It may seem bizarre to be even explain why, surely there is only one reason, because it is the day Christ was born! But in fact, there are many reasons as to why Christians celebrate the holiday, reasons which are generally not acknowledged by religious people and frequently ignored. Now that I am no longer religious, I can identify the undertones of the celebration, some of them more obvious than others.
He was Born to Die
Jesus’ birth is seen as one of the most important events to have taken place in the Christian version of history to date and is celebrated because if he had not been born, then he could not have died for us. Christians celebrate his birthday so fervently because if he hadn’t existed they wouldn’t have the chance to live forever, and guess what, humans are damn right afraid of dying!
Humans are so afraid of death that they create stories to make themselves slightly less terrified and it is easy enough to celebrate the birth of a baby saviour, a cute little baby born in a stable…a fairy tale beginning with a guiding star leading the way. Probably best not to dwell too much on the fact that the baby just HAS to die, so let’s just forget about that for a while we open presents and eat mince pies.
The Day When Jesus was Relatable
Every person on the earth is born, that’s like standard, so to think of god as a vulnerable, small little creature who was pushed into this world, just like us is pretty relatable. We may not remember being a baby but we all were one once and have the photos to prove it, so that’s nice that Jesus was like us once.
Day of Affirmation
At Christmas time, evangelicals and probably most christians, will celebrate the fact that so many people across the world will be taking part in Christmas activities. The participation of others in “Christmasness”, affirms the beliefs in Jesus, “if so many people are celebrating it then it must make my religion true”.
Day of Denial
Christmas day is welcomed and continues to be celebrated because it is the day of justified gluttony and materialism in the name of Jesus. Let’s all eat a whole lotta food and spend lots on pointless gifts BUT we are praising Jesus the whole time!
Opportunity to Proselytise
Ah yes, this is an important reason to continue with Christmas, by allowing society to take it over, changing it into a pagan version of the bible story, the heathens will hear the story of Jesus at some point and potentially accept him as their saviour.
The opportunities to convert people at Christmas are evident, people out and about buying gifts ( they can be caught at the shops and convinced they need god), some people end up feeling sad at Christmas (meaning they are more open to hearing good news that god loves them), people are generally more broke at Christmas (so will welcome news that Christianity may bring them a better and potentially wealthier life) and people generally go to church at Christmas for carol singing etc (a captive audience to convert).
So there you go, some reasons to celebrate Christmas that you didn’t realise… if you are a Christian that is.
Happy Christmas !
