Christmas is the Christian holiday that remembers the birth
of Jesus Christ, but was this whole idea just borrowed from other religions?
I was told last week that Christianity is a hoax that has
taken bits and pieces from other religions and created its own. Consider some
of these other ancient gods:
Dionysus (Greek)
was born on December 25th. He was known as the son of Zeus, and his
followers symbolically ate his body and drank his blood in the form of bread
and wine.
Attis (Roman) was
born on December 25th to a virgin. Attis was sacrificed through
crucifixion on a tree, and he spent three days in the underworld. On the third
day, Sunday, he rose again. Later, his body was symbolically eaten in the form
of bread.
Osiris (Egyptian)
had his birth announced by three wise men, and his followers ate his body in
the form of cake.
Other gods claimed to have been virgin-born, like Ion,
Pythagoras, and Hercules.
If these things are true than it would seem as if Christianity
were nothing more than a chapter from mythology. Is Jesus just another ancient
god along with Dionysus, Attis, and Osiris?
Let’s look a little closer at these similarities. Starting
with the virgin birth accounts, none of these supposed births came from a
human. While Jesus was born to the human Mary, these other gods were born to
other gods, which tarnishes the whole miraculous part. Anyone can write a story
of a fictional god producing another god; the biblical account of Mary could be
validated by all who knew her.
But what is more important is the date of these events.
Proponents of these conspiracies teach that these gods were “pre-Christian,”
meaning that they happened before Christianity, and thus, Christianity copied
them. But Christianity did not begin with the resurrection of Christ, or even
His birth.
Consider that Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born to
a virgin more than 600 years before the event came to pass. Even more impressive is
that God Himself told Adam and Eve that the Son of a woman would bring
salvation (Genesis 3:15). Every other child in the Bible is referred to as
being from the father, but Jesus was from the mother.
These prophecies about the virgin birth predate any
religions of antiquity, so if anyone is doing the plagiarizing, it would seem
that others have ripped off God’s story.
The same case can be made for people eating bread to
symbolize the body of other deities. Jesus first told His disciples to remember
Him when they ate the bread in the year 33, long before other followers began
to eat bread to symbolize their gods. Even still, the meal that Jesus was
referring to was the Passover, a feast that Jews had been eating since the
Exodus. This was a centuries old practice for the Jews, which certainly doesn’t
“pre-date” Christianity.
For the ones who claim that Attis was crucified, there is no
record of that report until 150 years after the resurrection of Jesus, meaning
that all the Gospels were in circulation when this report first surfaced. Attis
was known of before the birth of Christ, but his crucifixion and resurrection
came much later.
Other claims of resurrections do not hold up either. Osiris
was murdered by his brother, who mutilated his body and chopped him into 14
pieces. Isis, who wanted to give Osiris a burial, was only able to find 13 of
his pieces. He never resurrected, but instead was declared to be the god of the
underworld. This doesn’t look like it was stolen by Christianity, does it?
In fact, no ancient gods ever claimed to have been sacrificed
for sin, and none ever claimed to have risen back to life. Attis came back in
the form of the sun god, not to a bodily resurrection.
Osiris’ birth was announced by 3 wise men, but that does not
mean that Christians stole that detail. For one thing, Jesus' birth was
announced by angels. For another, wise men visited Jesus, but not until He was
about two years old. Tradition puts 3 wise men in the nativity, but the
Bible does not.
And so that brings us to December 25th. Was Jesus
born on that day, or is that copied from ancient religions? We have already
seen that other pagan religions have stolen from Christianity, so the case
about His birth is not under fire any more, but let’s look anyway.
December 25th coincides with the winter solstice.
On that day the night is longer and the day is shorter than any other day of
the year. The night gets progressively shorter while the day gets progressively
longer on the proceeding days. Ancient pagans created gods to be born on
December 25th and said that as their gods grew, so did the day. The
sun gods were especially common to have been born on the winter solstice, and
that is why older gods claimed that day.
(The winter solstice is officially December 21st,
but in ancient days December 25th would have been the first day that
people would notice the changing of the length of the day)
Was Jesus born on December 25th? No. But did
Christians plagiarize that day? No.
This is similar to Halloween, which is filled with pagan
practices. While ancient pagans were out indulging in their holiday, Christians
began to find ways to combat it. Consider how your church might utilize a
“trunk or treat,” Fall Festival, Judgment House, or Halloween Alternative (I
have been to Hallow-Teens, for example). This doesn’t mean that Christians
stole October 31st from pagans; it means that they are combating
what is sinful with something holy.
We don’t know the date that Jesus was born, so early
Christians began to observe His birthday on the day that pagans were observing
the birthday of their gods. When the pagans were celebrating, so were the
Christians.
Jesus was most likely born in the fall. The fact that Joseph
had to return to his hometown to be taxed is a good indication. These taxations
took place after the harvest when people had the most money on hand, so many
believe that Jesus was actually born around late September. The Feast of
Tabernacles (or Booths) was also at this time, and travel was not unusual.
The shepherds in the field with their flocks is also
important. In December the fields would not provide grass for grazing, and
shepherds usually gave up on the fields after the fall.
Christmas literally means “Christ-mass,” which refers to the
Catholic mass, or their rendition of the Lord’s Supper. Since the date of the
birth of Jesus is not known, the Roman Catholic Church established that a
Christ mass would be observed on December 25th while the pagans were
celebrating the new sun.
So Jesus was not born on December 25th, but I
have no problem celebrating that day. As Christians, we say that we actually
celebrate His birth every day, just as we celebrate His resurrection more than
just at Easter.
So let me wish you a Merry Christmas, and let us wish Jesus
a Happy Birthday, for both take place in the lives of believers every day of
the year.
(Read Happy Holidays and Christmas Music)
(Read Happy Holidays and Christmas Music)
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