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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Did Jesus Christ or his disciples or his apostles celebrate Christmas?

Nowhere in the Bible does it mention Jesus' disciples celebrating his birth.

In fact, the early Christians and Jews of Bible times did not celebrate birthdays at all:

"The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general."-The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848), Augustus Neander (translated by Henry John Rose), p. 190

Origen, the very notable writer of the third century C.E. insists that

"‘of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below.’”-The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. X, p. 709

The Jews "regarded birthday celebrations as parts of idolatrous worship . . . , and this probably on account of the idolatrous rites with which they were observed in honor of those who were regarded as the patron gods of the day on which the party was born." -M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia (1882, Vol. I, p. 817)

For much more, see:

Christmas - It's Origins And Associations