God showed how important celebrations are to Him by establishing the feasts and holy days that He wanted the Israelites to follow. If the celebration of birthdays had been important to him, He would have declared them to be. Making a big deal out of the birth of Jesus is a questionable practice and it is doubtful that it pleases Yah, especially since we include so many pagan traditions and comercialization in the process.
Imagine this scenario (credits to Rob Skiba for first bringing this argument to my attention):
A man celebrates his wife’s birthday faithfully every year. Then, he falls into sin and has an affair with another woman. He repents and ends the affair and his wife forgives him and all is good. Except that now the man tells his wife that he wants to celebrate her birthday every year on the birthdate of the woman with whom he’d had his affair. He tells his wife, “Happy birthday, honey.” but it’s on the wrong day.
Did you know that December 25th is known as the birthday of several of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses? The following list is taken directly from the link provided.
https://www.castanet.net/news/In-A-Pickle/402980/December-25-a-common-birthday-for-deities
Ten deities share December 25th as their birth date. The list of gods is as follows;
- Apollo – Greek god of the sun. He was said to be a healer, producer of medicine, and a musician.
- Attis – The god of vegetation had a thing for self-mutilation and castration. He was supposedly born of a virgin and rose again after three days dead in a grave.
- Bacchus – AKA Dionysus, (son of Zeus), was called the god of agriculture, wine and fertility. They likewise knew him as a conqueror, wanderer, and founder of cities. He drank a lot of fermented grape juice.
- Helios – A sun god who drove chariots across the sky. He was a titan, enormous and powerful. He brought light to the earth daily.
- Hercules – A slayer of mythical monsters and rescuing damsels in distress. However, he was kinky, with a girdle fetish. Hercules, the naughty celestial being, stole the garments from the Amazons. It is unclear if the warrior women were wearing them, but he probably did them a favour by removing the wretched underwear. They could breathe much easier now.
- Horus – He was a falcon headed dude and monarch of Egypt, son of god, guardian of places, persons and lineages.
- Jupiter – Touted as ruler of the gods, he was a Roman pantheon, shining father, god of light and sun, protector of the state and laws. He was sired by Saturn, and a brother of Neptune.
- Mithras – Was of Persian descent and of angelic divinity. He was a covenant maker and carried out secret ritual oaths.
- Nimrod – Was a person mentioned in the Bible. Great- grandson of Noah, Nimrod was a tyrant, opposed Yahweh, hunter of men, ruthless, vile and filthy. He took whatever woman he pleased. His descendants built the tower of Babel. They worshipped him as Baal, the primary enemy of Hebrew God Yahweh. Baal demanded child sacrifice, and they burned babies alive in his statue. His worshippers also considered prostitution sacred, along with sex cults.
- Jesus – The last but not least. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He’s the one triune God. He was born of a virgin and is both human and divine.
Why was Jesus thrown into this mix with these other so-called gods sharing the same birthday? The rationale was that by adding him to the list, the masses would widely accept him.
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If we are going to celebrate or acknowledge Jesus’ birthday, we should better determine the date or, at least, the time of year.
I have seen detailed evidence based on studies of the stars through history (there are apps that reproduce the sky for dates in the past) that it is some time in the summer, spring or fall. One even pinpoints the day as September 11th. Hmmmm.
If God and Jesus had wanted us to celebrate the birth of our Savior, He would have instituted it. As a matter of fact, He wants us to celebrate and remember his death and resurrection — with the bread and wine of communion — (I Corinthians 11:24- 26) “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
THAT SAID, there’s nothing wrong with selecting a day or season for gathering together with friends and loved ones in order to lavish each other with gifts, eat good food and make memories. We just shouldn’t pretend we’re celebrating someone’s birthday when it isn’t. Also, we shouldn’t participate in the pagan traditions related to the celebration of the Winter Solstice (Saturnalia) — like the tree (a phallic symbol), round ball ornaments (fertility symbols), mistletoe (fertility symbol), lights on houses and the tree, candles and yule log (symbols of keeping the sun’s light through winter so it will return in spring), Satan Claus, etc.
Another Take: Some say that it doesn’t matter what the origins of the celebrations and symbols are, but it’s what we make of them — what they mean to us now. It’s another viewpoint. You decide.
So how about Easter?
Since Jesus was crucified at Passover, it would be logical that we would follow this institutionalized (by God) event, tying in the crucifixion in our celebrations.
Here, too, the pagan traditions that we include in celebrating Easter cannot be pleasing to God. Even the name “Easter” is from the goddess Ishtar (or Astarte) and eggs refer to her fertility.
We don’t need an annual celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection since we have a more frequent one in the celebration of communion. This was established by Jesus and the Apostles. (I Corinthians 11:24- 26) “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.