Dear Friend,

Christmas … it's coming! The sights and sounds of the season surround us once again. Countless television and radio ads, beautiful store decorations, colorful lights on houses and in yards, office parties and school plays, all declare the coming holiday period. Besides this, Christmas time also means shopping and gift giving, signaling the most important commercial time of the year. Without the centuries-old tradition of exchanging gifts, economies in many nations would likely be dealt a very harsh blow. Indeed, thousands of businesses might literally go bankrupt without the enormous number of sales generated during the Christmas season.

In opposition to this vast profit-making and sales activity, occasionally there will appear newspaper articles and billboard advertisements pleading with people to "put Christ back in Christmas." But did you know that this, in itself, is simply impossible? Believe it or not, Jesus Christ was never in this holiday in the first place! Although there are biblical clues regarding the time of His birth, the Bible simply doesn't tell us exactly when it took place, though it clearly wasn't in the winter. Also, none of the original apostles or the early Church ever celebrated Christ's birthday. Furthermore, words like mistletoe, Santa Claus and Christmas tree simply don't appear in the Bible.

I invite you to consider the following excerpt from the Encarta encyclopedia, www.encarta.msn.com, in an article titled "Origins of Christmas":

"Although the gospels describe Jesus' birth in detail, they never mention the date, so historians do not know on what date he was born. The Roman Catholic church chose December 25 as the day for the feast of the nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals. "Historians are unsure exactly when Christians first began celebrating the nativity of Christ. However, most scholars believe that Christmas originated in the 4th century as a Christian substitute for pagan celebrations of the winter solstice."

So, the question for you and me ought to be: Is Jesus Christ truly honored by customs that were once used to honor other gods? Does it make a difference how people worship God today? If you would like to learn more, click on www.ucg.org/holydays to request your own free copy of our booklet: Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Keep?

Also, if you would appreciate hearing a valuable discussion of this important topic from the Good News radio program, please click www.gnmagazine.org/radio/. Here you can listen to or download many programs including the following two: "4,000 Years of Christmas" and "Have Christians Forgotten Christ?" I believe some eye-opening information awaits you.

Finally, you may be interested in knowing that we recently added 50,000-watt news/talk station KRMG 740 AM in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to our Good News radio program log. The program is now airing in Tulsa every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. Also, 50,000-watt talk station WTAR 850 AM in Norfolk, Virginia, began airing the program on Sundays at 10 a.m. Also, to add to our radio program inventory, radio host Gary Petty recently recorded six new programs with Good News senior writer Jerold Aust and with Gary Antion, coordinator of our Ambassador Bible Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally, material for six more radio programs is currently being edited from special sermons given by Mr. Petty in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Petty has now prepared and delivered more than 100 radio programs, many of which are archived on our Web site, www.gnmagazine.org/radio.

Sincerely,

Roy Holladay
President
United Church of God, an International Association