Debunking 3 myths about the origins of Christmas

Christmas. 'It's the most wonderful time of the year,' Andy Williams croons. Or, as a cast of characters from Jim Henson's Creature Shop sang in The Muppet Christmas Carol, it is 'the summer of the soul in December'.

But for others, it is a season of woe, an opportunity to blow a cold frost wind over the festivities with assorted dubious claims, doubtless well-intentioned but badly thought through and poorly communicated.

Though I disagree with those of such a disposition, I have no problem if someone personally chooses not to celebrate Christmas as such, so long as they do not seek to force that decision on others. I am however concerned with whether the reasoning behind such a decision is correct. Let us consider three erroneous claims I have encountered in evangelistic and pastoral ministry.