[DouglasKC]

Yeah, I know. But I have to do it.

[Mercat]

There's a lot of truth in this article and I've read most of the points before. God is not bound by time and I've always felt that events all over the world and at all times were influenced by the divine and in many cases are a reflection of the future wonder of the incarnation. We focus, and rightly so, on the prophecy of the Old Testement but Jesus came for all and although the prophesy and prophetic search for the divine was not written down, I beieve it was there. I also believe that the angels proclamation of joy was something to recognize. I don't care if it's the exact day of His birth. The reigning monarch of England has an official birthday. What better time to celebrate such amazing grace and joy than on the darkest and shortest day of the year.

Merry Christmas, joy and peace and love.

[muawiyah]

Not only do we "just gotta do it" the experience goes back far beyond 4000 years ago.

The ancient Sumerians (a nomadic people who invented writing, accounting, money and most of your fundamental civilization package) made tiny figurines that look like Santa (or his elves) and flying reindeer.

Here's a picture of the Sumerian Tree of Life.

Those critters to either side are identified by the writer as "winged samas". I usually simply note such things as "flying garudas" ~ which they might be, and is a name more people are familiar with.

[treffner]

thank you

[Zionist Conspirator]

Unfortunately, the Left's war on chr*stmas insulates it from honest evaluation by those who sincerely fear G-d. It's sort of like smoking--the hypocritical liberal war on tobacco has turned "the right to smoke" into a conservative cause celebre. The Left it seems can make conservatives take any position simply by taking the opposite one.

One final word: higher critical chr*stians will claim that ancient Judaism also adapted its holidays from the surrounding pagan cultures, but this is based on the "documentary hypothesis" and a rejection of the Divine dictation of the Holy Torah.

Read the front of your Bibles first, people.

[Diego1618]

Yeah, I know. But I have to do it.

We know you do.

Thank you for all of your input....it always makes for great reading.

[Conservative til I die]

Bah humbug to you, Scrooge.

[Uri’el-2012]

Paul's point is very pertinent to Christmas.
How can we claim to be honoring God
with pagan customs and traditions that He forbids in His Word?

Thank you for preaching the Word !

One day these "so-called" Christians will come to realize that they are not following Yah'shua, the creator of the universe.

They one day will come to realize they are following haSatan and his pagan traditions.

In order to please Abba, our Father, we need to measure each pagan tradition against the Holy Word of G-d.

"many are called but few are chosen"

They are like the wedding guests in Matthew 22:10 through 22:14
who refused to put the righteousness of the Messiah.

The Father ordered them to be bound hand and foot and to be cast outside into the darkness.

b'shem Yah'shua

[kerryusama04]

1Ki 12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
1Ki 12:27 "If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."
1Ki 12:28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."
1Ki 12:29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Ki 12:30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
1Ki 12:31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.
1Ki 12:32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
1Ki 12:33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

[aruanan]

Nowhere in the New Testament do we see Jesus' disciples observing His birthday.

And nowhere do we see them driving SUVs, but that doesn't mean it's un-Christian or wrong to have an SUV. However, from the middle of the first century we see both Luke and Paul discuss the significance of the birth of Jesus and that is in the New Testament and worthy of commemorating.

[xzins]

I became all things to all people that by all means I might win a few.

Even if December weren't the likely month of Jesus' conception, it wouldn't matter to me if someone walked into a pagan culture and took some of their concepts or traditions and used them to proclaim Christ.

Translators of the bible do it all the time.

"Putting eternal truths into the speech of everyday life reflects exactly the style of the Greek New Testament. The New Testament books were not written in the high-flown Asian style of the schoolmasters of the first and second centuries A.D. ; they were couched in the words of the common people, who were seeking the truth about the living, risen Christ. For those who sought life, the dead forms of outmoded grammatical styles were useless. So today, the missionary translator carries on that same tradition, giving people the Word of God in their own living language, though the idioms may seem strange to us. For example, the Uduks along the Ethiopian border speak of 'worry' and 'being troubled' as 'shivering in one's liver.' John 14:1 does not sound like English: 'Do not shiver in your livers; you believe in God, believe also in me.' But the Scriptures in Uduk are not being translated for us, but for Uduks who must understand the meaning of the gospel in terms of their lives, not ours." (Nida, op.cit., pp.23,24)

Patrick used the regard that the Irish pagans had for triads to his benefit in explaining the Trinity. Sounds like sound missionary outreach to me.

But some researcher hundreds of years later might say, "I've discovered that these triads were linked to pagan customs of the Irish. Therefore, you are following pagan customs when you utilize those same explanations."

Hogwash. They're participating in what was once a great AND SUCCESSFUL outreach in the name of Christ that turned people from those that were no gods at all unto the Living God.

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Yeah, I know. But I have to do it.**

A lump of coal to you. Anthracite or sub-bituminous.

After reading the article again, lignite.

[Diego1618]

It is amazing. Following this thread I see all kinds of reasons why we need to celebrate and honor Our Saviour at Christmas time. By hook or crook.... we shall be convinced it is necessary to observe this ancient tradition.

But what of the Festivals of the Lord? Passover (2); Pentecost; Trumpets; Atonement;& Tabernacles (2)? Oh....God did away with them....somewhere...I'm not sure. But he won't mind us celebrating the birth of His Son....if we don't paganize it too much....will He? Nah! He'll understand we're only trying to be holy.....in our own way.

[big'ol_freeper]

Married? Wear a wedding ring?

Wedding Rings

Some Pagan items adopted by Christians

Paganism Where Should Christians Draw the Line?

Is the Cross a Pagan Symbol?

[Quix]

Trash it or not.

Eat meat, or not.

Sabbath worship or Chinese Sabbath worship.

Whatsoever . . . to the glory of God and find not demeaning, stumbling causing fault with a brother doing unto The Lord as seems Biblical and right to them in earnestness, humility and Love of God

--II Quix 1:2