Posted on 12/22/2010 9:01:56 PM PST by narses
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Liberal plots notwithstanding, the Americans who succeeded in banning the holiday were the Puritans of 17th-century Massachusetts. Between 1659 and 1681, Christmas celebrations were outlawed in the colony, and the law declared that anyone caught “observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings.” Finding no biblical authority for celebrating Jesus’ birth on Dec. 25, the theocrats who ran Massachusetts regarded the holiday as a mere human invention, a remnant of a heathen past. They also disapproved of the rowdy celebrations that went along with it. “How few there are comparatively that spend those holidays after an holy manner,” the Rev. Increase Mather lamented in 1687. “But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in Mad Mirth.”
Excerpted from http://www.plaintruth.com/the_plain_truth/2009/12/when-christmas-was-illegal-in-america.html
The Calvinist Puritans were tossed out of England after Cromwell’s murderous dictatorship outlawed art, music, theater, anything fun. In US history, by contrast, they have been romanticized as the inventors of the Thanksgiving turkey.
Oh, horrors! Those evil nasty Clavinists! Calvinians. Whatever.
Well and good, but what connection with Calvinism are you alleging? The Puritans were generally Calvinists in matters of salvation, but it was their view of the covenants, and specifically the Regulative Principle, that led to their rejection of all religious practices not specifically prescribed by Scripture. While the two systems often do appear together as a matter of history, there is no direct logical connection between the Doctrines of Grace and the Regulative Principle.
ROTFLMAO!
While the differences in theology and dogma can be endlessly debated, historical fact cannot. Where ever Calvinists have had a monopoly on power they have established a society void of color, joy and hope.
Really? So those who believe what Jesus said, that all those who believe in Him will have everlasting life, tend to create joyless dictatorships? Methinks you extrapolate too much from too little, and have presented a sweeping generalization that cannot be factually supported. You have believed a highly selective, skewed history, a history as told by Calvinism’s enemies, but not in its own native tongue. Meet them on their own terms, in their own words, and you find them a humble, God-fearing people who sincerely wished to obey God in all things. In other words, you find them Christian.
In the absence of any effort on your part to articulate evidence of a connection between Calvinist soteriology and the Regulative Principle, I must assume you are conceding the point that there is no such connection. I gladly accept your concession.
Thanks,
SR
The Puritans had it exactly right, because they knew their Bible and their history. The holiday celebrated on Dec. 25th has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ and everything to do with pagan traditions.
I always wondered when I was younger, what does an evergreen tree, and the colors red & green, have to do with Jesus? The answer is nothing, but they have everything to do with the worship of the Babylonian god Tammuz (mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14), which dates all the way back to the times of Genesis. Tammuz worship was well known to Jeremiah, who specifically warned against its tradition of the decorated tree in Jeremiah 10:2-4...well before the birth of Christ!
It is believed by many scholars that Jesus was actually born in autumn, and specifically on the Feast of Tabernacles, where back in Exodus chap. 25, God said that he would come and dwell with us (not enough space to fully argue this point.)
So what do I do on Dec. 25th? For now, I celebrate “Christmas” with my family because they don’t know any better, and I believe it better to show love until they can come to the truth.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 11:15)
ROTFLMAO! You are getting more funny with every post.
” The holiday celebrated on Dec. 25th has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ and everything to do with pagan traditions.”
Yeah, right.
BTTT!
Like Jesus said, let him who has ears to hear, let him hear. Study before you draw conclusions, FRiend. I wasn’t born believing this either.
Unbiased readers who happen to read this thread can easily tell the difference between posters posting thoughtful posts vs those who can’t refute the arguments, and they just keep rolling on the floor, thinking that is going to impress anyone or help him/her win the argument.
I also find it peculiar that someone with a tagline: “Prefer nothing to the love of Christ” shows no respect towards a fellow human being.
Have you no sense of humor? Read the posts again. Try hard. Then laugh.
Not all, but the Calvinists have every chance they have had. Whether Calvin's Geneva, Cromwell's oppression of the English, Scottish and Irish peasantry or the hell that was the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the theme was a joyless dictatorship in which thought crimes were aggressively pursued and punished. I guarantee that for all of their denial or chest thumping no present day loud mouthed Presbyterian would willingly spend a single day under the thumb of a Calvinist regime.
It is true, against the excesses of Roman Catholic worship, the Calvinists sought to “purify” the church. They (We) took away all unBiblical customs for New Testament worship. So, for example, no incense, no fancy robes, no crossing yourself, no holy water, no recitation of the rosary, etc.etc.etc.
Christmas is one of the many “holy days” recognized by the RC Church. The Calvinists said Sunday is the holy day, and we don’t get to set up any others.
As a Calvinistic Christian I applaud the early Calvinists’ efforts to get rid of all the man-instituted stuff of worship and return to Biblical standards.
However, I celebrate Christmas as do most Calvinists of today, at least in the U.S. It’s just not celebrated as a high holy day, because Calvinists reject special days as regards to worship.
We love Christ, we love that He was born of a virgin in a manger, we love that He rose again. The rejection of particular high holy days as instituted by a church should not have us described as nasty scrooges. The few in my church who don’t celebrate Christmas at all are still kind and sweet people.
“Where ever Calvinists have had a monopoly on power they have established a society void of color, joy and hope. “
Nope. There is feasting, there is revelry, there is joy.
There just isn’t Roman Catholicism!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.