Evangelicals would like us to believe that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Churches will perform acts of charity for poor, disadvantaged people — often forgetting and ignoring these same people the rest of the year. Many congregations will put crèches in front of their buildings, complete with lights to glaringly remind atheist passersby that Christmas is all about the virgin-born baby in the manger. Scores of churches will have special Christmas programs, including cantatas, candlelight services, and plays performed by children. The plays will often contain mythologies about the Christmas story. Rarely are children ever taught the facts about Jesus, his parents, his birth, the star, and who was in attendance. For secularists, this isn’t a big deal. Why let facts get in the way of telling a good story? But for people committed to the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible, you would think they would want to get the Christmas story right.
Certainly, Christmas, along with Easter, is a big deal for those who worship Jesus — he who came to Earth to save his people from their sins (that’s right, Jesus originally came to only save Jews). However, once you get beyond the clichès, yard decorations, carols, programs, and perfunctory charitable giving, Christian spending on gifts, decorations, and other trappings of the season is right up there with that of the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. So, I have to ask, Is Jesus really the reason for the season? Or has Christmas become a secular holiday; one that is an admixture of religious iconography and Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, fir trees, flashing color lights, and the like? I suspect it’s the latter.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Keep saturn in saturnalia🤣
I suspect that most Christians—and nearly all Fundamentalists and Evangelicals—don’t know that the trappings of their Christmas celebrations—including crèches and tree-lighting—come from the very religions and mythologies early Christian rulers destroyed.
Oh, and another belief system Christians tried to destroy—Zoroastrianism—has a sect named for its deity Mithra, “the defender of the truth.” He shares his “birthday”—25 December—with, you guessed it, Jesus—and the Egyptian deity Horus.
The celebration of those “birthdays”—and other holidays of religions that originated in the Northern Hemisphere—more or less coincides with the Winter Solstice.
Axial tilt is the reason for the season!
Your home may be small but your hearts are full of love. I also save tissue paper and any gift bags no one else wants. :). We’re doing Italian as well. It’s to the point that I can’t do otherwise: grandma can we have your pasta?
I too went through a pagan phase. Short lived but there was a time (long long ago) where I worried so much about that stuff. I didn’t want to do the Santa thing fearing and knowing one day the children would know Santa is a story and that if they knew we lied about Santa, why would they believe us about Jesus. So much anxiety and worry. Ugh.
I love Christmas! It’s all mythology to me, and I totally enjoy the decorations, music, food – It’s awesome. And it’s so much better since I don’t have to work church into it anymore (though I really miss singing in a choir).
One of the biggest cognitive dissonance moments was seeing a Christmas tree on the beach of our hotel in Abu Dhabi in 2021 while it was 85 degrees outside. Another was seeing Christmas decorations a couple of weeks ago in Chile when it was hot as well. Hot climate Christmas is so outside the realm of what I am used to!
Like Zoe, I wanted to avoid the Santa Claus lying that’s inevitably a betrayal. The first Christmas I remember, my head was full of stories about Christmas in Holland where kids get a present every day for a month. My family was in grinding poverty and there was nothing for me but stories of Christmans past. When I asked my Sister why Santa Claus didn’t leave me anything, she cleared it up with:. “There is no Santa Claus. What’s the matter with you?” So much for that fantasy. A month of Christmas for Dutch kids. None for this one. I resolved not to do that to any kid of mine so I always made it clear Santa was pretend like the Easter Bunny and presents really came from grownups that loved children.
In Holland, Christmas is indeed a season and lasts about a month. Sint Niklaas comes from Spain on a steamboat to start the season with a parade and ceremnony and the King or Queen participates. Santa Claus spends the rest of the year at the North Pole making toys. What does Sint Niklaas do the rest of the year in Spain? Dang if I know but no sleigh or reindeer for old Sint. It’s a steamboat for him.
The Sceptic’s Dictionary has a great page on Santa Claus which expands on the original post and gives the physics of Santa’s trip around the world.
https://skepdic.com/santa.html