Some Christians are Hostile Towards Christmas

Perhaps one of the biggest debate among saved people is about Christmas. If division was already a reality when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it's still a real issue today. I wouldn't even dare deny that my favorite Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon called Christmas as a pagan occasion. Some Christians still celebrate Christmas in their own way may get unjust but well-intended criticism from Christians who don't celebrate Christmas.

Here's what the great Spurgeon said:
"WE HAVE NO superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and, consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority. Superstition has fixed most positively the day of our Saviour’s birth, although there is no possibility of discovering when it occurred. Fabricius gives a catalogue of 136 different learned opinions upon the matter; and various divines invent weighty arguments for advocating a date in every month in the year. It was not till the middle of the third century that any part of the church celebrated the nativity of our Lord; and it was not till very long after the Western church had set the example, that the Eastern adopted it. Because the day is not known, therefore superstition has fixed it; while, since the day of the death of our Saviour might be determined with much certainty, therefore superstition shifts the date of its observance every year. Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with heathen festivals. We venture to assert, that if there be any day in the year, of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which the Saviour was born, it is the twenty-fifth of December. Nevertheless since, the current of men’s thoughts is led this way just now, and I see no evil in the current itself, I shall launch the bark of our discourse upon that stream, and make use of the fact, which I shall neither justify nor condemn, by endeavoring to lead your thoughts in the same direction. Since it is lawful, and even laudable, to meditate upon the incarnation of the Lord upon any day in the year, it cannot be in the power of other men’s superstitions to render such a meditation improper for to-day. Regarding not the day, let us, nevertheless, give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son."

Here's another fact: although Spurgeon rejected the celebrating of Christmas to be the way of the heathen but he also saw it as an evangelistic opportunity. It's possible to really hate Christmas because it's worldly and some Christians may prefer to call it XMas because it doesn't honor Christ but there's still the opportunity to win people. The preacher himself also preached Christmas sermons on the birth of Christ from 1859 to 1868. It's possible he wanted to mock the paganism by telling people the incarnation of Christ on Christmas and why it had to happen.

Concerning Christmas, Christians shouldn't be too divided about it. It's okay to have Christmas parties but make sure that you separate worldliness from it and that you're focusing on Christ. But there's also the freedom not to celebrate it either for personal reasons. Yet the Christmas celebration can be a huge opportunity to win souls to Jesus Christ like by giving Christmas cards with Gospel tracts in them. The question is not about celebrating Christmas but the question is are you still honoring God in doing so?

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