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With the onset of the Holidays, I invariably receive numerous questions about the various traditions associated with celebrating Christmas and various other areas. Every year, I try to take one Wednesday night and teach on why I believe what I do on holidays and such and this is that lesson for this year. Let's look at some scriptural principles about how to decide what is right or wrong that will help us in our journey and then hopefully use them to answer some "holiday questions."

1. We should always first ask does the Bible specifically address this issue, and if so we must follow the Biblical instruction.

This should go without saying, but nevertheless let me remind you that the first question we should ask about any query is "does the scripture specifically address this?" If the scripture does, then we should obey it, period. The Bible addresses sin as black and white and therefore there are many things that are absolutely wrong all of the time. Grace does not give us license to sin or break the moral commandment of God.

2. If the scripture does not specifically address and issue, then we must ask "is there a principle in God's Word that applies?"

If so, then we need to follow the principles in God's Word for that answer and obey it. Take for example alcoholic beverages. The Bible and particularly the New Testament definitely speaks out against drinking alcoholic wine by Christians. We should not drink such things. The teaching on alcoholic wine in the Bible also forms a principle that applies to all intoxicating substances. For example, champagne, whiskey, beer, marijuana, cocaine, tobacco, and LSD were not known to the Jewish people during Biblical times so the scriptures do not refer to such things by individual name. However the principle of the stand that the Bible takes against intoxicating and habit forming substances includes the prohibition of all of these things.

3. There are some things that are not sinful in themselves but are "weights" and should be discarded.

The writer of Hebrews made this distinction when he wrote:

There are some things that are weights to everybody in every circumstance. For example, there is nothing inherently sinful in fellowshipping or being around godless people in the world. We have to be around them all of the time. But hanging around godless people ALL the time and choosing to associate yourself mainly with such friends becomes a weight as they begin to influence us and "slow us down" in our walk with God. Having sinner friends is not a sin, but spending most of your time with sinner friends rather than God-fearing people will definitely weigh you down no matter how old or young or strong or weak you are! It's a weight and the scripture above instructs us to "lay aside every weight and sin!"

There are also going to be some things that are conditional weights to you because of your past or your personality that are not going to be weights for other Christians. I know of a situation where a girl was consumed by playing tennis before she came to God. She dreamed tennis, thought tennis, studied tennis, played tennis, and basically was consumed by tennis. When she got the Holy Ghost, God began to deal with her about her "tennis habits." Tennis is not a sin, but it was a serious weight to her walk with God because of her love of it. She stopped playing tennis and only picked up the sport much later in life as a recreational habit. I personally can play tennis and the only way it affects me is to remind me how out of shape that I am! But for her, it was a serious weight and one that she needed to discard. Tennis is not a weight to me in any shape or fashion. Golf probably could be, but I'm not good enough, rich enough, nor have time enough to even get that far!

I went through a stage in my life where I was addicted to the newspaper. I got to where I would get up early on purpose just so I had an hour to read the newspaper and God began to convict me that I put it before prayer and reading His Word. For the last five years, I have not had a newspaper subscription and now I only buy a newspaper if it is not first thing in the morning and I have already done my personal devotion with God. Reading the newspaper is not a sin and I don't mind if you read the newspaper, even if I'm around -- I'll probably ask for the comics -- but understand that in that part of my life it became a weight to me.

Things that you once had a problem with before you came to God will influence what your weights are. A man who was delivered from pornography might be convicted of the Sear's catalog because of the underwear section pictures. That doesn't make the Sear's catalog a sin, but rather a weight for him to have around. For some who were heavy drinkers before Christ, the company party might make them feel very uncomfortable even to attend for a little while. Those are things that they must let the Holy Ghost work out in their lives.

We must cast away conditional weights, but remember my weight may not be your weights and vice versa.

4. Some times weights are non-moral issues where Christians will and can disagree.

That is, there are some areas of life that the Bible does not address specifically nor does it give a specific principle to guide us. You've got to be spiritually mature to understand this. We are not talking about sin or weight issues. We are not talking about justifying sinful lifestyles. From this point on in this Bible Study, we are discussing "non-moral" issues that are not addressed by the Bible. Most of the Holiday queries fall into this category. Luckily, the Bible gives us some guidelines for dealing with such "non-moral issues." It's found in Romans chapter 14.

