No, Christmas Isn’t Secretly Pagan: A Very Merry D-List Saints Christmas Special (For the Whole Family)

Luke Harrington does a great job with this (although he may need to tone down the “or somethings”):

There are two pagan festivals that are usually pointed to as the origin of Christmas, but the evidence for both is pretty thin. The first choice is usually the Saturnalia, the Roman celebration of the god Saturn, which does pre-date Christmas, but leaves one big, gaping hole in the plot: the Saturnalia kicked off on December 17 every year, and only went up to the 23rd—so if Christmas began as an attempt by Christians to co-opt the Saturnalia, they were literally two days late to the party. Telling people to fast when their friends are partying and then party when their friends are nursing hangovers makes for a lousy way to ease the transition from paganism to Christianity, if that was the intent.

The Christmas Miracle of the Incarnation of the Omnipresent Word

Jared Wilson:

Instead, what we see in the wonder of the God-Man is a miraculous extension, not reduction. Jesus “made himself nothing” (Phil. 2:7), yes, but this was not a voiding of his essential deity. It is instead an appraisal of the bewilderment of the incarnation. The incarnation posits a self-willed emptying consisting of Jesus’s refusal to employ all divine abilities at his disposal, not an emptying that would consist in a subtraction from the Godhead. The alternatives to simultaneous incarnation and omnipresence are a lesser incarnation on one side or a lesser Godhead on the other.

What The Incarnation Means for Our Bodies

Dan Darling:

Jesus’ very human birth might also change the way we view marriage. To join yourself in love to another is to take all of your spouse, not just some of your spouse. We covenant in marriage to the whole person. It means we love our spouses when they are funny and contribute life to us and we love our spouses when they are cranky and make us miserable. It means we love them throughout the various seasons of life. And it means they love us when we are less than lovable.

What God Gave at Christmas

David McLemore:

In the Old Testament, a priest would sprinkle the blood of a spotless lamb on the altar symbolizing that the blood of perfection must be shed for the forgiveness of sins. But the blood of an imperfect animal could never bring about the kind of cleansing we need. Man’s sin requires man’s blood. But if we shed our blood for all our sins, how can we live? We can’t! Our sin is too great. One sin against God is worthy of eternal damnation. How could we ever pay for all the sins we’ve committed?

Well, we can’t. But Jesus can. And at Christmas, Jesus became the only person ever born on a mission to die. He became the only priest to ever walk the road of a sacrificial lamb.

Bible Reading Plans from LifeWay

If you’re looking for a great reading plan to get you into the Word in the new year, LifeWay’s got some great options.

How Far Should We Go In Defending Our Gospel-Centered Ministry?

Mike Leake:

This is a fine line and one I’m not sure I fully understand yet. But I will say one thing I have noticed is that whenever a minister/ministry becomes focused on itself it never ends well. I’ve sadly observed some Christian recording artists transition from songs all about Jesus to singing songs all about defending their ministry decisions. I believe that is a misstep. But such a thing is not unique to the celebrities among us.

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Your story is worth sharing, even if people don’t take it seriously

A favorite from the archives:

My wife’s used to not having her story taken seriously. For years, whenever she or both of us have told the story of how we came to faith, we’ve seen people stop speaking to us, back away slowly as if we were whacked, or (in one instance) convert to an entirely different religion.

But that’s what happens when demons are involved.