Welcome to another edition of the LKP Treasure Trove
At its heart, Christmas is a celebration that was born from an ancient pagan festival called Saturnalia, where the Romans of the 3rd and 4th centuries celebrated with feasting, gift-giving, and endless parties, much like what goes on today. They also celebrated something known as the winter solstice, which deals with sun worship. For hundreds of years, pagan practices filled Christmas; practices that are against the will and ways of Yah. In today’s story, Shawn’s family will make a life-changing decision about this pagan day.
No More Christmases
It was late December, and a festive spirit was in the air again. That Sunday, when they drove into the city, Shawn could hear a variety of familiar Christmas songs blaring from stores that had their doors open. Christmas decorations could be seen everywhere. And balsam fir trees that had recently been purchased from a big-box supply store in town were strapped to the roofs of several cars that drove by.
All about him, people darted in and out of stores buying presents of all kinds: toys, games, clothes, devices, you name it. But his parents brought him to the city for a different reason. He had to get a new pair of glasses.
Shawn knew something was different about his family this year. Dad hadn’t brought home a tree and the house hadn’t been decorated as usual. Little by little Shawn’s family was getting back to their Hebrew roots by returning to the laws found in the Torah. They had changed their diet, gotten rid of pagan items in their home, and they stopped listening to and watching certain types of music and TV programs. Because of all these changes, Shawn suspected that Christmas was the next thing to go. Two days after he picked up his new glasses, Shawn’s suspicions were confirmed.
Dad called a family meeting in the living room when he got home from work. Mom sat next to Dad while Shawn’s older sister and brother, Trisha and Damon, sat next to him on the couch across from their parents. Everyone waited for Dad to speak.
“I’ll make this short,” Dad said at last. “We’re not doing Christmas this year.”
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Damon said.
But his sister Trisha looked disappointed.
Mom noticed. “We’ve been deepening our faith and turning back to our Scriptural heritage,” Mom said evenly. “And this is the next necessary step in that direction.”
“But we’ve always celebrated Christmas,” Trisha said.
“That’s because we followed things that heathens taught us,” Dad said. “Well, Yah is drawing us back to himself like we’ve read in all those prophecies. That means our days of putting up a tree in this house and lighting it are over.”
“That’s the custom of the nations,” Mom said, “which Scripture tells us is vanity. That means it’s empty and worthless. But everything we do should have value in Yah’s eyes.”
Trisha thought about what Mom and Dad said.
After a moment, Dad turned to Shawn and asked, “What about you, Shawn? Do you see what we’re saying?”
Shawn adjusted his spectacles and said, “I see it as clearly as I see everything with my new glasses, dad.”
NOW, WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Do you see the vanity and emptiness of Christmas? On the surface, it may seem like a day that is full of good deeds: gift-giving, caroling, enjoying Christmas fables. However, none of this has to do with the Creator, because Christmas traditions are rooted in a number of pagan practices, starting with the cutting down of trees that are to be decorated. Scripture forbids this. So, are you going to obey Yah by celebrating no more Christmases?
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