WCG, Christmas, & Biblical Logic
TRANSFORMED FROM TRUTH
In the Dec 2008/Jan 2009 edition of WCG’s Christian Odyssey magazine, its president J. Tkach made the following comments:
Argument 1: “We don’t know the date of Christ’s birth.”
It is true that no one knows for certain on what day or even month of the year Jesus was born…
Argument 2: “Christmas is commercialized and materialistic.”
Without doubt the Christmas holiday season has become a commercial rat race for many people…
Argument 3: “Most Christmas traditions originate in paganism.”
There is no denying that some of the traditional practices and elements that are part of our Christmas celebration are similar to those found in ancient pagan religious ceremonies.
Argument 4: “Jeremiah 10:2-4 condemns the use of Christmas trees.”
The King James Version of this passage reads: “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen…. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
On the surface it might seem that Jeremiah is describing Christmas trees…Jeremiah 10 condemns idols…
…nothing more worthy of celebration than the coming of our Savior into the world!
I am glad that Joseph Tkach admits much of the obvious (though he could have admitted that the ties to paganism are much stronger than he indicated and that December 25th has Mithras’ birthday), even though he still endorses and supports this paganized approach to Christ.
Decorated trees, as Christians should know, have nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible. And J. Tkach apparently overlooked the fact that when Jeremiah was inspired to write “Learn not the way of the heathen” that this indicates that adding pagan practices to worship is not acceptable for God’s people.
Period.
Instead of teaching that, the article then has a section titled Faulty Logic. The gist of it is that WCG is teaching that adopting pagan practices is fine and those who condemn them are not as intellectually-gifted as the WCG leadership. This appeal to intellectual vanity would seem to mainly to appeal to people who wish to be deceived.
The truth is that neither Jesus, His apostle, nor His early followers celebrated Jesus’ birth. Nor did they consider that it was nearly as important as His death (which is observed through the Passover season–which, unlike Christmas, is something that the New Testament does teach; cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
If the Bible considered the celebration of Jesus’ birth to be important, it would have stated that. Instead, Jesus taught to observe Passover as He had done (John 13:1-15; ! Corinthians 11:23-26)–yet almost none who profess Christ do what Jesus said to do–and, for one example, they reason around Jesus’ commandments such as footwashing (John 13:13-15).
Doing what the Jesus and the Apostles’ taught in the Bible is biblical logic–it overrule the “Faulty Logic” arguments that WCG raised.
Why would real Christians want to do something that clearly does not have biblical endorsement, but instead was a compromise with paganism?
In another article in the same issue, WCG had the following sub-headline “Practical ways to avoid Christmas debt”. And it fails to simply state that the obvious way is that Christians are to obey God, not follow the lustful ways of the world that lead to that type of debt.
Will you follow the leaders of the New Testament and “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) or rely on the “faulty logic” of those who make up traditions that do not have biblical endorsement?
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Christmas and the Holy Days? Do you know what the Catholic Church says were the original Christian holy days? Was Christmas among them?
Did Early Christians Celebrate Birthdays? Did biblical era Jews celebrate birthdays? Who originally celebrated birthdays? When did many that profess Christ begin birthday celebrations?
Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate? Historical and biblical answers to this question about the world’s New Year’s day.
Tradition and Scripture: From the Bible and Church Writings Are traditions on equal par with scripture? Many believe that is what Peter, John, and Paul taught. But did they?
Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
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