by Chad Descoteaux

Created on: February 17, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

Concerning the Christmas celebration as it is generally known all over the world, The Encyclopedia Americana says: "Most of the customs now associated with Christmas were not originally Christmas customs but rather were pre-Christian and non-Christian customs taken up by the Christian church. Saturnalia, a Roman feast celebrated in mid-December, provided the model for many of the merry-making customs of Christmas. From this celebration, for example, were derived the elaborate feasting, the giving of gifts, and the burning of candles."

It was only about 400 years after Jesus died that Constantine, in an attempt to unify his empire, blended customs associated with Paganism with the teachings of Christianity. These included the days Christmas and Easter were to celebrated. Early Christians, in the congregations that Jesus' apostles set up and instructed, never celebrated Jesus' birth, only commemorating his death, following the model set at the Last Supper.

Furthermore, Luke 2:8 states very clearly that there shepherds 'living outdoors with the flocks' on the night that Jesus was born before the angels featured in the song 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' came down and told them that the savior had been born. Jesus lived in Israel, in the Middle East, and December is a cold and rainy season there in which sheep would have frozen to death if they were outside. While the Bible does not tell us the specific day of Jesus' birth, we know it could not have been in the middle/end of December.

Easter is traditionally celebrated in the spring and while there is no mention of rabbits or eggs in the Bible, the Bible does say that he died in the spring. It also says that he was 33 AND A HALF when he died. So, if he died in the spring, half a year would put his birth closer to the autumn, a time of year in Israel where it would not be too cold to have sheep outside.

As far as putting Jesus 'back' in Christmas, the greediness that we see associated with the holiday season, plus the historical origins of Christmas, allows Christians to reason that Jesus was never in it to begin with.

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