Why this celebration on this day?

[DennisD]

Way of Life Encyclopedia
CHRISTMAS

Christmas it the celebration of the birth of Christ. It refers to Christ's mass, which obviously has a Roman Catholic origin. Normally it is observed on December 25. The practice was popularized by the Catholic Church, and like many other Catholic traditions, it was adopted from paganism; in this case, from the pagan mid-winter solstice marking the turn of the year. The following is a brief overview of its origin: "Saturnalia extended from December 17 to 24 and in A.D. 274 the emperor Aurelian made December 25 a feast of the invincible sun. January 6 was sacred to Dionysus. With the toleration of Christianity under Constantine, both December 25 and January 6 became Christianized feasts (Christmas and Epiphany, respectively). Symbols, originating largely from classical or Teutonic-Celtic paganism, such as lights, greenery, and special foods, gradually became associated with Christmas, as did St. Nicholas, whose feast on December 6 had been a time for giving gifts, especially to children" (New 20th-Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, pp. 181,182).

All of these things can still be observed in some pagan religions. For instance, in Hinduism, there is a festival of lights in early winter that features bright lights, special foods, the giving of gifts, the alleged visitation of a goddess who bestows blessings on those who are good, etc.
The Santa Claus observance is a Roman Catholic/pagan myth. The Catholic Pocket Dictionary of Saints has this to say about "Saint" Nicholas: "His popularity, already great, increased enormously in the West when his relics were brought to Bari in 1087, and his shrine was one of the great pilgrimage centers of medieval Europe. He is the patron of storm-beset sailors (for miraculously saving doomed mariners off the coast of Lycia), of prisoners, of children ... which led to the practice of children giving presents at Christmas in his name and the metamorphosis of his name, St. Nicholas, into Sint Klaes, into Santa Claus by the Dutch. It should be noted though that the figure of Santa Claus is really non-Christian and is based on the Germanic god Thor, who was associated with winter and the Yule log and rode on a chariot drawn by goats named Cracker and Gnasher" (Dictionary of Saints, pp. 369,370).

We don't have to reject every social pleasantry of the Christmas season, but God's people are plainly warned to beware of philosophy, the tradition of men, and the rudiments of the world which are not after Christ (Col 2:8). Christmas can be a pleasant social holiday, and there is nothing wrong with such things; and I see nothing wrong with remembering the wonderful birth of Christ, so long as the emphasis is not on His birth but on His death, burial, and resurrection.

At the same time, we reject the paganism and the Catholicism of the occasion. Our children have never believed in Santa Claus; we have never had Santa's image in our home. I believe that is idolatry. My wife was talking recently with a Hindu woman who thought that the Christian's God is Santa Claus, and that Santa Claus had a son who is the Christian's Savior. Sadly, for many professing Christians, that is probably close to the truth; because they glibly and mindlessly follow such pagan traditions.

As for the Christmas tree, we have often enjoyed one in our home, but we see it as merely a pleasant social thing that has nothing to do with our faith in Christ. Some have tried to intimate that Christmas trees are condemned in Jer 10:2-5, but I think that is off base. Jeremiah 10 is condemning idolatry, and I don't know anyone who makes an idol of a Christmas tree. We certainly don't. An idol is something used to portray God, but I have never heard of a Christmas tree being used in such a manner. At the same time, it is fearful to see Christmas trees and such things set up in churches. At least in my estimation, that is a step toward Catholicism. One might as well get some crucifixes and pictures of Jesus and a Mary with a halo to put alongside of it!
We can't "put Christ back in Christmas" because He never was in Christmas! Christmas really has nothing to do with the Bible. Christmas is not Christ's day. The first day of the week is the Lord's Day, the day of His resurrection, and it is the only special day God has given Christians. We are to honor Christ's resurrection, not His birth.

