I ask this because the way some Christians use it you would think so. Every time they hear or see something they don’t like the word ‘pagan’ appears on their lips the way a four-letter word is used by the ungodly. As Christmas approaches how many times have we heard from out fellow Christians that Christmas is pagan, or at least that its origins are pagan. Well, the way the secular world around us celebrates it maybe, but as Christians, surely it cannot be wrong to celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the World? True, he was probably born earlier in the year about the Feast of Tabernacles. But he came to lighten up a dark world so that celebrating it at the end of December is not so bad an idea. How often have I heard from fellow believers “I do not celebrate Christmas.” Is it mandatory that Christians become party-poopers? I don’t think so. Yet all too often as Christians we think because we have turned our back on the world we have put on spiritual hair-shirts and seem to resent other people enjoying themselves. The fact is that when man turned away from worshipping the Creator they worshipped His creation instead. God meant us to look at His creation and be drawn to him. A symbol taken from the world, like a Christmas tree, might be used to symbolise the trinity because of its triangular shape, or one might equally prefer to see it as an object of some ancient pagan religion. If we choose only to see the pagan elements in Christian festivals are we not doing Satan’s work for him. It is alright for believers to enjoy themselves, it is just that we do not need to get drunk or overeat to do so.
David G. Rose.