Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, a Jewish holiday that is not Christmas. If you don't know what it commemorates wiki it, or you can read about it in the first book of Maccabaeus which is part of the Catholic Bible (recognized as historical but not as canonical by the Jews or the Protestants, don't ask me why.) Ironically enough, the only other place in Scripture Chanukah is mentioned is in the Gospel of John, Chapter 10 verse 22.

It is of course almost two weeks until the traditional Western observance of Christmas. There are Eastern Orthodox churches that celebrate the holiday on two other later dates, but once again if you're curious about that wiki it.

I know there is a lot of controversy and buzz in the Pro-Israel Christian/Messianic Jewish community over whether or not we should celebrate Christmas or Chanukah or neither or both, since there is nothing specific in the Bible to tell us whether Jesus celebrated Chanukah and a lot of people are uncomfortable with Gentiles celebrating this holiday.

Beyond question, there is a lot of pagan garbage in Christmas. The tree comes from a druid tradition, Santa Claus is an amalgamation of several pagan ideas (my personal favorite being how he has a red suit because in 1930, the Coca Cola Company ran the first ever color add in the New York Times, giving Santa a red suit to match the color on the company logo, even though Santa had never had a specifically red suit before that) and even Ginger Bread Man cookies come from a quasi-voodoo practice of destroying your enemy by eating a piece of bread baked in the shape of a person which was supposed to be them.
And, of course, the date of the holiday has nothing whatsoever to do with when Jesus was born (which no one knows, and which I don't think is important) but it was picked to coincide with the Roman festival of the winter solstice.

My personal least favorite thing about Christmas is that at Christmas you go everywhere and see manger scenes with little baby Jesus. Everyone loves baby Jesus, which is fine. The problem is, spending a few weeks every December adoring baby Jesus (about which the Bible says little) is meaningless if you spend the rest of the year ignoring all the things He said and did when He grew up. But a lot of Christians only remember Jesus at Christmas, when they can see Him as an adorable little baby who doesn't say anything that makes them uncomfortable.

Do yourself a favor, don't be one of those kind of Christians.

All of that having been said, there's also much that is good in Christmas and Chanukah, starting with the fact that it's a time when families and communities come together to remember Jesus' message and to show love for Him and each other.

If you feel like you shouldn't celebrate Christmas, don't. But don't go around telling other people that they are not good Christians if they do, or that they need to celebrate Chanukah.

ANYTHING that causes unnecessary divisions or stress in the Body of Christ is not from the Lord, and NO ONE in the Body should be made to feel second class because they celebrate Christmas, or Chanukah, or both, or neither.

I personally celebrate both. I light Chanukah candles, I eat suvgoniote (doughnuts) I drink egg nog, I watch the Walt Disney Christmas Carol and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, I sing carols, I play the dradel game, I drink mulled wine, I give presents, I do it all, and I give all the glory to Him and I remember His blessings gratefully in all things, which is what it's supposed to be all about.

I don't have a tree, but that's not because I think there's something wrong with trees. In fact, the Jewish National Fund has a lovely tradition of providing Christmas Trees free to any Christian in Israel who wants one in December. I just don't have anyplace to put one. Someday, if I have a house big enough, I'll get one.

But don't follow my example just because. Pray, search your own heart,
seek God's will for your own life, and just be really careful, I implore you, to not ruin someone else's holiday by telling them they're sinning by putting up Christmas lights, or not lighting candles, or whatever.

As Tiny Tim said,God bless us, every one.

Blog by: Aaron Hecht (Christians Standing with Israel)