The Mixing and Matching of Religious Beliefs and Celebrations

When you think about religions mixing, perhaps you think of something like the scene National Public Radio described in 2024:

“The home in Morristown, New Jersey, is lit up with a sparkly Christmas tree. It’s adorned with ornaments—a snowman, tiny homemade frames with pictures of the kids and something a little less common—two Stars of David made of blue-painted popsicle sticks.

“Hanging from the mantel are red Christmas stockings, next to what the kids call blue ‘Hanukkah stockings.’ There’s an Advent calendar and presents under the tree, along with menorahs and a collection of dreidels” (NPR.org, Dec. 23, 2024).

Though this was in an article called “Interfaith Families Find Meaning in Chrismukkah,” the stories didn’t identify any specific meaning to these combined holidays.

In fact, Emily, the wife in another interfaith marriage, said, “It was really important to us to have a child who was raised with both traditions and saw them as distinct and can choose one one day, can reject them both, can figure out how in his own way to integrate them or hold them together. Maybe not integrate, but hold them together.”

Of course, individual families or small groups experimenting with mixed-up holidays like Chrismukkah are unlikely to start a new megaholiday with staying power.

But the experience of these conflicted interfaith families does reflect larger trends that have shaped the evolution of Christianity and some of the cherished holidays of today. In fact, the mixing has been so extensive, it can be hard to discern any resemblance between modern holidays and the festivals commanded in the Bible.

Historical mixing in ancient Rome

The history of Christianity includes periods of amalgamation of doctrines and practices.

When the Church of God began in Judea, it was part of the Roman Empire, which encompassed a wide variety of cultures and religions. Some religions were accepted, some were oppressed. Early Christianity suffered waves of persecution and pressures from the world around. Fractures appeared within Christianity even during the first century, and only widened over time.

Over the centuries, the faction centered in Rome came to dominate, and eventually, with the support of Emperor Constantine, it took primacy. After driving other factions underground (including those who held firmly to the teachings and festivals of the Bible), it grew and spread. Having the approval of the emperor, this dynamic religion began to assimilate people and customs as it went.

Historian Will Durant described this evolution as the religions of the empire congealed:

“Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it . . .

“The Greek mysteries passed down into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures contributed to the syncretist result. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity, the Last Judgment, and a personal immortality of reward and punishment; from Egypt the adoration of the Mother and Child . . .

“Christianity was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world” (Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. III: Caesar and Christ, p. 595).

Dr. Durant summarized the inputs that shaped the Roman church:

“As Judea had given Christianity ethics, and Greece had given it theology, so now Rome gave it organization; all these, with a dozen absorbed and rival faiths, entered into the Christian synthesis” (p. 618).

Within all this melding, the seven festivals taught in the Bible (see Leviticus 23) were abandoned or changed, and a whole new slate of celebrations was introduced.

Among them was one purporting to celebrate Jesus’ birth, even though the Bible doesn’t include such a celebration, and does not record the date of His birth. Read more in the article “Some Say Christmas Is Not Pagan—Is That True?”

Snowballing assimilation of customs

As Roman Christianity spread throughout the empire and beyond, celebrations like Christmas began to snowball, engulfing and absorbing more pagan customs on the way.

What if mixing isn’t just a harmless blending of cultures, but a corruption of pure religion that’s important to God—the one and only Creator God? “Winter festivals had existed worldwide since ancient times, and eventually many of those festivals’ traditions became linked with Christmas. For example, the Germanic solstice festival of Yule featured banquets and celebration, and Celtic Druids held a two-day solstice festival during which they lit candles and decorated their homes with holly and mistletoe” (“How Christmas Has Evolved Over Centuries,” NationalGeographic.com).

Of course, the Christmas celebrations of today have also been strongly shaped by the American melting pot of cultures and its unprecedented commercialism. The National Geographic article concludes:

“Those who fear the holiday has strayed from its religious roots have a point. In 2019, more than nine in ten Americans polled by Gallup said they celebrate Christmas—but just 35 percent said they saw the holiday as ‘strongly religious.’ But with its mishmash of pagan and religious traditions, the holiday offers something—whether holy or not—for everyone who celebrates it.”

But what about Christians who strive to follow the Bible?

Biblical warnings about religious mixing

What if religious beliefs and celebrations aren’t really a factor of feelings, but of truth? What if mixing isn’t just a harmless blending of cultures, but a corruption of pure religion that’s important to God—the one and only Creator God?

That’s what the Bible teaches. You can prove to yourself that God exists, that the Bible is true, and that the Bible points us to a true Church where true Christians look to the Bible for their beliefs, practices and celebrations. You can find these free biblical booklets on our LifeHopeandTruth.com website:

• Does God Exist?
• Is the Bible True?
• Where Is the Church Jesus Built?
• What Is a True Christian?

God commanded a set of seven annual festivals that the apostles and the early Church of God continued to observe. Paul referred to them as shadows of things to come (Colossians 2:16-17). We see in them outlines of the plan of God, which they are to remind us of each year.

But these celebrations have been replaced. What does God say about that?

Deuteronomy 12:30-32 warns about other religions:

“Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’

“You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”

Sadly, Israel succumbed time and time again to the temptations of mixing in other forms of worship. These failures find a modern parallel in the celebrations that evolved from the mixing of Christianity with pagan religions.

The mixing of other religious customs with those taught in the Bible might have occurred so long ago that they have become popular traditions, but they are still an affront to God. Tradition, convenience and even enjoyment are not good excuses for abandoning God’s commands and embracing what displeases Him.

Return to biblical Christianity

In a world that blindly accepts centuries of religious mixing, it is still possible to return to the true teachings and the meaningful festivals of God. But first you have to know what they are, and see how they illuminate the plan of God.

Learn more by downloading and studying From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.