December 23, 2010

• Christmas, a Pagan holiday

  I was just thinking about this while I was in the shower. It was winter solstice, which was celebrated separately by different cultures – German, Roman, etc. It was used to worship their gods the way they felt best. Yet it was redeemed by Christianity. It wasn’t just a change of practice: Christians took advantage of the holiday to declare its use for different worship. Instead of its dedication to pagan gods and debauchery, it was used to praise God and share joy. They didn’t just change their outward actions, they changed their devotions.

  It is what Christians themselves are doing in lives. Though we were devoted to things apart from God originally, Christians turn their back on their former ways of dedication to debauchery/other sin, and then instead dedicate themselves to God. This doesn’t mean that the old ways never show up again. Like the outward appearance of the holiday but the heart has changed (for many), so also the reminiscent remains of the old. We still listen to the music we like, but we don’t listen to it with the same ears. We still watch the movies we like, but we don’t watch with the same eyes. We still do many of the same things but not for the same reasons. And, like the holiday, we still get caught up in consumerism, drunkenness, covetousness, etc. as we do in anything else in life – boasting, lusting, etc.

  Christ redeemed the holiday as he redeemed us. The Christian worldview will interpret that it was just an ordinary day specially corrupted, but then specially restored for God’s glory; the world’s interpretation would view it as just a change of practice, or just a change of name, or that it was always corrupted and never redeemed.

  And for the ungodly, it has not been redeemed since they do not glorify Christ. Or has it been?

  • 10:18 am
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