What is Christmas?

When December rolls around, something strange starts happening. Neighborhoods light up, even the grouchy neighbor suddenly hangs a wreath, and stores start playing music that somehow gets stuck in your head for three straight weeks. You can feel that the world shifts a little. It is as if humanity collectively remembers that we were made for something brighter and warmer and better.

So what is Christmas really about?

If you listen to TikTok theologians or internet critics, you will hear all kinds of bold claims. Christmas is pagan. Christmas is a recycled Roman festival. Christians stole the date. None of this is new. These claims pop up every year like clockwork, but most of them collapse once you look beyond the memes and into actual history.

Let’s clear the fog and get to the truth.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is the moment the Word became flesh and entered the world as the long promised Messiah. It is the story of God stepping into human history, not from a throne, but through a manger. Christmas is about incarnation, redemption, and the staggering humility of God choosing to be with us.

Christians did not invent this celebration out of thin air. Early Christians were deeply shaped by the belief that if God truly came near, that moment deserved recognition, worship, and joy.

Short answer: No, not in the way the internet claims.

Let’s evaluate the common arguments.

Claim 1. Christmas comes from Saturnalia.
Saturnalia was a Roman winter festival, but it was not on December 25, and early Christians generally resisted pagan practices, rather than embrace them. When Christians began recognizing the birth of Jesus, they were defining their own identity in contrast to Roman culture. It makes no sense for them to borrow from what they were resisting.

Claim 2. Christmas replaces Sol Invictus.
Timing is important here. The emperor Aurelian established the festival of Sol Invictus in 274 AD. Evidence suggests Christians were likely associating December 25 with the birth of Jesus before that festival became official. In other words, Sol Invictus did not give us Christmas. If anything, Rome may have been responding to the growing influence of Christian theology and practice.

Claim 3. Early Christians copied winter celebrations because they were convenient.
Nothing in early Christian writing supports this idea. What you do see is believers grounding their dates in theological symbolism. Early Christians believed that Jesus was conceived on March 25, the date they associated with the creation of the world and the death of Jesus. Nine months after March 25 is December 25. That math, not paganism, is what shaped the earliest dating of Christmas. These are not Christian apologetic tricks. These are supported by strong historical evidence.

The early church loved symbolism. They believed God works with beauty and symmetry. They saw Jesus as the true light of the world, so a date near the darkest season of the year made natural symbolic sense. It preached a sermon on its own.

Light stepping into darkness. Hope stepping into despair. God stepping into humanity.

That symbolism, not pagan rituals, is what anchored the date.

Christmas is not about nostalgia or generic positivity. It is about God keeping a promise that began in Genesis and ran through every page of Scripture. It is a rescue mission wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Christmas declares that God is not far. Christmas declares that grace is real. Christmas declares that Jesus has come for you.

And yes, that is worth celebrating with everything we have!

Alinea Church is stepping into this season with hope, joy, and expectation. There is something powerful about gathering with others to remember the moment God drew near.

We would love for you, your friends, and your family to join us this Christmas season.

Sundays at 9 and 10:30 AM Christmas Eve at 4:30 PM

Come ready to see Jesus for who He really is.

The world has its versions of Christmas. We want to help you experience the real one