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christmas-why??

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BIG D

Member
I'll ask again, since it is ''christ'mas'' time----why did jesus come??what good came from it??were there not 'good' institutions or people before he came???
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Seriously - you can't figure this out on your own?
 
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Gaura Priya

IRL
BAH, Christmas was just another pagan holiday to celebrate debauchery and drunk lifestyles...

Thank goodness I know that True Christians (TM) don't celebrate this holiday. :D

;) Jokes.
 
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truseeker

Member
Seriously, most of the things associated with Christmas were taken from pagan ideas that existed long before Christ was born. Pagans celebrated the winter solstice with decorations and gift giving. The Yule log being burned was pagan. Decorating with green wreaths and putting decorations on trees were also pagan. The early false church felt it would be easier to convert people if it let them keep the old pagan ideas and just put new names on them. God says to avoid the ways of the heathen.
 
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Beta

Well-Known Member
BIG D said:
I'll ask again, since it is ''christ'mas'' time----why did jesus come??what good came from it??were there not 'good' institutions or people before he came???
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Jesus did not come ' just to do good ' or tell man ' how to be good'.
He was sent to pay the death-penalty for our sins so we could be saved if we accept his sacrifice for us. Without Jesus we have no chance of eternal life. :no:
btw, Jesus did not come at xmas time.
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
truseeker said:
Seriously, most of the things associated with Christmas were taken from pagan ideas that existed long before Christ was born. Pagans celebrated the winter solstice with decorations and gift giving. The Yule log being burned was pagan. Decorating with green wreaths and putting decorations on trees were also pagan. The early false church felt it would be easier to convert people if it let them keep the old pagan ideas and just put new names on them. God says to avoid the ways of the heathen.
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It's one thing for Christianity to absorb contemporary pagan practices.

Assuming that those practices were thousands of years old is another ball of wax.

We know, for example, that pagan religions in Europe had developments over time, and it's quite possible that the Yule log was a new tradition. I'd be interested in how you know that's so old.

Christians already had solstices for their holidays before they made it to Europe - it's the most reliable way to know that you're worshipping on the same day every year. Almost every religion does that.
 
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Thursday's Child

New Member
I choose to celebrate Christmas, really, the Holiday Season, NOT because I believe the nativity myth is fact. Because I do not believe the bible is the "inspired word" of a god, but a collection of myths, parables, the history of a people, and "rules of conduct" handed down through generations. Nor do I believe that the particular myth upon which Chrismas was founded was even based upon fact. But, I celebrate because the nativity myth IS myth. One that stretches back millenia--that story of a god/hero/man who lives amongst humans, and who, born of a human woman. will, ultimately "save" humanity through death and resurrection Just like the myth of creation and the myth of a flood. Et cetera. I respect the nativity myth and its endurance, just as I respect any myth, because myths tell a story. They connect us with the past. I respect the need for myth in humanity, the need for story. The need for something larger than life, larger than myself. I honor the myth. And, so, I celebrate the myth as it combines with the pagan myths. Just as I celebrate the collective need, the desire, that humanity have such a myth, in whatever incarnation it might take. For me, Christmas, Winter Solstice, etc.,...the entire Holiday Season, is a good thing: a time of hope, a time of reflection, a time of—I'm almost afraid to say it—magic-- even if that magic is only an illusion. We don't go all out on gifts, so we don't have the stress often associated with the season. So, it really--at least to me--doesn't matter if the Christmas story is true. I've been slammed pretty hard on this issue for so long, from both "belivers" and "non-believers"--that I just ignore them, as well as the commercialization, and go my own way. But, that's just me.
 
ellenjanuary

ellenjanuary

Well-Known Member
The simple truth is that "Christmas" is a wildly successful marketing scheme. There's money involved. It has nothing to do with Jesus, Mithras, Santa, pagans, or any other non-real consideration.
 
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Thursday's Child

New Member
It is now, but it wasn't always so. In many countries, it is celebrated much differently; the emphasis is on the myth, not the commercialization. It is like that with Chanakuh, as well: the emphasis on gifts is American. The emphasis on the historical myth is the way it is in Israel. In America, too much emphasis is put on material aspects of everything. I have never felt that Americans celebrated any holidays for any reason other than material. In the place where my husband grew up, it was Three Kings Day when everyone exchanged small gifts. Christmas was religious.
 
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Gaura Priya

IRL
Thursday's Child said:
It is now, but it wasn't always so. In many countries, it is celebrated much differently; the emphasis is on the myth, not the commercialization. It is like that with Chanakuh, as well: the emphasis on gifts is American. The emphasis on the historical myth is the way it is in Israel. In America, too much emphasis is put on material aspects of everything. I have never felt that Americans celebrated any holidays for any reason other than material. In the place where my husband grew up, it was Three Kings Day when everyone exchanged small gifts. Christmas was religious.
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I do believe that Christmas is a Christian holiday by definition that it was a creation of the Christian religion to celebrate Jesus' birth at the time of the solstice, to bring the light (Spring, Summer) of the Divine into the world.

The commercialisation, I feel, has been in recent years with the downplaying of the religiosity of the holy day (now a holiday) because of materialism as well as the increase of non-Christian peoples in Western countries.

It would be interesting to see a strict Christian practice of Christmas without the 'pagan' additions: a nativity scene replacing the Christmas tree, more singing of hymns than carols, the lighting of the Advent wreath, as well as gift giving on January 6th...
 
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Beta

Well-Known Member
madanbhakta said:
The commercialisation, I feel, has been in recent years with the downplaying of the religiosity of the holy day (now a holiday) because of materialism as well as the increase of non-Christian peoples in Western countries.
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Perhaps you could mention a scripture referring to this ' holy day (xmas) ' ???
Only GOD can make something ' holy ' and it certainly does not show in the list of ' FEAST DAYS ' God has appointed and commanded either in the OT or the NT. It is entirely man-made and will never be holy !:no:
 
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BIG D

Member
Beta said:
Perhaps you could mention a scripture referring to this ' holy day (xmas) ' ???
Only GOD can make something ' holy ' and it certainly does not show in the list of ' FEAST DAYS ' God has appointed and commanded either in the OT or the NT. It is entirely man-made and will never be holy !:no:
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I agree...so does this mean, if you put a manger scene in front of a public building, the whiners can't sue???
 
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