Question: Dear Greg,

Please answer me this:

After reading the Herbert Armstrong’s books on Christmas and Easter many years ago, I did my own research on the two main "holy" days for Christians. To this day, after over 15 years, I am still not able to just put aside the findings of that research. I suffer through many anguished fights with my wife over how we will "celebrate" both of those holidays. I have prayed and prayed and prayed…. "Lord, please allow me to enjoy these days with my family, without feeling as if I am compromising my faith, my true desire to worship the Lord in truth and purity."

I still cannot. I do not hold to the dogmatic premise that I cannot be a part of the season(s). I am, and partake in both the Christmas and Easter productions at my Assembly of God fellowship. Still, I truly and sincerely believe both of these holidays to be pagan in origin, re-named for the convenience of the Roman church. The traditions and practices are very much rooted in paganism. Please share your opinion on how I might deal with these feelings.

God bless you and protect you as you continue in his service.

Louis

 

Answer: Dear Louis,

Thank you for your note and for allowing us to be of service. We have walked through the darkness that you describe, and will be happy to be of help.

Here are a few thoughts – keeping in mind that I cannot give you a complete answer via this medium.

  1. Herbert Armstrong was merely one of many others who have, over time, branded Christmas and Easter as pagan.
  2. However, you should know that both Armstrongism (which is the term now used for those who follow him) and many other teachers who branded Christmas and Easter as pagan simply poured new meaning into the word "pagan" while many of them, at the same time, promoted the most fundamental/foundational definition of paganism – simply that God is not one, there is more than one god, and in fact the destiny of man is to become god. Polytheists really should not be branding others as pagan, or defining what pagan practices are.
  3. The "sources" used to brand these holidays as pagan often use Hyslop’s "Two Babylon’s" and other such works – which have been discredited as spurious, and without authentic grounding in history. Hyslop, and those who have used him, are seriously flawed – and I will offer you some literature in that regard.
  4. The attempt to rid the Christian world of celebrating the birth and resurrection of our Lord ought to be examined. What motives undergird the efforts of those who seek to discredit, or at the very least, fail to emphasize, these two important events in the earthly life of our Lord? I do not here ascribe evil motives to Herbert Armstrong, or others who offer similar teachings. We can all be deceived, and our intentions may be pure, we may be sincere, while we are absolutely in error.
  5. Most of these teachings play upon anti-Catholic feeling among Protestants. Fact is, of course, that no Protestant church can claim an independent history before the Reformation. We all came from the early, pre-Reformation church, and it is upon its creeds and councils that God built the body of Christ. That church was not without its own errors – but then, we Protestants surely must admit that we have made a few in the past 500 years ourselves. Christmas and Easter celebrations have nothing to do with Roman teachings about "Maryology", prayer to idols, a legalistic view of justification, etc. These are among the issues that cause Protestants to go their separate ways.
  6. Dealing with the feelings that you describe are extremely difficult, because they involve a "stand" that an individual has taken in the past. If we have gone on record as condemning Christmas as pagan, and if we have alienated/lost friends and family because of what we have "proven" – then we are dealing with our own pride, vanity, and ego. Change on such an issue can be extremely painful and humiliating – to be proven wrong is not easy – admitting it, without the indwelling power of the One who humbled himself for us, is humanly impossible.
  7. I often offer the testimony of Ralph Woodrow. Ralph Woodrow is an evangelist who was trained in the AG tradition, if I remember correctly. Early in his ministry he heard of Herbert Armstrong and began to borrow some of Armstrong’s ideas. He never believed in the vast majority of Armstrongism – but he did fall for the "many/most of the beliefs and customs of Christianity come from paganism" idea. This teaching, as noted above, came from a variety of sources, Alexander Hyslop being one, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Rutherford, et al.) being another. And, of course, Christmas and Easter are not the only things that such a position eventually labels as "pagan" and "heretical". Denying the historic and orthodox history of the Christian church leads one into revising history, and into a theological wasteland. For example, in Armstrongism the trinity was labeled as the "false pagan trinity doctrine" – the deity of Jesus Christ was rejected – the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit was rejected – etc., etc. Christmas and Easter being pagan are just the beginning of where this logical process leads, once the assumptions are accepted.

Woodrow himself "researched" and "proved" the business about Nimrod, Semiramis, Isis, etc. He (Woodrow) eventually wrote his own version of Hyslop’s "two Babylon’s" – called Babylon, Mystery Religion". The book was enormously popular among many groups who exist(ed) on the fringe of Christianity.

Several years ago Woodrow went back to re-study his position on Christmas and Easter – and as a result has written new books explaining that he was wrong. He has suffered incredible loss of support in his constituency because he has embraced the truth.

I will gladly send you a copy of Woodrow’s two books if you wish – which will shed further light, and bring you hope and encouragement.

May God be with you as you wrestle with these issues. I have walked that path, and it is a "journey through the valley of the shadow of death" – but the Lord our Shepherd will be with you. Send me your mailing address if you wish me to send you that literature, and it will be on its way.

In Jesus’ name,

Greg Albrecht