The Book of Romans is not a book for the new convert. It was written by the Apostle Paul to answer questions of pastors, some of which had had the Holy Ghost longer than Paul. Most misunderstandings of the book of Romans fail to take it in that proper context. In the fourteenth chapter, Paul addresses some "non moral" issues. The issues were in order:

1. The eating of meat (vegetarianism).

2. The eating of meat offered to idols.

3. The proper observance of the Jewish Holy Days such as the Sabbath and Festivals from under the Law.

4. Forbidding to drink grape juice.

We're not really interested in the specific issues as much as the guidelines that Paul gave to dealing with non moral issues, but notice that all four were NOT addressed by Jesus or scripture elsewhere and all four are not "sin issues." As to the first, there were some that taught that it was more healthful to be vegetarian and Paul said that if they wanted to be vegetarian then they could be vegetarian but the Lord didn't care if someone chose to eat meat. As the second, in those days idol worship and temples were prolific in Greece and so much of the meats sold in the markets had been first offered to idols. Paul discussed this issue at length in the church of Corinth where it seemed to be a big issue (1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 10:23-33). The issue was "is it wrong to eat meat that had been offered to idols first even though it was sold in the meat market and bought there?" Paul's stance was that since an idol is nothing it was not sinful to eat meat that had been offered to one, but since if pagans saw Christians eating meat that they knew had just been offered to idols, then they might think that they were participating in the worship, so for that reason the Corinth Christians should avoid eating at idol celebrations and such and eating meat obtained directly from the sacrificial area itself. If they purchased the meat at a meat market where it hung along side other meats or if they ate it in someone's home and they did not know how it was obtained then it was no big deal. In other words, to Paul, when it passed through a third party or the meat market, it lost it's connotation of being associated with idolatry even though it was pagan in origin.

As to the third question about holy days, Paul made sure that Christians were under no obligation to celebrate any holiday from the law or other sources. In other words, they are not required to celebrate any day any special from another. But if they wanted to do so, then it was okay to esteem one day above another if they did it "unto the Lord." In other words, if they celebrated it in a manner that did not violate God's Word or His principles and they kept God first.

The fourth query just dealt with some that would make non-alcoholic grape juice forbidden to be drunk because of the Nazarite laws of the Old Testament. Paul said that drinking non-alcoholic grape juice was no big deal.

In all of this, Paul taught us the important principles to remember in such "non-moral" issues such as holidays and such when things are not specifically or principally addressed in scripture and when some people feel one thing and others feel another:

1. We must not judge others, but must avoid controversies over these issues. The one who participates should not despise or ridicule the one who abstains. The one who abstains should not condemn the one who participates. (Romans 14:3-4)

2. Every man should have his own convictions in these areas and should follow them. If the participator has faith in his liberty, he should keep it to himself; if he has doubts he should stop. The abstainer should continue to abstain if he has any doubts at all. (Romans 14:5)

3. Whatever a person does should be done unto the Lord, that is, with the conviction that he is obeying and glorifying the Lord in everything. In all things he must acknowledge the lordship of Christ. (Romans 14:6)

4. In no case should one Christian allow his exercise of Christian liberty to put an obstacle in the path of another. Rather than judging others, we should judge ourselves so that our actions will not cause others to stumble. We should not let our liberty destroy others or the work of God, but in all things we should seek peace and edification. (Romans 14:1-7)

If you are not convicted of a non-moral issue and others are, then you should not judge those who are and should be careful that you do not present or represent your view in a way that brings division and disunity in the Body of Christ. These scripture present those who are bothered by such things as "weaker" Christians. If you are a stronger Christian and you understand that your tradition does not violate scripture, then you should remain true to your belief in such a way and attitude that you do not make the other feel lesser or judged. After all we should all follow our religious convictions in such areas and in these cases there is no absolute right or wrong.

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Understanding all of these principles, let me share with you my beliefs on certain "holiday" issues and why I believe as I do. As for what you believe, you are free to make up your own mind. If you have no outstanding issues with any of these items or don't have any personal convictions placed within your life by the Holy Ghost, then a good rule of thumb would be to follow my teachings as your pastor. If you encounter another believer from another church that believes differently, then respect that opinion and do not judge them nor criticize them but also do not change what you believe merely because they feel that it is right or wrong. Remember everything I'm saying applies to "non moral issues" that is we are not talking about sins or scriptural principles or weights outlined in scripture that apply to everyone. On those things we must all be consistent and obey God's Word.

