CELEBRATING THE BIRTH of Jesus has become controversial—for Christians.

There is no question that unbiblical traditions have become part of the holiday. But contrary to what you may have heard, the holiday was not established by the early church to “christianize” a pagan holiday.

We explain how the early church settled on December 25 (and January 6) as Christmas Day, and why, based on solid academic research into the history of the holiday, Christmas has nothing to do with Nimrod, Baal, Saturn, Sol Invictus, the winter solstice, or any other pagan tradition or holiday from the ancient world.