Stoned-Campbell Disciple

(In Alaska for the Christmas season visiting my daughter) Just because something is not found in the “Bible” does not automatically make it either untrue or wrong. I have often pointed out that the very word “Bible” is not in “the Bible.”

In fact lots of things/words/ideas are not in “the Bible” that are perfectly acceptable. Just because the word/thing is not in “the Bible” does not make it against the word of God, that is something that teaches against or runs against the faith that is testified to within Scripture. This is important for “Christmas.”

Some historically uninformed people harshly criticize Christmas, even claiming it is pagan. Historical scholars have utterly destroyed that claim. However, I suggest that the very logic of the claim itself is specious. “Christmas” in terms of that word is not found in “the Bible,” but Christmas does serve the faith once delivered and does so powerfully when not sold out to Mammon.

Returning to the stigma of “paganism.” Just because a practice or even a belief shares some things in common with worldviews and points of view outside the Bible does not show the thing to be wrong nor unbiblical.

In fact, the “Bible” itself borrows (I use this word purposefully) imagery and concepts from the world around Israel. The Canaanites, Moabites, Edomites, Egyptians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, etc all had temples that were almost identical to Israel’s, not only in architecture but in what they believed was the significance of the temple. The “Bible” itself even makes it crystal clear that it was non-Israelite architects that designed and decorated the Temple of the God of Israel (cf. 2 Chronicles 2).

Those nations also had priests, even high priests. Those priests had vestments that were essentially the same as Israel’s. They had festivals that were much like First Fruits and New Moons. They had songs, hymns and prayers.

Israel did not simply invent “ex cathedra” the forms of the religion of the one true God. Instead, Israel “baptized” (to use a metaphor) many things from the culture around them. Even the very words for “God” such as El and Elohim are exactly the same as the Canaanites. This is true of the word theos (god in Greek) or Allah in Arabic.

Another example would be that the Canaanites would speak of one “god’ whose name is Baal as the “rider of the clouds” in his chariot. We even have iconographic depictions of Baal as the rider of the clouds. But Israel took that very image and “baptized” it and said Baal was not the rider on the clouds. Yahweh is! And so we read in the Spirit inspired Scriptures that Yahweh is the rider and the clouds are his chariots (cf. Ps 104.3, etc).

Will the critics cut this stuff out of the “Bible”? A good portion of it will have to be excised.

Israel proclaimed Yahweh’s lordship over everything. The Holy Spirit apparently was not afraid of such things like temples, festivals, days, even theological images like rider in the clouds even if pagans had the same. It was the meaning attached that made them different.

We profit from many things that are not literally “in the Bible” yet serve the faith of the Bible. Most have church buildings and song books. We have had Sunday School and VBS. We have had song leaders, tuning forks, musical notes, and many others because they have served to inculcate the faith.

The Lord Jesus himself used cups in the Passover (never mentioned in the Bible). He worshiped in synagogues (never mentioned in the Bible). He participated in the Feast of Dedication/Hanukkah (never mentioned in the Bible). Jesus clearly shows something may not be mentioned in scripture and not be against scripture. Including worship stuff.

The Nativity of Immanuel, Christmas, as it turns out, is not borrowed from paganism (never was connected in any fashion). However, we need not be afraid of a Christmas tree nor gifts nor feasts. The Incarnation, the birth of the Messiah, is in fact celebrated in Scripture though.

Jesus is Lord of all and we celebrate him in a perfectly biblical way when we recognize that God changed the history of the universe when the Word became Flesh on Christmas morning. Hallelujah! Come Lord Jesus!

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Valentine Family

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 28th, 2023 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Apologetics, Christmas, Chronicles, Patternism, Worship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.