There are many Christians of all beliefs and denominations that do not celebrate the Christmas season nor participate in the numerous traditions such as gift-giving and holiday meals and such. I have an uncle that is a "non-denominational" preacher who absolutely refuses to participate in the season. Usually their reasons for not celebrating Christmas can be summed up in the following arguments, all of which are fact:

1. Jesus wasn't born in December.

2. December 25th was originally a pagan holiday that was changed by the Catholic Church to give Christians an alternate celebration.

3. Christmas is too commercialized in modern times.

4. Many of the traditions come from folklore and did not come from scripture.

Here are my thoughts and feelings on these matters:

Jesus wasn't born in December -- that much is absolutely true. Luke chapter 2 clearly indicates that the "shepherds were keeping their flocks by night." The common practice of Israeli area shepherds is still to keep their flocks out only when it is warm. This is pretty good proof that Jesus' birth happened somewhere between our months of April to October. It's much too cold in December for them to be out with the sheep with the average temperature in the Bethlehem area on Christmas of a few degrees below freezing.

Furthermore, you can make a pretty good case from studying the timing of the birth of John the Baptist with the course that his priestly father served in the temple for either a March or September birth for Jesus. (A Bible Study that we will not bother to get into right now). The main point to grasp is that the Bible presents the facts in such a way as to make it impossible to prove which of those two months Jesus was born so if you are going to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, you will have to do so on a day that nobody knows if it is accurate or not. If we are to pick a time to focus on and celebrate the second most important even in human history, then December is as good a time as any. I celebrate Christmas in December for the same reason that I celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter even though it's usually a few weeks off the actual days of Passover: because I think that the events themselves are worthy of celebration and so we should focus on them and it doesn't really matter when we choose to do so! Those dates of Christmas and Easter are as good as any and really Christians should celebrate the birth and death of Jesus Christ all year long!

It is also absolutely true that December 25 was a pagan holiday in the Roman religion of Mithraism that celebrated "the Birthday of the Invincible Sun God." The Catholic Church decreed that December 25th to be the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ to compete and give them an alternative to the idol celebrations. That is true. But remember that December 25th was designated as Christ's birthday to keep people from worshipping Roman idols and NOT to go along with it! It's true, that the name "Christmas" came from "Christ's mass" which was a special service held on the 25th by the Catholic Church, but originally it was a prayer service so that Christians who used to get drunk and fornicate in serving the "Sun God," could keep themselves pure and their focus on Jesus. Mass is not a scriptural concept, but at least the Christ-mass had good intentions.

It is also absolutely true that December 25th has today lost all of it's identity as the crowing glory of Mithraism. If someone were to visit your house and see a tree and presents there is no one alive that would say "they must be worshiping Mithran." Nobody today misunderstands what we are doing on December 25th. It has completely lost all of it's pagan meaning and become the standard day where some people who never think about Jesus Christ all year at least give Him a few seconds.

If you were to purge yourself from all things that had pagan origins in our society, then you've got much more things to omit than Christmas. All the days of the week and months of the year are named after pagan gods. The planets are named after them as well. To be consistent, you should not use any of those names and reinvent your own set. But it's obvious that these names have shed their pagan origins and that nobody seriously considers using them as worshipping idols. If you say that you will see me "Saturday," I don't think "oh, he used the name of a pagan god, he must be an idol worshipper!" If I tell you that I was out last night and saw Saturn, you know that I'm talking about the planet. Furthermore the scriptures prove that if something with a pagan name has lost it's pagan significance, then there is no problem using that name. God did it, Himself. For example, in Job 38:31, God used the name Orion or "hunter" to refer to the constellation of the winter sky that looks like a man shooting a bow. God asked Job "can you loose the bands of Orion?" or, in other words, "did you place those stars together like that and can you undo it?" In Abraham's day, the Chaldeans said that those stars represented Nimrod, the mighty hunter, and worshipped them. But Job knew that God was referring to the constellation by what had become it's common name. If referring to something by it's pagan name that has since lost the pagan meaning is a sin, then God would have sinned!

