CityView Magazine

14 | November/December 2015 and Sextus Julius Africanus. All these early writers, from different parts of the globe, all agreed that Christ was born on December 25. e important thing to note about all this historical documentation is that Christians were observing the birth of Jesus on Decem- ber 25 before any of the pagan religions keeping solar observances in Decem- ber ever appeared in Rome. By the time these pagan festivals found their way into the secular Roman calendar, Christmas was already well established in the church. Indeed, the feasts hon- oring the sun were likely promoted in order to compete with the growth of Christianity, which many traditional Romans found threatening. e question still remains. Why the 25th of December? Aer all, the New Testament is silent concerning the date of Christ's birth. e Early Christians believed that great prophets were mar- tyred on the anniversary of their con- ception. And the death of Christ was carefully commemorated by Christians everywhere. In the Western Roman Empire, Christians held that Christ was crucified on March 25. By their logic, nine months later, Christ would be born. According to theory, Decem- ber 25 is the logical date for the birth of Christ. In the Eastern Roman Em- pire, Christians reckoned that the cru- cifixion took place on April 6, which led them to celebrate the birth of Jesus on January 6. e Church reconciled these two dates by making Christmas a 12-day feast that started on the 25th of December and concluded on the 6th of January and thus "the twelve days of Christmas" came to define the season. So, relax and enjoy this holy time of year. e celebration of the birth of Christ is based upon the sincerely held religious beliefs of the early church. Even if most Christians do not agree with that reasoning today, it is clear enough that Christians established the Twelve Days of Christmas to revel in the joyful news that a savior was born. In that spirit, I wish you all a blessed, happy and peaceful Christmas! CV Bob Hackendorf is the Pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Hope Mills, NC faith Is Christ really the reason for the Season? the establishment of Christmas. • Clear historical evidence shows that the Church decided to "borrow" the custom of another religion to ad- vance Christianity. None of these assertions withstand historical scrutiny. ose who propose that Christmas is really based on an earlier pagan celebra- tion usually cite the observance of the Winter Solstice, the day of the year with the least amount of daylight. But this occurs on December 21 or 22. And none of the ancient religious movements that saw significance in this (Saturnalia, the cult of the Sol Invictus and Mithraism) celebrated the "death and rebirth of the Sun" on December 24 or 25. Indeed, some groups, for unknown reasons, actually had the great solar festival in August! e earliest record of Christians holding to December 25 as the nativ- ity of Jesus Christ are from second and early third Century Church leaders, such as Irenaeus of Lyon, Hippolytus BY BOB HACKENDORF A ll my life I have heard certain people assert that Christmas is really pagan in origin. Some regard this notion as a curious bit of historical trivia that doesn't concern them or inhibit their participation in holiday festivities. Others are concerned Christians who worry about whether it is appropriate to be involved in what is allegedly a pagan observance. Still oth- ers are smug skeptics who gloat over the notion that Christianity is dependent on pagan hand-me-downs. Bah! Humbug! But all of these folks share a common problem: what they accept as historical fact is really fiction! Christians did not "borrow" a pagan Holiday when they decided on the date of Christ's birth! If we are to believe that Christmas is really a recycled pagan festival, we would have to believe that: • e pagan festival in question oc- curred on December 25. • e pagan festival was in place before The story behind December 25th

• Cover