Again from the SDA2RC blog, something the Worldwide Church of God splinter groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Adventists, such as Bacchiocchi, need to consider – the evidence that Christmas was not derived from a pagan celebration. This is an article by William Tighe in Touchstone Magazine.
Bacchiocchi, although antagonistic towards Christmas and other Christian days of worship, gives us some good news about Adventism (although he doesn’t consider it to be good news.)
From his Endtime Issues newsletter number 161:
Gradually things have changed during the past 50 years. This is evident by the profusely illuminated and decorated front-end area of many Adventist churches at Christmas time. Some churches seem to compete with the rich decorations usually found in Greek Orthodox churches.
Frankly, I am not inspired by the elaborate Christmas decorations and celebration, because as a church historian I am aware of their pagan origin.
Bacchiocchi forgets that, IF it had a pagan origin, the holiday, as used by Christians, entirely preaches Christ born for us. Why is replacing something bad with something good a bad thing to do?
Jesus was born in a humble manger. There were no fanciful decorations to celebrate His birth. It would be more in keeping with the setting of His birth, to keep the decorations simple, designed to help people catch the real spirit of Christ’s humble birth.
That’s one personal opinion. Most Christians through the centuries have felt that Christ’s birth was worth decorating with joyful celebration, and physical decorations – candles, a manger, lights – are a fitting expression of this. Just because Jesus was humble doesn’t mean we can’t worship him with glory.
Bacchiocchi simply repeats many of the old Worldwide Church of God arguments against Christmas, providing one side of the claims. For the other side of the evidence, see Touchstone Magazine and Truth or Fables.
Midnight Mass 2012
