33 Comments »

1. Comment by Lori Haynes — December 17, 2007 @ 8:16 am

   Robin, I agree. I too believe it is very important to celebrate God in the ways that He gave us to do so. However, in my rather large family, only my sister and I even know that there is another way. I continue to seek God and makes changes little by little. I look forward to the day when God’s ways will take precedence over what we are used to, and His body will thrive and flourish with no distinction between Jew and Greek. God bless you and your family now and always.

2. Comment by Sharon Sue — December 17, 2007 @ 9:50 am

   Very interesting discussion. We do celebate Christmas-actually we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have never done the Santa thing. I always felt that was lying. We have always emphasized the birth of Jesus and what he has done for us all. We give gifts with the idea that Jesus provided for our Salvation as a free gift of love. We give gifts to each other because we love. We give very modestly and our children have great appreciation for what they receive. We gave up the commercialism of this time of year some time ago. I knew we had accomplished our heart goal with our children when, one year we had no money and were unable to purchase gifts or even the materials to make gifts. Our middle child owned two horses. She put a bow on one and gave it to her brother. That was sacrifice and love. That same brother wrapped up some of his precious belongings and art work for each of us.

   We do some of the “traditional” decorations just because I think they are pretty!!!!!!! I will usually go to some exhibit of lights or at least drive around the community and see the light displays. This is just a personal delight for me, my family does not care one way or the other. I would never spend the money to decorate this way, but if others want to, I do not mind enjoying what they have done!!!!!!

   I understand the points brought up in this discussion and respect each one to do as they feel right. I know we do a combination of what would be considered Holy and pagan, but am at peace in my heart with my decisions. That is not to say that this may change in the future as God grows and teaches me but for now this is where I am on the subject.

   One question I would add to the discussion: If we are celebrating Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection; does it matter what day of the year we celebrate???? I would consider Jesus’s birth a Holy day, so worthy of celebrations. Just a thought!!!

3. Comment by Robyn — December 17, 2007 @ 12:05 pm

   Hi Robin,
   I was raised in a family where we celebrated Christmas..but as I got older in my teens the Lord kept putting in my heart about the jewish traditons, didn’t know why?
   A few years after I became born again, I started going to a Jewish Messianic Synagogue.. the Lord showed me the truth about different holiday’s. Actually Jesus was born during the high holy days which would have made it in Sept/Oct this holiday is pagan made by men. As I have explained to my children- when its Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln etc birthday people make a “BIG” deal about it?
   Why is it that Jesus doesn’t get the same recognition, he is the saviour of the world he died for all of us…it’s based on man’s greed, and ME ( pride) and now it’s being handed down to their children. We have a large family too, 7 children and soon to be 2 grandson’s…we plan to make a birthday cake and celebrate Jesus birthday. And give something to others whether it is a gift, or just doing something nice for someone because we love them. And also I found out “why” I have had the Jewish people in my heart - my grandparents on both side of my Mom’s families are full Jew…isn’t that cool?
   Merry CHRISTmas!!!

4. Comment by Jami Waid — December 17, 2007 @ 12:10 pm

   My family and I have been in the Way (Hebrew Roots) for seven years now. God revealed this Way to us through a good friend. We had been christians our whole lives. It was very eye opening and life changing for us. It filled the hole in our hearts. The longing we had for more of God. Although we have endured a lot of persecution over the years, we know this is what God wants for our family. We have no regrets. I will admit that christmas was something that was hard for us to give up but only because we didn’t want our children to feel left out (at the time they were in public school). My husband and I were more than happy to give it up. We had become so frustrated with the materialism, greed, and commercialism of christmas. After that last christmas we decided to be done with it. We came to the conclusion that the state of our children’s hearts and their walk/relationship with God was much more important than continuing pagan practices. We practice all of the mandated feasts in the Torah and really enjoy it. It really gives us more of an appreciation for God and who HE truly is. For those who would like to celebrate Jesus’s (Yeshua’s) birthday consider these three things. Jesus was a Jew. He (more than likely) did not celebrate his own birthday while growing up. Second, in scripture Jesus (Yeshua) says to celebrate the One who sent him. Thirdly, it is believed that Jesus (Yeshua) was born at the time of Sukkot. I encourage everyone to seek God’s will for their lives through prayer and scripture. I do believe that God is merciful and looks at the heart. I also believe that He will hold us accountable for all that is revealed to us. Thank you Robin for the loving way you present these different subjects. May God bless you.

