Heather Clark, Christian News Network — An increasing number of Christians state that they have decided to no longer celebrate Christmas. While they admit that their decision is often severely scorned by friends and family, and is seen as odd to many Christmas enthusiasts, they say that after doing research on its origins, the opposition from Christians throughout history and the general spirit of the popular holiday, they can no longer in good conscience worship God in this manner.“As I began to dig into where [the holiday] came from, it bothered me,” said Pastor Jim Staley of Passion for Truth Ministries in St. Charles, Missouri. “The more that I began to study, the more that I began to compare Biblical truth versus tradition, the more I realized that none of the disciples celebrated any of the holidays that we have today.”
Richard Rives of Wyatt Archaeological Research in Cornersville, Tennessee told Christian News Network that his experience was similar.“Basically, I just started researching these things,” he said, noting that he stopped celebrating 25 years ago. “What I found out was that December 25th was something that was in honor of the pagan sun gods and not Jesus Christ.”
“Once I learned these things, I didn’t want anything to do with it, because to take pagan precepts of worship and combine it with the worship of our Creator is in violation of the first four Commandments that teach us how to love the Lord,” Rives stated.
The Early Origins of Christmas
“Basically, it was associated with the Winter Solstice, and the sun worshipers would have a big festival when the sun would begin rising in the sky,” Rives explained, who operates Wyatt Museum in Tennessee, and is author of the book and DVD series Too Long in the Sun...
Opposition Throughout History
[...] “Our forefathers knew better than to celebrate this pagan festival called Christmas,” Rives stated. “It was outlawed in New England from 1649 to 1658, and it was condemned for its pagan roots by the Puritans, the Methodists, the Quakers, the Amish, Presbyterians and Baptists. It was later made an illegal holiday in 1856.” ...
Christians Today
[...] Staley and Rives told Christian Network that while others may not understand the reasoning for breaking free from the popular holiday, Christians must seek to please God rather than men.
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