Are Christian holidays really biblical?

Scripture:
Are Christian holidays really biblical? There is no command to celebrate Christmas and Jesus probably wasn't born in December anyway. The resurrection did take place near the time of the Passover. We should not be caught up in the pagan trappings of these holidays, but we can certainly remember what Christ did for us.
When you post, you agree to the terms and conditions of our comments policy.
If you have a Bible question for Pastor Doug Batchelor or the Amazing Facts Bible answer team, please submit it by clicking here. Due to staff size, we are unable to answer Bible questions posted in the comments.
To help maintain a Christian environment, we closely moderate all comments.

  1. Please be patient. We strive to approve comments the day they are made, but please allow at least 24 hours for your comment to appear. Comments made on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday may not be approved until the following Monday.

  2. Comments that include name-calling, profanity, harassment, ridicule, etc. will be automatically deleted and the invitation to participate revoked.

  3. Comments containing URLs outside the family of Amazing Facts websites will not be approved.

  4. Comments containing telephone numbers or email addresses will not be approved.

  5. Comments off topic may be deleted.

  6. Please do not comment in languages other than English.

Please note: Approved comments do not constitute an endorsement by the ministry of Amazing Facts or by Pastor Doug Batchelor. This website allows dissenting comments and beliefs, but our comment sections are not a forum for ongoing debate.

Caller:  Are Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, are they really Biblical - because I can't really find them in inaudible.

Pastor Doug:  Ok well I can't answer that in one or two words - let me explain. There's no command in the Bible to remember the Birth of Christ. Jesus was most likely not born the 25th of December. He was probably born in the fall. That was a date that was adopted by the church because it was the winter solstice and it was already a popular holiday in the Roman Empire. So the date for the 25th of December was really adopted from the pagans. Is it a sin to remember the Birth of Christ? No. There's no command to do it. Easter, on the other hand, does come during the time of the Jewish Passover, which is in the Bible but we're never commanded to celebrate the Resurrection. What the Bible tells us to do to remember the Resurrection it says Baptism is a symbol of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus. Is it wrong to remember the Resurrection? No. I think it would be wrong to ignore it. Does it only need to be done during one day of the year? No. There's no Bible command that says that.

So I hope that gives you a little background. Now there's a lot of paganism attached to some of these holidays. Nothing in the Bible talks about Easter bunnies and chicks and egg hunts - that all comes from pagan fertility festivals. And so Christmas all had to do with the - a lot of it was surrounding solar worship and things, so, avoid the pagan trappings. Morally there's nothing wrong with remembering the Birth or the Resurrection of Christ.

Caller:  A lot of people have been blessed by your recent magazine on Temptation.

Pastor Doug:  Oh well praise the Lord! I'm glad to hear that.

Caller:  A lot of people have - I'm Bible Instructor over the Internet - a lot of people have been coming back.

Pastor Doug:  Well great! I'm going to try and turn that into a book you know because we wanted to get it where it's on a regular basis in people's hands.

Caller:  Okay praise the Lord. Have a good week.

Pastor Doug:  Thank you Brett. God bless you.

Co-Host:  Brett thanks for the call.

Share a Prayer Request
 | 
Ask a Bible Question

Name:

Email:

Prayer Request:


Share a Prayer Request
Name:

Email:

Bible Question:


Ask a Bible Question