I also agree that Christmas has become too commercialized today and that many people miss the entire point of the season. We can better counter that, however, not by withdrawing completely but by endeavoring to celebrate it with Jesus at the focus! If we do not celebrate at all, then how can we show others how to properly celebrate it? Rather, we should embrace the season as an opportunity to show people what the real point is! And Jesus should really be the "reason for the season." There are many ways that you can show this. You can be faithful to church and God through the holiday season. You can read the Christmas story to your kids before they tear into their gifts. Now that we are older, my father has recently started giving the family, communion together on Christmas. He still reads the Christmas story. We all give testimonies of what God has done for us throughout the year and give prayer requests of things that we would like the others to pray for in the coming year. Then we all pray together. It's special and the Holy Ghost usually moves into the room. THEN we open presents and the fun and craziness begins, but we do our best to celebrate Christmas with Jesus as the focus.

This brings us to our last and probably most debated point. The fact that there are some Christmas traditions that did not come from scripture but have been handed down from past generations and cultures. That's true, but remember that unless a tradition contradicts scripture or keeps us from obeying God's Word, then it is not necessarily bad. There are good traditions that are not scriptural in origin but which this church participates in every week, such as having church on Sunday, Sunday School for the children (invented in the 1700s by the Methodist church), and passing an offering plate rather than put a box by the door. Another tradition is for the preacher to stand and the church to sit down during the sermon. In the Jewish synagogues, it was the other way around, but we have changed that because there are some who could not stand that long that need to hear the sermon! These are all examples of good traditions.

Look at the following scripture:

This scripture may not look important at first but it brings up some valid points about our topic. It proves that Jesus Christ celebrated the Feast of Dedication or Feast of Lights. This is the Jewish festival that is now known as Hanukkah. Let me quickly point out some points about this festival. It was celebrated for eight days starting on our December 18 which perfectly corresponds with the dates of Christmas. It celebrated a Jewish historical moment, the rededication of the temple after the Maccabbees won it back from the Seleucians. For the eight days, Jews light candles, get together with their family members that they may not see at other times of the year, prepare a holiday meal with special traditional recipes and sweets, and even sometimes give each other gifts. This festival is not found in the Old Testament but was an invention of man during the period between the two Testaments.

What this means is that Jesus somehow participated in a celebration in the winter months where we celebrate Christmas which involved human traditions of candles, special decorations, family "get-togethers," a special dinner, and sometimes gifts, all of which were invented by man and not commanded by God. Obviously Jesus never sinned so all of these things in themselves are not sinful. There's nothing wrong with celebrating other, man-made holidays, such as Valentine's Day or Veteran's Day as long as we don't violate the scriptural commandments of God's moral code and sin.

For the sake of time, I'll try to hit the biggies that cause some people pause. For some things their inclusion in the Christmas season is just the result of cultures coming together and should have no spiritual bearing. For example, poinsettias are native to Mexico just happen to bloom in December. People thought that their flowers looked like what the Christmas star that guided the wise men might have looked like and began to decorate their houses with the plant. When the Mexican ambassador, Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, brought the plant with him as a present into the United States in 1828, it became very popular and was renamed in his honor. Because the poinsettia's flaming red color contrasted well with the traditional green holly which the church was already using for the season, red and green became the official colors of Christmas.

Giving Gifts -- The giving of gifts actually finds it's origins in scripture when the wise men presented Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gift giving eventually became a traditional part of celebrating His birth.

Xmas -- The use of Xmas is NOT a sign of disrespect or an attempt to remove Jesus Christ from the holiday although that is a popular misconception, today. The letter "X" is the first letter of the name "Jesus" in the Greek and so "X mas" is simply an abbreviation that became common in the 1500s.

Nativity Sets -- These are a popular way to remind people of the reason for the season. As long as you don't worship the little ceramic figure representing Baby Jesus or pray to the one that represents Mary, then there's nothing sinful about them. One of the ten commandments is to have "no graven image, and not to bow down nor worship an image of anything in heaven and in earth." I don't think nativity sets violate this commandment any more than children playing with a doll or a plastic horse (both of which are images of things in earth) do. The point is not to worship them. I have many friends that are sure to put up a nativity set in their home because they want others to know that they know the real reason for the season. Rather than Santa Claus and reindeer in their front yard, they put big nativity sets. Catholicism teaches the worship of images of Jesus, Mary, and a zillion other saints and sometimes people who were raised Catholic are weighted down from their past idolatry to the point of feeling uncomfortable with a nativity in their house. If so, then they should not have one but remember that it's a weight caused from their past and not a sin issue. If others choose to have one, then they should not criticize them and vice versa. All of the principles of Romans 14 apply here and in every one of these points.

