Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas or birthdays, and they give Bible reasons for it. Are they right that these celebrations displease God?
Short answer: No. Christians may joyfully celebrate both. Heaven itself celebrated Christ's birth (Luke 2:13–14), and Scripture calls a child's birth a reason to rejoice (Luke 1:14). The Bible never forbids birthdays, as Witnesses admit, and the debated history of December 25 does not make Christmas pagan.
Key verses on Christmas and birthdays
- "I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." (Luke 2:10)
- "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14)
- "many will rejoice at his birth" (Luke 1:14)
- "The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter." (John 10:22)
- "Whoever observes the day, observes it for the Lord." (Romans 14:6)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
First, the Witness view in their own words. Their official site says, "Jesus commanded that we commemorate his death, not his birth," and that "Christmas is not approved by God because it is rooted in pagan customs and rites" (jw.org). On birthdays it is candid: "Although the Bible does not explicitly forbid celebrating birthdays," Witnesses believe "such celebrations displease God" (jw.org). They add, "we respect each person’s right to decide for himself in this matter." Catholics should return that courtesy.
The Church celebrates Christmas as the feast of the Incarnation, when "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14). The feasts of the Incarnation "commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us the first fruits of the Paschal mystery" (CCC 1171). Its heart is humility: "Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. ... In this poverty heaven's glory was made manifest" (CCC 525). The Nativity is among the holy days Catholics must observe (CCC 2177).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That December 25 is certainly Jesus' birthday. Scripture gives no date, and the Church has never defined one.
- That Christmas outranks Easter. Easter is the "Feast of feasts" (CCC 1169).
- That Witnesses who abstain are bad people. "The one who eats must not despise the one who abstains" (Romans 14:3).
The Biblical Case
1. Heaven celebrated Christ's birth
The first Christmas announcement was itself a celebration: "today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord" (Luke 2:11). Then "a multitude of the heavenly host" appeared, "praising God" (Luke 2:13). The shepherds went home "glorifying and praising God" (Luke 2:20). The magi "were overjoyed" and "offered him gifts" (Matthew 2:10–11).
2. God's people kept feasts the Law never commanded
Purim is not in the Law of Moses, yet the Jews "established and adopted as a custom" a yearly feast to be "commemorated and kept in every generation" (Esther 9:27–28). The feast of Dedication began when Israel "decreed that every year for eight days" the altar's dedication "should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary" (1 Maccabees 4:59). St. John records: "The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area" (John 10:22–23). Jesus was in the temple during that winter feast and said nothing against it.
3. A day kept for the Lord is not idolatry
St. Paul writes: "one person considers one day more important than another, while another person considers all days alike. Let everyone be fully persuaded in his own mind. Whoever observes the day, observes it for the Lord" (Romans 14:5–6).
4. Origin does not decide meaning
St. Paul let Christians eat market meat, some of it once offered to idols: "Eat anything sold in the market, without raising questions on grounds of conscience, for 'the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s'" (1 Corinthians 10:25–26). In Athens he used an altar "To an Unknown God" to proclaim the true God (Acts 17:23). St. Paul also teaches that "everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 4:4).
5. A birth is a gift worth celebrating
St. Gabriel the Archangel promised St. John the Baptist's father, "you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth" (Luke 1:14). When St. John was born, St. Elizabeth's neighbors and relatives "rejoiced with her" (Luke 1:58). And the psalmist prays, "I praise you, because I am wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). A birthday is a yearly chance to pray that psalm.
6. The Bible's two birthday stories condemn killing, not birthdays
At Pharaoh's birthday banquet, the chief baker was "impaled" (Genesis 40:20–22). At Herod's, St. John the Baptist was beheaded "because of his oaths and the guests" (Mark 6:21–27). The sin in both stories is an execution, not a celebration.
Objections Answered
(a) "Christmas is rooted in paganism, and December 25 was a pagan holiday."
At its strongest: The Bible gives no date for Jesus' birth, and jw.org cites the Encyclopædia Britannica that church leaders probably chose December 25 "to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’" (jw.org). God says, "come forth from them and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Answer: The history is more modest than either side often claims. The earliest firm Roman evidence is a calendar compiled in 354, whose list of martyrs' feasts probably dates from 336, marking December 25 as Christ's birth in Bethlehem (Catholic Encyclopedia, "Christmas"). Why that date was chosen is debated. One theory links it to the Roman sun festival; the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia granted that this feast "has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date." Another holds that Christians calculated it from a tradition that Jesus was conceived on March 25, a tradition St. Augustine records. Even on the solar theory, the encyclopedia notes, "no more than the transference of the date need be supposed," and it says Christmas "should not be sought in the Saturnalia."
St. Paul's concern in 2 Corinthians 6 is idols (6:16), and Christmas worship goes to Christ, not the sun. Pope St. Leo the Great rebuked Christians who bowed to the rising sun: "we must abstain even from the appearance of this observance" (Sermon 27.4). If Christians did choose a pagan holiday's date, they filled it with worship of the true God. That is the opposite of compromise. (On the wider claim, see Did Constantine Create the Catholic Church?)
