By Ephraim Agbo
Each December, a familiar script unfolds across much of the Christian world. Churches host pageants, homes erect trees, and the story of a child in Bethlehem is retold as the foundational narrative of the season. This public face of Christianity suggests a unified, joyous observance of Christmas. But this unanimity is an illusion.
Within the broad tapestry of Christian belief exists a persistent, often overlooked, thread: the conscious rejection of Christmas. For groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses, many Sabbatarian churches (such as some Seventh-day Adventists and Churches of God), and certain streams of Reformed and fundamentalist Protestantism, December 25th is not a holy day but a point of theological contention. Their position is frequently misunderstood as modern contrarianism or, worse, a denial of Christ. In reality, it is a stance deeply rooted in principles of scriptural authority, historical scrutiny, and a distinct vision of pure worship. Their critique forces a fundamental question: How does a faith determine which traditions are essential and which are accidental—or even adversarial?
The Historical Disquiet: A Date Shrouded in Imperial Shadow
The critique begins with history, not theology. As any scholar acknowledges, the New Testament is silent on the date of Jesus’ birth. For the first three centuries of Christianity, there was no widespread celebration of the Nativity as a distinct feast. The focus was overwhelmingly on Pascha (Easter)—the crucifixion and resurrection.
The formal adoption of December 25th emerged in the 4th century, coinciding with Christianity’s transformation under Constantine from a persecuted sect to the official religion of the Roman Empire. Historical records, including a Roman almanac from 336 AD, first mark this date as Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (“Birthday of the Unconquered Sun”), a major pagan festival. The timing was strategic, not revelatory.
For Christians skeptical of Christmas, this origin is not a minor historical footnote but a central flaw. They argue the date was chosen not by divine injunction but by ecclesiastical calculation to ease the conversion of the pagan masses by co-opting their popular festivals—Saturnalia and the Solstice.
“What we see here is not the ‘Christianization of paganism,’ but the potential paganization of Christianity,” argues Dr. David F. Wright, a noted church historian.
The holiday, from this view, was born not in the stable of Bethlehem but in the corridors of imperial power, a tool for consolidation and control.
Sola Scriptura and the Anxiety of "Will-Worship"
This historical analysis dovetails with a potent theological principle, especially within Protestantism: sola Scriptura (Scripture alone). For groups shaped by the Radical Reformation and later Puritan movements, the Bible is the sole and sufficient rule for faith and practice. They search its pages in vain for a command to celebrate Christ’s birth or for apostolic precedent for such a festival.
Instead, they find explicit commands to remember Christ’s death through communion (“Do this in remembrance of me,” Luke 22:19) and his resurrection. The absence of a birth equivalent is seen as deliberate. To institute a celebration without biblical warrant is, in their terminology, “will-worship” (Colossians 2:23, KJV)—ritual born of human will rather than divine command.
“Our worship must be prescribed by God, not invented by us,” explains a pastor from a conservative Reformed congregation.
“When we add holy days that God has not ordained, we risk implying that His Word is insufficient and that our sentiments are a better guide for worship.”
This frames the debate not as a quarrel over a holiday, but a conflict over the very source of religious authority.
The Unbaptized Symbol: When Tradition Troubles the Conscience
Even for those less stringent on sola Scriptura, the cultural baggage of Christmas poses a problem. The evergreen tree, mistletoe, holly, Yule logs, and rampant gift-giving all have pre-Christian, often explicitly pagan, European origins.
The standard Christian defense is one of “baptizing” or redeeming these symbols, assigning them new, Christian meaning.
To critics, this is less a baptism and more a syncretic compromise. They point to biblical injunctions against adopting the practices of other nations for worship (Deuteronomy 12:29-31). The concern is one of conscience and clarity: can a practice with deep roots in fertility cults and sun worship ever be fully cleansed? Does its use create a “stumbling block” or blur the line between the church and the world?
This anxiety is amplified by the modern Christmas machine—the frenetic engine of consumerism that defines the season. For these Christians, the holiday has become a spectacle of materialism where the name of Christ is invoked over a ritual of shopping and excess. The prophetic critique of Mammon, they argue, is drowned out by the ringing of cash registers and choruses of “Jingle Bells.”
A Counter-Narrative of Faithfulness
It is critical to understand what this rejection is not. It is not a denial of the Incarnation, which most of these groups hold as a central, non-negotiable doctrine. The miracle of God becoming flesh is, for them, too important to be relegated to a historically dubious and culturally compromised festival.
Their alternative is not a vacuum but a different focus: the weekly Sabbath observance, the regular communion service, and the daily discipline of living out Christ’s teachings. They seek to honor Christ’s birth through a life of obedience every day of the year, arguing that this embodies the spirit of discipleship more faithfully than an annual, often sentimental, celebration.
The Uncomfortable Mirror
The Christians who abstain from Christmas hold up an uncomfortable mirror to the broader Christian tradition. They challenge the uncritical acceptance of tradition and force a re-examination of the messy intersection where faith meets culture, authority, and power.
Their stance asks pressing questions:
- On Authority: Who defines sacred time—the biblical text, the institutional church, or cultural consensus?
- On History: How should a faith reckon with the compromises made during its rise to cultural dominance?
- On Purity: At what point does cultural adaptation become a dilution of identity?
Christmas, for its billions of adherents, remains a powerful vessel for joy, community, and spiritual reflection. Yet its continued rejection by a significant minority is not a fringe eccentricity. It is a living, breathing argument within Christianity itself—a reminder that for some, the highest form of honor is not found in celebration, but in unwavering adherence to principle, and that the path to faithful worship is perpetually debated, even on the most silent of nights.
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