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Christmas Reconsidered
A balanced and healthy consideration of Christmas--neither debunking Christmas as "pagan and un-Christian" nor encouraging an over-emphasis of the materialistic or secularization of the holiday.
62 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 1994
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January 5, 2024
THE AUTHOR OF ‘BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION’ RECONSIDERS HIS OPPOSITION
Author Ralph Woodrow wrote in this 1994 book, “I have carefully, prayerfully, reconsidered my own thinking on the subject. Is Christmas simply an ancient pagan festival to which the name of Christ has been falsely attached? Is it wrong to attend family gatherings at Christmas? Is the giving of presents wrong? Should parents take children out of school lest they take part in a Christmas play? Did Jeremiah forbid the use of a Christmas tree? … For some, these have been very serious and sincere questions of conscience. In some cases, families and churches have been torn apart … Like it or not, Christmas is a long-established holiday on our calendar… So the question is, What do we do about Christmas---where do we draw the line?” (Pg. 2-3)
He continues, “early in my Christian experience, I was intrigued to discover that a number of things practiced among Christians were not mentioned in the Bible---one of them being Christmas. In … some of… my writings, particularly ‘Babylon Mystery Religion’… I pointed out that: ‘The word “Christmas” is not in the Bible”; the combining of “Christ” with “mass” indicates a mixture’; the middle of winter is an unlikely date for the birth of Christ---a time pagans regarded as the birthday of their sun-god… the wise men never came to the manger… Jeremiah’s mention of a tree provides an interesting comparison with today’s Christmas tree.’ For the most part, this information was not untrue, but it was INCOMPLETE. I was seeing only one side ... and one-sided information can be misleading. To show only the pagan elements in Christmas leaves many unanswered questions. I never regarded a person’s belief about Christmas, pro or con, as an ESSENTIAL of the Christian faith… It was never my desire that people become fanatically anti-Christmas in their attitude. But as time went on, I would be quoted as though I were some ‘authority’ on the anti-Christian position… One could easily have gotten the impression that I thought… that fanaticism on this issue was only spiritual fervency.” (Pg. 3-4)
He goes on, “Let me hasten to say, there are Christians who hold the anti-Christmas position who have a good spirit about it. They have taken a stand for what they believe is the purity of the gospel, and are very sincere in their belief…. There are others, however, who become cynical and critical of any and all who do not see things the way they do… Having had the opportunity over the years to speak to many different churches and groups that hold varied views on the Christmas issue, I can draw from personal experience. I have not found churches that take a rigid stand against Christmas to be more spiritual, more victorious, more fruitful, or more blessed of God than the others. Does this tell us something?” (Pg. 5-6)
He recounts, “A friend of mine… told me about the Christmas program presented in a church… the program was presented every night for a week. It consisted of the choir singing the great hymns of the season, a Christmas play built around the birth of Christ, and sharing the message of salvation…many responded to the invitation to receive Christ as Savior… Down the street, I can imagine, the negative preaching of an anti-Christmas church may have produced a lot of CRITICISM, but it produced no CONVERTS to Christ. Can there be any doubt which church was the most fruitful?” (Pg. 7-8)
He acknowledges, “admittedly, the celebration of Christmas is not commanded in the Bible… Does this make it wrong? The concept that something is wrong because it is not mentioned in the Bible… can be pressed to absurdity… We must bear in mind that even the word ‘Bible’ is not in the Bible! We have no Bible basis for a minister performing a WEDDING CEREMONY… For a minister to participate in weddings, however, has become a custom, is honorable, and to begin a crusade against it would accomplish nothing… Neither is there any New Testament scripture that says to construct a church BUILDING. The disciples originally met… in houses… in rented buildings… Yet… it is obvious that MANY people have found the Lord within church buildings where they heard the preaching of the gospel!.. A church may have a fellowship hall, offering plates, hymn books… none of which are directly mentioned in the Bible. There also ministries beyond the four walls of a church… rescue missions, tent revivals, camp meetings… Has not God used all of these things … to touch lives?... the church cannot be put in a straightjacket. It must be free to grow and develop… So with observing Christmas. It is not a biblical command… Yet it is within the guidelines of scripture, for there are numerous examples of days that were kept, not by commandment, but by custom.” (Pg. 10-13)
