Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

(Originally Written 11/26/07)

For several years, I worked a second job at a Christian mens ministry called Man in the Mirror doing fundraising via telephone. Every year when we got close to Christmas, my supervisor would tell all of us that we are not allowed to use the phrase "Happy Holidays". Instead, we are required to say "Merry Christmas". He always said it with a laugh, but I think he was really about two-thirds serious. It was always interesting to me that he would bring the issue up since we were all Christians calling other Christians, and it just didn't seem reasonable to me that anyone would be tempted to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" for fear of offending anyone.

But all of this begs the question--What exactly is wrong with saying "Happy Holidays" in the first place? Are we morally obligated to say "Merry Christmas"? I think a great many laypeople in the world would either say that we are, or would at least be unsure. After all, isn't remembering the incarnation of the Lord Jesus the TRUE meaning of Christmas? And by saying "Happy Holidays", are we not robbing Christmas of it's true meaning and contributing to its secularization? I believe it was last year that the American Family Association boycotted Target for using "Happy Holidays" in their Christmas advertising. Conservatives such as Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News channel have also launched campaigns in the last few years against the secularization of Christmas. And then, of course, there are hundreds of sermons preached all across the country at this time of year about how we need to remember to tell our lost loved ones that the meaning of Christmas is not buying gifts for each other, but remembering God's gift of his Son to mankind.

As a Christian, I don't have a problem with the theology that drives other Christians to campaign against the secularization of Christmas. I heartily affirm the incarnation of Christ and the gospel message that accompanies that doctrine. But I have to say that all this time and energy that Christians and other conservatives are investing into preserving the "true" meaning of Christmas is time that is better spent on actually celebrating the holiday and/or doing real work for God's kingdom. The fact is, Roman Catholicism aside, we are nowhere bound by Scripture to celebrate Christmas at all, let alone to require other people to celebrate it, and to do it in any particular way.

Most Christians are ignorant of the origins of Christmas. My own recollection of the historical details isn't perfect, but basically, a great many of the traditions we typically observe at Christmas have their origins in the pagan holidays and festivals of the first few centuries A.D. The giving of gifts and lighting of candles can be traced back to the pagan festival of Saturnalia, a Roman holiday which honored the god, Saturn. Other pagan holidays that influenced the rise of Christmas celebration include the Roman holiday Sol Invictus, observed on December 25 at the time of the winter solstice, and Yule, a holiday celebrated in Scandinavian countries where yule logs were burned to honor the god, Thor. It wasn't even until the 300's that Christians began to incorporate these various practices into a holiday called Christmas.

Many Christians in our contemporary culture are shocked to learn that there are actually Christians in this world who oppose the celebration of Christmas entirely, and one reason is precisely because of the pagan origins I have mentioned above. Of course, that's a stupid reason to oppose the celebration of Christmas because that is a textbook example of what is known as the genetic fallacy (i.e., condeming a practice based upon its past or origin). But the point is that there are Christians in this world--born again Christians who are going to heaven when they die, many of whom will have a mansion much closer to Jesus than I will when I get there--that refuse to celebrate Christmas at all because they feel it is immoral to do so. I wonder what the Christians who are campaigning to "put Christ back into Christmas" would say to the Christians who don't believe Christ has ANYTHING to do with Christmas?

What we need to keep in mind is what the apostle Paul taught us in Romans 14:5-10:

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Paul tells us in crystal clear language that whether we view one day as being more important than another, or if we view all days as being the same, we are doing nothing wrong provided we are doing it to the glory of God, which is the proper condition of all moral behavior. This is a freedom that God has given us. As a result, we are free to celebrate Christmas or not celebrate it, whichever our conscience allows us.

But notice what Paul also says. He says that although we have freedom to celebrate festival days, we do NOT have the freedom to judge or condemn one another because we have differing views of days. This is because whether we do celebrate holidays or we don't, we all belong to Christ and whether we live or die, we are his.

So why is this relevant to the "Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas" debate? Well, it's relevant because it only stands to reason that, if the celebration of holidays is an area of freedom in the realm of Christian ethics, rather than an obligation, then non-Christians are doing nothing wrong by ignoring the religious side of Christmas altogether, and observing only the "secular" side (e.g., Santa Claus, presents, and all that stuff). My conviction is that Christians really have no business trying to force anybody, including non-Christians, to celebrate Christmas or any holiday if that person does not want to celebrate it. And if a person wants to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", let them say it. Most of the offense people take at these types of expressions are just evidence that people need to stop behaving like children and grow up anyway.

Of course, none of this is to say that non-Christians do not have a moral obligation to submit themselves to the Lord Jesus, who was born of the virgin Mary and took human flesh upon himself 2,000 years ago to be the Savior of the world. No, the Bible commands all men everywhere to repent and turn to Christ. The sin of the non-Christian is not that they refuse to acknowledge the religious elements of Christmas, but that they refuse to acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Savior, regardless of what day it is. The gospel is equally true and authoritative on December 25 as it is on July 25 or any other day of the year. So my advice to my Christian friends this year is simply this: If you're going to preach to your unsaved friends and family this year, don't preach to them about honoring a day, but about honoring the Lord.

With that said, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that jazz. And for those of you who don't celebrate anything, just keep it real.