| (Copyright 2006) by Wayne Schatzle (West Chester, Ohio) |
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| Maybe I’m just a party pooper. As we brace for another Christmas season, I am still amazed at how people are trained to jump through hoops by the retailers. For me it has been about 30 years since I last celebrated the holiday. I remember well when I first learned about all the pagan trappings that make up the Christmas theme. I resisted not celebrating it, as the core of the celebration was the supposed birth of my Savior. I overlooked all the hard evidence that pointed to sun worship but eventually the material was just too much to ignore. After many hours of study and numerous trips to the library, I could not in all good conscience participate in Christmas anymore. Maybe I am just too determined to do what is right in the face of overwhelming evidence. For me I doubt if I will ever celebrate it again, at least with the pagan trappings that God’s people were warned to avoid. Over the years I have had some interesting discussions with people about why they celebrate Christmas. The most common reason given is that it’s a tradition and they don’t want to break it because of family. Immediately, I thought of Abraham. He was raised in the pagan religion of the day- until God called him out of it. The remarkable thing is that the story just says, God told him to leave- and he just gathered his things and obeyed- not fretting over what his family might say- just left. I think that means something special to God that a man or woman will just obey without a bunch of excuses. Besides, Jesus Himself warned of keeping manmade traditions and turning your back on the truth. The next most frequent excuse is that I couldn’t take it away from my kids. I think that sells our children short. What is the truth worth? Do kids have to be showered with gifts to make them happy? The Christian groups I have been involved with over the years ignore Christmas and keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall of the year and just happens to coincide with a close approximation of the actual birth date of Christ coming in the flesh! Many of the children in those organizations grew up never keeping Christmas, but always observing the feast of Tabernacles- which is a Biblical based celebration. Plus, this is a week-long celebration full of fun and Christ centered activities. Pagan trappings are kept out of it so there is no guilt involved. If you enjoy the mad rush and spending frenzy and going into debt to try to buy some happiness. If you think it is a good thing to instill materialistic values in your children; If you enjoy the fight to travel in the midst of winter to get home for the “holidays”; If you don’t want to be bothered with the details of the pagan origins of Christmas and don’t care what God thinks of mixing ancient pagan trappings in worship of Him- then please ignore the small voice of sanity that tells you something is not right and have your party. But if you are like a growing number of people fed up with being duped into participating in a modern-day orgy and thirst for pure worship like Abraham and the other biblical heros- then get smart and find out the facts of that curious celebration and have the courage to follow God regardless of what others say. The information is out there for those that wish to find it- it’s only a matter of priorities and the courage to make a stand for what is right. —————————————————————————————————————————- See Wayne Schatzle’s other articles at: Schatzle, Wayne – The “New” Church of God Messenger (church-of-god-bismarck.org) —————————————————————————————————————————- |
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