<<Print>>

The issue of Christmas being a celebration for pagans or Christians is nothing new. One argument against Christmas is that the traditions surrounding the holiday have origins in paganism. This is something not to tell a Christian because it is heresy to mention paganism. The General overseer of the Deeper Life Church has admonished all Christians to avoid celebration because it is idolatrous and unscriptural. According to him: We don�t celebrate Christmas. It actually came from idolatrous background. That is why you don�t hear us sing what they call Christmas carol. Never! We always say it is the December retreat. We are only gathering together because it is the holiday period and love the Lord more, and rededicate ourselves more. �When you find anybody coming in, or any leader, trying to introduce the idolatry of mystery Babylon, that they call Christmas and you want to bring all the Christmas carol saying that is the day that Jesus was born, and you don�t find that in the Acts of the Apostles or in the early church, then you don�t find that in the church either. If you don�t know that before, now you know.� He warned that any of the church�s leaders that tried to introduce the �idolatry of Christmas� into any section of the church would be sanctioned, while also encouraging other believers in Christ to jettison the celebration as part of their sacrifice to perfection.Kumuyi said the duty of the church was to make people more like Jesus Christ and not join in worldly celebrations. �We are not trying to make the church turn like the world. We want it to be like Jesus Christ, and more like the Apostles. If you don�t have that mind with us, then you have permission to go to other places,� Bells, candles, holly, and yuletide decorations are mentioned in the history of pagan worship and we use the same to decorate our trees. Christians who choose to ignore Christmas point to the fact that the Bible doesn�t give us the date of Christ�s birth, which is certainly true. December 25 may not be even close to the time Jesus was born. Those Christians who do celebrate Christmas often see the occasion as an opportunity to proclaim Christ as �the reason for the season� among the nations. There is no legitimate scriptural reason not to celebrate Christmas. At the same time, there is no biblical mandate to celebrate it, either. In the end, of course, whether or not to celebrate Christmas is a personal decision. Whatever Christians decide to do regarding Christmas, their views should not be used as a club with which to beat down or denigrate those with opposing views. It is a matter of accepting one another in Christian love and grace, regardless of our views on Christmas.