The bottom line is that Christmas is a Catholic myth. We know that Christ was not born in December. The fact that the shepherds were out in the fields when He was born (Lu 2:8) is evidence that Jesus was not born in the winter time. There is no indication in the Bible that God wants us to celebrate His birth with a special festival. If He did, He would have told us when He was born and what we should do on that day. Christianized error is error still.
Dear Christian friend, enjoy your freedom in Christ during the Christmas season. If your activities are not condemned in the Scriptures and you have a clear conscience before the Lord (Ro 14), you are free to enjoy yourself. At the same time, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1Jo 5:21).

[JerryNumbers]

If you have doubts about celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25, what is commonly called Christmas Day, by all means avoid it, Romans 14:23, but be careful of condemning others.

[DennisD]

I've posted this before but I thought this said it well:

http://www.bibleits.com/christmas.htm

[Invicta]

Do you see different ads over there than we see over here?

I gues we must, I have Dell laptops advertised there today, with prices in pounds. The ads must be selected by Google.

[DennisD]

Usually is locally generated by IP from my understanding.

[Invicta]

Further reading:

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/xmas/celeb.htm


http://www.walkinthelight.ca/messiah%27s%20birth.htm

http://www.eaec.org/bibleanswers/christmas/christians_and_christmas.htm

[JerryNumbers]

Usually is locally generated by IP from my understanding.

A while back I order a power supply, & a dock for a internal hard drive, upon looking for these 2 on the net every web page I clicked on had advertising for those items. I finally got tired of it, did not take long, & I empty my cookie jar, them it stopped. They keep up with this stuff by cookies, & these items even showed up on this message board.

I could not open a web page with out seeing a pictures of a power supply & a NexStar-3 internal hard drive docks. Edited January 1, 2012 by Jerry80871852

[Guest]

Is there anything wrong with celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior?

If there is not then what day would you have me celebrate it?

Have any here looked at the list of pagan holydays, feasts, and celebrations? If you look you'll see some pagan day is celebrated each of the 365/366 days of the year. Here's some of the sites (some of the pictures in the last site below are pure obsenity BE WARNED)...

http://paganinstitute.org/PIR/sacred_times.shtml
http://www.prntrkmt.org/book/calendar.pdf
http://www.gnostics.com/calendar.html

So where do we squeeze in a day to celebrate Jesus the Christ who sets men free from eternal death?

[John81]

Is there anything wrong with celebrating the birth of my Lord and Savior?

If there is not then what day would you have me celebrate it?

Have any here looked at the list of pagan holydays, feasts, and celebrations? If you look you'll see some pagan day is celebrated each of the 365/366 days of the year. Here's some of the sites (some of the pictures in the last site below are pure obsenity BE WARNED)...

http://paganinstitut...red_times.shtml
http://www.prntrkmt....ok/calendar.pdf
http://www.gnostics.com/calendar.html

So where do we squeeze in a day to celebrate Jesus the Christ who sets men free from eternal death?

We don't "have to" celebrate the birth of Christ, but if we do decide to, so long as we do so unto the Lord, any day is the same as another.

[Guest]

We don't "have to" celebrate the birth of Christ, but if we do decide to, so long as we do so unto the Lord, any day is the same as another.

Yes, I agree, and have not said "have to" for that very reason. Someone quoted above the scripture allowing Christians to esteem days as they prefer. The "unto the Lord" I believe holds the key. Christmas can be an evangelical aid, the history of Jesus birth is everywhere at this time and Christians may use this to expand on the Gospel of Christ to unsaved family and friends.

[John81]

Yes, I agree, and have not said "have to" for that very reason. Someone quoted above the scripture allowing Christians to esteem days as they prefer. The "unto the Lord" I believe holds the key. Christmas can be an evangelical aid, the history of Jesus birth is everywhere at this time and Christians may use this to expand on the Gospel of Christ to unsaved family and friends.

You betcha!

[ANewMind]

I have begun to have quite a bit of concern about Christmas also. For a long time, I've known that the date was of pagan origin and that it was a Catholic holiday. That bothered me, but not enough. Then, while doing some research, I realized that even the "Christmas spirit" was of pagan origin. I also learned that the practice of celebrating Christmas among born again (non-Catholic) Christians is a relatively new thing. Even C. H. Spurgeon didn't accept it as a proper Christian holiday.

