Have you ever wondered why the Messiah's birth gets celebrated on a date the Bible doesn't specify? Or wondered what evergreen trees have to do with his birth? Maybe your kids have asked why Santa comes down the chimney? Did you know that Christmas used to be illegal in the United States? Or maybe you've found yourself wondering if these traditions matter to the Living God? In The Christmas Question, Kayte and Luke travel around the world to talk to experts to find answers!
I enjoyed the documentary so much and I'm excited for you to see it too! During the holiday season I like to remind myself of why I no longer take part in the traditions I once loved, and The Christmas Question definitely brought fresh conviction! While hearing from the experts was educational (I especially enjoyed Dr. Philipp Nothaft), my favorite was hearing from believers, such as sisters Michelle Glasgow and Kay Smith, and Abraham and Jane Lockwood, about their own experiences with starting to question Christmas traditions. If you feel like you're alone in your convictions, hearing from them will be so refreshing!
Fellow Christmas-questioners, Abraham and Jane.
That said, this film is really made for believers who do celebrate Christmas. And it does an awesome job of asking thought-provoking questions, and then shedding the light of historical truth about where Christmas traditions - and even the idea of celebrating it - come from. I loved that they decided to stick to facts supported by history! There are a lot of pretty wild hypotheses out there about some Christmas traditions, and while those aren't necessarily wrong, it's easy for people to wholesale write-off any problems with Christmas when others say things that can't be proven. The format they chose is clear, and leaves less room for doubt or arguing. Yay for that!
I don't want to give too much away, but there are a couple of quotes I want you to hear from the movie:
"I find it amusing when people say, 'put Christ back in Christmas,' because if you are Christian and you really do want to follow the teachings of Jesus then, yeah, it probably doesn't make much sense to have all of these pagan things that represent fertility because that's not really about the birth of Jesus." -Scarlet Ravenswood, tarot reader and solitary witch
"On comparing the Christian calendar with the pagan one, it is impossible not to be struck by the great concordance between the two." -John Calvin, A Treatise on Relics
"For people that just want to say that it doesn't come from pagan origins, my opinion on that is you're just turning a blind eye to what history has told us. ....When we deny that these origins exist we actually do a disservice to Christian intellect." -Dr. Jonathan Smith, resident minister at Convocation of Anglicans in North America
"Where in Scripture do we find that the Father redeems anything from a pagan god's worship and redeemed it for himself? I don't see that anywhere in Scripture." -Michelle Glasgow
Are you eager to check it out? You don't have to wait because it's completely free to watch online! I'm totally pumped about that, because I know those who are curious are going to be way more likely to watch something without a cost. Who wants to pay $14.99 to find out their favorite holiday isn't the best? But if it's free your curiosity just might get the best of you. Thank you to those of you that supported the making of the film because many more people will be reached this way. You can watch The Christmas Question here.
Streaming not your thing? Would you like a hard-copy to share with a friend or add to your congregation's library? Want to support Kayte and Luke so they can keep making amazing documentaries? DVDs are available for purchase here, but be sure to enter our giveaway below for a chance to win a copy!
Norse mythology and religious history expert, Maria Kvilhaug.
Kayte and I were able to connect, and she was kind enough to share with us some of their experiences with making the documentary, as well as their own experiences with how to handle the Christmas season now!
Land of Honey: What inspired you to make this documentary?
Kayte: 119 Ministries reached out to us about making this film. A few years back, we'd traveled to Costa Rica to interview Jon Sherman for The Way documentary and that's how we met. 119 Ministries had an incredibly impactful video called Sunburned that they wanted to redo in a new format. They wanted to make a documentary, to look at Christmas' history in the most journalistically sound way possible, and to forgo including any ideas that might be speculative in nature in the discussion.
So that's where we came in. We prayed about our involvement and thought about whether we felt we could add something helpful to the discussion on Christmas - and when we felt like we had the go-ahead, we dove in!