5. Comment by Angela — December 17, 2007 @ 1:03 pm

   Thanks Robin for this thoughtful post. I have been grappling with this very issue. Our family has a big thing on Christmas Eve. I will probably bake for the gathering. My dd still wants the tree. So far we have not put up any decorations. We all enjoyed learning about Hannukah very much this year.

6. Comment by Terri Layne — December 17, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

   Wow! I am so glad you addressed this, and in such a gracious way! I hope you let the others on the heartofwisdom yahoo group know about it.

   I too struggle with the commercialism, and get caught up in it too much. I strive to make the holy day as meaningful as possible, just as I’m sure you do, Robin. However, I somehow think totally abandoning the celebration of Christ’s birth would not be winsome to my children or to friends and family. Isn’t the point to not only honor God, but to be a light in the darkness to those who are perishing? (That’s only a rhetorical question

   I know there would be two schools of thought (total separation from the community aka Amish style, or “to the Jew I became as a a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law…..to the weak, I become weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (I Cor 9:20, 22-23) in Pauline style. Paul also

   I agree with Ace Collins in Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. In this book, he is very clear about the pagan origins of the Christmas holiday. He also recognizes that Christ is the ultimate gift-giver, and thus sets the example for us to follow.

   This is a perfect time of year to minister to those who are lonely, depressed, and sense the emptiness of the decorations, tinsel and greed, by introducing them to the gift of the One who came to give His all. Above all, grace.

   God bless you, Robin. I do understand your struggle and admire your courage and also your submissive attitude to your husband. May God bless your efforts to honor him (and Him!) in ministering to your family and others!
   Terri Layne

7. Comment by Jacque — December 17, 2007 @ 3:33 pm

   Matt and I just were talking about this the other night. I loved reading through your “Christmas Evolution”. I think I would like to do our own too.
   We have not celebrated Christmas much as far as decorations, etc. for a few years, but it was more of a ‘feeling’ than knowing about the pagan roots. I just learned of all of that last year, and it was no surprise, but wondering what to do next is a topic we have yet to conquer.

   I blogged about it, and, yes… I think the Christian community is hardest of all to communicate things like this and homeschooling and home birth to. If they don’t do it or belive in it, it is an offense to them they don’t know how to handle. I don’t know that these are things to divide on, but it happens that way many times.

   Thank you for sharing all of these aspects. There are things we love about Christmas, and things we won’t celebrate too. We did Santa when I was a child, but never have as a parent. I was reading the OT out loud last week-just opened it and read- to Jeremiah 10. Everone was floored. So that solidified that. I think as we seek, He will show.

   We are right now just trying to establish what traditions we as a family will celebrate during this season.
   Blessings in your journey!
   love,
   J

8. Comment by Sherree — December 17, 2007 @ 6:23 pm

   Hi Robin, I am so grateful for the insight and genuine love you have for God and His original concepts of Holy Days. Christmas can be such a distressing time for some of us
   One of the Holy Days that I find mentioned in the Old Testament that is not included in the link you provide is the Shabbat or Sabbath. What are you’re thoughts as to keeping this day holy? As I read the link about the origins of Christmas and Easter from its pagan rituals I wondered about the Sabbath and its switch from Saturday to Sunday. If its in the Bible can you please point me to the place it says that we should keep Sunday instead of Saturday the way the Jewish people used to; you know from sunset Friday to Sunset Saturday. I have been asking this question for some time now, and from what I have studied it was a Roman Emporer who changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. Would you consider this day, then, to have pagan roots given that the change was made to encourage the ever growing Christian population to keep coming to the pagan festivals on the Sunday?
   I have had a couple of verses given to me but I am not convinced that Sunday is the day that Jesus wants us to remember. The fourth commandment says Remember the Sabbath Day, but its the one we always seem to forget. Could you share your thoughts on this topic too please?