When I thought about it, I remembered that traditional Christian celebrations were often days of fasting and prayer. That seemed far from even my Christian upbringing on that day. There was some prayer, but the tree got more attention. I remember the bright lights and the shows about Santa and snowmen. I always said that I was celebrating Jesus' birth, but in truth, that was how I excused it to myself. We did have church plays, but they were so far from the biblical account that there was very little mention of the Cross. I've started to feel a little cheated. Now, I have to decide on the right way to serve God, but I have an addiction from youth that revels in lights and ornaments.

I know that each person has to decide for themselves. What strikes me as odd, though, is how relatively few believers even question the holiday. Even worse, many Christians see it as anathema to not celebrate Christmas. It makes me wonder how many more practices have crept in without scrutiny over the years. I'm still not fully decided, but I do think that it is a good conversation to have.

[ProdigalSon]

Christmas never has been and never will be Christian. There are two birthdays celebrated in the Bible and both by an evil people and for a wicked ruler; both ended in murder.

Christmas is the biggest lie passed on to the Christian church since the serpent deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible is full of verses commanding us to not be like the heathen, test the spirits, etc., but Christians still follow this pagan practice because it is popular.

The Christian world is a joke to the lost world because the Christian church is being influenced by the world and not the world being influenced by the Christian church. Christmas is a 450 billion dollar a year idol and the Christian church has adopted this pagan practice as Christian and in doing so this among other secular practices is why we are no longer salt and light. The Word says judgment will begin at the house of God. Is it no wonder?

[1Timothy115]

Christmas never has been and never will be Christian. There are two birthdays celebrated in the Bible and both by an evil people and for a wicked ruler; both ended in murder.

Christmas is the biggest lie passed on to the Christian church since the serpent deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible is full of verses commanding us to not be like the heathen, test the spirits, etc., but Christians still follow this pagan practice because it is popular.

The Christian world is a joke to the lost world because the Christian church is being influenced by the world and not the world being influenced by the Christian church. Christmas is a 450 billion dollar a year idol and the Christian church has adopted this pagan practice as Christian and in doing so this among other secular practices is why we are no longer salt and light. The Word says judgment will begin at the house of God. Is it no wonder?

Welcome to OB.

[JerryNumbers]

I don’t know what you call the Christian Church, the closest thing I can think of would be the Roman Catholic Church, RCC.

The only churches in this world that has anything to do with Christ Jesus, the Savior, is individual local churches, that are self governing. God has given theses churches the authority to govern their self, & they are free to do so as long as they do not violate principles that’s put forth in the Bible, that is they are to use what’s stated in the Bible to govern their local church.

Mt 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven

Mt 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mt 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen

It seems many of these churches have decided to celebrate the birthday of their Savior, Christ Jesus, on the day called Christmas, 25th day of December. There is nothing in the Bible that say they cannot celebrate the birthday of Christ. Of course the Christmas tree, nor Santa Claus has nothing to do with this celebrations of the birthday of the Savior. As far as I am concerned I’ll leave the Christmas tree, an the made up man in the red suit to the world of which the RCC is a part of.

In my 65 years of life, I know of only one church personally that has brought the Christmas of the world into their local church, having a Christmas tree, with presents under it, & a Santa Claus. From what I here it did not go over very good, & soon after Christmas the ones that instigated this were mad because the majority of this local church was against this & they left in peace & this church never did this again.

PS: I do know that other churches have done the above, Christmas tree & the man in the red suit in church, yet I did not know that church or anyone of its membership personally. The church I mentioned above, a small group took it on their self to do this without the approval of the church body, two of them being a deacon & his wife. The reaction on Christmas morning, with Christmas being on a Sunday, I'm told, was not very pleasant. And the small group that set it up was was totally surprised, shocked, that anyone, including the pastor, would object to a Christmas tree, & Santa being a part of their Christmas morning services.



Welcome Prodigal Son.