NOW of course I celebrate Christmas as the birthday of our Lord Jesus. But we have no basis for it being on the 25th of December.A. Christmas, literally Christ-mass, was copied from a heathen festival observed on December 24th and 25th in honor of the son of the Babylonian Queen Astarte, and was kept centuries before Christ. The Chaldeans called it Yule Day or Child Day. The Christmas tree so well-known now was equally pagan and was common to all the heathen in those lands. According to a legend, on the eve of the day we call December 24 the yule-log was cast into a tree from which divine gifts from the gods were taken to bless men in the new year. This tree was common in the days of Jeremiah, who warned Israel to flee from this heathen custom (Jer. 10:1-9).
There is no proof that Christ was born on December 25. On the contrary, it seems that He was born during warm days, for He was born in a manger and in the cold months from December to February the winters are too severe for one to be traveling to pay tax as Joseph did with his family. Shepherds were in the field when Christ was born and it was not customary for them to stay with their flocks in the open from October to February. The winters of that land are so severe that Christ said, “Pray that your flight be not in winter” (Mt. 24:15-22). The only thing given in Scripture whereby we are to remember Christ is the Lord's Supper.
The apostles did not observe such a day as is common to us. Tertullian, writing about 230 A.D., lamented the fact that Christians were beginning to observe the custom of the heathen and said, “Gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion who take special care to adopt no solemnity of the Christians.”
The Church after Constantine, full of pagans, became so corrupt that, in order to conciliate the heathen and swell the ranks of nominal Christians, this heathen festival on December 25 was adopted and the name of “Christmas” was given it. It is not known when this was officially done, but it was not observed as a ritual of the Church until the fourth century. (See the International Encyclopedia on this subject.)
Finis J. Dake, God's Plan for Man, (Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Publishing, Inc., 2004), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 821.
But though it is NOT the right date and some other pagans around the world worship other things on this day... I set it aside for the worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In fact Dake himself was very big into Christmas celebration, even dressing like Santa Claus every year.