Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? In the latest episode of OFF THE RECORD, Daniel Kolenda will discuss the controversial viewpoints surrounding Christmas by asking questions such as, “Is Christmas a pagan holiday?” “Where did the ideas of Christmas trees and Santa Claus come from?” and more!

Watch or listen now as Daniel takes you on a journey of the historical context of Christmas since the reformation in various countries, the evolution of Christmas and early church traditions, if it even matters, and what revelation we can glean from Scripture on this subject.

Show Notes:

0:00 Introduction

3:34 An overview of subjects to discuss 

7:40 Four Winter Celebration in the 4th Century Roman Empire 

8:10 Saturnalia (#1)

9:54 Sol Invictus (#2)

13:02 The birth of Mithras (#3)

13:29 Kalends (#4)

15:23 Influences on Christmas traditions today

20:47 Christmas replaces pagan holidays

24:00 Why December 25th was chosen for Christmas

31:41 The risk of parallelomania 

34:22 Christmas from the Reformation to today

36:10 Christmas in Germany

38:29 Christmas in England

44:58 Christmas in Early America

47:52 The Modern Evolution of Christmas

51:29 From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus 

59:57 Christmas Tree Traditions

1:05:49 Traditions of mistletoe, holly and poinsettias 

1:07:52 Recapping and the dangers of superstition

1:21:24  Paul's example in Scripture for avoiding pagan practices

1:29:55 The Mystery of the Magi

1:33:08 Conclusion

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