The Tribune

By Pastor Matthew Allen

Erroneous teachings about the tradition of Christmas have painted an indelible picture on the minds and hearts of many that claims to know and worship God. I am speaking about the erroneous religious spin that has been attached to the birth of Jesus Christ and the date that we have all so lovingly accepted as his birthday. The actual date of the messiah’s birth is not known. Studies of scriptures show us there is absolutely nothing that points to the date December 25. The best estimation we can narrow down for the messiah’s date of birth is late summer or early fall about 2,000 years ago.

History tells us that the climate in Palestine from December to February is very piercingly cold at night, and it was not the custom of the shepherds of Judea to watch their flock in the open field later than October. (Luke 2:8 states: “And they were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night”).

The first mention of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus occurred in A.D. 336 in an early Roman calendar. The celebration of this day was influenced by pagan festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honour the birthday of Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras, the god of light. As part of all these celebrations, the people prepared special foods, decorated their homes with greenery and joined in singing and gift giving. These customs eventually became the Christmas celebration in which we partake today.

If there is one set of people who should have celebrated the messiah’s birthday as we so religiously and ignorantly do today, it should have been the Apostles who walked with him and those during his time on earth.

Here is what the Apostle Paul said to the churches in Galatia about being in bondage to religion in Galatians 4:9-10. “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.”

While there is usually some acknowledgment of our saviour’s birth at this time of the year, Christmas as we know it is one of the religious community’s major merchandising events. Store merchants all around the world record their highest cash intake during the Christmas season. For the sake of partaking in the season many persons even go into financial debt, purchasing all kinds of gifts for themselves and others.

The merry in the Christmas celebration is short lived as after the eating of the ham and turkey, the exchanging of gifts and the partying; a few days later everything returns to normal and the troubles of paying the accumulated Christmas bills compound.

As a pastor I am not saying, do not celebrate Christmas, but it is my responsibility to feed knowledge and understanding. Every individual has the right to reject or to receive the knowledge. Do not allow yourself to be held in bondage to any form of tradition that does not line up with the uncompromised, unadulterated word of God.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” states John 8:32.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

• For questions and comments contact pastormallen@yahoo.com.