Question:  Dear Greg,

            My wife is a non-denominational Christian, while I am a Roman Catholic-Christian.  Every now and then we get into an argument about the celebration of holidays, in particular Easter and Christmas.  She says that you should not celebrate these days as religious holidays:

1.      because we should celebrate these miracles every day and,

2.      because we are not told to do so in the Bible.  However, she and her family do participate in Christmas and Easter activities “just for fun”.  They have Christmas trees and Easter egg hunts and the like.

            My argument is that there is nothing wrong with the celebration of these days so long as you use the celebration as a means of spiritual grounding or meditation, but that salvation is not conditional on the celebration of these days.  Also, I find fault, because I feel that if they want to celebrate these holidays, since they are Christians, they should celebrate them for the Lord or not at all.  In fact, if they celebrate Christmas or Easter just for fun, they revert back to the pagan origins of the holidays. 

            What do you think?

            Joel

Answer:  Dear Joel,

            The discussion you and your wife are having is typical, for many have similar points of view.

            I would like to assume that I am addressing both you and your wife, so that I do not appear to be “unfair” in only speaking to your concerns.  Will you be so kind and share this response with her as well?

1.      Should we celebrate these days as “religious” holidays?  Depends on how one defines the word “religious”.  Some believe that “religious” is the opposite of Christianity, comparing how man’s traditions get in the way of true worship of God.  In Christianity Christmas and Easter are celebrations of the two central events – Jesus’ birth and his resurrection – events that define and upon which Christianity are based.  Christians need to celebrate these miraculous events – and as you represent your wife as saying, we should do so every day.

2.      There is nothing holy or sacred about the 24-hour period of time that we set apart on our calendars as Easter or Christmas – and there is nothing wrong with “having fun” during that time.  There is nothing necessarily wrong with the traditions that are part of these festivities – as long as the traditions do not get in the way of the real meaning of the celebration.

3.      Salvation is not conditional upon celebration of these days – you are correct.  So how a Christian celebrates – by going to church, by singing carols, by doing good for others, by going to a sunrise service, or by having dinner with loved ones and family is part of personal conviction.  For a Christian, the reason for these times should be Jesus Christ.  Some are fond of saying “Jesus is the reason for the season” to convey this thought.  But we cannot say that those who celebrate these times are not Christian – who simply watch television, have a meal, play touch football, go skiing, etc., are reverting to paganism by doing so.  To revert to the pagan practices once associated with these times of the year one would have to worship other gods, etc.

We have some excellent material in an article titled “Are Christian Holidays Pagan?” online.  Simply see our homepage, under PT magazine, category, click on “PT magazine online”.  On this page scroll down to “more back issues”, click here and on 1999, scroll down to Sept-Oct, click here, and on “Features” scroll down to “Are Christian Holidays Pagan?”

Hope this helps, Mr. and Mrs. “Joel”!

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht