Christmas Before Christ? The Surprising Story

A little bit of "did ya know"....

There's always someone who wants to come along and take all the joy out of things. They attack Halloween and Christmas because they don't like it when people enjoy life.

There's always someone who wants to come along and take all the joy out of things.

Why, exactly, does reading about how the celebration WASN'T invented by Christ or Christians "take all the joy out of things" for you ???

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Because it's always the first step. Next'll come the claim that those who celebrate Christmas are pagans. You've seen the influence these folks have had on Halloween. When I was a kid growing up in the South, we went trick-or-treating every year, as did all the other kids in the neighborhood. Now the fundamentalist preachers rale against Halloween as a "pagan holiday" and hardly anyone around here trick-or-treats any more; a number of parents of my acquaintance refuse to allow their kids to dress up "in honor of a pagan diety."

Christmas is the one season of the year I feel like a kid again. I love the lights and the music and the feeling of peace and joy which permeate the world. With the publication of this article I can see the handwriting on the wall for the season. There are folks out there who will not be happy until everyone is as miserable as they are.

And Jesus hates your SUV

There's always someone who wants to come along and take all the joy out of things.

Osama, dat you?

I tend to agree with you, Junior. At first, the left would try go tear down traditions (especially if they had any religious/spiritual connection) and then some people from the "religious" right got started, but from a different perspective.

I'm a Christian who grew up celebrating both Halloween and Christmas. Still do. I love the Christmas music, the decorations and the stories of Santa Claus, all the while celebrating the religious aspect as well. Just because the holiday has a religious meaning to me doesn't mean that I can't enjoy some of the other elements I just described. This goes for Halloween as well. I used to dress up and go trick-or-treating and still went to church on Sundays. The idea that celebrating Halloween makes one a pagan is just ridiculous.

I thought it was the left that was excessive in their political correctness. They act as if wishing someone a "Merry Christmas" is the equivalent of a racial slur. Now we have to worry about those on the "religious" right (notice my quotation marks).

So in summary, I'm a Christian that celebrates all the aspects of Christmas and has fun doing it. Just like millions of other Christians. I'm not concerned what the left or far right says. I enjoy it. At least until someone bans it.

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew. "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"--from Dickens

There's always someone who wants to come along and take all the joy out of things.

Some of us would say that real joy doesn't derive from "things" but rather from God. They attack Halloween and Christmas because they don't like it when people enjoy life.

I don't think it's an attack. It's factual information about Christmas. Do with it what you will.

Perfect!!

Christmas is what it is. It definitely has pagan origins and this info is not new - it's been out there for years. But I doubt Christmas will ever take on the negative connotations that Halloween has, simply because Halloween has some truly evil aspects involving pretty icky stuff, much of which has carried over into celebrations today. Think about it - I suppose it's fun to be scared sometimes, but witches and goblins and skeletons etc are not really pleasant little kid fare.

If Christians feel convicted to refrain from traditional Christmas celebration (and I know some that do, in fact I went through some very serious soul-searching myself), that's their prerogative. In our family, we have a tree and plenty of gifts (with the emphasis on the GIVING and those who have little, such as our Colombian child we sponsor), but our focus is to continually remind our daughter (5) and son (almost 2) that Jesus gave us the best gift of all. We have chosen to tell her that Santa is just a story that came out of a really nice man named St Nicholas who lived a long time ago, but Jesus' birth really happened. She's fine with that, gets to enjoy the magic of Christmas while celebrating Jesus' birth.

Anyway, celebrate however you see fit. I love the lights and the music and good will too. No one will ruin it for you, I promise. :)

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In the beginning was the Word. There is no such thing as "pre-Christian." Throughout the ages, people have had a glimps of the truth, not just the Jews. Read C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Thanks for posting this. You are correct however this article will only witness to a narrow group. The broadly accepted idea in what calls itself "The Church" is that they can do anything they want. Lasciviousness is centered in Secular Humanism and man-centered traditions of men and relies on Majority Rules rather than lining up with the Word which clearly indicates how and when He wants to be worshiped. A study of "Jewish feasts" would benefit.

Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Quake Kills 23 in Central Italy" ~ The Halloween earthquake in Italy should have been a warning. G~d really does have an opinion and is bringing judgment to those who deny Him. More here: 42

2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Would Your Church Allow You To Be Like Jesus?
A Christmas Birthday Party
Too Long in the Sun

It is a divisive issue but that is indeed what the L~rd is about. Sheep and goats.

Mt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Lu 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

Considering that Christianity emerged only 1700 or 2000 years ago, when could it have scheduled its major celebrations --

and NOT been on or about the time of year when one pagan deity or another, among the thousands of them, had not had his or her festival?

This is a canard, tired of hearing about it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, Merry Christmas, and I predict that will mean something after Trent Lott and Kyoto and Harare and all the rest of today's ills are dusty ancient history.

From Bill Keller, www.Liveprayer.com

Why Christians should NOT celebrate Christmas. Every year at this time, I get inundated with emails that read like 40 page doctrinal dissertations on why a Christian should NOT celebrate Christmas. They make very good arguments about the pagan celebrations at this time of year, the evils of the Christmas tree, lying to children about Santa Claus, how Jesus was not born on December 25th, and many other reasons why a Christian should not celebrate Christmas. To those people I have only one thing to say....BAH HUMBUG!

Listen, everyone understands that Jesus was not born on December 25th, but according to most scholars, sometime in the spring. I have yet to meet anyone that worshipped their Christmas tree, only decorated it. If you are old enough to be able to read this, you are old enough to know that there is no Santa Claus. And yes, there are many pagan celebrations that occur at this time of the year, and the Bible does not have the word Christmas in it. However, there is only ONE REASON that we celebrate Christmas, and that is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Christians SHOULD celebrate the birth of Jesus! It is right, and good that we take time each year to remember that blessed event. It was foretold by the prophets of old. It is a well documented historical event chronicled in the Gospels and supported by the historians of that day. After His death and resurrection, it is easily the GREATEST EVENT IN HUMAN HISTORY! Think about it. God Himself, the Creator of the heavens and earth, came to this earth as a mere man to live with His creation. He came as a mere baby, born of a virgin in a humble manger in an obscure little town. He would grow up to die on a cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Three days after His death, God would raise Him from the dead as a sign to this lost and unbelieving world that He was exactly who He claimed to be...the SON OF GOD! His life would literally transform the lives of every man, woman, and child for the rest of human history. THAT is why we celebrate Christmas. THAT is why as Christians, we SHOULD celebrate Christmas.

I love you and care about you so much. I realize that people who say not to celebrate Christmas mean well, and are trying to live their lives in a way pleasing and acceptable to God. I know they are well intentioned, and many of the things they point out about Christmas are true. But they have missed the point of Christmas. Christmas is about only one thing, celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is one of those times of the year that we gather with family and friends, and share our faith in Christ. Christmas is also VERY BIBLICAL. Luke chapter 2 gives us the account of His birth. That was the very first Christmas. Of course Mary was there, as was Joseph. We also read about several shepherds that God spoke to who were part of that first Christmas. Now, some 2,000 years later, we will set aside time in the coming days to do what they did at that first Christmas....celebrate the birth Jesus!

I pray today that you will never forget what Christmas is really about, and why we celebrate this holiday. Of course, anything that the world gets involved with becomes perverted. The world has taken this sacred time of the year and turned it into a time of commerce. We must never allow ourselves to get so caught up in the parties, the gifts, the food, and all of the other things associated with the Christmas season, to forget what it is about....a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. THAT is what Christmas is really about, and THAT is why as Christians, we SHOULD celebrate this wonderful event!!!

In his love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

Oh, come on.

Apparently legalists never read Romans 14:4-5

4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

A lot of fundamentalists have a huge problem with this passage. Oh, they celebrate Easter -- that's from the pagan feast of Istar and Tammuz, or something like that. Christmas is from the Saturnalia. Big freakin' deal. The fact of the matter is that they are still overtly Christian.

If Christians want to use the traditional December 25th holiday to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, then not only are they well within their Christian liberty in doing so, but they glorify God. And none of us have the right to criticize them for doing so. That is a matter between them and the Almighty alone.

Amen-to-that-BUMP.

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