Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Cuthbert Mavheko, mavhekoc@gmail.com
THE festive season is upon us once again and millions of Christians around the world celebrate the birth of the man who sacrificed his life for the redemption of mankind — Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
On Christmas Day, families gather and spend the day feasting at home while others travel to resorts to spend the holiday there with their relatives or friends.
Today, most professing Christians assume that Jesus Christ was born on December 25. But did the Nativity, or birth of Jesus Christ, really occur on December 25? This question has been the subject of much controversy among Christians and non-Christians since time immemorial.
It is of paramount importance to point out that the Holy Bible is God’s instruction manual. It is the infallible, divine revelation of truth, revealed by the very Creator and Divine Ruler of the entire universe. Almighty God, through His written word (the Holy Bible) counsels us to “prove everything and hold fast that which is true” (1 Thessalonians 5 verse 21).
Acts 17 verse 11 says when the Apostle Paul preached to the Bereans, they searched the Scriptures daily to ascertain the authenticity of what he preached to them. This is exactly what we should do.
It is no hidden secret that people generally believe what they do because the society with which they are connected believes that way. By nature, we tend to follow the crowd — whether right or wrong. Very few people have ever reflected on why they believe what they do. Why they follow the customs they do, or where those customs came from.
We were born into a world that has heterogeneous customs, beliefs and practices. This perhaps explains why most people today have accepted a lot of things about Christmas, which are not biblically-accurate.
My late parents were devout members of the Roman Catholic Church and one of the things they taught me as a child was that Jesus Christ was born on December 25. Like most children, I never questioned my parents’ beliefs. However, when I matured into adulthood, I began to study the Bible.
To deepen my understanding of the Holy Bible, I enrolled at Ambassador College for a two-year Bible correspondence course. In studying the Bible, I did not find a single verse, which supported the teaching that Jesus Christ was born on December 25. Instead, I found irrefutable proof that Christmas does not celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and has its roots and origins in paganism. My study and research revealed that Christmas came to Protestants and non-Christians from the Roman Catholic Church.The Catholic Church did not get the celebration of Christmas from the Holy Bible or from the early Christian church.
Christmas originated from heathenism and was embraced by the Catholic Church some 400 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This fact is confirmed by the 1944 edition of the Encyclopaedia Americana, which says, “Christmas was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first century of the church . . . A feast was established in memory of this event (the birth of Christ) in the fourth century.
In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the Sol, which was celebrated on December 25, as no knowledge existed of the day of Jesus Christ’s birth.”
Christian religious leaders chose December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ for the simple, politically expedient reason that much of the Roman Empire observed their most popular holidays at the beginning of winter.
Over and above this, Roman soldiers had, at the time, added the Persian sun god Mithras to the celebration as he was said to have been born on December 25. In so doing, the religious and political leaders of the Holy Roman Empire found it much easier to convert large segments of the population to the Christian faith.
According to the 1944 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedate the Christian period. The customs are a descent from seasoned, pagan, religious and national practices that are hedged with legend and tradition. Christmas was not celebrated in the first century as it was the norm at the time to celebrate the death of prominent persons rather than their birth.
It is both ironic and tragic that while the name Jesus is idolised by millions of people in the world, what he taught is seldom understood or followed.
It is vital to mention that the early church, which was founded on the day of Pentecost in AD 31, modelled a Christianity that all who claim devotion to the Christian faith should follow and emulate.
Sight should never be lost of the fact that Jesus Christ is the originator and founder of the Christian faith and Christianity is founded on his teachings.
In my study and research on the origins of Christmas, I found that most professing Christians today know very little about Jesus Christ and his teachings because they don’t use the Holy Bible in its entirety as the source of their faith. Instead, they follow the precepts of men that are primarily based on misinterpretation of the inspired word of God and faulty human reason.
Most churches teach that the custom of celebrating Christmas came from the Bible. Certainly, the story of Jesus Christ’s birth is recorded in the Scriptures, but not the date of his birth. Contrary to what most professing Christians believe, the exact date of Jesus Christ’s birth is unknown. Simple common sense and logic dictates that if Jesus Christ wanted his followers to celebrate his birth, he would have instructed them to do so.
However, the frank truth is that during His brief earthly ministry, Jesus Christ never, in word or deed, instructed His apostles, who constitute the first New Testament Church, to celebrate his birthday on December 25, or on any other day for that matter. Instead, during the farewell party (Last Supper)he commanded his disciples to commemorate his death (Luke 22 verse 19).
While Christmas is supposed to be a sacred holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ — the Son of the Creator of mankind, the sad reality on the ground is that the festive season is the time of the year when there’s a spike in incidents of gender-based violence, suicides, whore-mongering, alcoholism, drug and substance abuse.
In my career as a journalist, one insightful observation that I have personally made is that during the festive season, a significant number of youths spend a lot of time at rowdy parties, commonly known as “vuzu parties”. At these parties, they smoke mbanje (canabis sativa) and abuse highly intoxicating substances such as njengu, bronco, musombodhiya etc.
Over and above this, they engage in promiscuous sexual activities.
What adds salt to the wound is that the festive season is usually marred by a spike in drunken-induced traffic accidents.
Reports indicate that many people are maimed and killed on our roads during the festive season than at any other time. Christmas is also a time when most families over-stretch their meagre financial resources on excess food, drinks, etc, all in the name of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
Come January, most of these families often find themselves in an economic quagmire, unable to pay their rentals or pay school fees for their children. I rest my pen.
Cuthbert Mavheko is a freelance journalist and theologian based in Bulawayo. He can be contacted on 0773963448/0775522095 or via email mavhekoc@gmail.com