He notes, “in the days of Esther.. ‘The Jews of the villages… made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting…’ [Est 9:19] There was no biblical comment whereby God TOLD them to do this—THEY set aside a day… This was not wrong. Jesus himself attended the Feast fo Dedication, which was not one of the feasts commanded within Old Testament law… Today this eight-day December celebration is known as Hannukah… Here, then, are … biblical examples of days that were observed, not by commandment, but by custom.” (Pg. 13-15)
He observes, “Did not pagans honor [December 25th] as the birthday of the sun-god? … Let’s assume … that church leaders, seeking to do away with this pagan celebration, gradually replaced it with a celebration to honor the birth of ‘the Sun of righteousness’---Jesus Christ---on the same day. Was this substitution a dangerous compromise? Or was it an opportunity to ‘overcome evil with good’? (Rom 12:21) But regardless of how this came about… Christmas became an established day on our calendar. The result has been that every year… in millions of cases, the story of Jesus Christ, his birth and life, is told. The ‘Sun of righteousness’ (Mal 4:2) has so far outshined any former supposed sun-gods… Is it fair, then, to say that Christians who worship Christ on December 25th are really STILL commemorating the supposed birthday of the sun-god?” (Pg. 20-21)
He states, “For many years I assumed that the combination of the word ‘Christ’ with ‘Mass’ was an example of mixture. I did not properly understand how words acquire meaning based on usage, and that the word ‘Christmas’ has long ago been stripped of any exclusively Roman Catholic meaning… Just exactly how this term was later linked with Christ, forming the word Christmas, I am not certain, nor is it of much consequences now. The word Christmas has gone on… to acquire its own and much broader meaning.” (Pg. 23-24)
He explains, “this brings us to another phase of our study: the date for the birth of Christ. One viewpoint … places his birth in the fall, probably at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles… [One] argument is based on the time of Zacharias’ Temple ministry… Assuming that the first course started serving … in early spring, Zacharias' turn would have come in the early part of June… By adding nine months, this would place the birth of John the Baptist in the early spring… many within the anti-Christmas camp, and other Christians as well, have accepted the ... Feast of Tabernacles, in the fall… as the most feasible time for Jesus’ birth. But … If Jesus was BORN during the Feast of Tabernacles, when did his CONCEPTION occur? Was it December 25th? Counting back 267 days … from the Feast of Tabernacles, brings us to December 25th, or close to it, for the time of the conception of Jesus Christ!... If the miraculous CONCEPTION of Christ occurred on (or close to) December 25th, perhaps this can temper the negative feelings, and even resentment, some have felt for this date!” (Pg. 33-34)
But he continues, “Is it possible that December 25th, despite those who have been very vocal in their opposition, might actually have been the date of Christ’s birth?... A noted advocate of the December 25th date was John Chrysostom (c. 347-407), a humble and caring man... best known for his writings on the Bible and the Christian faith… Chrysostom claimed the December 25th date was supported by the actual census/tax records of the Holy Family when they registered in Bethlehem… Chrysostom was not the only one who referred to [the tax records]…Justin Martyr (100-165) … stated that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ‘as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing’… When Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign the true date of Christ’s birth ‘from census documents brought by Titus to Rome,’ Julius assigned December 25th.” (Pg. 35-36)
He goes on, “It has often been stated that shepherds … did not abide in the field during the middle of winter…. [But] Alfred Edersheim … cites ancient Jewish sources … that there are flocks that ‘remain in the open alike in the hottest days and in the rainy season---i.e., all the year round.’” (Pg. 39)
He asks, “Did Jeremiah [Ch. 10]… forbid the use of the Christmas tree?... the Jeremiah text clearly condemns idol worship. The subject is not the Christmas tree as we know it today… There are [some] points about this passage that should be carefully noticed: First, consider the word ‘workman’… the tool the workman used is called an ‘ax.’ … the idol.. is carved from the ‘stock’ of a tree… Jeremiah spoke against worshipping an idol from a tree… these idols were dressed in clothing [10:9]... no one puts CLOTHING on a Christmas tree.” (Pg. 46-48)
He concludes, “The underlying principle of Romans 14 is that we allow every fellow believer to be fully persuaded in his OWN mind… If the people of a church are willing to live by the principles of Romans 14, there will not be judging, division, or strife.” (Pg. 59)
This book will be of great interest to Christians studying the celebration/noncelebration of Christmas.
