ve said, it’s all confusing and hard to know the right thing to do about it. These are the things I wish church would do a better job diving deep into. Thanks for posting A...
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