Christmas on 25th December is NOT Pagan

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE DATES FOR CELEBRATING CHRIST’S

NATIVITY AND EPIPHANY OF TODAY’S CHRISTMASTIDE?
by Ven Dr I. U. Ibeme http://priscaquila.6te.net ; http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo ;
Click Here For PriscAquila Christian Resource Centre
Comment on The Chapel of Grace Blog: http://thechapelofgrace.wordpress.com

Christmas is a Church service in which the Nativity of Christ is read and preached from
the Bible, NOT a street festivity derived from pagans. Christmas worship for
commemoration of Christ’s Nativity by the Church is not same as street "Xmas" carnival
and frivolity. Unfortunately, any divine matter brought to Gentiles, they will always
corrupt with the debauchery of their pagan culture.

Due to persecution by Rome, and calendar confusion and complexities of the ancient
world, several ancient Churches could only mention and commemorate Christ’s
conception, birth and death as often as they would independently and irregularly. They
could not arrive at a fixed annual date to hold open unified annual celebration, so
Churches appointed any day within the year to mark the Nativity of Christ. According to
a known writing of Bishop Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), the Egyptian Church
had started their open unified celebration of Epiphany on 6 th January before 194 AD.
Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 AD) also indicated that the European Church celebrated
the Nativity of the Lord on 25th December long before 215 AD. Even before then at about
175 AD, Bishop Theophilus of Caesarea (115-185 AD) documented that the Church in
the Holy Land had been celebrating Christ’s Nativity.

The European Church remained underground or persecuted till toleration Edict of Milan
was promulgated in 313 AD by the co-Caesars Constantine and Licinius for both the
Rome and Byzantium. The Roman Empire had celebrated Saturnalia Feast on December
17, but later in 271 AD Caesar Aurelius introduced an August 28th feast of Mithra the
Persian Sun-god. This was moved to December 25 th in 374 AD as feast for the
Unconquered Sun by mithraistic cults (not by official Roman pontifexes) which began to
coincide with the earlier Nativity Feast date of the Church, long after the Church had
been marking Christmas and Epiphany.

CHRISTMAS WAS FIXED BY CHRONOLOGICAL CALCULATIONS

1. We know Christ died around the shifting lunar date of the Passover but fixed solar date
of Vernal Equinox.

2. We believe Christ’s perfection implies that He took up flesh (conceived) on the same
fixed date that He put off flesh (death). Christ was conceived in the 6 th month (known in
the primitive Church to be at Passover season) i.e. March (Luk 1:26) of the Macedonian
calendar which was also 6 months (Luke 1:36) after Zechariah’s ministry in the lineage
of Abijah at which time John was conceived (Luke 1:5-13). Christ was later born during
census which was first held under Quirinus when he was governor of Syria (Luke 2:1-3).

3. If we accurately calculate the date of His death which was at the Passover in March-
April, we can easily extrapolate the date of His conception in March-April and birth in
December-January.

4. By the second century at least before 194 AD, the Egyptian Church had calculated the
Spring Equinox of His death to be on April 6 by their Macedonian calendar, so he must
have been conceived April 6 to be born on January 6 Winter Solstice.

5. Long before Constantine and the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), the Roman Church as
found in Hippolytus’ writings (c. 200 AD) had calculated the Spring Equinox of His
death to be on March 25 by their Julian calendar, so He must have been conceived on
March 25 to be born on December 25 Winter Solstice.

6. Inter-calendar margin of error between December 25 and January 6 gives rise to the
Twelve Days of Christmas – celebrating from Nativity to Epiphany!
7. The Christmas Twelve Days has had no other feasts celebrated by Roman pagans
except January 1 New Year introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. Later in 271 AD,
Caesar Aurelius introduced the midsummer August 28 (NOT midwinter) feast for Mithra,
the Persian Sun-God. It was not until 374 AD when mithraistic cults (without official
inclusion in Roman pontifical calendar) moved their feast of Unconquered Sun from
August 28th (midsummer) to December 25th midwinter. Before this the Church had long
been celebrating Christ’s Nativity. But none of these old or even new pagan fixtures has
right to lay any claim on any day for any pagan idol because ALL DAYS BELONG TO
CHRIST. Anyone who believes that any day belongs to any pagan idol is an
IDOLATER! Only Christ not any idol, has claim on any day under the sun. (The
coincidence of the new pagan feast of Unconquered Sun with the older feast of Christ’s
Nativity was actually surprising to some Church Fathers.)
8. As the Church’s Christmas season has grown in scope and significance over the years,
so more and more pagan ways of celebration and culture have sought to contaminate,
commercialize or even compete with Christmas.

9. Christmas has no pagan origin as many erroneously conjecture today, but originated
from the Herald Heavenly Angels and the Star-guided Eastern Wisemen as the Gospel
records show. PAGAN CONTAMINATION IS NOT SAME AS PAGAN
ORIGINATION.

10. In the past the Church passed several decrees banning several pagan encroachments
into Christmas over the centuries, but till today more and more heathenish elements are
still being innovated and introduced into the Church’s Christmas – these must be
continuously resisted, for the devil must be fought without fainting till the last day.

25TH DECEMBER BELONGS TO GOD ALONE AND NOT TO ANY IDOL! Just
like all other days.

Pagans may falsely POSTULATE that 25th December belongs to their gods or they may
vainly PROTEST that celebrating or commemorating the birth of our Lord offends them,
and they may even mischievously or enviously POLLUTE the Church's chosen feast days
to give them bad names, but the Church will NEVER YIELD to their futile gimmicks.

ALL DAYS BELONG TO CHRIST! Anyone who believes that any day belongs to any
pagan idol is an IDOLATER!

