On December 25th every year, over two billion people worldwide celebrate what has come to be known as the “Birth of Christ” but even in Christendom, there are some sects who do not celebrate Christmas and are of the opinion that Jesus Christ was not born on that day. Surprisingly some of those who chose to celebrate that day do not bother to ask relevant questions as to whether God wants us to celebrate the birth of his son at all, let alone celebrating it on the 25th of December. These questions, coupled with the desire to give people of differing opinions an opportunity to air their views prompted the Rendezvous to seek out the views of people concerning Christmas. These views are presented thus;
Anthropologist; historically Christmas customs are an evolution from times long before the Christian period. It originated from seasoned, pagan, religious, and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition. The truth is, the early church did not celebrate the birth of Christ. Such celebration only came into the church with the “Christianization” of pagan rites as Catholicism was made a state religion by Constantine the Great in about 440 years after the death of Christ. Christmas was not among the festivals of the earliest church.
Anthropologist; historically Christmas customs are an evolution from times long before the Christian period. It originated from seasoned, pagan, religious, and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition. The truth is, the early church did not celebrate the birth of Christ. Such celebration only came into the church with the “Christianization” of pagan rites as Catholicism was made a state religion by Constantine the Great in about 440 years after the death of Christ. Christmas was not among the festivals of the earliest church.
It was not celebrated, commemorated or observed neither by the Apostles nor the early Apostolic church. At least, not for the first 300 years of the church history. For the early Christians, it was sufficient that Jesus, their Lord and saviour, had been born, they praised God that Jesus Christ had, indeed, come in the flesh. The day and the time of His Birth had no relevance to them, because Jesus was no longer physically present on earth. He had returned to heaven, it was rather the risen, exalted Christ they looked up to, and they did that by faith, and not a baby laid in a manger. Jesus Christ is no longer the Christ-child” but the exalted King of Kings and Lord of all Lords. And, since Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible, Christians should let their consciences guide them, on whether to celebrate it or not.
Sociologist; Religion plays a very important role in the life of any society. During the early Roman Empire when Constantine became the ruler, he forced all his subjects to be baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in order to achieve peace in the society. To make the “new” religion portable, some pagan practices were adopted and adapted into the Christian religion. This was how December 25th which before then was the day he Roman Pagans used to celebrate what they called “Natalis Solis Invicti” (the Birthday of the unconquerable sun) came into being. These kinds of adjustments in the pagan/Christian calendar and practices made the pagan worshippers to readily accept Christianity and therefore easily complied with the reign of Constantine. In today’s society, politicians use this season to brainwash their followers by buying them rice, drinks, clothes, and sometimes cows; soliciting their votes and support for their continuous stay in office. Some politicians would go all out to by cars and give them out all in the name of Christmas gift. This they do in order to extract compliance from their followers.
Business men, I don’t care whether Christmas a Christian or pagan holiday, what I care about is that during this season; I usually make the kind of money I never made since the beginning of the year. In Calabar for instance, there is no business that you do during this season that you will not get enough patronage. With the influx of people from all over the world coming for the “Christmas” carnival, every hotel room is booked; all the eateries are fully patronized, those selling the costumes are making brisk business in fact even the sachet water vendors are smiling home very day. Even in Uyo here with people coming in for the 9,999 carol night, you will discover that all the hotel have been booked in advance. Those selling Christmas items even at traffic lights are making good money. This is good for business. I really wish Christmas should be very month, OR at least more than once a year.
Sabbath man: In today’s world, people who call themselves Christians are doing those things that God has not told them to do and rather reject or refuse to do those that God expressly commanded. The book of the New Testament covers about 33 and half years of Christ’s days on earth and another more than 30 years after this death and resurrection, but nowhere do we find any hint of a Christmas celebration or anything remotely related. Surprisingly though many Christian who celebrate Christmas do not take the one ceremony that Christ wanted his followers to celebrate serious. Christ expressly commanded that His followers should celebrate His death. Why? Because this was the main purpose of His coming to the earth in the first place. In 1Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul writes how Christ Himself commanded that His followers should celebrate His death – and mind you, not his Birth. Also God commanded His followers to remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy; Exodus 20 vs 8. But how many followers of God/Christ remember and keep the Sabbath day Holy?
Clergy Man; the Bible in the book of Romans chapter 14:5 says “one man esteemed one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” this verse of the Bible put paid to all forms of argument as to whether Christmas should be celebrated or not. Celebrating Christmas in itself is not a sin, and not celebrating it also is not a sin, what makes it sinful or unsinful is in the things we and how we do them in the name of celebrating Christmas or nor celebrating Christmas. The same Roman 14 in verse 13 says “let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. We should all therefore be mindful of what we say and do in our quest to celebrate, not only Christmas but any other religious festival at that, so that we will not cause our brothers/sisters to fall and sin against God through the way we conduct ourselves and what we say or do in celebrating or not celebrating.
