Christians CAN Celebrate Christmas and Easter

 Throughout the past couple of weeks, we have gone through some various objections to the celebration of Christmas (and a couple about Easter). We have seen that these objections either are lacking in historical support or alienating Scriptures from their proper context. The final claim is that the Bible forbids such celebrations. The only problem is that, while the Bible does forbid engaging in pagan practices, pagan practices are those that remove the emphasis of our worship from God and place it on other things, material or immaterial. 

All of this being said, if you see a Christian who is worshipping a tree for Christmas, certainly remind them of Jeremiah 10:1-5. If they are denying that Christ will restore Israel and set up a kingdom on this earth to restore the honor to his people, then point them to Zechariah 14. However, don't let your (or anyone else's) preconceived notions of what Christians should believe taint the reading of the Bible. 

Relativism pervades our society today. I understand why some Christians are fearful that it is invading the church (because, often times, it is). However, in their zeal against relativism, some tend to swing all the way to the other end of pendulum, almost trying to put Christians under a new form of legalistic grace. Paul talks about, in Galatians 3, how we are liberated from the law because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. We no longer need this oppressive system constantly beating us down because we have been made righteousness through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. 

Moreover, in chapter 4, Paul likens the burden of the law to slavery, saying we no longer slaves, but sons (vv. 1-7). Verses 8-12 is what really hits home for our series on this blog. Paul is speaking the Galatians in such a way as to point out the Judaizers and how they were trying to force and convince people that they needed to celebrate the Jewish holidays, religious days, feasts, etc. There were also other inferences-like star worship, worship of pagan deities, etc.-that can be made by Paul's references to "basic forces" in verses 3 and 9. However, his main point in these chapters is that we are liberated from the law of Moses and bound to worship God through the righteousness of Christ in us. 

Another passage in support of the view that Christians CAN celebrate Christmas and Easter is what I like to call the "Romans 14 Principle." In Romans 14, Paul is speaking about tolerating differences of opinion regarding the faith. In verse 5, he speaks of regarding one day as holier than another day. He says to be fully convinced in one's own mind. In the first part of verse 6, he says that the Christian who observes a day over another observes that day to the Lord, for that is what we should do as Christians. If someone wants to observe the feasts, go ahead. If someone wants to not observe the feasts, but observe Christmas and Easter, then they are free to do so, so far as they are convinced in their own mind and worshipping the Lord. 

The final point is a reiteration of Paul's statement to worship the Lord in whatever you do in Romans 14. It comes from Colossians 3:1-11. Paul is exhorting the Colossian church to seek the things of God over fussing about trivial stuff. This is the same way he encouraged the Roman churches to live in unity. No matter what day you celebrate or esteem to God, keep the focus on God and not about debating things that won't really matter in the grand scheme of things. After saying that, you might ask what the whole point of this series was. Well, it was to outline my view as coming from Scripture on these objections and the celebration of Christmas and Easter by Christians. 

Does it really matter in the long run? Probably not. Should we flaunt our Christian liberty in our brothers and sisters faces? No. Romans 14 and Galatians 5 both speak against doing this. However, one is not less of a Christian because they refuse to celebrate Christmas and Easter, nor are they more of a Christians because they decide to celebrate the Jewish Feasts over the later Gentile holidays. It is simply a matter of preference, as we have seen in these Scriptures. It is not relativism, or as some like to accuse, living in anomia. Rather, it is simply exercising the liberty we have in Christ to worship our Creator in a diverse manner of ways.