Fake history

The myth that Christmas is pagan is fake history. In bullet point form:

  • There is no scholarly evidence linking December 25 to the birth or worship of Nimrod and/or Tammuz
  • There is no evidence that Nimrod was worshiped in the ancient world by anybody anywhere
  • Nimrod was not Baal
  • Baal was not a sun-god, he was the storm-god (Iškur in Sumer, Addu in Akkad, Hadad in Canaan)
  • Nimrod had nothing to do with Babylon; he lived at least 1,000 years before Babylon was founded (for details, see my book The Great Inception)
  • Evidence suggests that the birth of Christ was celebrated in Egypt prior to 200 A.D., long before the Roman emperor Aurelian chose the date to celebrate the birth of Sol Invictus in 274
  • The 3rd century A.D. is not a period of history during which the early church borrowed heavily from pagans
  • No Christian writer of the 4th century acknowledges a pagan origin for Christmas
  • The idea that Christmas had pagan origins did not appear in Christian writings until the 12th century (as much as the early church fathers railed against pagans, don’t you think one of them would have noticed?)
  • December 25th may have been chosen because it was nine months to the day after March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, which celebrated the conception of Jesus

Bottom line: Whether you choose to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas or you’re restrained by conscience from honoring the day, you are correct.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:5-6 ESV

So if you pass on the holiday, that’s fine. I won’t try to convince you you’re wrong. Just please, don’t accuse me and my wife of worshiping Nimrod. That’s not only wrong, it’s somewhat less than gracious.

For more, see the article at Biblical Archaeology Review “How December 25 Became Christmas.”

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