Reformers' disagreement on Christmas yields lessons

Although we don’t argue about celebrating Christmas, there is still a debate that is subtle: the normative vs. the regulative.

I embrace tne normative idea of freedom to do what is not forbidden. There is a third choice between Biblcial and Unbiblical, namely, Extra-Biblical.

Others see only two, at least when it suits their purpose.

This comes into play esp. when people have what some of us (perhaps wrongly — technically) refer to as a legalistic bent. The argument that “it is wrong because it is not in the Bible” is the same argument used by those who were against celebrating Christmas.

http://www.centralseminary.edu/resources/nick-of-time/christians-and-ch…

We celebrate the Cultural Christmas by festooning evergreens with lights and ornaments, fashioning garlands of tinsel and holly, kissing under sprigs of mistletoe, decking ourselves in red and green, and leaving milk and cookies for jolly old Santa Claus. …

The … cultural celebrations are permissible observances for individual Christians, but they represent an unwarranted intrusion when they are introduced into the ministry and services of the local congregation. They are purely secular (and even pagan) events, appropriately enjoyed for the common grace that they embody. But they are nowhere authorized by Christ or His apostles for inclusion in the leitourgia of the church.

To be clear, I like all three Christmases. I enjoy giving gifts, which must naturally be either made or purchased. I enjoy all the bric-a-brac of tinsel and trees, logs and nogs, candles and candy canes. But I do not worship those things. I worship the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. Worshipping Him must be set apart—sanctified—from those other enjoyments or it simply becomes profane.

Yet I’ve been to Fourth Baptist at Christmastime. One wing (a seminary professor) publicly opposes “evergreens with lights and ornaments, fashioning garlands of tinsel and holly” calling them “nowhere authorized” and “profane”

Yet Fourth has been (or the times I was up North for Christmas there) known for a nicely & seasonably decorated sanctuary with Christmas trees!

First, 4th’s Christmas decorations this year are great. Just saw them when my kids and I journeyed north for Deo Cantamus practice.

That said, in addition to normative sentiments and regulative, there is also a small movement which seeks to argue that Christmas is inextricably pagan and has nothing to do with Christ—and makes some very bad arguments for it. One of my favorites is that a Scandinavian custom is spoken of as pagan based on what a word meant….in Babylon, 4500 miles +/- and many languages away. They also make puns that simply don’t work in the Latin that the Church would have been using at the time.

Some of these things seem obvious. People who want Santa Claus can get him at the mall. There are certainly a variety of opinions about the jolly replacement figure.

But we decorate our sanctuaries, an idea not found in Scripture (nor is a church sanctuary, for that matter). We go caroling to our shut-ins as a way to show love, but, whereas we are told to visit the infirm, we are nowhere told to carol.

There are a host of things we do, and, unless they are contrary to the Word or DISPLACE what we should be doing, we have the option to at least consider them. On these matters, there is no escape from the judgment call. The desire to eliminate the judgment call is behind most legalism or an overly restrictive mentality. And, this is understandable: the judgment call can nurture controversy and splits. Nothing to discuss, this is how it is, like it or lump it, but don’t fight over it. I can see both sides on this.