Author Ralph Woodrow wrote in this 1994 book, “I have carefully, prayerfully, reconsidered my own thinking on the subject. Is Christmas simply an ancient pagan festival to which the name of Christ has been falsely attached? Is it wrong to attend family gatherings at Christmas? Is the giving of presents wrong? Should parents take children out of school lest they take part in a Christmas play? Did Jeremiah forbid the use of a Christmas tree? … For some, these have been very serious and sincere questions of conscience. In some cases, families and churches have been torn apart … Like it or not, Christmas is a long-established holiday on our calendar… So the question is, What do we do about Christmas---where do we draw the line?” (Pg. 2-3)
He continues, “early in my Christian experience, I was intrigued to discover that a number of things practiced among Christians were not mentioned in the Bible---one of them being Christmas. In … some of… my writings, particularly ‘Babylon Mystery Religion’… I pointed out that: ‘The word “Christmas” is not in the Bible”; the combining of “Christ” with “mass” indicates a mixture’; the middle of winter is an unlikely date for the birth of Christ---a time pagans regarded as the birthday of their sun-god… the wise men never came to the manger… Jeremiah’s mention of a tree provides an interesting comparison with today’s Christmas tree.’ For the most part, this information was not untrue, but it was INCOMPLETE. I was seeing only one side ... and one-sided information can be misleading. To show only the pagan elements in Christmas leaves many unanswered questions. I never regarded a person’s belief about Christmas, pro or con, as an ESSENTIAL of the Christian faith… It was never my desire that people become fanatically anti-Christmas in their attitude. But as time went on, I would be quoted as though I were some ‘authority’ on the anti-Christian position… One could easily have gotten the impression that I thought… that fanaticism on this issue was only spiritual fervency.” (Pg. 3-4)
He goes on, “Let me hasten to say, there are Christians who hold the anti-Christmas position who have a good spirit about it. They have taken a stand for what they believe is the purity of the gospel, and are very sincere in their belief…. There are others, however, who become cynical and critical of any and all who do not see things the way they do… Having had the opportunity over the years to speak to many different churches and groups that hold varied views on the Christmas issue, I can draw from personal experience. I have not found churches that take a rigid stand against Christmas to be more spiritual, more victorious, more fruitful, or more blessed of God than the others. Does this tell us something?” (Pg. 5-6)
He recounts, “A friend of mine… told me about the Christmas program presented in a church… the program was presented every night for a week. It consisted of the choir singing the great hymns of the season, a Christmas play built around the birth of Christ, and sharing the message of salvation…many responded to the invitation to receive Christ as Savior… Down the street, I can imagine, the negative preaching of an anti-Christmas church may have produced a lot of CRITICISM, but it produced no CONVERTS to Christ. Can there be any doubt which church was the most fruitful?” (Pg. 7-8)
He acknowledges, “admittedly, the celebration of Christmas is not commanded in the Bible… Does this make it wrong? The concept that something is wrong because it is not mentioned in the Bible… can be pressed to absurdity… We must bear in mind that even the word ‘Bible’ is not in the Bible! We have no Bible basis for a minister performing a WEDDING CEREMONY… For a minister to participate in weddings, however, has become a custom, is honorable, and to begin a crusade against it would accomplish nothing… Neither is there any New Testament scripture that says to construct a church BUILDING. The disciples originally met… in houses… in rented buildings… Yet… it is obvious that MANY people have found the Lord within church buildings where they heard the preaching of the gospel!.. A church may have a fellowship hall, offering plates, hymn books… none of which are directly mentioned in the Bible. There also ministries beyond the four walls of a church… rescue missions, tent revivals, camp meetings… Has not God used all of these things … to touch lives?... the church cannot be put in a straightjacket. It must be free to grow and develop… So with observing Christmas. It is not a biblical command… Yet it is within the guidelines of scripture, for there are numerous examples of days that were kept, not by commandment, but by custom.” (Pg. 10-13)
He notes, “in the days of Esther.. ‘The Jews of the villages… made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting…’ [Est 9:19] There was no biblical comment whereby God TOLD them to do this—THEY set aside a day… This was not wrong. Jesus himself attended the Feast fo Dedication, which was not one of the feasts commanded within Old Testament law… Today this eight-day December celebration is known as Hannukah… Here, then, are … biblical examples of days that were observed, not by commandment, but by custom.” (Pg. 13-15)
He observes, “Did not pagans honor [December 25th] as the birthday of the sun-god? … Let’s assume … that church leaders, seeking to do away with this pagan celebration, gradually replaced it with a celebration to honor the birth of ‘the Sun of righteousness’---Jesus Christ---on the same day. Was this substitution a dangerous compromise? Or was it an opportunity to ‘overcome evil with good’? (Rom 12:21) But regardless of how this came about… Christmas became an established day on our calendar. The result has been that every year… in millions of cases, the story of Jesus Christ, his birth and life, is told. The ‘Sun of righteousness’ (Mal 4:2) has so far outshined any former supposed sun-gods… Is it fair, then, to say that Christians who worship Christ on December 25th are really STILL commemorating the supposed birthday of the sun-god?” (Pg. 20-21)
He states, “For many years I assumed that the combination of the word ‘Christ’ with ‘Mass’ was an example of mixture. I did not properly understand how words acquire meaning based on usage, and that the word ‘Christmas’ has long ago been stripped of any exclusively Roman Catholic meaning… Just exactly how this term was later linked with Christ, forming the word Christmas, I am not certain, nor is it of much consequences now. The word Christmas has gone on… to acquire its own and much broader meaning.” (Pg. 23-24)
