COMMENTS   ABOUT  "CHRISTMAS"

 by   A. W. PINK   (1886 - 1952)

(Copied in part from The Berea Baptist Banner - December 1995)

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen –

for the CUSTOMS of the people are vain" (Jeremiah 10:2-3)

       Christmas is coming! Quite so; but what is "Christmas"?   Does not the very term itself denote it's source --- "Christ-mass". Thus it is of Romish origin, brought over from Paganism. But, says someone, Christmas is the time when we commemorate the Savior's birth. Is it? And who authorized such commemoration? Certainly God did not.   The Redeemer bade His disciples "remember" Him in His death, but there is not a word in Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, which tells us to celebrate His birth. Moreover, who knows when, in what month, He was born? The Bible is silent thereon. Is it without reason that the only "birthday" commemoration mentioned in God's Word are Pharaoh’s (Gen. 40:20) and Herod's (Matt. 14:6)? Is this recorded "for our learning"? If so, have we prayerfully taken it to heart?

      And WHO is it that celebrates "Christmas"? The whole "civilized world". Millions who make no profession of faith in the blood of the Lamb,  who "despise and reject Him", and millions more who while claiming to be His followers yet in works deny Him, join in merrymaking under the pretense of honoring the birth of the Lord Jesus. Putting it on the lowest grounds we would ask, Is it fitting that His friends should unite with His enemies in a worldly round of fleshly gratification? Does any truly born- again soul really think that He whom the world cast out is either pleased or glorified by such participation in the world's joys? Verily, "the custom of the people are vain"; and it is written, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil" (Exodus 23:2).

    Some will argue for the "keeping of Christmas" on the ground of "giving the kiddies a good time". But why do this under the cloak of honoring the Savior's birth? Why is it necessary to drag in His holy name in connect- ion with what takes place at a season of carnal jollification? Is this taking the little ones with you out of Egypt (Ex. 10:9-10) a type of the world, or is it not plainly a mingling with the present-day Egyptians in their "pleasure of sin for a season"? (Heb. 11:25). Scripture says "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not de- part from it" (Prov. 22:6). Scripture does command God's people to bring up their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), but where does it stipulate that it is our duty to give the little ones a "good time"? Do we ever give the children "a good time" when we engage in anything upon which we cannot fittingly ask the Lord's blessing?

    There are those who do abstain from some of the grosser carnalities of the "festive season", yet are they nevertheless in cruel bondage to the prevailing custom of "Christmas", namely that of exchanging "gifts". We say "exchanging" for that is what it really amounts to in many cases. A list is kept, either on paper or in memory, of those from whom gifts were received last year, and that for the purpose of returning the compliment this year. Nor is this all: great care has to be taken that the "gift" made to the friend is worth as much in dollars and cents as the one they expect to receive from him or her. Thus, with many who can ill afford it, a considerable sum has to be set aside each year with which to purchase things simply to send them out in return for others which they are likely to receive. Thus a burden has been bound on them which not a few find it hard to bear. [Not to mention the modern day practice of going into great debt via the credit card system which has come into being since A.W. Pink wrote this - ba].                                              

      But what are we to do? If we fail to send out "gifts" our friends will think hard of us, probably deem us stingy and miserly. The honest course is to go to the trouble of notifying them - by letter if at a distance - that from now on you do not propose to send out any more "Christmas gifts as such". Give your reasons. State plainly that you have been brought to see that "Christmas merry-making" is entirely a thing of the world devoid of any Scriptural warrant; that it is a Romish institution, and now that you see this, you dare no longer have any fellowship with it (Eph 5:11); that you are the Lord's "free man" (I Cor.7:22), and therefore you refuse to be in bondage to a costly custom imposed by the world.

     What about sending out "Christmas cards" with a text of Scripture on them? That also is an abomination in the sight of God. WHY? Because His Word expressly forbids all unholy mixtures; Deuteronomy 22:10-11 typified this. What do we mean by an "unholy mixture"? This: the linking together of the Pure Word of God with the Romish "Christ-mass". By all means send cards (preferably at some other time of the year) to your ungodly friends and Christians too, with a verse of Scripture, but not with  "Christmas" on it. What would you think of a printed program of a vaudeville having Isaiah 53:5 at the foot of it? Why, that is altogether out of place, and highly incongruous. But in the sight of God, the circus and the theater are far less obnoxious than the Christmas celebration of Romish and Protestant "churches". WHY?  Because the latter are done under the cover of the holy name of Christ; the former are not.

     "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18). Where there is a heart that really desires to please the Lord, He graciously grants increasing know- ledge of His will. If He is pleased to use these lines in opening the eyes of some of His dear people to recognize what is a growing evil, and to show them that they have been dishonoring Christ by linking the Man of Sorrows (and such He was, when on earth) with a "Merry Christmas", then join with this writer in a repentant confessing of this sin to God, seeking His grace for complete deliverance from it, and praise Him for the light which He has granted you concerning it.

     "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in this body, according to that he hath done, whether good or bad" (II Cor. 5:10). [Note: while some believe that the judgment seat of Christ is only a future event, I believe that God's people, must appear before His judgment seat every day in the Church of Jesus Christ -ba]. How solemn and searching! The Lord Jesus declared that "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (Matt 12:36). If every "idle word" is going to be taken note of, then most assuredly will be every wasted energy, and every wasted dollar and every wasted hour! Should we still be on earth when the closing days of this year arrive, let writer and reader earnestly seek grace to live and act with the judgment-seat of Christ before us. His "well done" will be ample compensation for the sneers and taunts which we may now receive from Christless souls.

     Does any reader imagine for a moment that when he or she shall stand before their holy Lord, that they will regret having lived "too strictly" on earth? Is there the slightest danger of His reproving any of His own because they were "too extreme" in "abstaining from fleshly lust, which war against the soul" (I Peter 2:11)? We may gain the good will and good word of worldly religionist today by our compromising on "little points", but shall we receive His smile of approval?   OH, to be more concerned about what He thinks, and less concerned about what perishing mortals think.                                               

      "THOU SHALT NOT FOLLOW A MULTITUDE TO DO EVIL" (Ex. 23:2). Ah, it is an easy thing to float with the tide of popular opinion; but it takes much grace, diligently sought from God, to swim against it. Yet that is what the heir of Heaven is called on to do: to "Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed, by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:2), to deny self, take up the cross, and follow a rejected Christ. How sorely does both writer and reader need to heed that word of the Savior, "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev. 3:11). Oh that each of us may be able to truthfully say, "I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Thy Word".

     Our final word is to pastors. To you the Word of the Lord is, "Be thou an example of the believer, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (I Tim. 4:12). Is it not true that the most corrupt "churches" you know of, where almost every fundamental of the faith is denied, will have their "Christmas celebrations"? Will you imitate them? Are you consistent to protest against unscriptural methods of "raising money" and then sanction unscriptural "Christmas services" [Or, participation in Christmas celebration by your congregation in any way shape or form - ba]. Seek grace to firmly but lovingly set God's Truth on this subject before your people and announce that you can have no part in following Pagan, Romish and Worldly customs.                                    (AWP)