{"id":356,"date":"2015-12-23T15:36:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T21:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thepropheticyears.com\/enddepravity\/?p=356"},"modified":"2020-12-18T09:51:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T15:51:50","slug":"is-december-25-christmas-a-christianized-pagan-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepropheticyears.com\/enddepravity\/is-december-25-christmas-a-christianized-pagan-holiday.html","title":{"rendered":"Is December 25 “Christmas” a Christianized pagan holiday?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is December 25th “Christmas” really a Christianized pagan holiday as some teach? This Christmas I want to give Christians reading this post the Christmas gift of an alternative reason why the early church accepted December 25th as the date for the Lord’s birth.<\/p>\n

I know this information could rain on the Christmas parade of some Grinches that want all us Christians to know that we are really celebrating a pagan holiday, but so be it.<\/p>\n

There is growing evidence that some in the early church actually thought that Jesus was born on Dec 25th. I became aware of this just recently by listening to Chris Pinto<\/strong> <\/a>and by doing a bit of my own research into what he said. I highly recommend listening to all of Pinto’s teachings because he gives Christians information, in-depth research, and food for thought that most will never get in their churches. Here is a direct link to Pinto’s website<\/a><\/strong> where his material can be found.<\/p>\n

You need to listen to the audio (about 30 min) for the more complete story. The gist of Pinto’s teaching is that early Christians had reason to believe that Jesus was born on Dec 25th. There was Jewish tradition that taught that a prophet from God died on the same day that they were conceived or born (remember the early church had a lot of Jewish influence).<\/p>\n

In about 220 AD, Tertullian<\/strong> wrote that Jesus was crucified on March 25, AD 29.<\/strong> Thus, if there were some in the early church that believed that Jesus died on March 25, they could have also believed that He was conceived on March 25. Those that believed these dates of the death of the Lord could have influenced the church to set the December 25th date of the Lord’s birth (nine months after His March 25th conception).<\/p>\n

I certainly am not saying that Tertullian has the date of the Lord’s death correct. On the contrary, I think the date of the year is impossible. But, some in the early church, like Tertullian, believed this date, and they had influence in the early church.<\/p>\n

I do not believe that Jesus could have died in 29AD because from what we know from the gospels and from recorded history that early year would not have allowed Jesus the necessary time to carry out His ministry. It is much more likely that Jesus was crucified in 33AD.<\/p>\n

I also do not think that Jesus was born on December 25th. I am more in the Jesus was born on the Feast of Tabernacles<\/strong><\/a> camp and the thinking that Jesus would then have been thus conceived on December 25.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Christianized pagan holiday argument seems to fail for a number of reasons. The most common pagan holiday in that season was the Saturnalia festival but it was celebrated on December 17th not on December 25th. The Sol Invictus (<\/b>unconquered sun) god holiday was not <\/b>widely<\/b> celebrated in the Roman Empire <\/b>before the date of the Birth of Christ was already established in much of Christianity.<\/p>\n

It is more reasonable to assume that pagans wanted to substitute the pagan holiday of Sol Invictus than to believe Christianity picked Dec 25th to Christianize that pagan holiday. Later the pagans combined the Saturnalia festival and other pagan holidays to blind everyone with black light about any incarnation of God’s Son.<\/p>\n

I lot of pagan holidays traditions certainly are practiced on Christmas but they are not the reason for Christianity celebrating that date. The early church probably did not pick that date to try to Christianize any pagan holiday. It probably was the other way around. Pagans were trying to paganize the growing Christian influence within the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

There is nothing new under the sun. We can see the same\u00a0paganizing of whatever Christians believe going on in our modern era. Christians did not pick Dec 25 to Christianize a pagan holiday. It is much more likely that unbelievers under Satanic guidance were used to paganized a Christian truth and tradition.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

If you celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ, you may have more in common with early Christianity than the later pagan and Christian grinches that came along trying to steal away Christmas celebration from all Christians.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas to all! Even to any still unconvinced Grinches.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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