Why I No Longer Celebrate Christmas :: Part 2
[Continued from Part 1] As the years passed by—it's been too long ago to remember how many—we devoured every Reformed evangelical book that was placed in our hands. Calvinists are like that during the cage stage. The feeling comes over you that everything, up to the point of embracing "the truth" or "the doctrines of grace," has been a lie from the pit of hell. So you don't trust anyone, unless you can verify that they are card-carrying members of the exclusive Five Points Club (FPC).
Part of your duties and responsibilities as a club member is to read every book on the approved reading list, so we began reading Charles Spurgeon, John Gill, J. I. Packer, John Owen, A. W. Pink, and many others, mostly dead men. Someone designed a Reformation t-shirt with a really scary picture of John Calvin on the front with the words, "The Dead Theologians Society." I wore that shirt with great pride because it identified me as a member of the FPC. You can still purchase Reformation shirts with a much cooler look nowadays.
Arthur Walkington Pink is the real Grinch who stole Christmas. I found a small tract, published by Chapel Library, entitled Xmas by A. W. Pink. In less than two thousands words, he ripped my Jesus-centered celebration of Christmas right out of my embrace! You can read the entire article for yourself, if you dare, but here's a taste of Pink's words to Gospel ministers:
To you the Word of the Lord is, "Be THOU AN EXAMPLE of believers in word, in deportment, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12). Is it not true that the most corrupt "churches" you know of, where almost every fundamental of the faith is denied, will have their "Christmas celebrations?" Will you imitate them? Are you consistent to protest against unscriptural methods of "raising money," and then to sanction unscriptural "Christmas services?" Seek grace to firmly but lovingly set God's truth on this subject before your people, and announce that you can have no part in following Pagan, Romish, and worldly customs.
Pink's one article convinced me that I shouldn't celebrate Christmas at all! And there were a host of other voices warning sincere believers not to celebrate Christmas because (a) it had pagan origins, (b) the Roman Church had tried to wed Christianity with this pagan festival as a missionary strategy, (c) the Bible never commands us to celebrate the birth of Christ, but rather to celebrate his death and resurrection 52 times each year, and (d) the facts surrounding the actual date of Christ's birth cannot be known with certainty, therefore Christmas is a lie. Brian Schwertley, of Lansing, Michigan, writes,
If you lie about the birth of Christ and gladly indulge in pagan mythology, then when you tell your neighbor about the resurrection of Christ, why should he believe you? By celebrating Christmas you are putting a stumbling block in front of your unbelieving neighbor. Your neighbor could reason that since you speak and live a lie regarding the birth of Christ, you cannot be trusted when you speak about the resurrection of Christ. I've actually had intellectuals say to me, after I spoke to them of Christ's death and resurrection, that they are myths foisted on simple people by the church just like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny (of course, the Christmas lie has gone on for so long that most people accept it as fact). The church must stop denigrating God's inspired, infallible Word by setting up human fantasies alongside divine revelation. Christmas is a contradiction of the biblical account of Christ's birth.
Just when I was getting used to putting Christ first in Christmas! Even though many Calvinists still celebrated Christmas, I felt that I had no choice but to give it up completely; otherwise, what sort of weak-knee'd, Casper-milk-toast example would I have been to my congregation, my family, and other less-committed members of the FPC? So we just ignored Christmas altogether: it was just like any other day. Someone once asked me, "What did you preach on Christmas Sunday?" And I responded, "I preached expositionally—verse by verse—through books of the Bible. If I was preaching on Ephesians or Psalms, I just carried on with the next passage."
My story has one more part, but I'll let you "have a think about it" (one of my favorite British expressions), catch your breath, read some of the challenging literature links about Christmas, and try to guess the final outcome. Did we continue to ignore Christmas, revert to observing December 25th as the birthday celebration for Jesus, work out a compromise between the secular and the sacred? I think you will be surprised.
[To be contcluded in Part 3]
I respect your conviction to avoid being conformed to Christmas. My family has opted out of Halloween and Santa Claus. It’s interesting (and a bit sad) when store clerks ask our children, “Who are you going to be for Halloween?” Our kids generally smile and say we don’t do Halloween. Then they look at us like we’ve just committed child abuse. Santa’s not as bad, as long as we keep them sworn to silence about his real (non)-identity.
