I would like to express my conviction that the biblical Christian worldview is the only true worldview, and to encourage the devotional observance of Christmas by believers.
Humans were created to reflect the image and glory of God. God commanded them to multiply and replenish his creation with godly offspring.
Adam and Eve, the first couple, rebelled against God.
They assumed the autonomy to define ultimate reality for themselves, without reference to God. They became, in a sense, gods in their own minds.
We find ourselves in a creation with those who possess ungodly worldviews. Some want to force their worldview and its principles upon the rest. Wokeness aka Neo-Marxism is one such worldview.
Humanity has a long history of ungodly worldviews.
A philosopher forms a worldview. He claims his worldview corresponds to reality. It becomes the prevailing one. Society conforms to its presuppositions and ethos. Ultimately, cracks appear in the worldview’s foundation and the belief system collapses. His worldview cannot bear the weight of reality.
A period of widespread disillusionment, skepticism, and despair ensues.
Another clever fellow stumbles on the scene with a new or modified worldview.
This cycle continues ad infinitum.
Man’s attempts to form a coherent, all-encompassing worldview without reference to God is futile. It is impossible to understand man and nature in any truly meaningful way without reference to the Creator because man is created in the image of God. The life of man is meant to revolve around God, much like the Earth revolves around the Sun.
The Creator-God reveals man’s true history, purpose, nature, destiny and ethical implications in Scripture.
The Bible is a narrative with four chapters: Creation, Fall, Rescue (Redemption), and Consummation (Restoration).
Man was created in the image of God, male and female, and placed in the Garden of Eden. They were commanded to multiply and fill the earth with their descendants.
The first couple, under the influence of the Serpent, Satan, rebelled against God. Their natures and intellect became corrupted, no longer accurately reflecting the image and glory of God. They were exiled from the Garden and the manifest presence of God.
The corruption of the Fall affected more than Adam. As our federal head (representative), his rebellion affected all his descendants. We see this corruption displayed in short order throughout the book of Genesis, notably in the murder of Abel by Cain and the universal corruption preceding the Flood.
Mankind was not left without hope of restoration, though. God promised a Seed of a woman who would crush the Serpent and destroy the works of the devil (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20, 1 John 3:8).
This Serpent-Crusher is Jesus Christ, miraculously born to the virgin Mary.
He lived a pure, sinless life and died an agonizing, substitutionary death on the Cross to redeem his people. He was resurrected on the third day, vindicated as the sinless Son of God.
He rules from heaven, and will return at the close of this age to gather his people, and to execute ultimate judgment upon Satan, the demons, and unrepentant mankind.
Essential (definitional) Christianity includes monotheism, the Trinity, original sin, the true humanity and deity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement accomplished at the cross, the bodily resurrection, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in believers, salvation by grace through faith, the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture, and the eternal reward of believers and eternal punishment of unrepentant mankind.
I encourage all believers to contemplate often the essential biblical truths associated with Christmas, including the Incarnation, the true humanity and deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the universal need for a Savior-Redeemer.
Some believers don’t observe Christmas for reasons of conscience. I understand that. I was one of them for many years as a member of Worldwide Church of God led by Herbert Armstrong.
Christmas has been commercialized and the history of some practices is obscure. Some believe that these customs find their origin in paganism. Others point to the reality that we don’t know the precise date of the Incarnation.
I would challenge their positions on these matters. The Christian is free to abstain from any practices he is uncomfortable with. This includes the excessive gift-giving associated with commercialism and the customs he thinks come from paganism. It is true that we don’t know the precise date of the Incarnation, but it is equally true that we don’t know the precise date of the first Thanksgiving observance. This doesn’t prevent us from observing the holiday in a spirit of thanksgiving to God.
Devotional (not mere secular) observance can be an effective teaching tool. It reinforces vital concepts in the minds of the faithful and their children.
I am convinced that the truths of the Incarnation outweigh the reasons for non-observance. I respect others’ decision to abstain as long as they extend the same courtesy to others, though. It is a Romans 14 issue and I would not want a brother with a conscience issue to participate in observance of Christmas.
Parents: I recommend a storybook and related DVD titled The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden by Kevin DeYoung to help your children to understand the biblical narrative.
Additionally, The Biggest Story has a Youtube channel with animated videos relating to the overview of the Bible. This is a fantastic resource for your children.
Robert Sparkman
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Alistair Begg is an excellent teacher. He is the pastor of Parkside Church in Chagrin, Ohio. In this sermon series, he discusses the connection between the Genesis account and Christmas.
RC Sproul of Ligonier Ministries was a fantastic Christian teacher. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries until his death in 2017. In these videos, he describes the importance of the Incarnation and its relationship to Christmas observance.
Apologist Michael Jones from the InspiringPhilosophy channel has a number of worthwhile videos on Christmas which disprove a lot of the arguments against observance.
I do not encourage those with conscience issues to observe Christmas. I believe Christmas observance is a Romans 14 matter that brothers can differ on.
I encourage those with conscience issues about Christmas to contemplate the miracle of the Incarnation, the virgin birth, and the universal need for a Savior-Redeemer, whether they choose to observe the holiday or not.
I sympathize with those who do not observe Christmas due to their conscience. I held a similar position as a young Christian, being raised in Worldwide Church of God, a fringe Sabbatarian group led by Herbert Armstrong that many consider to be cultic.
Some of the claims of the anti-Christmas crowd are demonstrably false, and no true Christian should use false arguments to defend their position, whether their view of Christmas is correct or not.
These videos help to expose the errors that some use to discredit the observance of the holiday.
I do not agree with Michael on every topic. His videos are insightful, though, especially on the topic of Christmas and Easter.
RC Sproul of Ligonier Ministries was a fantastic Christian teacher. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries until his death in 2017. RC Sproul discusses the image of God in man in this video, which is a fundamental component of the biblical worldview.
A number of Christmas devotionals have been written by respected Christian teachers. Christmas devotionals involve short daily readings preceding the holiday. This devotional is one good choice amongst many. I recommend other devotionals by Alistair Begg, RC Sproul, and Albert Mohler as well.
This post is related to a letter to the editor submitted to the local newspaper, Kendallville News-Sun. The article is available below.
Thank you Robert for your well thought out and written article concerning the supremacy of the Christian world over all others because it lines up with the world God created and emanates from the self-revelation of God in Scripture. My hope is your words will be used by God to open eyes to the reality of his existence come in human flesh in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the very best to you over this Christmas period and looking forward to reading what you write in the New Year. P.s as a fellow writer it can be discouraging not knowing if your words are having any impact. Thankfully you have some avid readers like me who enjoy what you have to share. But even more importantly God sees what you have been writing and is pleased because your words glorify him. Much blessings my friend 🙂
Thanks for your reply and merry Christmas.