The aim of the film is to get to the bottom of why Christians celebrate Christ's birth in certain ways, and then to help the audience examine whether Christmas and its traditions pass the test of worshipping our Creator in both spirit and truth.
Can you tell us some the places you went while filming?
Fortunately, we were able to secure interviews with some of the world's preeminent scholars on all kinds of topics related to Christmas - and many of those people are in Europe. We ended up traveling to seven countries make the doc - England, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Canada, and all over the US.
You can learn more about everyone we interviewed here.
Did you learn anything about Christmas that surprised you in the process of making the film?
Oh man! There are a weird factoids about mistletoe and strange legends about St. Nick and why Santa comes down the chimney instead of through the front door! And there's a lot that I've learned about the date, December 25th and what was happening on that day, long before anyone ever celebrated Christmas.
Another truth that's been highlighted in this process is that the word Christmas means a lot of different things to different people. It's loaded, like the word "religion." When some people say Christmas, they're conjuring up images of time spent with family reading the nativity story in the Bible, sitting around the tree. Christmas for them is synonymous with the Christ's birth and family time. Other people picture hoards of insane shoppers trampling each other and all of the stress and commercialism of the season. Other people are thinking about how amazing it is that during this one season, strangers are all of a sudden so much more kind! Others think of pagan sun god worship! ...And some are just thinking about Home Alone.
Acknowledging where a person's coming from can make our conversations so much more fruitful.
Has the journey of this film stretched or challenged your faith at all?
The biggest challenge is just remembering to stay prayerful through the process. Remembering to pray first when there's some inexplicable tech glitch and the audio file won't transfer to the sound engineer. Remembering (during the process) that God already sees what the project will be when it's completed and having faith that He'll help us get there... because it's tricky work at times with what feels like millions of decisions to make.
The release of the film has been a little nuts with some strange hiccups! We were definitely tested this past Shabbat, when things were going wrong with the film's release and we were pushing up against Shabbat starting. When you've promised something and haven't quite delivered yet AND have to stop working because it's time to rest - that's a hard one. But we've learned and continued to learn that obedience to God first is always the right answer. We can't lean on our own understanding - we have to keep Him first.
What has your personal experience been like walking away from Christmas?
Christmas used to be my favorite! So having Christmas become just a normal day was faintly weird at first, haha. It's an interesting sensation, having what feels like the whole world celebrating Christmas, in every store you step into and on every street you walk down...and knowing you're not doing those things. And on the flipside, it's also been funny, celebrating, say Sukkot, and having the Amazon Prime delievery guy wonder why you're camping out and cooking breakfast over an open fire in your own yard. (I would have told him, but he left too quickly!)
Sidenote: some "Christmas" carols are still wonderful songs to sing, I think. They have such beautiful messages about the Savior's birth! And if anything, that's something we can all celebrate. I tend to sing them during Sukkot instead...or just any time :) As a new mama, it's kind of exciting and also a big responsibility to create wonderful new family traditions around our new special days. That's part of why I love Land of Honey! You have so many fun ideas for building a festive atmosphere from scratch.
How have you been able to share the changes you've made with no longer celebrating Christmas with friends and family?
I think it's really helpful to focus on the positive when talking to friends and family about why you no longer celebrate Christmas. I've heard so many people say, "We don't celebrate Christmas!" Period. End of sentence. It's so abrupt! Haha And when we say that, the person we're speaking to might be hearing, "We don't care that God sent His Son to live among us and die for our sins." ...which of course is not what we want to convey!
It's so important for people to understand that it's not the facts of his birth that you're avoiding, it's the trappings that have snowballed around His birth. We've simply traded out Christmas for other (more Bible-based) ways of celebrating Him instead.
Why not tell people that you've discovered the holidays God gives us in Leviticus 23 are chock full of beautiful symbols and traditions that all point to our Messiah and His life and ministry? Tell people how much of a blessing it's been to celebrate these special times.
Do you have any tips for believers who are navigating away from celebrating Christmas?