9. Comment by Tee — December 17, 2007 @ 9:08 pm

   Thanks for your post! Very insightful. My children are young and our “traditions” are still evolving. We have never made a Huge deal of Christmas either (besides spending a lot of time with family!). We don’t bother with buying gifts for our kids (although extended family often does).

   This year we are in Mexico for Christmas (we are living here at the moment) so we, along with a small team of people, are building a house for a family who really needs it (they have 5 children and are living in a home mostly made of cardboard). We will be giving the home to the family on Christmas Eve. I hope that our children will be able to learn a lot from this experience and I believe it is something we will continue to do every year.

   The purpose of us setting up this project was so that other families who struggle with Christmas (materialism, etc) would have an alternative that would also be a way to teach their children about giving, generosity, social justice, the heart of God, and much more.

   However, although many people agree it is a great idea, when it came down to it, most of them did not want to give up the material aspect of the season. We hope this idea takes off after this experience and we will have more people and more projects for next year!

10. Comment by Kelly — December 17, 2007 @ 9:50 pm

    I have been through the same questions as you. I decided not to have Christmas in my home. I do still go to my parent’s house for Christmas Eve to be with my family. My mom doesn’t have a tree anymore. It is just my family, my brother’s, and our parents. Once my parents pass away I won’t have any Christmas at all. I do however celebrate Hanukkah.
    This subject can be a sore one for some people. I wish you the best and blessings and shalom be upon you and yours.

11. Comment by Theresa — December 18, 2007 @ 1:54 am

    I too have been thinking about some of these same things and recently blogged about my own feelings on the subject.
    Christmas is not the only battlefield Christians can war with each other on and it is also not the only area the church has “borrowed” from the world (such as worship music vs. hymns (some of which were old drinking songs with the words changed. Or the KJ only school of thought)
    Love needs to be our guide is all things. God promises to give wisdom liberally to all who seek Him and Christmas is no exception.
    In the few years I have left I want Christmas to be special. The traditions we do celebrate I want to tie the hearts of my children to the real meaning of Christmas.
    I want the reason we avoid certain traditions(such as Santa) to point to Christ just as clearly as the one we celebrate.
    We are all at different places in our faith…but faith with no joy is not worth sharing with anyone and Christ’s birth is part of the gospel story. Whatever we feel God leading us to do we should do with a truly joyful heart…YES?

12. Comment by Eren — December 18, 2007 @ 8:13 am

    Hi Robyn,
    I go through the exact same feelings that you have expressed.I love Christmas but since learning about pagan roots I can’t seem to get all excited about it anymore. This makes me very sad because I want to give wonderful memories to my kids. On the other hand I have thought about celebrating the bilical holidays of the old testament. The thing is that I have also seen that we are not under the law. We are now in a new covenant and this doesn’t include old testament observations. Here are some verses:

    “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17).

    “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:9–10)

    I am not saying that it is wrong to obseve holidays but that I also don’t feel very free to do so after reading these verses. I have talked to good christian friends of mine about observing the biblical holidays and they have said to me that I would be going back to old testament covenant.
    I’m actually writing this comment because I would love to understand that it’s okay to celebrate biblical holidays since this is a desire of my heart and that I wouldn’t be “going back to the old covenant” if I did so.

    God bless:)
    Eren

13. Comment by H0MEFree — December 18, 2007 @ 10:47 am

    What ever we do, do it in love.
    Whatever we blog let us be edifying and draw people to the light.

    homeschoolblogger.com/h0mefree

14. Comment by Kelly — December 18, 2007 @ 11:26 am

    Eren, it isn’t “going back to old covenant”. It is avoiding pagan culture. This is precisely what the chosen people were instructed to do. My main problem is this..the tree, some songs like O’Christmas Tree, Santa. I have friends who are regular Christians and I can deal with that. I just don’t have the tree at my house. I believe that Jesus/Yeshua was conceived during Hanukkah, and born during Sukkot. (Feast of Tabernacles) So if I were to have a birthday celebration for Him, it would be then. If people are celebrating His birth, fine. Mainly I haven’t cut myself off completely from it because of my small family, and friends, who still want to do Christmas. I told them the roots of it, then dropped the subject. My best friend insists on sharing presents with her family. I can do that as well. But that is where I draw the line. I turn down the ham and ham in beans etc… and they call me Jewish, even though technically I am not. So that is where I am on my spiritual journey. We must be careful to say why we do this, and not condemn others who have not been called to this yet, maybe they never will. I like the spirit of loving and giving during this time of year. That is such a positive quality about the holiday!