The Academia; nothing in itself is intrinsically good or bad. What makes anything good or bad is man’s attitude towards the said phenomenon. Celebrating Christmas in itself is not bad neither is not celebrating it bad too. But the things some people do in their quest to be able to celebrate Christmas can only be left to imagination. Some people can go to any extent in order to get money to celebrate Christmas like the other person. Some young girls can do anything with their bodies to get money to buy Christmas dress and phone so that they too can “feel among” in the midst of their friends. Some men would go to the extent of robbing their neighbors to be able to celebrate Christmas to embezzle government funds in order to meet the financial obligations expected of them by their people. Do you know that some reckless parent spend their children’s school fees during Christmas and start borrowing in January to be able to pay their children’s fees? Promiscuity is always on the increase during Christmas seasons. Drunkenness and consequent accident and deaths are on the increase during Christmas seasons. Therefore, people who celebrate Christmas should be mindful of what they eat and drink and generally what they do so that they won’t live to regret or will not leave some people behind to suffer due to their premature deaths.
Sociologist; Religion plays a very important role in the life of any society. During the early Roman Empire when Constantine became the ruler, he forced all his subjects to be baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in order to achieve peace in the society. To make the “new” religion portable, some pagan practices were adopted and adapted into the Christian religion. This was how December 25th which before then was the day he Roman Pagans used to celebrate what they called “Natalis Solis Invicti” (the Birthday of the unconquerable sun) came into being. These kinds of adjustments in the pagan/Christian calendar and practices made the pagan worshippers to readily accept Christianity and therefore easily complied with the reign of Constantine. In today’s society, politicians use this season to brainwash their followers by buying them rice, drinks, clothes, and sometimes cows; soliciting their votes and support for their continuous stay in office. Some politicians would go all out to by cars and give them out all in the name of Christmas gift. This they do in order to extract compliance from their followers.
Business men, I don’t care whether Christmas a Christian or pagan holiday, what I care about is that during this season; I usually make the kind of money I never made since the beginning of the year. In Calabar for instance, there is no business that you do during this season that you will not get enough patronage. With the influx of people from all over the world coming for the “Christmas” carnival, every hotel room is booked; all the eateries are fully patronized, those selling the costumes are making brisk business in fact even the sachet water vendors are smiling home very day. Even in Uyo here with people coming in for the 9,999 carol night, you will discover that all the hotel have been booked in advance. Those selling Christmas items even at traffic lights are making good money. This is good for business. I really wish Christmas should be very month, OR at least more than once a year.
Sabbath man: In today’s world, people who call themselves Christians are doing those things that God has not told them to do and rather reject or refuse to do those that God expressly commanded. The book of the New Testament covers about 33 and half years of Christ’s days on earth and another more than 30 years after this death and resurrection, but nowhere do we find any hint of a Christmas celebration or anything remotely related. Surprisingly though many Christian who celebrate Christmas do not take the one ceremony that Christ wanted his followers to celebrate serious. Christ expressly commanded that His followers should celebrate His death. Why? Because this was the main purpose of His coming to the earth in the first place. In 1Corinthians 11:23-28, Paul writes how Christ Himself commanded that His followers should celebrate His death – and mind you, not his Birth. Also God commanded His followers to remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy; Exodus 20 vs 8. But how many followers of God/Christ remember and keep the Sabbath day Holy?
Clergy Man; the Bible in the book of Romans chapter 14:5 says “one man esteemed one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” this verse of the Bible put paid to all forms of argument as to whether Christmas should be celebrated or not. Celebrating Christmas in itself is not a sin, and not celebrating it also is not a sin, what makes it sinful or unsinful is in the things we and how we do them in the name of celebrating Christmas or nor celebrating Christmas. The same Roman 14 in verse 13 says “let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. We should all therefore be mindful of what we say and do in our quest to celebrate, not only Christmas but any other religious festival at that, so that we will not cause our brothers/sisters to fall and sin against God through the way we conduct ourselves and what we say or do in celebrating or not celebrating.
The Academia; nothing in itself is intrinsically good or bad. What makes anything good or bad is man’s attitude towards the said phenomenon. Celebrating Christmas in itself is not bad neither is not celebrating it bad too. But the things some people do in their quest to be able to celebrate Christmas can only be left to imagination. Some people can go to any extent in order to get money to celebrate Christmas like the other person. Some young girls can do anything with their bodies to get money to buy Christmas dress and phone so that they too can “feel among” in the midst of their friends. Some men would go to the extent of robbing their neighbors to be able to celebrate Christmas to embezzle government funds in order to meet the financial obligations expected of them by their people. Do you know that some reckless parent spend their children’s school fees during Christmas and start borrowing in January to be able to pay their children’s fees? Promiscuity is always on the increase during Christmas seasons. Drunkenness and consequent accident and deaths are on the increase during Christmas seasons. Therefore, people who celebrate Christmas should be mindful of what they eat and drink and generally what they do so that they won’t live to regret or will not leave some people behind to suffer due to their premature deaths.
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