Why is Christmas on December 25?
How did December 25 wind up as the day we celebrate Christmas? The popular answer, which I’ve read a number of times over the last week (including in some comment threads here) is that Christianity “borrowed” December 25 from pagan tradition as a means of supplanting pagan religions.
A recent Biblical Archaeology challenges this assumption and offers a different possible answer to the question of Christmas and December 25. While it’s impossible to know for sure why December 25 became Christmas, there are some historical problems with the “borrowed from paganism” answer. It’s impossible to know for sure, as the article admits; but it’s an interesting read if you enjoy church history or are curious about the timing of Christmas.
It is a historical fact that December 25 wind up in the Christian Calender when Emperor Constantin took control of the Roman Church and allowed pagans acceptance into the Church without conversion while bringing in with them their “holy days”. If you want to do some research in this area, please read “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hislop, and “Babylon Mystery Religion” by Ralph Edward Woodrow (if you can find a copy). I believe brother Hislop’s book should be required reading for every seminary student studying the history of the church. Unfortunately most of us in the church are not concern enough about the true history of the true church. We are simply content of regurgitating whatever comes out of our pastor’s mouths without knowing the true source of it.
If you need more help, send me an email.
Yours truly,
Bro. H. Theodore
It is absolutely ignorant to deny that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday.