Posted on 12/14/2013 2:56:27 PM PST by InHisService
All right, before you get your freckles in an uproar by reading that title and making a quick, errant assumption about me, let me clarify a few things.
I’m a bible believing, spirit filled Christian. I am not an atheist sympathizer. I do not doubt my faith, nor do I have any doubts about the deity of Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior, and I believe the world is lost without Him.
For years I celebrated Christmas. But last year, I decided to stop celebrating it. Something awoke in me, and I just felt turned off by the whole thing.
As a kid, I was coddled just like most children. Every Christmas my brother and I unwrapped numerous presents, and always got what we wanted.
I remember a new bike one year, and an awesome stereo another. I never gave a thought about how hard my parents had to work to pay for the stuff, and I’m sure children these days don’t, either.
And, we did go to church. If fact, we weren’t the proverbial “once a year’ers;” we went weekly. But being a kid, naturally Christmas was all about the presents.
Raising my daughter, though I was a single mom, my daughter was never deprived at Christmas. And I enjoyed giving to her. She was not a spoiled child as she didn’t get much all year long, so Christmas was the time to indulge her.
Anyway, I’ve wanted to write this article for a while. It’s been niggling at me for quite some time. But I put it off because I didn’t want to appear as a snarky Grinch during the Christmas season. My position is a very unpopular one among Christians.
I believe the Holy Spirit has gotten a hold of me, and after seeing a video discussing a particular billboard American Atheists erected this season, I was compelled to write about my position.
One of the billboards, in New York City’s Times Square, reads, “Who Needs Christ During Christmas? Nobody.” The name of Christ is crossed out.
David Muscato, Public Relations Director at American Atheists had this to say about the billboard and about Christmas:
“Most people don’t care about any religious ties to the season because church and religion are not what Americans care about during this time of year—they care about family and friends and giving presents and food and having fun.”
And right he is. Christians can pretend they are honoring Christ this time of year, but they really aren’t. People are consumed with the retail aspect of it: spending.
Muscato goes on to say, “Many so-called ‘Christmas’ traditions celebrated by Americans have nothing to do with Christianity. For example, the North Pole and Santa traditions come from Nordic and Germanic pagan traditions, and caroling, Yule logs, mistletoe, holly wreaths all pre-date Christianity.”
He is absolutely correct in that statement. In fact, every single Christmas tradition we have was started by, and stolen, from the pagans.
That’s right, everything from the tree, to mistletoe to holly to gifts were all pagan traditions. (I’ve done a lot of research into the origins of Christmas; however, this article is not going to elaborate on it as it is very lengthy. An online search of “Pagan origins of Christmas” will yield a million and a half results. An excellent article on the topic can be seen here, True Origins of Christmas: http://rcg.org/books/ttooc.html )
Said David Silverman, President of American Atheists, “We all love this time of year.
“Christianity has been trying to claim ownership of the season for hundreds of years. But the winter solstice came first and so did its traditions. The season belongs to everybody.”
Right again. How can Christian’s claim Christmas belongs to them when we stole it from non-believers? Additionally, there is nothing in the bible about celebrating Christmas. The fact that atheists celebrate what is supposed to be a Christian holy day is alarming. But celebrate it they do, minus anything Christ.
Not only that, Jesus could not have been, and was not born, on December 25th. Most biblical scholars believe he was born in the fall and the biblical account of his birth testifies to that. The date was selected because it coincided with the idolatrous pagan festival Saturnalia. So the date of Christmas was chosen as a sort of in-your-face way of saying, “We as Christians are stealing your date for ourselves! Take that.” Nice gesture on behalf of God, but it hasn’t turned out well. No wonder why.
Now, I don’t like the group American Atheists. In fact, I despise them. I can’t stand David Silverman, who regularly appears on Fox News and elsewhere to tout his anti-God beliefs. To me, they are bullying militant atheists bent on wiping out God and particularly Jesus Christ from the public square. And they have been very successful in a lot of ways.
So, I’m not agreeing with them for any other reason in this area, but they are right on.
(I have written about some of the atheist lawsuits and their attack on Christianity in an article last year on this blog, “It’s not just a War on Christmas, It’s a War on Christianity,” which can be seen here: http://www.maryckirchhoff.com/2012/12/its-not-just-war-on-christmas-its-war.html )
Christmas has become completely distorted and perverted and what is supposed to be a day to honor Jesus has become a two-month long season of out-of-control shopping and spending, overindulgence of food and drink, massive debt and spoiled children.
Christmas, without a doubt, belongs to retailers, not to Jesus. The season begins around late October, and is in full swing right before Thanksgiving, and goes on til New Years.
So let’s be honest here: during this extended period we call Christmastime or the more politically correct Holiday Season, are we talking about Jesus and his birth? Are we marveling that God sent His Son to Earth to save man from his sins? Are we on our knees praying and thanking God for his provision in our life?
More than likely, if we are a believer we are praying that God will provide the finances to overindulge our children so they can open numerous gifts on that “magical” morning.
What really gets me is many of us in this country can’t afford to purchase unnecessary and over-the-top gifts for our kids. Millions of people either get heavily into debt or skip paying necessary bills so they can impress and coddle their kids. Not giving gifts is simply unheard of.
Kids must go to school upon the return of the break and brag about what they got. And what, pray tell, does this have to do with the birth of Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing.
The wise men gave gifts to Jesus, you say? That happened when He was a toddler, not at His birth. Saint Nick? Another misconception about giving at Christmas.
While parties and gift giving and receiving is fun, for the majority of people, financial stress is increased at this time of year. Holiday parties (oops, can’t call them Christmas parties anymore) require bringing dishes or purchasing elaborate foods. The shopping, the parties, the drinking, the get-togethers, they are all supposed to be part of the merrymaking. Again, where is Christ in this? Decidedly MIA for most people.
When’s the last time you went to a (I’ll be a rebel here) Christmas party and people were excitedly talking about God? Were they marveling about Jesus being born 2,000 years ago, talking about what a gift it was for God to send His Son?
The only gift I’ll guarantee they were speaking of was most likely their Black Friday conquest where they acquired the latest and greatest gadgetry for their kids that they couldn’t afford and will be paying off for months to come.
Is this what God wants for us at Christmas? Or are we deluding ourselves saying “Keep Christ in Christmas.”? I believe so.
The truth is, Christmas is a great lie. Satan is laughing; being the great deceiver, he has really gotten away with a whopper here. Christ never was in Christmas. The entire Christmas season has millions of Christians deceived. It has been bought lock, stock and barrel by believers. The fact that atheists celebrate it should be a giant clue that it has nothing to do with Christ.
Sure, we can sing beautiful Christmas themed hymns, set up a manger and go to church. That will satisfy the God requirement of the holiday, will it not?
Church on Christmas Eve or Day is about the only time you’ll get an hour or so of pure God. A sermon, some singing, some well-wishing among peers. A couple hours of God stuff for over two months of the so-called “Christmas Season.”
I’m not a math person, but that amounts to a microscopic amount of time dedicated to the Birth of Jesus.
Frankly, Christmas is farce, and I’m betting the whole thing makes God very angry.
Below, the link for the aforementioned Atheist Billboard Targeting Christians:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2933104645001/atheist-billboard-targeting-christians/?playlist_id=930909812001
Those who truly wish to honor their only hope for salvation would do well to put His wishes first rather than customs of man. The total lack of concern for the will of God by those who purport to serve Him is telling.
Deuteronomy 12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God
And the principle perseveres even though covenants change.
What did not God simply coopt paganism with all its distinctive pagan practices, which many liberals and atheists falsely charge our faith is, rather than commanding,
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. (Deuteronomy 7:5)
Why did God want the high places destroyed rather than transforming them into places of His worship? It perpetuated them so that they easily reverted back to what they were, as these were not trees, so to speak, that God had planted.
New creations, not re-formation of paganism.
How radical, although i hope they give gospel literature along with a loaf of bread, etc.
9 million people tuned into the Duck Dynasty Christmas special and saw the nativity story put on by the Robertson family for their church. I didn’t see it, but from everything I’ve read, I bet they honored Christ. And I bet at least half a million of those viewers aren’t Christian and just got the gospel presented to them.
Beats me why anyone can’t see the tremendous witness to the world that Christmas has.
The lack of concern for God’s wishes and instruction is rather troubling.
True, the Bible doesn’t mandate celebrating Christmas. The same is probably true for Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentacost and Thanksgiving. Are Christians who observe these occasions committing sin?
Anyway, happy holidays!
I enjoyed your post and thought it was dead on concerning how Christianity have imposed worship days despite the belief that they were done away with.
However a careful reading of scripture will show that the Holy Days of the Lord Jesus Christ were not done away with in scripture. There is an obligation and benefit that comes from observing them.
These holy days are listed in detail in Leviticus 23. However it's important to recognize that they were given to those who worship God BEFORE the establishment of the old covenant. Biblically there's a very strong case that they were established at the creation of the earth. For example:
Gen 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years
The term translated "seasons" is actually the same hebrew word that is used for the holy days of the Lord. Some translations render the verse:
(GW) Then God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs and will mark religious festivals, days, and years.
The notion that Galatian 4:10 "did away" with these flies in the face of future prophecies of people keeping these feasts of Christ as well as the early church's observance of them in the books of the new testament. In addition there are specific greek words used to denote Gods' feast in new testament scripture and these words are not used in Galatians 4:10.
The real story of why Christianity doesn't observe them is simple: Traditional Christianity "evolved" away from them mainly due to Antisemitism. The people in Judea revolted against the Roman empire in a series of revolts in the early first and 2nd centuries. (Jewish-Roman Wars
As a result anything that "looked" Jewish was spat upon, criticized and discouraged by Rome, the most powerful military power on the planet. This hatred of anything that looked jewish was incorporated throughout culture and society and still explains the antisemitism we have today.
In other words, and this is hard for most to hear, the traditional church today was founded by those who abandoned the ways of God when it comes to worship because they couldn't stand the heat. The day of worship was changed from the sabbath to Sunday. Scriptures were cherry picked and mistranslated to support this change and is still done today to justify abandoning the holy days (and other things) of Christ.
That’s right. I don’t have time to be offended anyway. Aint nobody got time for dat ; )
Well said.
For the first time I put some thought into the argument that celebrating Christmas is not mentioned in Scripture and therefore we should not celebrate.
As I showed on that I asked myself about the feasts and festivals that were required in the Old Testament. The question is, what was the purpose of these events. Simply put, they all point to the Messiah. Every one of them.
So now that Jesus has come I see Christmas as a these feasts rolled up into one big feast.
People, being the sinner’s that they are, will corrupt any and everything God has given us. Why are we suprized that Christmas has been corrupted? It is our job to do the right things with our gifts, wether creation, our work or our private lives, not to hide them under a basket.
Thank you for your kind words. Amazing some of the comments on here, attacking me for being a single mother, attention seeking, poor, angry, the list goes on. I will continue to pray for those who clearly need to be shown by God what the spirit of Christ is. While they are busy shopping and decorating they should be praying. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Nothing wrong with taking something pagan and turning it around for Christ? I see a LOT of things wrong with that.
I wouldn’t have a problem with Christmas if you took away all the trappings; the the insane shopping and spending, the decorations, the greed, people fighting each other in stores on Black Friday, etc. Those things don’t honor Him. If it was just singing carols, witnessing for Jesus and doing things that strictly honored Him, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. However, that’s not the case. We deceive ourselves saying all the pagan traditions that we stole honor Him.
Thank you. I appreciate your comment.
I’m looking at my tree and my decorated mantel right now....they’re beautiful. I really doubt the Lord is angered by these harmless, pretty things.
I didn’t write this piece to offend, but rather to get people thinking. For years I was oblivious to the pagan traditions that were stolen, and all the other things I wrote about. I think many people are unaware of it as well. My purpose is to inform, not to offend or become a “martyr” as you say.
Christmas has not been “hijacked” by retailers, that is silly. I mean, seriously, are you that easily influenced by advertising?
I find it interesting that you seem to use the testimony of atheists to build your case. Seems rather incongruent for a Christian to do that.
Thank you for your comment, and God Bless you and yours!
Thank you for your thoughtful reply and kind words. God Bless you!
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