(b) "Jesus told us to remember His death, not His birth."
At its strongest: At the Last Supper Jesus said, "do this in memory of me" (Luke 22:19). He gave no command about His birth. And "the day of death" is better "than the day of birth" (Ecclesiastes 7:1).
Answer: Catholics agree that Christ's death and resurrection stand at the center. Every Mass, including Christmas Mass, proclaims "the death of the Lord until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). But a command to remember one thing is not a ban on remembering another, and God sent angels to announce the birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1 praises a life well finished; it does not forbid thanking God for a life begun.
(c) "No servant of God in the Bible celebrated a birthday."
At its strongest: jw.org says the Bible "does record two birthday celebrations by those not serving God. However, both of those events are presented in a bad light."
Answer: Silence is not prohibition, and Witnesses admit the Bible "does not explicitly forbid celebrating birthdays." The two stories condemn an execution and a rash oath, while Scripture plainly calls a birth a reason to "rejoice" (Luke 1:14, 58).
(d) "The apostles never kept Christmas. It came centuries later."
At its strongest: jw.org says, "Jesus' apostles and early disciples did not celebrate Christmas," and, citing the New Catholic Encyclopedia, that "the Nativity feast was instituted no earlier than 243 [C.E.]," more than a century after the last apostle died (jw.org).
Answer: It is true that the New Testament records no yearly feast of the Nativity. But a feast does not need to be in the New Testament to be good; it needs to be faithful to it. Israel's Purim and Dedication were added long after Moses, and Jesus was in the temple during Dedication (John 10:22–23). Christ also gave His Church authority over her common life: "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). A Church that may bind and loose may set a day to give thanks for the Incarnation.
And the content of Christmas is apostolic to the core. The first Christians handed on the infancy accounts we still read at Christmas: the shepherds who said, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place" (Luke 2:15), and Mary, who "kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). By the fourth century the feast was kept by the very bishops who were fighting paganism, with St. Gregory of Nazianzus warning, "let us keep the Feast, not after the manner of a heathen festival, but after a godly sort" (Oration 38.4). A late date for a feast does not make its message late. Christmas says what the angels said first.
The Early Church Agrees
The Fathers who kept Christmas were the same pastors who fought paganism.
- St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Oration 38, 4th century): "Christ is born, glorify Him." And: "let us keep the Feast, not after the manner of a heathen festival, but after a godly sort" (38.1, 4). (newadvent.org)
- St. Augustine (On the Trinity IV.5.9, early 5th century) records that Christ "is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March" and "was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th." (newadvent.org)
- Pope St. Leo the Great (Sermon 21.1, 5th century): "Our Saviour, dearly-beloved, was born today: let us be glad." (newadvent.org)
Conclusion
Jehovah's Witnesses abstain out of a sincere desire to please God, and Catholics should respect that. But Scripture does not make these celebrations sins. Christmas proclaims what the angels proclaimed, and a birthday thanks God for a life He made.
If you are a Witness, read Luke 2 and Romans 14 side by side. If heaven rejoiced at Jesus' birth, can it be wrong for us to rejoice with it?
Come home. Every year the Catholic Church rejoices at Christ's birth as the angels did, and she has kept that feast for more than sixteen centuries. Christ promised, "upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), and His Church never fell away or disappeared. It is the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of St. Peter and the bishops in communion with him. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). We invite you to come and see the Church Christ founded, and to enter her.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Was Jesus born on December 25? We don't know. Scripture gives no date, and the Church has never defined one. Christmas celebrates the fact of His birth.
Aren't Christmas trees and other customs pagan? Customs have mixed and often debated histories. What counts is what a custom means now and whom it honors: "do everything for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Must Catholics attend Mass on Christmas? Yes. The Nativity is a day of obligation (CCC 2177), so Catholics must attend Mass "unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor" (CCC 2181).
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Genesis 40:20–22; Esther 9:27–28; 1 Maccabees 4:59; Psalm 139:14; Ecclesiastes 7:1; Matthew 2:10–11; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:18; Mark 6:21–27; Luke 1:14, 19, 58; Luke 2:10–15, 19–20; Luke 22:19; John 1:14; John 10:22–23; Acts 17:23; Romans 14:3, 5–6; 1 Corinthians 10:25–26, 31; 1 Corinthians 11:26; 2 Corinthians 6:16–17; 1 Timothy 4:4.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 525; 816; 1169, 1171; 2177, 2181.
Church Fathers (newadvent.org): St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 38; St. Augustine, On the Trinity IV.5.9; Pope St. Leo the Great, Sermon 21 and Sermon 27.
History: Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), "Christmas" (newadvent.org).
Jehovah's Witnesses' official sources (jw.org): "Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Christmas?"; "Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Birthdays?"; "When Was Jesus Born?".