My husband has been telling me about your blog for a while. I am now experiencing it for myself. First of all, for the new-be reader, what the heck is the “cage stage”? Secondly, don’t throw away that maple syrup, buy some karo syrup to mix in with it. That is all Aunt Jemima is anyway. You can have your “American Pancakes” yet.
Finally, I am considering taking down the already erected tree. What do you think? Throw out the thing? What do you do with all of the ornaments?
Kelly
Welcome, Kelly! I am thrilled you decided to check out my blog. Thanks for reminding me to define my terms a little more carefully. Sometimes I forget about newbies when I write such things, so I’m posting a brief definition for everyone’s benefit.
You suggestion for the maple syrup is fantastic EXCEPT you cannot buy Karo here in Britain.
As for the tree, I suggest just a bit more patience until you’ve read my final article (Part 3) which I hope to post later today; then you will have four different options to think about.
Do you have honey and butter in Britain? What about cinnamon? If so, add two tablespoons each of the first two and a bit of the third. It won’t be Aunt Jemima , but you will like it better than what you have.
I am now eagerly awaiting part 3 of this post.
Kelly
I have found this entry somewhat interesting, but I think that Christmas and the catholic church’s redeeming of a pagan holiday pretty inspiring. I mean am I way off or is that not what the culture mandate is all about. To go about taking dominion over all, claiming it for the glory of God, redeeming it. So you don’t have a Christmas tree, though Rom. 14 would probably allow it, the far greater picture for the church is the redemption of this pagan day.
Thanks for the recipe tip, Kelly! We have all those ingredients, so we’ll give it a try.
Rusty, I probably don’t see the “culture mandate” as Christianizing everything in one’s culture; frankly, I would view that as a huge mistake without any biblical principles to back it up. Sorry. That’s what led to the bloody Crusades and forcing entire cities and regions to be baptized at the tip of a Roman spear: all in the name of conquering, taking dominion for God’s glory. The consequences have been disastrous!!
We are to be salt and light within our culture, loving God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves: serving, giving, offering ourselves as living sacrifices, etc. The only way to redeem culture is one person at a time. We have the liberty to partake of and enjoy whatever culture we live in, as long as we maintain our allegiance to Christ as Lord.
Bill, I never said we take it by force, besides the crusades were largely defensive. Look at Gen. 1 and see what God instructed Adam to do. And for precedent, God prepared the promise land for Isreal using Pagans and then had them take it over, by the way that was with force. “The only way to redeem culture is one person at a time” Listen I understand this statement and hear it a lot, I also think it falls way short of the Biblical Mandate, we do need to redeem people, but is man the only thing that God made that was good and was affected by the fall? Certainly not (see BB Warfield). I understand that very early on we had the affects of Greek dualism and that has for so long and so much affected our ideas about things that we know no different (see Our Father Abraham.. Marvin Wilson) . But many Calvinistic modified dispensationalist think in in these same terms. Thanks for the response and I think you have one of the nicest looking blogs I have seen in some time. I shall surely visit again.
Rusty, please forgive my jumping to conclusions. I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth, but when you used the phrases culture mandate and redeeming a pagan holiday and taking dominion so close together, I equated that with Constantine’s forced baptism of his troops and other uses of power to Christianize the Roman Empire. It’s one thing to exercise dominion in the sense of “taking responsibility” for God’s gracious gifts in creation, but quite another to make a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear” (to use an old Southern expression) in the case of pagan holidays and rituals.
I don’t know what it means to redeem other things affected by the Fall, so perhaps you could explain. Are you talking about environmental issues like conservation of natural resources? Recycling?
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your comments, Rusty! Someone gave me some good advice on a new template for Wordpress, which has required a little tweaking, but I’m really liking the minimalist view and I love how much “lighter” the site appears. It’s much faster loading, too. Glad you like it!
Abraham Kuyper’s life is a good place to start when talking about dominion. He spoke of Christ being Lord of all, saying that Christ does not see one area of life that He does not say I am Lord of that as well. Anyways, I do not mean by dominion some emergent idea of taking pagan ideas and just adding Christ to them while retaining pagan practices. Rather, to make something distinctly Christian. I think that Christian’s would do the Church well if it better understood the Great Commission and the Great Cultural Mandate as working together rather than one excluded from the other. You know when were regenrated I often ask to what, and then I think to the original relationship Adam had with God, and so I say what did God tell Adam to do in that relationship and well Gen 1:28 is it. So that is where I am coming from. By the way what does Bapitizing “Nations” really mean? Thanks for the insight on the sight. I also agree that simplistic is the best route, you know the old Apple strategy. Thanks again. Soli Deo Gloria
No disrespect to Kuyper, but I would much prefer knowing where YOU see this dominion mandate in the Scriptures and how it’s manifested in our Christian journey? Maybe my mind is just not working today, but I’m having a difficult time thinking of specific instances where Jesus or the apostles taught the concept.
