Did Martin Luther have the FIRST Christmas tree?
Does Christmas really have a non-Christian origin?

Did Martin Luther have the FIRST Christmas tree?
Does Christmas really have a non-Christian origin?

Q. I do not believe that celebrating Christmas is Biblical nor right. I was debating with a Youth Pastor about this subject recently. My view is that Christmas has Pagan origins, and the Bible says not to have ANYTHING to do with such things.

The Youth Pastor's perspective is that this great guy, Constantine, became a Christian and started this holiday. He says that the fact that December 25 was dedicated to the Queen of Heaven is totally unrelated. He also says that the Christmas tree didn't actually have pagan roots, but this other great guy, Martin Luther, saw a vision of a dead pine tree being transformed in the sunlight to a tree that was alive. He says that what Christmas means in the U.S.A. is unrelated to what it originally meant. Is the pastor correct?

(Submitted by: Gabe)

A. The Christmas tree has undeniably pagan (which means non-Christian) origins. Although it was popularized in the English-speaking world in Victorian times especially by Albert, Victoria's husband, who was drawing upon his Germanic heritage in doing so, it goes back to Rome as well. Pagan Rome liked using the fir tree. Hislop's The Two Babylons is one book worth looking up on this issue, although it isn't an easy "read."

December 25 is a very problematic date for any celebration of Christ's birth. The basic problem has been that it's unlikely that shepherds have been out in the fields that late in the year even in Judea, nor would the Romans order a census to be held at such a time, because of the cold weather. (I know some efforts are made to duck the former argument here, but perhaps the way to really check on this would be to see if shepherds today camp out in the open in Judea in late December).

December 25 itself was the date for Mithras' birth, who was a god of light that the Roman legionaires often worshiped. He was said to be born out of a rock on that date. The Roman Saturnalia, which can be compared to the Mardi Gras and Carnival for a reasonable modern comparison of what it was like, also occurred at this time. It's no coincidence all this pagan celebrating is occurring around the date of the winter solstice, when the days are at their shortest and start to become longer again. When else would the god of light be born but then, eh?

According to the book, "All About Christmas," by Maymie Krythe, as quoted by G.M. Bowers in "Faith and Doctrines of the Early Church," the date for Christmas and the birth of Christ in the third century had varied significantly in the Church. According to the early church writer Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem asked Julius I, the Pope at that time (336 to 352 A.D.), to look into the issue of the exact timing. In 350 A.D., he came up with the date of December 25 as the most probable time. So Constantine didn't have anything to do with setting the date of Christmas directly.

I'm unaware of this story about Martin Luther seeing a dead pine tree being made alive, but it would be best to not believe it until someone can tell you where this story is found in (say) a book by Luther or a biography on him. It still proves nothing about how Christmas was established about 1200 years before his time as the Roman Empire declined.

Martin Luther was hardly right about everything, such as in his vicious anti-Semitism. He also may have gone too far in exalting the message of Romans 13 in telling Christians to obey human governments when there are reasons sometimes they should disobey them, such as when they tell them to disobey God. (I'm not sure how much he admitted to or discussed this escape clause, however).

I hope this brief answer helps.