The Real Meaning Of Christmas
What is the real meaning of Christmas? Is it just a day of celebration to commemorate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ?
The real meaning of Christmas is giving out of love. It is giving love to all and all of it. The real essence of Christmas is love.
Christmas is not in the Bible nor enjoined by God to be celebrated yearly. It is a pagan holiday dedicated to the Persian god Mithras, and to Sol Invictus, the sun god of the Romans.
Christmas is of pagan origin. It was not and is not a Christian holiday. December 25 used to be a festival where sun worshippers celebrated the nativity of their sun god, Sol Invictus or the “unconquered sun”. In the Julian calendar, December 25 was reckoned as the winter solstice. This was the day of the year, in the Southern Hemisphere, with the longest daylight. And it was for that reason, the day being the longest and the sun being brighter on that day that the sun worshippers of ancient Rome thought that their sun god was born on that day, hence their festival in December 25.
The festival was not named Christmas originally. During the mid fourth century, December 25 was a pagan holiday celebrated to commemorate the giving birth to a son by Astarte, the Semitic goddess of love and war, to a son. It started in Syria and Egypt, and eventually spread and became popular in the whole empire when Emperor Aurelan proclaimed it as a holiday for the commemoration of the birth of their sun god Sol Invictus, and the giving birth of a son by Astarte to be be celebrated by both the pagans and the Christians. The church fathers and elders of the early Christian church refused to celebrate December 25 as the date of birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. But as time went on, and as many pagans were converted to Christianity, December 25 gradually began to be celebrated as Christmas. And the pagans brought all the colorful Christmas decorations in the churches, in public places, and in our homes.
We are all guilty of worshiping God on the wrong day. We may be ignorant of the facts, or the motives in our heart are genuinely good, but they do not justify us from our sin in committing idolatry.
To us Christians, Christmas belongs to Christ. We believe that Christ was born in a manger in Bethlehem on that day, and we celebrate it every year to show our joy and happiness that God, in spite of our being a sinner, sent his only begotten Son to redeem us from sin. It is our way of reciprocating the wonderful love that God has given us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christmas is for everybody. It is for the children, for the young, and for the elderly. It is for all the people on this Earth, whether rich or poor, weak or strong, slave or free. Christmas is not giving gifts or love in a day, but giving throughout the year. Christmas is loving our neighbors as God has loved us. Christmas is sharing our food with the hungry. Christmas is giving justice to the oppressed. Christmas is removing the yoke and the heavy burdens of our loved ones, relatives, friends,and neighbors. Christmas is forgiving one another as God has forgiven us. Christmas is drawing our souls to the afflicted ones and relieving their sorrows and miseries. Christmas is loving God above all with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all mind.