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Date:         Mon, 11 Jan 1993 10:25:12 -0500
From:         Eric James Ewanco <ewanco@MLO.DEC.COM>
Subject:      Re: C.S. Lewis

Excerpts from christia: 7-Jan-93 Re: C.S. Lewis Travolta@MCS.DUNDEE.AC.U (448)

> I dont want to cause a flame, but I get the distinct impression after
> reading Steve Creps article that some of you believe and/or celebrate
> Christmas.
>
> The question is did you not know that Christmas has nothing to do with
> Christ, but is based on pagan festivities.
>
> Before I go into the facts and history, some answers would be appreciated.

Well, Travolta, let's take a balanced approach to this.

The name "Christmas" certainly has something to do with Christ; it means
"Christ Mass", or Christ [is] sent.  In the way that we celebrate it
today, it most certainly has a lot to do with Christ.

It is true that it happens to coincide with what was a pagan holiday,
Saturnalia.  But simply because it coincided with that holiday over
1,000 years ago -- even if it was by design -- is no reason to reject
it.  That is like saying that we cannot accept a pagan into the church
who wants to convert to Christianity because we are to abstain from evil.

If you wish to be consistent, I should point out that Exodus says that
the names of foreign gods should not be on our lips.  You are thus
committing idolatry if you utter any name of the days of the weeks or
the months of the year (except September, October, November or
December), because these are based on names of pagan gods and goddesses.
 The whole calendar is a pagan one, so you should also reject it.

I suggest doing what I did when I was 17 -- switch to a Jewish calendar.
 For the days of the week, you can do what the Jews did -- simply number
them -- or be more creative.  I gave them Latin names based on what
creature was created on that day, and called Sunday the Sabbath.  (I was
ignorant and off by one day.)

However I think it is unprofitable to be Pharisaic about all this and
realize that Christmas for 1,500 has been a celebration in honor of
Jesus Christ, whether or not he was actually born on that day, whether
or not it was a pagan holiday or not.

Let me give a modern example.  Many evangelical churches eschew
Halloween for similar reasons -- it's basically a pagan celebration and
lots of bad things happen anyway.  (Even today it is a holy day for
witches and Satanists.)  I think that's a reasonable position to take.
Now those evangelicals who have kids are faced with a dilemma.  The rest
of the culture celebrates Halloween, and the kids will feel sad and left
out, and perhaps it will leave them bitter at Christianity, if the
parents simply forbid them from doing anything on Halloween.  So what
many evangelical churches do is have something like a Harvest Party
(like my boss's church did).  The kids get candy, bob for apples, and
have a good time, but they aren't celebrating Halloween.

Now I wish to humbly point out that these evangelical churches, however
sincere, have done exactly the same thing they so energetically condemn
the Catholic Church for doing with Christmas.  They replaced a pagan
holiday with a Christian one.  They aren't celebrating Halloween, they
are celebrating the Lord's bounty.

So in the same way, Christmas does not celebrate Saturnalia, the Sun god
or the winter solstice, but rather celebrates Jesus Christ, the Sun of
Righteousness (that's scriptural before you jump on me), who brings
light into the world and whose birth marks the end of the dark and cold
winter of sin.

After all, the best way to squash a pagan holiday is to celebrate a
Christian one on top of it.  To say that Christmas is pagan because it's
celebrated on Saturnalia is as absurd as accusing the Fox network of
catering to NBC by putting the Simpsons on at the same time as the Cosby
show (or whatever they did).  The intent was not to celebrate
Saturnalia, but to defeat it and get rid of it.

Does it look a little different now?

Eric
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