December has always been my favorite month of the year and I always long for it as early as the beginning of every New Year. For me, this isn’t for any special reason other than the new products that would flood our markets, the inveigling loads of food and drinks and the quantum leap in income of some members of my family. During my childhood, I vividly recall my dad buying a new floor carpet and a ghetto blaster in December; typical of a child whose thinking is limited to his stomach and fanciful imaginations, my whole world was next to Disney. Honestly, nostalgic feelings are still aroused deep within me whenever I smell the fresh savor of the harmattan.

Beyond my childhood memories, December every year is marked worldwide (except for some Eastern Orthodox who mark theirs in January i.e. Epiphany) as the month in which Jesus Christ was born, specifically on the twenty fifth day. I guess this is no news, however what struck my response nerve was a bitter lamentation by one “man of God” about how Christ has been taken out of Christmas whose birthday is being celebrated and how essential Christmas is to the life of every man. May I submit to you that Christ has never been in there in the first place let alone to be taken out of it and I dare say that he’ll never be in it, again you may have heard of stories of some three wise men meeting “baby Jesus” in a manger, that is equally false, there is no mention of three wise men anywhere in the bible or history neither was there mention of them meeting “baby Jesus” in a manger.

Aside the preponderant historical volumes that militate against this falsehood, logic forces the unbiased thinker to come the conclusion that Christ could not have been born on the twenty fifth December. For instance what could be the reasoning behind shepherds tending their flock in the fields during cold winter (December) night? Do you know that people could not travel to t¬¬¬¬heir hometown for taxation enrollment in December in the first century because of difficulty in traveling? What is the meaning of the word Christmas? Have you cared to educate yourself on the etymology of the word Christmas? How did three wise men slip into Christmas carols and tales when there is no mention of any number in the bible? Did the wise men meet Jesus in a manger? The fact remains that the celebration of twenty fifth December is a festival of the Persian sun god Mithras which predates the birth of Christ and Christianity.

Faced with these incontrovertible outright facts, stubborn adherents to this pagan feast seek to hew an escape by arguing that, it may not be the case that Christ was born on Christmas day but they on their volition chose to remember Christ on that day. This argument is not only moot but self defeating, how can you believe in an all-knowing God and decide to ch¬¬¬¬¬oose how to remember Christ His Son, particularly when He was eloquently loud about how He should be remembered? - and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."(1 Corinthians 11:24-25). What happened to this statement? Could it be that it has lost its significance with time or it is insufficient until humanly crafted inventions are included.

The birth of Christ is significant but it would have been needless without his death, so it does matter what you are made to believe about any of these events. Clearly, unlike his death burial and resurrection, Christmas by definition has no divine authority beside the whims and emotions of individuals, and I’d rather you do not hinge your faith on your feelings nor anyone’s but on sound biblical truths if you choose to be a Christian.

Finally, it is also noteworthy that the secular humanistic celebration of Christmas fraught with promiscuity and crime has equally no justifiable basis. Christmas is a civil holiday and like any other must be relished by all, take advantage of the abundance of gifts and share as much as you can, I urge you to be a teetotaler, I wish you well in the coming year and I pray the good Lord opens your eyes to His marvelous truth. And man will live for evermore NOT because of Christmas day.

Adika Kwadzo adikakwadzo@gmail