In this issue . . . Q: Was Christmas once a pagan holiday? A:
This is a common, but good question—especially around this time
of year—and the answer is much deeper than most realize. Up
front, the Bible simply doesn’t give us the date of Christ’s
entrance into the world, so any estimates would only be
inferences. But first, let’s discuss the pagan holiday. This
celebration was the pagan holiday Saturnalia, which was the
Roman festival for their god Saturn. It ran from about December
17–23. Saturn is the Roman god analogous to the Greek god
“Cronus” or “Kronos.” The land of Greece was inhabited by the
descendants of Noah’s grandson Javan. In fact, the Hebrew name
for Greece is still Javan. Javan had 4 sons, and they were: In
Greece and the surrounding area, these names are still a
reflection on the landscape. Many of Javan’s sons’ names and
variants have cities, islands, and other geographical features
named for them. Paul, the biblical author of two-thirds of the
New Testament came from “Tarsus,” a variant of