Santa Claus -- The original Santa Claus was an actual person, named St. Nicholas, who was born in the ancient town of Lycia, Turkey in the fourth century. He was born wealthy but when he decided to become a priest, he made up his mind to give all of his money away. By all accounts the real "St. Nick" was very generous. One such story tells of how St. Nicholas gave money to some poor sisters who had no money to get married by climbing up to their window and throwing socks full of money into the room by the fireplace for them to find when they awoke. Other stories indicate that St. Nick would often get his favorite donkey and drive around in a wagon full of bags of presents such as fruit, nuts, hard candies, and dolls. As he would drive around giving these presents to the children of the area, he would always have on his white and red "bishop's robes" and St. Nick traveling on his wagon loaded with goodies in his familiar white and red get up became a familiar sight. You can see where many of our Christmas traditions of today have their foundation in this story.

The Dutch people kept the St. Nicholas tradition alive by retelling the stories of his generosity through the generations. When the Dutch came to America, they brought two traditions with them that added to the legend. First, they would present their children's gifts on Christmas morning in the wooden shoes common to their culture. In America, there were no wooden shoes and so people began to use stockings hung on the fire-place mantle. Second, the Dutch called St. Nicholas "Sint Nikolass" which eventually combined into the name "Sinterklass." When the English took over the American coast, the name was anglicized into the familiar "Santa Claus."

In 1822, a theology professor in New York named Dr. Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem for fun to read to his kid's on Christmas Eve. A friend got a copy of it and mailed it to the newspaper where it was printed, reprinted, and passed around the country until every line was sometimes memorized. The name of the poem was "The Night Before Christmas." The sleigh, reindeer, coming down the chimney, and Santa Claus' belly came from this poem.

From 1863 to 1886, an artist named Thomas Nast worked, drawing and illustrating for the popular magazine "Harper's Weekly." Over those many years, he turned Santa Claus into the familiar white-bearded figure that we see today and also added the stuff about the North Pole toy factory, elves making the toys, Santa's checking up on kid's behavior, and sending Santa lists. It wouldn't be until 1939 that Rudolph came along. The famous song began life as a poem that was a free handout to all shoppers at the Montgomery Ward department store. A man named Johnny Marks decided in 1947 to put the poem to music and it wasn't until 1949 that he found a singer willing to do it. That singer was Gene Autry and because of that song, Rudolph has certainly gone down in "his ---- tor ---- ry!"

Santa Claus, then, is a celebration of the attitude and spirit of giving and generosity. All the rest is just a combination of Dutch and American folklore. I think such tales and traditions are harmless as long as you keep Jesus Christ as the reason for the season. Sing "Rudolph" with your kids, but also sing "Away in a Manger." More than anything, your life will show them who's more important. If someone is bothered by Santa Claus and has a personal conviction against such traditions, then they should follow the rules of Romans 14.

Christmas Trees -- Christmas trees came from the German culture in the 1500s. It was Martin Luther, the man who stood up against the many sinful practices of the Catholic Church that is credited with bringing a tree inside the home and putting lights on it amidst holiday decorations. The story goes that Luther had a path through the forests that he liked to walk when he was putting together sermons and praying. One night as he was out praying, he was so taken with the sight of the bright stars shining through the branches of the fir trees that he went home and tried to recreate it for his children by placing candles on a fir tree inside. His sermon was about the fact that Jesus Christ was the "light of the world" and so the tree was called Christbaum or "Christ's tree." It's a proven fact that the Pennsylvanians Germans introduced the tradition in America as the practice is notated in the diary of Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania under the date December 20, 1821.

No tradition of Christmas has been attacked by others like the Christmas tree. To the New England Puritans of colonial times, the holiday was sacred and should involve "no joy." The Pilgrim's second governor, William Bradford wrote -- and I quote -- that he "tried to 'stamp out' any pagan mockery of the observance, penalizing any frivolity." Later the influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions of Christmas" namely Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated that "sacred event." Fun was out and so -- it seemed -- was the Christmas tree.