When it feels hard, go back to why you're doing what you're doing. Go back to what you know for sure. Remind yourself of the truths that you've seen that you know it's impossible to un-see now. I always find that reassuring.
Where can we go to check out the movie and stay in touch with you guys?
You can watch The Christmas Question, for free, forever here on 119 Ministry's YouTube channel.
You can also buy hard copies and digital downloads of the move if you'd like special features (and the ability to watch the movie without being online). Just head to our website.
Lastly, come hang out with us on Facebook. We'll be posting lots more teaser clips and thought provoking, shareable graphics and announcements about free screenings all over the country!
Giveaway time! We are giving away five copies of The Christmas Question on DVD! To get entered: use the Rafflecopter box below, you can leave a comment and/or visit The Christmas Question on Facebook. Watch out on social media for a chance to earn extra entries by sharing this post. The giveaway is open to both US and international readers! Thanks so much to Kayte and Luke for providing a fun giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
"On comparing the Christian calendar with the pagan one, it is impossible not to be struck by the great concordance between the two." -John Calvin, A Treatise on Relics
"For people that just want to say that it doesn't come from pagan origins, my opinion on that is you're just turning a blind eye to what history has told us. ....When we deny that these origins exist we actually do a disservice to Christian intellect." -Dr. Jonathan Smith, resident minister at Convocation of Anglicans in North America
"Where in Scripture do we find that the Father redeems anything from a pagan god's worship and redeemed it for himself? I don't see that anywhere in Scripture." -Michelle Glasgow
Are you eager to check it out? You don't have to wait because it's completely free to watch online! I'm totally pumped about that, because I know those who are curious are going to be way more likely to watch something without a cost. Who wants to pay $14.99 to find out their favorite holiday isn't the best? But if it's free your curiosity just might get the best of you. Thank you to those of you that supported the making of the film because many more people will be reached this way. You can watch The Christmas Question here.
Streaming not your thing? Would you like a hard-copy to share with a friend or add to your congregation's library? Want to support Kayte and Luke so they can keep making amazing documentaries? DVDs are available for purchase here, but be sure to enter our giveaway below for a chance to win a copy!
Kayte and I were able to connect, and she was kind enough to share with us some of their experiences with making the documentary, as well as their own experiences with how to handle the Christmas season now!
Land of Honey: What inspired you to make this documentary?
Kayte: 119 Ministries reached out to us about making this film. A few years back, we'd traveled to Costa Rica to interview Jon Sherman for The Way documentary and that's how we met. 119 Ministries had an incredibly impactful video called Sunburned that they wanted to redo in a new format. They wanted to make a documentary, to look at Christmas' history in the most journalistically sound way possible, and to forgo including any ideas that might be speculative in nature in the discussion.
So that's where we came in. We prayed about our involvement and thought about whether we felt we could add something helpful to the discussion on Christmas - and when we felt like we had the go-ahead, we dove in!
The aim of the film is to get to the bottom of why Christians celebrate Christ's birth in certain ways, and then to help the audience examine whether Christmas and its traditions pass the test of worshipping our Creator in both spirit and truth.
Can you tell us some the places you went while filming?
Fortunately, we were able to secure interviews with some of the world's preeminent scholars on all kinds of topics related to Christmas - and many of those people are in Europe. We ended up traveling to seven countries make the doc - England, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Canada, and all over the US.
You can learn more about everyone we interviewed here.
Did you learn anything about Christmas that surprised you in the process of making the film?
Oh man! There are a weird factoids about mistletoe and strange legends about St. Nick and why Santa comes down the chimney instead of through the front door! And there's a lot that I've learned about the date, December 25th and what was happening on that day, long before anyone ever celebrated Christmas.
