What Is Christmas?

Christmas is a holiday that has been observed for many years on December 25th. The prevailing reason being to celebrate the birth of Christ. Lately there has been some discussion along the lines of, "taking Christ out of Christmas."

I don't think too many people actually want to do that, although sometimes, we, as Christians, worry that we may offend someone else of another religion, or even an atheist. Certainly, we don't want to offend, but I think most people are harder to offend than that. I think that there is a difference between, say, putting up a Nativity scene, and shoving Christianity down people's throats. Please understand, I am not in favor of forcing Christianity on people.

I feel I should point out, also, that the selection of December 25th as the day of observance of Christ's birth has very little to do with historical fact. We really don't know when Jesus was born. We do know that the night He was born, the shepherds were out in the fields with their flocks. That's something that only happens on warm nights, like in June or July. In December, it's not that cold in Israel during the day, but at night, with no humidity to hold the warmth, once the sun goes down, the temperature drops rapidly. Generally, in the winter months, sheep spent the night in an enclosed area called a sheepfold, to keep them warm. So, unless December 25th was unseasonably warm that year, that's really not the right date.

Still, if we're going to celebrate the birth of Christ, we don't really know what the date was; so December 25th is as good a date as any. The point of Christmas is not so much when He was born, as why He was born; to save us from our sins. That's a good reason to celebrate.