15. Comment by Tee — December 18, 2007 @ 11:37 am

    Hi Robin!

    Thank you so much for sharing this with us! As always your articles and blogs are just filled with wisdom and light!

    We personally as a family do not (and have not for the past 10 years or so) participate in ANY of the customary/traditional holidays that most people/Christians observe and instead we joyfully and gratefully Observe God’s Holy Days from His Holy Word exclusively. We have a house filled with young children that understand, agree and are gratful with our decision to “opt-out” of the frenzied holiday times–and there is absoultely NO guilt, sadness nor regret from our young children or from us as their parents.
    We’ve simply explained that EVERYDAY is Christmas, Thanksgiving and a time of focusing and worshipping/celebrating Jesus/Yeshua! We let them know that we will buy them gifts and toys and things when we are led to of The Lord…not when society/the traditions of man dictates we should. Everyday is Thanksgivings and we don’t wait one day per year to “recognize” this. God has just given our children and us the Grace and Mercy to live this way–with Joy and Gladness and completely stress/guilt-free!

    That being said, we take serious heed and Obey with Fear and Trembling Our Lord’s Command that we do NOT/are NOT to judge others in regards to holidays or anything–(that they choose to celebrate/honor traditional holidays because we know and understand/believe/have the Holy Fear of God knowing that as/when/if we judge others (thinking ourselves more “spiritual or wise” instead of weak and humble, we ourselves will be judged in the exact measure and way that we judge). We judge ourselves and our conscience and do not participate–KNOWING that the Revelation Abba Father has given us is unpopular and look to The Lord to have his High and Holy Way in us and to give us the Grace to Follow Him and not lean to our own understandings and way and to not disobey Him by compromising our convictions in this matter of holidays.

    We look forward to people asking us why we do not/will not participate in popular holidays and explain in love and Fear of the Lord Why. In ALL of the years that God has used our “opting-out” of traditional Christian and/or popular holidays…I can count on one hand the people/Christians that have NOT congratulated us on our choice to “just say no” to the “pressures/stress/commericialism of Christmas and other popular holidays–and every single person who has asked us why we won’t/don’t “celebrate” traditional holidays has left us with a smile and nod of agreement and in admiration of God in us. Also 99% of them have said they “wished” that they could/would just say no too…but have stated that the “pressure” (fear of man/tradition of men-and children :o) keeps them from saying NO as well. ONLY About 1% of the people who have questioned us as to “Why don’t you “celebrate” holidays” have said that they “enjoy it”. ALL of the other 99% of folks have said/told us that “traditional holidays are a grievious, commercial/materialistic/ and stressful time for everyone and they actually hate it and look forward to the “holiday” being OVER with. That’s just our experience for the past 10 years or so.

    I found this on the web…and it speaks volumes to us and I hope whoever reads this will be equally as blessed to.

    WISDOM

    Approaching the subject of the holiday with anyone first of all requires using God’s wisdom. Different situations require different approaches, different solutions. There are no pat answers. However, this does not mean situational ethics that reek with compromise. It does mean walking in the Spirit and speaking in accordance with the level of relationship you may have with a person, the critical (or non-critical) issues that are at stake in their life and the overall direction of your relationship with that person. You can’t be lazy and just dump everything you know about the holiday on them like it’s just some doctrine you believe.

    Especially with family members, it’s important to not be lazy and consider each person individually. With families, there seems to be a wider door of opportunity. Take advantage of your best open doors. A soul is a soul; but remember who your mothers and brothers are.

