Holiday Origins: Is Christmas a pagan holiday?

I don’t care if it is or not, we enjoy the day to remember Christmas, and be with family, and we certainly don’t bow down and worship other gods, nor do we convert to paganism during this day no more so than the apostles and early Christians converted to paganism simply for buying the cheaper meats that were offered to pagan gods,p then sold for discounted prices

Thank you.

And it keeps Jesus in front of the whole world every single year.

And for those who missed it, President Trump had a great message at the 2020 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

It's worth a listen to his speech and the song immediately following that was played as he and Melania exited.

The video is about 1 hr, 10 mins long. The president speaks at the 1:02:26 mark.

https://thenationaltree.org/lighting-ceremony/2020-national-christmas-tree-lighting-ceremony/

St. Nicholas was a Roman Catholic bishop. He gave gifts to the poor. He is noted for giving 3 poor sisters dowries so they could marry and wouldn’t be forced into prostitution. So he is associated with giving gifts to children and to the poor. Just like we do now at Christmas: delighting children with a ‘dowry’ of presents (to reflect something of value to improve their social standing/self-image), giving money, food and clothing to charity and volunteering at food banks/kitchens for the poor. The Mini Ice Age and the transfer of the center of religious power from Byzantium/Constantinople back to Rome added the need to update St. Nicholas into warm clothing befitting a medieval bishop of Rome. And to differentiate the Christian bishop from the Turk Ottomans, red clothing, hat and white fur (the royal ermine) reflected the symbols of status and authority within the “One True Church”.

The three wise men also brought (very expensive) gifts to the poor child in the manger. (or, were the gifts a sort of ‘dowry’ for Mary??) Gifting someone something they don’t really need, without any expectation other than to spread joy, gives you joy. So we celebrate the birth of Christ as the Savior, and as the man that lived a life of kindness and charity. At the same time we are also reminded of St. Nicholas, a stand-in for the wise men without names who surprised Mary and Joseph with gifts, but who left secretly in the night (to another country) as suddenly as they arrived, expecting nothing in return.

At least, that’s my version of why Christmas isn’t pagan in the least.

The sign of Revelation shows up in the early Fall nowadays.
And was earlier in the year 2,000 years ago.
Late summer..

Your premise of the shepherds is biblically accurate.

And that sign of a woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, does denote a ‘holy day’ in scripture.

And the 8th day, when He was circumcised, another holy day.
And 40 days from His birth, when He was presented in the temple, another holy day..

Sort of confirms why it is written, the Word Became Flesh..

In the Kingdom, it’s going to be New Moon Day, Sabbath, Day of Atonement.

Until then, we have been taught a substitute-
December 25, January 1, February 2.

Birth, circumcision, presentation in temple..

One is according to scripture and Creation signs.

The other is according to Rome..

Yep- i meant ‘we enjoy the Day to Remember Christ’- Not Christmas- was typing on a tablet, and it auto-filled Christmas without me knowing it-

But the pagan meat is the answer to those who try to claim that we partake of paganism when we celebrate Christmas or other holidays such as Halloween- or have ‘symbols’ (Such as Christmas trees, stockings, or even pictures of the Cross or whatever) in our houses that ‘purists’ try to claim are idols and idol worship- they are not- We don’t bow down to them, we don’t worship them- they are just there to remind of of the special day, or of Christ-

I just have a kind of beef with folks that preach that ‘Anything that takes up a majority of our time is a god, an idol” in our lives- They seem to think that if our minds aren’t on Christ 24/7, then we’re not truly ‘given over to God’ and are holding back idols in our lives- Uggh-

Yes, certain persistent sins that we’ve not dealt with do separate us from the Love of God, but they certainly aren’t false gods that we bow down to- sacrifice to, and worship- like the pagan people did in old testament, and do today in some cultures- There is a world of difference between simply sinning, and worshipping false gods. None of us are goign to be ‘sin free’ this side of heaven, so in the purist’s minds, that would mean everyone is an idolater, because they can’t rid themselves of sin, and dedicate their lives to ‘serving’ it- whatever sin it might be that they can’t seem to rid themselves of

but anyways- Christmas isn’t paganism- people bowing down and sacrificing to idols, false gods is paganism

To find out His real birthday requires some detective work, and the biggest clues come to us from John the Baptist. John was six months old at the time of the Lord’s birth and discovering his birthday is somewhat easier so let’s start there.

Happy Birthday, John

Zechariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents, had been unable to have children. Then the Angel Gabriel visited Zechariah during one of his tours of duty in the Temple (Luke 1:8-11). Zechariah was the priest chosen by lot to offer prayers at the Golden Altar just outside the Holy of Holies. This was already a once in a lifetime honor but Gabriel’s appearance made it even more unique. Only twice before had an event like this taken place, and all involved barren women and Messianic promise. Hannah was given a son Samuel who later anointed David King of Israel. The mother of Samson was told her son would begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. And now Zechariah was being told that his son would be the one to proclaim the coming Messiah.

We have to assume that wanting a son more than anything (it was a woman’s crowning achievement in that era, whereas being barren was considered a punishment from God) Zechariah and Elizabeth went about the process of conception immediately upon his return home. So when was that? Choosing Teams

King David had divided the priests into 24 courses (divisions) to serve rotating one-week periods in the temple. All 24 divisions served during the Feasts and so each one also served twice a year on rotation. The religious year began about mid-March on our calendar and right away there were nearly three weeks of preparation and Feasts; Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Then the divisions began their rotation.

Comparing Luke 1:5 to 1 Chronicles 24:10 shows that Zechariah was of the division of Abijah, number eight in the weekly rotation. Counting the time all were on duty and the eight weeks in rotation when Zechariah’s turn came puts the visit by Gabriel about 3 months into the religious year. A normal 9 month gestation period places the birth of John the Baptist at the beginning of the following religious year (mid-March, remember) and indeed there are many who believe he was born on Passover.

Let’s convert this to our calendar to avoid further confusion and discover a fascinating possibility about December 25th. In all probability John the Baptist was conceived in mid June and born the following March. According to Luke 1:36 Mary conceived in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. That means that our Lord was conceived in late December and born in September. Are we inadvertently celebrating His conception at Christmas instead of His birth?

September Song

Among Messianic Jews there are two primary schools of thought concerning the September birth. Both have valid points and both are based on the notion that the Jewish Feasts all have both historical and prophetic significance. One places the Lord’s birth at the Feast of Tabernacles since that feast commemorates the time of the Lord’s dwelling with His people. The other places the Lord’s birth on Rosh Hashanah because according to Jewish tradition both the Earth and Adam were born on that day and the Lord is the “Last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). For this reason as well as the prevalence of trumpets in its celebration (it’s also called The Feast of Trumpets) and other factors I personally prefer Rosh Hashanah and believe that the 2nd Coming will also take place on this day. But regardless of which date you prefer, from all that the Bible, Jewish tradition and Church history tell us, early fall is the time to sing “Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus.”

Happy Birthday Lord Jesus By Jack Kelley

The number of wise men, or Magi, has been assumed from the three gifts they brought, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

There were probably many more, since according to Matt. 2:3 their arrival troubled King Herod and all of Jerusalem.

They had come from Parthia, a little known but large and powerful kingdom of Persian (Iranian) origin that rivaled the Roman Empire in size and military strength.

The Magi were hereditary priests of Persia and always came from the same tribe.

According to tradition they were founded by the prophet Daniel who gave them the anticipated date for the arrival of the Messiah that he had received from the angel Gabriel (Daniel 9:25).

This is how they knew to come to Jerusalem when they did.

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