Why would anyone think Christmas is pagan?

Question

No one knows for sure the actual date of Jesus' birth. That's already been established. What bothers me the most is when fellow Christians get on my case for putting up a christmas tree in my house and such........
I don't worship the tree......I don't worship the lights....I don't worship the gifts....
I worship God through Jesus Christ.
When your child has a birthday that falls on a Tuesday, isn't it much easier to have the party on that following Saturday so that alot more people can show up?
It's the same thing with Jesus......it doesn't matter what day we celebrate it on....the fact is....He was born to begin with....and praise God for that.

Your thoughts.......(this ought to be interesting)

Answer 1

What I said Is that many of the TRADITIONS that accompany Christmas are Pagan. NOT that Christmas is a pagan holiday.

EX: yule log, decorating an evergreen tree, winter solstice, etc.

And I am sorry if you misunderstood, in no way did I mean to make you feel attacked, or insulted.

Answer 2

Hi Primo,
Christmas was a pagan holiday in Rome. This can be found online and has been shown several times on this answer section. The Christians who tell you that you should not have a tree set up are wrong. That is certainly not against GOD's Commands. We are told to celebrate the Lord's Supper on the First Day of the Week. This we do every Lord's Day in our services at Church. The value of Christmas is getting family and friends together and exchanging giftes/stories that have not been done for some time. This is an important thing for our children to see. The Christmas Celebration is a good thing. DO NOT make it a Christian Event... IT IS NOT! Have a great day.
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Answer 3

It was not until several hundred years after Jesus lived on the earth that people began to commemorate his birth on December 25. But that was not the date of Jesus’ birth, for it evidently took place in October. So why was December 25 chosen? Some who later claimed to be Christian likely “wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun.’” (The New Encyclopædia Britannica) In winter, when the sun seemed weakest, pagans held ceremonies to get this source of warmth and light to come back from its distant travels. December 25 was thought to be the day that the sun began its return. In an effort to convert pagans, religious leaders adopted this festival and tried to make it seem “Christian.”

The pagan roots of Christmas have long been recognized. Because of its unscriptural origin, Christmas was banned in England and in some of the American colonies during the 17th century. Anyone who even stayed home from work on Christmas day had to pay a penalty. Soon, though, the old customs were back, and some new ones were added. Christmas once again became a big holiday, and that is what it still is in many lands. Because of the connections that Christmas has with false religion, however, those who want to please God do not celebrate it or any other holiday that has its roots in pagan worship.

DO ORIGINS REALLY MATTER?

Some agree that such holidays as Christmas have pagan origins but still feel that it is not wrong to celebrate them. After all, most people are not thinking about false worship when they observe holidays. These occasions also give families opportunities to draw close together. Is this how you feel? If so, likely it is love of family, not love of false religion, that makes taking a stand for true worship seem difficult. Be assured that Jehovah, the one who originated the family, wants you to have a good relationship with your relatives. (Ephesians 3:14, 15) But you can strengthen such bonds in ways that God approves. Regarding the matter that should be our chief concern, the apostle Paul wrote: “Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord.”—Ephesians 5:10.

Maybe you feel that the origins of holidays have little to do with how they are celebrated today. Do origins really matter? Yes! To illustrate: Suppose you saw a piece of candy lying in the gutter. Would you pick up that candy and eat it? Of course not! That candy is unclean. Like that candy, holidays may seem sweet, but they have been picked up from unclean places. To take a stand for true worship, we need to have a viewpoint like that of the prophet Isaiah, who told true worshipers: “Touch nothing unclean.”—Isaiah 52:11.

Answer 4

Christmas was originally a Roman festival called Saturnalia that celebrated the return of longer daylight hours following the winter solstice. When Constantine "switched" the Romans over to Christianity he ascribed the celebration of Christ's birth, Christmas, to the same day so that their calendar setup could remain unchanged. So the fact that Chistmas is in a sense a modified form of a predating pagan ritual gets some Christians riled up. I for one do not see the big deal either, Christians should be celebrating Christ all the time anyways.

Answer 5

Its the fact that the tree used to represent a pagan symbol along with other traditional Christmas symobls.

Plus on Dec. 25th, a pagan holiday was celebrated before Christmas was celebrated.

Those are the TWO major reasons some say the holiday is pagan.

However, in the contemporary culture the holiday is no longer pagan.

Answer 6

The tradition of Christmas comes from some pagan ideas. The day used to be a day to worship the sun in Rome. It was later converted as a day to remember Christs birth. The tree comes from German tradition. They used to worship them. Whatever it used to mean, it now means something different. Put the tree up and relax.

Answer 7

We are not told to celebrate Jesus' birth, but I do not think that that makes it wrong, I believe it can be celebrated if we make Jesus the center of attention.

People hate the tree, wreath, lights, mistletoe because they were pagan customs (like bobbing for apples was done by druids to people, but they had to bob for an apple in a cauldron of boiling syrup).

Then things like Santa Clause (not Saint Nickolaus), Frosty, Rudolph, going broke decorating and buying presents have nothing to do with worshiping Jesus at all.

Answer 8

Because the Christan took it from the Pagans. The Christian church need more follower so they could get more money so they made up Holiday that were close to the pagan Holiday. Wiccans celebrate Yule which is on Dec 22 amazing how Christmas is only a few days away.

Answer 9

Not an accurate analogy.

It's not really a question of "My child's birthday is Tuesday but we'll have the party on Saturday so more people can show up" situation.

It's more like: "My child's birthday is on Tuesday, but the neighbor kid up the street has already been having these big parties on Saturday for his birthday, so I'll add my child's birthday to THAT party so there will be more people there and more presents for my kid. Besides, the neighbor kid's family has these really cool games that they play and decorations that they put up, I can use them for my kid, too..."

By the way, what exactly DOES a decorated evergreen tree have to do with Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, anyway?

Answer 10

I'm a Christian and I have never had other Christians say anything about my tree etc/ I think as long as we know the reason for the season that is ok to do the tree, and Santa etc. The birth of Christ was probably in the Spring anyway. We have just decided to celebrate in Dec.