In fact, the real ignorant superstition, outright paganism and occultist idolatry is to
agree to allocate or avoid any day of the year or any time of the day or any era of
history on the lie that such a day, date, time, season or era belongs to any pagan
feast or any idol for any of their purposes. The only TRUTH is that NO DAY
belongs to pagans and their idols rather EVERY DAY belongs to God and His
people to celebrate whatever they plan to celebrate unhindered.

If the devil had succeeded in blackmailing the Church against the FEAST of Christ's
nativity, it would have since proceeded with denying the FACT of Christ's nativity. Or
worse still, forced the Church to stop mentioning both the FEAST and the FACT as seen
recently attempted in North America!

Though pagans from ancient times have attributed every day of the year to one false god
or the other by their superstition, yet from the Scriptures God has not allocated any day of
the year to any pagan demon. All days are of God according to the Scriptures. One
therefore wonders why any true Christian would have the scruples to accept pagan
superstition as true.
Do we work by SCRUPLES, SPECULATIONS and SUPERSTITION or do we work by
SCRIPTURES? By historical fallacies and pagan myths or by historical facts and
Christian truth? Funny enough, many are unaware that these unending conjectures
and spurious fabrications about false gods and their pagan feasts which are thrown
up against the Church’s feast of Christ’s Nativity are not historically verifiable or
even plausible, yet they seem to easily become popular and appealing to the gullible.

True Christians cannot accept the erroneously superstitious thinking that any day belongs
to any pagan god or should be dedicated to any pagan feast. Christians can and should
use any day for any biblical programme the Church decides to appoint. Christians know
and worship only the One God and reject all subjection to any false gods (1Cor 8:5-6);
nor does the Church regard any mythical pagan claim over any day as their holiday (Col
2:14-16).

No Christian should ever fall into such a subtle snare and superstitious scruples of
relinquishing any day to any pagan deity. To attribute any day to any pagan gods is
idolatry and bondage!!!

25th December does not belong to any false god. Where in the Scriptures are days
attributed to any demonic deity? No day belongs to any other than to God (Rom 14:5-6).
Don't let yourself be misled by malignant misinformation and speculations derived from
superstitions and scruples but not from Scripture. Besides, 25 th December of the Christian
Gregorian Calendar is actually 13 days earlier than 25th December of the Roman Julian
Calendar!

Christmas (recent 11th Century English word not coined by Church leadership) is a street
nickname for the ancient annual programme which the Church calls FEAST OF
NATIVITY OF OUR LORD – a Church service programme commemorative of biblical
events and NOT a pagan street event.

The Church is given the heavenly backed authority to appoint or decree (Job 22:28) or
bind/loose (Mat 16:19) any day to celebrate or commemorate any matter from any
portion of the Scriptures – whether daily, annually, occasionally or as regular as the
Church deems fit. The Church does not need to regard whether false worshippers of false
gods have any false programmes on the same day. To regard such would mean
superstitious scruples not Scriptural soundness.

Christmas is not pagan. Christ’s birth is worthy of regular celebration and demands
constant proclamation that all humanity speak and live for Christ alone.

Christmas that marks the nativity of Christ is not pagan nor should it be a celebration of
Santa, Trees and Logs, bells and mistletoe, etc. Christmas should be marked by
remembering to engage in those things that happened at the birth of Christ as found in the
Scriptures. Christmas should be a celebration of the Nativity of Christ after the examples
of the Angels, Wisemen and Shepherds marked by:
+ worship to God and carol singing about Christ (as is done by many Churches and
Choirs today),
+ presentation of offerings of great value to God,
+ proclaiming Jesus as the Christ of God, the Lord of all and the Saviour of all,
+ great joy and gratitude (for God’s great gift of a Saviour of all),
+ making peace with and among all people,
+ exchange of goodwill (as greetings, gestures and gifts),
+ biblical inquiry from God’s Word (Bible Teaching Retreat as done by some Churches
today),
+ travels for missionary/charitable visit, reunion and pilgrimage, and
+ evangelistic outreach preaching of the Gospel of eternal salvation from sin through
faith in Jesus Christ.

Celebrations are not times to do things and forget, but a time to renew doing things after
the celebration.

Christmas celebration is to rejoice at remembering that Christ came factually in history

and a time to remember to be ready for Christ's coming again in glory.

Christmas is not a time for carnal joy of smoking, drugging and drinking parties, rancour,
violence, robbery, profiteering, sexual immorality, carousing and rioting. Such carnalities
cannot truly express the spiritual joy proclaimed by heavenly Angels unto our holy God
for His goodness. That was why the Church took steps to ban the infiltration by such
carnal frivolities and revelries at various times during the Middle Ages when the
Church had dominion influence in Europe.

Christmas should be a time of making peace and sharing goodwill amongst all people,
both Jews and Gentiles, Christians and non-Christians – A TIME FOR ALL
HUMANITY TO JOIN THE ANGELS IN THE CAROL OF PRAISE TO GOD with
great joy for God’s love-gift of the Saviour. But more than merely celebrating the birth of
Christ, we need to BELIEVE IN HIM AND YIELD OUR LIVES TO HIM to save us
from sin and damnation. In this way we will be at peace with God and be instruments of
God’s peace in the world.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Have a MERRY biblical CHRISTMAS commemorations!
For more details on this matter see this link
https://www.scribd.com/document/24638256/Why-Christmas-and-New-Year
Updated December 20, 2018
by Ven. Dr. I. U. Ibeme
Copyright © PriscAquila Publishing, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Click here for
PriscAquila Christian Resource Centre
http://priscaquila.6te.net ; http://www.scribd.com/ifeogo