Mr. Lollar, no disrespect to you either, but the church did not start with you or I. It is foolish not to learn from those who have gone before us. As for that God told us in Jeremiah 6:16 to listen to those who have gone before us. Yes, we need to check everything with scripture, I know that, but please don’t be super pious and say I need to know where in scripture “YOU” get this from. Also, it sounds pretty dispensational to say “Jesus or the apostles”, what you should ask is where is this taught in scripture as it is all God’s word (which I am sure you would affirm) that all works together.
Nevertheless, to answer your question, 1 Cor. 10:31 is a good place to start. Colossians 1:16 also points us in this direction. The Sermon on the Mount has some points that help in this area as well. In Ch. 5 Jesus says He did not come to do away with the Law. In Ch. 5:38:42 also has helped me with this idea. However, I have come to find out tonight that I in some ways know you and have gained some understanding into some of the positions you hold, so I guess we are just going to disagree on this. A quick question before ending this post. Mr. Lollar, do you always look for explicit commands from scripture on everything? I hope that you would certainly allow for some implicit instruction. Not that you wouldn’t, but you worried me a little when it sounded like you went proof texting. Thanks again for the time and good luck with the sausage.
Rusty, you raised the point about the “culture mandate” (Comment #5) and I responded by saying (C6) that one would need biblical principles before trying to Christianize our culture (aka the church “redeeming…a pagan holiday”). Then (C7) you dropped a couple of names—Warfield and Wilson—in addition to mentioning Genesis 1 and the biblical narrative that describes Israel’s occupation of the Promised Land as support (at least that’s how I took it) for your viewpoint.
When I asked for further clarification (C8), you referenced Kuyper (C9) as “a good place to start when talking about dominion.” But I wanted to hear from you, Rusty (C10), not Warfield or Wilson or Kuyper; and I simply wanted you to articulate a New Testament foundation for this thing you call “the culture mandate.” It seems to me that IF such a clear mandate exists, Jesus or the apostolic writers would have mentioned it, but I only commented that I couldn’t recall anything from those sources. Obviously I have struck a sensitive nerve, because you have now gotten all uptight (C11), shifting from “Bill” to “Mr. Lollar,” accusing me of being “super pious” and “pretty dispensational” and “proof texting.”
No, I don’t require explicit biblical commands for everything. Just the really big things, like cultural mandates. Again, you started all this by saying, “…is that not what the culture mandate is all about. To go about taking dominion over all, claiming it for the glory of God, redeeming it.” And I’m asking, “What cultural mandate are you talking about?” Is there one in the Bible? Are we talking about the theonomic interpretations of Bahnsen or Rushdoony? I’m not sure why you seem so defensive?
Not defensive at all, just making points. I started calling you Mr. Lollar because I started thinking it was probably a little disrespective (is that a word) to speak to you on a first name basis. Did not call you a dispensationalist, just said it sounded dispensationalist, but I would guess you are at least modified. Anyways you end by saying is there a cultural mandate in the bible and that is clear from Gen 1. So it is in scripture. Now does Christ and the apostles talk about it and I have indicated that it is implied. I don’t not believe that was done away with in the new as many do. Friend, I am not being defensive when I say that you needing “ME” to give you something is super pious. Again the church did not start with me and I would be a fool not to consider the thoughts of those who have gone before us and finished the race strong. I would also be very arrogant to think that I could provide better insight into certain things then say an Edwards, Kuyper, or any other great man or woman God has given the church. Finally, I don’t understand you statement about only needing explicit commands on the really big things, if so where is the explicit Trinity. I am sure you will think this is defensive as well, but it is not I am sitting in my home about to eat an egg sandwhich and head to work. This is just a couple of brothers going back and forth. I feel Rom. 14:1 is at play here and if I am the weaker brother on this (which I don’t think and you don’t think you are, but at least if not both of us are wrong on this issue) then I ask for you and others to bare with my failings (Rom. 15) and to forgive. Hey you know not everything we write sounds like we meant it to. Good Day.