Should we observe Christmas?

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What’s Your Question? for Dec. 22, 2010

Christmas means, “Christ & Mass, a holiday on Dec. 25 celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ” (Webster). The Catholic Encyclopedia says it “was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.” Albert Barnes (Presbyterian) and Adam Clarke (Methodist) said Christ’s birth has been put in every month of the year by some scholar (Commentaries on Luke 2). There was nothing wrong with Jews washing their hands before they ate, but when they made it a religious practice, Jesus condemned them (Mk. 7:3-7). There is nothing wrong with exchanging gifts, decorating the house, nor accepting a Christmas bonus, but none of these things have any religious significance. Many who religiously observe things God did not teach, ignore the memorial Jesus Himself instituted – the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week in memory of His death and resurrection (Acts 20:7).