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POSTED 12 DECEMBER, 2001
The Christmas Challenge
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
No
matter who you are or what religious ideology you hold to, the
Winter holiday season involving Christmas will be a challenge.
It is first a challenge to non-Believers as they are continually
presented with the message of the birth of Yeshua the Messiah
(Jesus Christ) into a world that is lost in sin. Secondly, the
Christmas holiday is a challenging time for many Christians who
seek to remember the birth of our Savior, but at the same time
all too often indulge themselves in overly frivolous
gift-giving. And thirdly, the Christmas season is a challenge to
Messianic Believers, as we choose not to celebrate this holiday.
The Reformation certainly did a great deal of work eliminating many
non-Biblical Roman Catholic traditions and theologies from the
faith. Today, Protestants believe in salvation by grace through
faith and in the priesthood of all Believers, rejecting the
claim that the pope is the “vicar of Christ” on Earth. Many
evangelical Christians recognize that if something is primarily
Catholic it should be tested against the inspired Word of God to
see if it is truly Biblical. The Bible does not tell us to pray
to saints or confess sin to a priest to be forgiven. Scripture
does not teach transubstantiation. Furthermore, Scripture does
not tell us that Mary, the mother of our Lord Yeshua, is the
so-called “Mother of God,” for our Creator has always been and
ever will be (cf. Micah 5:2-3).
Many Protestants pride themselves on being Sola Scriptura—Scripture
Only. However, it is an unfortunate reality that many
Protestants today still adhere, unknowingly, to some
non-Biblical Catholic tradition. There are various practices and
traditions among Christians today that can neither be found in
Scripture, nor find their origins in Scripture, but rather on
customs established long since the death of the Apostles and
early Believers.
All too often, it has been our unfortunate observation that many in
the Messianic community strongly and vehemently criticize our
Christian brothers and sisters during the Winter holidays.
Statements along the lines of “Christmas is a pagan holiday!”
are all too commonplace. This turns many away from hearing the
origins about a holiday that cannot be specifically found in the
Bible, but is seemingly good. Many Christians believe that when
you denounce Christmas, you are denying the Biblical reality of
the virgin birth of our Lord and Savior. Certainly, Luke ch. 2
is a part of our Holy Scriptures, and the miracle of the birth
of Yeshua is a sacred Biblical event. In an effort to stress
balance, grace, and understanding during the Winter season among
both Christians and Messianic Believers, we offer our analysis
of “the Christmas challenge.”
End of sample excerpt.
Enjoyed this excerpt? Purchase the
Messianic Winter Holiday Helper
 Paperback:
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$9.99
J.K. McKee
(B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist.
He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical
Languages Award for Greek.
He
is author of
numerous books, dealing with a wide range of
topics that are important for today’s
Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on
theological issues,
and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries
of various books of the Bible.
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