Another truth that's been highlighted in this process is that the word Christmas means a lot of different things to different people. It's loaded, like the word "religion." When some people say Christmas, they're conjuring up images of time spent with family reading the nativity story in the Bible, sitting around the tree. Christmas for them is synonymous with the Christ's birth and family time. Other people picture hoards of insane shoppers trampling each other and all of the stress and commercialism of the season. Other people are thinking about how amazing it is that during this one season, strangers are all of a sudden so much more kind! Others think of pagan sun god worship! ...And some are just thinking about Home Alone.
Acknowledging where a person's coming from can make our conversations so much more fruitful.
One of my favorite parts was hearing from this panel of believers!
Has the journey of this film stretched or challenged your faith at all?
The biggest challenge is just remembering to stay prayerful through the process. Remembering to pray first when there's some inexplicable tech glitch and the audio file won't transfer to the sound engineer. Remembering (during the process) that God already sees what the project will be when it's completed and having faith that He'll help us get there... because it's tricky work at times with what feels like millions of decisions to make.
The release of the film has been a little nuts with some strange hiccups! We were definitely tested this past Shabbat, when things were going wrong with the film's release and we were pushing up against Shabbat starting. When you've promised something and haven't quite delivered yet AND have to stop working because it's time to rest - that's a hard one. But we've learned and continued to learn that obedience to God first is always the right answer. We can't lean on our own understanding - we have to keep Him first.
What has your personal experience been like walking away from Christmas?
Christmas used to be my favorite! So having Christmas become just a normal day was faintly weird at first, haha. It's an interesting sensation, having what feels like the whole world celebrating Christmas, in every store you step into and on every street you walk down...and knowing you're not doing those things. And on the flipside, it's also been funny, celebrating, say Sukkot, and having the Amazon Prime delievery guy wonder why you're camping out and cooking breakfast over an open fire in your own yard. (I would have told him, but he left too quickly!)
Sidenote: some "Christmas" carols are still wonderful songs to sing, I think. They have such beautiful messages about the Savior's birth! And if anything, that's something we can all celebrate. I tend to sing them during Sukkot instead...or just any time :) As a new mama, it's kind of exciting and also a big responsibility to create wonderful new family traditions around our new special days. That's part of why I love Land of Honey! You have so many fun ideas for building a festive atmosphere from scratch.
How have you been able to share the changes you've made with no longer celebrating Christmas with friends and family?
I think it's really helpful to focus on the positive when talking to friends and family about why you no longer celebrate Christmas. I've heard so many people say, "We don't celebrate Christmas!" Period. End of sentence. It's so abrupt! Haha And when we say that, the person we're speaking to might be hearing, "We don't care that God sent His Son to live among us and die for our sins." ...which of course is not what we want to convey!
It's so important for people to understand that it's not the facts of his birth that you're avoiding, it's the trappings that have snowballed around His birth. We've simply traded out Christmas for other (more Bible-based) ways of celebrating Him instead.
Why not tell people that you've discovered the holidays God gives us in Leviticus 23 are chock full of beautiful symbols and traditions that all point to our Messiah and His life and ministry? Tell people how much of a blessing it's been to celebrate these special times.
Do you have any tips for believers who are navigating away from celebrating Christmas?
When it feels hard, go back to why you're doing what you're doing. Go back to what you know for sure. Remind yourself of the truths that you've seen that you know it's impossible to un-see now. I always find that reassuring.
Where can we go to check out the movie and stay in touch with you guys?
You can watch The Christmas Question, for free, forever here on 119 Ministry's YouTube channel.
You can also buy hard copies and digital downloads of the move if you'd like special features (and the ability to watch the movie without being online). Just head to our website.
Lastly, come hang out with us on Facebook. We'll be posting lots more teaser clips and thought provoking, shareable graphics and announcements about free screenings all over the country!
Giveaway time! We are giving away five copies of The Christmas Question on DVD! To get entered: use the Rafflecopter box below, you can leave a comment and/or visit The Christmas Question on Facebook. Watch out on social media for a chance to earn extra entries by sharing this post. The giveaway is open to both US and international readers! Thanks so much to Kayte and Luke for providing a fun giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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