But did you know that the cross actually has a pagan origin? The facts show that, rather than being the exclusive symbol of Christianity, the cross was in use centuries before the birth of Christ. This is admitted by The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908 edition, Vol. IV, page 517):

“The sign of the cross represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization.”

5. What does the book The Ancient Church say about the pagan origin of the cross?

⁵ Showing the pagan religious origin of the cross, the book The Ancient Church by clergyman W. D. Killen says (1859 edition, page 316):

“From the most remote antiquity the cross was venerated in Egypt and Syria; it was held in equal honour by the Buddhists of the East; . . . about the commencement of our era, the pagans were wont to make the sign of a cross upon the forehead in the celebration of some of their sacred mysteries.”

6. Where did the cross have its origin, and of what god was it a symbol?

⁶ And, further showing its connection with Babylonish religion, W. E. Vine, in An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Vol. 1, page 256), says that the cross “had its origin in ancient Chaldea [Babylon], and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau [or T], the initial of his name).”

And what of the early Christians? Historian Neander says: “The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.” (Page 190) They shunned birthday celebrations as of pagan origin.

8. When did the use of the cross begin among professed Christians? And why did they adopt a pagan sign?

⁸ Showing how and when such use of the cross began among professed Christians, W. E. Vine, in his book, says:

“By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had [made a distorted imitation of], certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, . . . with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”​—Vol. 1, page 256.

Since the early Christians kept their homes free from religious images, where did images of Christ get started? The book The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (by Dr. Augustus Neander) (Second edition, 1848, page 183) tells us: “Heathens, who, like Alexander Severus [Roman emperor of the third century C.E.], saw something Divine in Christ, and sects, which mixed heathenism and Christianity together, were the first who made use of images of Christ.” Since no images of Christ were used by the early Christians, it is evident also that they had no images of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

You may have noticed that some pictures of Jesus Christ have a circle of light around his head. This is called a halo or nimbus. If you look up “nimbus” in an encyclopedia, you will learn that it was used by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans in their pagan religious art. The halo can be traced back to Babylonian sun-worship, and it appears with representations of gods of Babylon.

Further, holidays in memory of the “spirits of the dead” are actually based on the false doctrine of the immortality of the human soul. So it should not surprise us to read, in the Encyclopœdia Britannica (1946 edition, Vol. 1, page 666), that “certain popular beliefs connected with All Souls’ Day are of pagan origin.”

History books tell us that Easter was not celebrated by early Christians and that it is based on ancient pagan practices. The Encyclopœdia Britannica says:

“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament. . . . The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians.”b

Dr. Alexander Hislop says of Easter customs:

“The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean [Babylonian] rites just as they do now.”c

As for the origin of the date, The World Book Encyclopedia says:

“In A.D. 354, Bishop Liberius of Rome ordered the people to celebrate on December 25. He probably chose this date because the people of Rome already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birthday of the sun.”f

21. What do the facts of history show as to the origin of most of the Christmas customs?

²¹ Since the date of Christmas is of pagan origin, it should not seem strange that the customs of Christmas are also of pagan origin. Thus the Encyclopœdia of Religion and Ethics tells us:

“Most of the Christmas customs now prevailing . . . are not genuine Christian customs, but heathen customs which have been absorbed or tolerated by the Church. . . . The Saturnalia in Rome provided the model for most of the merry customs of the Christmas time.”g

Also, The Encyclopedia Americana points out that among the customs borrowed from the pagan Roman feast of Saturnalia was “the giving of gifts.”h