He explains, “this brings us to another phase of our study: the date for the birth of Christ. One viewpoint … places his birth in the fall, probably at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles… [One] argument is based on the time of Zacharias’ Temple ministry… Assuming that the first course started serving … in early spring, Zacharias' turn would have come in the early part of June… By adding nine months, this would place the birth of John the Baptist in the early spring… many within the anti-Christmas camp, and other Christians as well, have accepted the ... Feast of Tabernacles, in the fall… as the most feasible time for Jesus’ birth. But … If Jesus was BORN during the Feast of Tabernacles, when did his CONCEPTION occur? Was it December 25th? Counting back 267 days … from the Feast of Tabernacles, brings us to December 25th, or close to it, for the time of the conception of Jesus Christ!... If the miraculous CONCEPTION of Christ occurred on (or close to) December 25th, perhaps this can temper the negative feelings, and even resentment, some have felt for this date!” (Pg. 33-34)
But he continues, “Is it possible that December 25th, despite those who have been very vocal in their opposition, might actually have been the date of Christ’s birth?... A noted advocate of the December 25th date was John Chrysostom (c. 347-407), a humble and caring man... best known for his writings on the Bible and the Christian faith… Chrysostom claimed the December 25th date was supported by the actual census/tax records of the Holy Family when they registered in Bethlehem… Chrysostom was not the only one who referred to [the tax records]…Justin Martyr (100-165) … stated that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ‘as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing’… When Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign the true date of Christ’s birth ‘from census documents brought by Titus to Rome,’ Julius assigned December 25th.” (Pg. 35-36)
He goes on, “It has often been stated that shepherds … did not abide in the field during the middle of winter…. [But] Alfred Edersheim … cites ancient Jewish sources … that there are flocks that ‘remain in the open alike in the hottest days and in the rainy season---i.e., all the year round.’” (Pg. 39)
He asks, “Did Jeremiah [Ch. 10]… forbid the use of the Christmas tree?... the Jeremiah text clearly condemns idol worship. The subject is not the Christmas tree as we know it today… There are [some] points about this passage that should be carefully noticed: First, consider the word ‘workman’… the tool the workman used is called an ‘ax.’ … the idol.. is carved from the ‘stock’ of a tree… Jeremiah spoke against worshipping an idol from a tree… these idols were dressed in clothing [10:9]... no one puts CLOTHING on a Christmas tree.” (Pg. 46-48)
He concludes, “The underlying principle of Romans 14 is that we allow every fellow believer to be fully persuaded in his OWN mind… If the people of a church are willing to live by the principles of Romans 14, there will not be judging, division, or strife.” (Pg. 59)
This book will be of great interest to Christians studying the celebration/noncelebration of Christmas.
September 12, 2020
You've always got to give a man credit who is willing to write something that "corrects" something he has written before. That's what this book is.
I do not agree with every word in this book. I think he goes a notch too far in a few places (particularly about Santa Claus). However, the discussion of whether celebrating Christmas is allowable by Christians is not as simple as is often made by both sides. Like most subjects, it does us well to read all sides of every argument fully.
Now I realize that those who have had certain things pounded in their head since birth - especially when those things are from Momma and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa - are usually unwilling to so much as listen to another viewpoint. But if a person is willing to be open-minded, Woodrow does deal with some things worth considering here. If nothing else, as a preacher that has preached through Jeremiah, I can say with confidence that his explanation of Jeremiah 10 is accurate and worth the read just for that one point.
I do not agree with every word in this book. I think he goes a notch too far in a few places (particularly about Santa Claus). However, the discussion of whether celebrating Christmas is allowable by Christians is not as simple as is often made by both sides. Like most subjects, it does us well to read all sides of every argument fully.
Now I realize that those who have had certain things pounded in their head since birth - especially when those things are from Momma and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa - are usually unwilling to so much as listen to another viewpoint. But if a person is willing to be open-minded, Woodrow does deal with some things worth considering here. If nothing else, as a preacher that has preached through Jeremiah, I can say with confidence that his explanation of Jeremiah 10 is accurate and worth the read just for that one point.
February 20, 2025
I found this booklet very helpful and well written. As someone who came from a background of not celebrating Christmas, it was nice to read a defense for celebrating Christmas. Many of the conclusions I had already come to myself.
If you wrestle with whether Christians should celebrate Christmas, I highly recommend this book.
If you wrestle with whether Christians should celebrate Christmas, I highly recommend this book.
December 31, 2012
It wasn't too bad. It was short, too short. I think more explanation and details would have been better. The beginning half of the book was really interesting, but then it became opinion based and not as interesting. I did say that it did teach me a few things about the origins of Christmas and more about how Christians should live in according to His word, rather though legalism which can destroy a person or people.
December 11, 2015
Yay for yuletide. A good read to dampen humbug.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews