Lies that are told about the Christmas story

Christmas has been known as a Christian holiday for some time now, but the history behind this tradition is a little muddled.

The Christmas traditions and background is not set in stone, and many scholars can’t agree where the traditions came from. It is known that the tradition was originally pagan until 601, when Pope Gregory told a missionary in England, “not to stop such ancient pagan festivities” but to “adapt them to the rites of the church, only changing the reason of them from a heathen to a Christian impulse.”

English political and military leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas in 1647 for 12 years, and after the ban was lifted in England, a ban on Christmas was imposed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The law banning Christmas lasted for nearly 200 years in America, ending completely in 1907 when Oklahoma made Christmas legal. In its defense, that was the same year Oklahoma became a state.

Though Christmas took on a “Christian” flair for a number of decades, it has again become more of a pagan holiday that Christians seem to participate in. When did the church adopt consumerism?

The church is more than willing to adopt a piece of culture and change it by adding a Christian flair. It helps us reach out to people, but perhaps the world took back the Christmas holiday and is now beginning to change the beliefs of Christians to adopt new beliefs from a season of giving to a season of personal buying.

Perhaps Christians should refuse to buy into this holiday and instead share the gifts they have been given with the people who could really use the help. If your family loves you, they don’t need a gift from you. Or you could just say a simple, “I love you” – they already get gifts from you on their birthday.

These are just some of the interesting concepts for this holiday season.

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