About this time of year, it is not uncommon for religious folks to remind others to "Keep the Christ in Christmas". The thought is that He ought to be the focus of our celebrations, and not the exchanging of gifts, munching on candies and consumption of turkey and fixings. Friend, I take issue with such a comment. Now, don't misunderstand. Jesus Christ should be the hub from which every day we have on earth is guided, including "Christmas day". However, we must be careful that what we do and say does in fact honour the Lord.

We cannot "keep the Christ in Christmas" for the simple reason that He was not there to begin with. Celebrating December 25 as the birth date of Christ is to venerate a day of which God has said nothing. There is no command, example or inference in Scripture that the Lord desires us to commemorate the date of His birth. If it were His will, surely He would have revealed it to us. In the absence of instruction there should likewise be an absence of action.

A commonly used example of the authority which resides in the silence of God is the case of Nadab and Abihu. These were sons of Aaron, priests in Israel. They thought to exalt God through the burning of incense. Hear the inspired record, "...each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD." (Lev 10:1-2).

Why was the fire used profane before the LORD? Had it been borrowed from the pagans? Perhaps they used the fires of the dung hill? No, the reason it was profane was simply that the LORD had not commanded it. It was not revealed until Leviticus 16:12 what fire should be used to burn incense to the LORD.

If the Lord has said nothing to us about celebrating "Christmas", shall we proceed without His approval? We serve the same God that Nadab and Abihu served. Hear what he said regarding their presumptuous action, "By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified." (10:3) Let us not fail to regard the Lord as holy, and may we be sure to glorify Him before others. We bring no glory to God and in no fashion display His holiness by celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday. Rather, by so doing, we arrogantly place our own will above the Lord's.

Among religious folk, there are two extreme positions with regard to Christmas. The advocates of "keep the Christ in Christmas", as mentioned above are wrong. However, those who take the opposite extreme, concluding that the Christian should have no part in any manner of "Christmas" celebrations are equally wrong.

There are a number of "Christmas" traditions which can be traced back to various festivals and carnivals of pagan cultures. The "12 days of Christmas", yule logs, exchanging of gifts, parade floats, carollers, savoury feasts, garland decked halls, trees with lights, mistletoe, and more. Some, taking into account the pagan use of these automatically oppose any use of them today. Certainly, if we are using them in some sort of pagan worship, then God forbid that we do so. However, to dismiss them merely on the basis that they have in the past been used for pagan purposes is to bind where God's word has not bound.

Paul gave instruction to the Corinthians regarding the eating of meats. Some meat in their marketplace had been offered to idols, however, he directed the Christian "...eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience' sake; for the earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness." (1 Cor 10:25, cf. v 27). One could eat meat offered to an idol without giving glory to the idol. The mature Christian understood that the idol was nothing (1 Cor 8:4). One could freely eat meat that had been offered to an idol, unless the conscience of a weak brother or unbeliever was at hand (1 Cor 8:7-13; 10:28-33).

Why reference these meats offered to idols? Simply this – the meats were not made unclean by their misuse and association with the idol. The idol was nothing. In like manner, the various things we today associate with the holiday season are, in and of themselves, clean.

I suppose if one today cannot disassociate a gift from the gift-giving which accompanied the Roman celebration for their god Saturn, then I ought not give such a person a gift. Likewise, if my neighbour, immediately upon seeing my porch decorated with garlands claims that I am celebrating Saturnalia, then I need to take the garlands down. Incidentally, I've never had that happen. And no surprise. We are about 2,000 years removed from the pagan application of these practices.

Often we find that the truth lies between two extremes, and so it is with regard to the celebration of Christmas. Let us not attempt to put the Christ into a holiday which He has not placed Himself. Christmas, if celebrated religiously is not a Christian holiday, but rather a pagan holiday. However, let us not go to the opposite extreme, outlawing what amounts to nothing more than innocent decorations, gifts and meals.

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How old was Ishmael when he was abandoned by Abraham? Was he an infant (Genesis 21:14-15, 18) or was he a young man (Genesis 17:25; 21:5, 8)? Is there a contradiction?