There is not a Christmas season that arrives that does not bring with
it discussion and even discord over the actual birthday of Jesus. It
seems to me that Christian brothers and sisters would not squabble over
such a small thing. It might be a good thing to remember the teachings
of Jesus relating to loving each other. But, since many seem stuck on
resolving minor meaningless differences I decided to put my 2 cents
worth in.
Let's start with what we know for sure about His date of
birth. What we know for sure is we really don't know. We do know that
there are several dates that have people who will swear are the correct
birth date. There are some that say it had to be in May, and they can
provide their "evidence" proving it. And there are those who say it had
to be in September, and they also can provide their "evidence" proving
it. Of course there is the ongoing debate regarding December 25th vs.
January 6th. Yes, there are those who have "proof" that the birth of
Jesus truly is December 25th. If you are interested is some of the pro
December 25th arguments you may want to visit the Wikipedia site at the
bottom of this article.
The truth is rather than focusing on
whether the date we celebrate His birth is the correct date, we probably
ought to think about if we should celebrate it at all. There are some
out there that think we should not. Usually they will point to
Deuteronomy 12:28-31, which reads:
28 Be careful to obey all these
regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and
your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and
right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
29 The LORD your God will
cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess.
But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, 30 and
after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared
by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve
their gods? We will do the same." 31 You must not worship the LORD your
God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of
detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and
daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
Personally, I do not believe that the above scripture prohibits Christians recognizing or celebrating the birth of Jesus.
In
any event, the date really doesn't matter. If God had decided it was
important He would have made the date clear. He did not, however He did
give us quite a bit of information about the birth, so He felt that it
was important. I would agree it is not as important as the resurrection,
but it did have to happen first. I think what is important is our
attitude towards Christmas. There are those who believe Christmas is a
compromise with paganism and others who have other problems with
Christmas. Trust me, I have heard it all. Having said that, December
25th happens to be the day we observe as the birth of Jesus. If I am
going to observe it at all, I will do so on that date. I guess I could
observe it in May or September but I probably won't see quite as many
Nativity scenes.
So, how should Christians celebrate Christmas? I
believe it is important to remember that Christmas is really about
gifts. Oh, not the temporal material gifts that it seems to have become
about, but the gifts Jesus gave us. Christ gave us gifts of eternal
value: His love and companionship along with gifts of salvation,
forgiveness of sins, the indwelling Holy Spirit, His righteousness,
peace, joy, wise counsel, healed minds, restored relationships, and
adoption into His eternal home. Now those are some gifts I am glad I
received!
I hope you always appreciate Christmas but from the correct perspective.
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