    Realize also that we can work against the work of God in someone’s life by bringing up some doctrine without really dealing with the heart issues, the things that ultimately are the only real issue. December 25 isn’t the issue. Giving gifts and having some enjoyable time is not the issue. The motives and intentions of men’s hearts is the issue. So to get at those things, we must not speak just what we know, but the Word which divides between soul and spirit. Consideration, discernment, prayer, fasting, searching the scriptures: whatever it takes to speak His Word.

    For example, a parent that you’ve discussed some serious truths with and the choices are clear. Bringing up the whole holiday issue could be a major distraction. Although exchanging gifts may be out of the question, pressing into that issue may also be as well. If other key heart issues are settled, the holiday issue may eventually fall by the wayside anyway. Another example would be someone talking to you in the elevator. They say, “So, have you got all your gift shopping done?” It might be right to say, “Actually, I don’t celebrate holidays that originated in worship of demon-gods. Maybe you should reconsider it too. Well, this is my floor. Happy Holidays!” And then go on your way. Whether during holidays or not, simple declarations are very possible. Listen for God’s Voice, His unique and penetrating word, but also, don’t be afraid to just speak the truth in love and humility. Depend upon God for supernatural wisdom in each circumstance (e.g. “whose face is on this coin?” …they won’t forget it.)

    Another example could be a ‘Christian co-worker’ whose life doesn’t match his talk. And during the holiday season, Jesus’ Name is on his lips often. “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord,” you hear him singing in the hall. This could be an opportunity to finally break through to his heart by pressing in to the hypocrisy of the season and his own life.

    Another example has to do with your own heart. Maybe not celebrating the holiday sounded like a good idea since you really don’t like spending money on others anyway and the malls are so crowded this time of year and… you get the point. Don’t let the accusation of being a scrooge intimidate you into compromising your convictions but don’t let it be true either. A shower of gifts might be right… in February with orange wrapping. It can be December, but be sure to let them know that it’s out of care for them and not because of the date on the calendar that you’ve sent the gifts (plain paper is still a good idea). It all may serve to soften hearts and open doors for an opportunity, so once again, don’t be lazy.

    Another important point is unity in approaching families, unbelievers… First, do we agree on how God views this (e.g. “Christmas”)? From this, ask God for a wisdom that results in unity in this thing at hand.

    ROOTS

    Do the “roots” or origins of something have any meaning or consequence to us? Of course they do. Would you put a butcher knife on your kitchen counter for daily use that you knew had been used to brutally massacre fifteen people? “Well, that’s not what I plan to use it for - no matter what someone else may have used it for! I’m not effected by that. My heart is right.” Actually, that is not what a normal person’s view of things would be. In the real estate business, there is even a name for property that is unsaleable because a violent crime had been committed there. People do not say, “What difference does it make to me what the origins of this house and previous use of this house has been. That’s not what I intend to do with it! I intend to use it for good purposes.” Realistically, everyone does care what the roots or origins of things are. Unless it is to their advantage to ignore that issue.

    Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. The history of December 25 is clear and indisputable. Rome controlled the world. Romans worshipped many gods and twice a year celebrated two major festivals, one in spring and one in winter. When Constantine converted to Christianity, most of his subjects did too, at least for political correctness. But because their conversions were mostly external, most Romans still wanted their festivals to their gods. These were wicked festivals, honoring demons and filled with every evil deed. So to appease his subjects (how many poor, poor decisions are made to appease), Constantine renamed and “christianized” the holidays. The festival of Sol Novus - The day of birth of the sun god Mithras. It occurred on Dec. 25th. Pagans were rebelling against Constantines strong recommendation for everyone to become “Christians,” so he began to accommodate the pagans by allowing them to keep their holidays and festivals. The spring pagan festival, which was for the goddess of fertility, became easter, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Consequently, during this holiday we have bunnies and eggs, symbolizing fertility, not Christ’s resurrection.

    Adopted customs from the Winter Solstice were put into practice with “Christ” mas. Consequently, during this holiday we have trees, mistletoe and lights, things that have nothing to do with the