There are those today who still do not put up Christmas trees, citing it's "pagan origins" which really are not pagan but that they embodied a "joyful attitude" in celebrating Christmas. People often twist a scripture in Jeremiah to try to link Christmas trees with idolatry. Let's end our study of holidays by looking at that scripture:

Those who would not put up Christmas trees say that this passage refers to the setting up of Christmas trees and how people pick out their tree, make it stand up right in the house and "deck it with silver and gold." They also usually say that when a persons places a present under the tree, that they are "worshipping" their tree.

I personally have no problems with the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree for the following reasons:

1. The context of Jeremiah's preaching is the time before Captivity of the Jewish people. He is preaching against "idolatry" and of the many idols which were formed out of wood. There is no idolatrous religion that advocates placing a tree with the branches still on into your house and worshipping it that I can find record of and there is no solid evidence that the practice of Christ's Tree came from pagan roots. In fact, there's evidence of just the opposite that it began with a preacher making a memory for his children.

2. Jeremiah was contemporary with Isaiah and both addressed the idolatry of Israel of that day. Isaiah went into even greater detail of the stupidity of making idols and indicated that they were carved "after the figure of the man" (Isaiah 44:13-17). Jeremiah and Isaiah are speaking against the foolishness of taking a tree in the forest, stripping off it's branches, carving it into an idol with a face and such, possibly overlaying it with gold or silver or some other decorative finish and fastening it so that it won't fall over in your house and worshipping it and praying to it as a god. The finished product of the idolaters spoken about in these scriptures would have born little resemblance to a modern Christmas tree with ornaments hung on branches that were left in place.

If Jeremiah's preaching was a scriptural principle against other things besides idols, then to be consistent, all forms of greenery and trees would be forbidden in the home. Especially if it was adorned or embellished with any decorations. Furthermore, other things would apply too, such as crown molding or floor trim which is taken from the forest, fixed with hammer and nail, and decorated sometimes with gold or silver colors. If this scripture is going to be twisted from it's original connotation of referring to idol making then it would have to apply many other things besides Christmas trees that obviously are far from the intent of God.

Furthermore, Solomon's Temple would have violated this teaching because for example the doors were made of wood, with images carved into them and overlaid with gold and placed in the house. The point is that nobody worshipped the doors nor prayed to it, so it obviously wasn't idolatry. For something to be idolatrous, you must worship it or put your faith in it. I know of no one who prays to their Christmas tree or puts their hope of salvation in it. I've never heard of a "Christmas tree cult." Songs like "Oh Christmas Tree" are just traditional ballads about the tradition.

3. The logic that the act of kneeling down to perform a task such as placing presents is worship is flawed in almost every way. I kneel to turn on the water and set the temperature for my morning shower everyday but I'm not worshipping my bathroom tub. I kneel to change a flat tire but I'm certainly not worshipping my car. On the flip side of the picture, there are many who kneel at an altar in our church every Sunday but really don't worship Jesus with their heart and mind. Worship involves surrender and the outward motion must be matched by a heartfelt passion.

4. Even if the Christmas tree tradition was pagan in origin (which it is not), then it has lost it's pagan significance just as the celebration of Christmas in general. I feel like if a person is not going to put up a Christmas tree because of it's "pagan origins" then they should be consistent and also not celebrate Christmas in any way in December or -- since we don't know the correct time of year -- at all. They should also develop other names for the days of the weeks and the months of the year, the planets, etc ... To me it's not that big a deal and if such effort and time and devotion were spent teaching others the importance of Jesus' birth, then it would be much better spent.

These are my personal feelings on these subjects and I bring them up to illustrate that all of these traditions are not moral issues that are spelled out black in white in scripture therefore there is room for different opinions. There are those that disagree and they certainly have that right to do so. If you disagree or feel strongly differently about something mentioned here then by all means follow your conviction. It might be a weight or a Godly conviction for you and you are commanded to be true to your convictions. If so, then remember you feel so strongly about it because it's wrong for you. But on non-moral issues there will be others that disagree with you on that area and have no problem following that tradition. You both should be true to your convictions in a way that is peaceful and promotes unity. The stronger Christian will be the most accommodating and less critical of other's beliefs. You both should agree to fellowship together and focus on the main things that we can all be sure of and that is without the sacrifice that the Baby Jesus would grow up to pay on Calvary, then there would be no everlasting hope for any of us! In our attempt to be more like Him, we must strive to embody His attitude toward others. Even when it comes to such issues as "holidays!"