I number of years back, I did a study on the origin of Christmas. To my surprise, Christmas was believed to originally be a "christianization" of a winter solstice pagan festival in the early centuries. And the Puritans in early America even banned it for a time!
But if we consider Christmas to be the celebration of the birth of Christ, the first mention of that birth was about 700 years before Jesus was born! In Isaiah 9:6 it states that For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
and in Isaiah 53 it states why he was born. It states But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
In Micah 5:2, again written 700 years prior to the birth of Christ, it even predicts where Jesus will be born, Bethlehem. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
So the celebration of that birth (to come) has been taking place a lot longer than most of us realize!
This year my family did something different..we notified all those whom we switched gifts with and told them we were not buying any gifts this year...We've had much less stress this year..The stores love making a killing on Christmas and we didn't want to be part of the game..
One reason Cat.{ correct me if I'm wrong} that you don't celebrate Christmas is that you only worship Jehovah..you do not worship Jesus.
Your mainline conservative Christians basically celebrate Christmas everyday as we do celebrate and worship Jesus daily...
The date is most likely not really Dec. 25th but that is a day set apart to give honor to Jesus and thanksgiving to God for sending His only begotten Son.I personally have no problem with Christmas..my favorite time of the year..and also when central FL's rut is in FULL swing..
i think in today's society it doesnt matter what you believe. christmas is a special time for family and friends..and even people we dont know..
call it what ever you want, hopefully everyone gets a lil joy outta this time of year. if ya dont, then maybe its time ya sit back, relax, and try and get a grasp on the big picture. happy holidays.
__________________ _ _ _Death Comes Out the End of This Thing _ _ _
hopefully everyone gets a lil joy outta this time of year. if ya dont, then maybe its time ya sit back, relax, and try and get a grasp on the big picture.
Spot on.
It is what you make it. I was raised to celebrate Christmas as a recognition of the birth story of Christ. I was an adult before I heard about the suppossed pagan roots. I could care less--that doesn't change what it means to me.
My best friend has the same birthday as bho. Just because we celebrate my friend's birthday on that day doesn't mean I'm celebrating bho's birthday. It's sad that some folks try to project and tell others that they don't know what they are really celebrating, what is really in their hearts.
Chad
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
The birth of Christ has no pagan roots. His birthday is not pagan. They really are just trying to connect his birthday to some pagan god to deny his divinity.
kinda sneaky, if you were to ask me.
Noone is sayin it does.....jesus wasnt born on dec 25th...the 25th is a pagen holiday....the christians tried to drown it out by using the date as jesus birthday. You got it backwards.
__________________ _ _ _Death Comes Out the End of This Thing _ _ _
FUNNY -I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS VERY THING A COUPLE DAYS AGO WHILE SITTING IN A TREESTAND SEEING NOTHING. Sorry, just noticed caps were on - I'm not yelling.
If I remember correctly, Jesus was most likely born sometime in early fall based on what the Shepherds were doing, when they were going to census, the star they figured was the one the angels talked about, etc. I also heard about it being on what used to be a pagan holiday. NOW, we use that day to celebrate Christ's birth - nearly the entire world celebrates Christmas - and the vast majority of them have at least heard what it's SUPPOSED to be about. So we celebrate Christ's birth on a day that almost certainly wasn't the actual date. Not a problem. If what you're celebrating is the birth of our Saviour, I don't think He minds. I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year and I enjoy all the trappings that come with it . . . but I remember the real reason.
the 25th is a pagen holiday....the christians tried to drown it out by using the date as jesus birthday. You got it backwards.
Well, it seems to have worked pretty well. Nobody puts up a Solstice tree in their living room. I've never received a Solstice card. Musicians don't try to capitalize on the season by releasing a Solstice album. Nobody goes door-to-door singing Solstice carols. Nobody exchanges Solstice presents anymore. I've never heard of anybody overindulging & making an a$$ out of themselves @ the company Solstice party. And nobody gets excited & nostalgic about the Charlie Brown Solstice Special.
It's called Christmas. Christ/Mass. There's a reason why it's Christmas, not Solstice. Christianity overshadowed paganism because, believe it or not, it just makes more sense.
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Noone is sayin it does.....jesus wasnt born on dec 25th...the 25th is a pagen holiday....the christians tried to drown it out by using the date as jesus birthday. You got it backwards.
This is true. And some Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in January anyway.
The First Christmas Was When?
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