If you don't believe Christ, do you still celebrate Christmas?

[Katzpur]

very true, it has nothing to do with the bible or the teachings of Jesus . so called christians have taken on pagan worship and mixed it up with true worship, and this makes it very offensive to the true God .

Somehow, I think "the true God" is far more offended by pompous, self-righteous, judgmental Christians than He is by my creche.

 

[MaddLlama]

very true , christmas is very pagan and so called christians are very contaminated by it . i am out of there . and into pure christian teachings . being free from spiritual contamination is the thing to do. especially if we claim to be christian.

Oh yeah, us Pagans and our dirty Christmas trees, gifts, and other plant related decorations. It's all pard of our insidious plot to get people to become tree-hugging, peace-loving, granola chomping hippies. Insidious, I tell you.

 

[nutshell]

To those of you who don't believe in Jesus Christ or the Christian religion, do you still celebrate Christmas?

Why or why not?

This question his me when I was in Japan during Christmas time. Their decorations were far better than anything I ever saw in the U.S. It's then that it hit me how commercial Christmas really is. So, yes, if I didn't believe in Christ, i would still celebrate Christmas.

 

[Nanda]

I love Christmas. I even love the religious carols and the nativity and all that jazz. It's a beautiful story of hope about a baby. I like babies, I like hope, and I like beauty. I also like camels. Sheep are fun, too. And snow, and angels and sugar plum fairies and santa and rudolph and presents and decking the halls with boughs of holly and putting a tree inside our house! Gah! Visions of sugarplums are dancing in my head! :rudolph:

 

[may]

I don't have money to buy crap we don't need.

I don't like being told "when" I have to bestow a gift on someone.

I don't like knowledgably filling my children's heads with ridiculous fables.

"Santa" is like a counterfiet of "The Father".

The day was not Y'shua's day of birth anyway... even if that meant anything at all to me.

"Solstace" means nothing to me.


Christmas for me is now "X-mass"
as in "no-more"

no more "mass" consumerism
no more "mass" belief
no more doing what everyone expects you to do,
when you yourself don't want to.

Everyone around me... mothers... are so FRAZZLED in december....
I just watch it all from the sidelines...
SO HAPPY I no longer feel I have to play the game.

same here , i am out of there

 

[may]

Oh yeah, us Pagans and our dirty Christmas trees, gifts, and other plant related decorations. It's all pard of our insidious plot to get people to become tree-hugging, peace-loving, granola chomping hippies. Insidious, I tell you.

not getting at pagans , if you want to be a pagan that is your choice , but the so called christians who mix their worship are not into true bible teachings they are mixing their worship . and it is offensive to the God of the bible to take on other worship . and what makes it worse is that the so called christian leaders promote it , mixing of worship is a no no, according to the bible .
That Jehovah God tolerates no mixing of idolatrous practices with true worship is obvious from his dealings with the Israelites. Take the case of the golden calf in the wilderness. When the Israelites had Aaron make it for them, they did not do so with the thought of taking up the worship of an Egyptian deity. They were simply taking over an Egyptian religious practice that prominently associated deities with cows, bulls and other animals. This is evident from the fact that the religious festival held in connection with the golden calf was not intended to honor an Egyptian god but was called a "festival to Jehovah." (Ex. 32:5) But this did not make it right. Jehovah God severely punished the Israelites for unfaithfulness.—Ex. 32:28-35.

 

[may]

Somehow, I think "the true God" is far more offended by pompous, self-righteous, judgmental Christians than He is by my creche.

yes , self righteousness is not a good thing . humbly submitting to right worship is the way to go . even if it goes against the grain . there are many so called christian leaders out there who know that christmas is wrong in the eyes of God ,yet not only do they carry on mixing true with false ,they even lead their flocks to believe it is good in the eyes of God .:no:

 

[MaddLlama]

If it honors God, or mis changed to do so, then what's the problem?

To be honest, I think all the "Pagan Origins of Christmas" tirades are exaggerated, and blown out of proportion. I celebrate both Christmas and the Pagan counterpart of Yule, and the only crossover between my celebrations seems to be that I don't buy two sets of gifts. Oh, and that silly headband with the reindeer antlers and bells.

 

[Quagmire]

"If you don't believe Christ, do you still celebrate Christmas?"

Yeah, cuz I believe in magic and for some reason there just seems to be more of it that time of year.

 

[may]

If I was god, and "my" humans turned some holiday in "my personal" holiday, I would be very very proud. :yes:

The truth is, Christmas is a pagan celebration that was adopted by Christendom. December 25 is, not the birth date of Jesus Christ, but a date linked with ancient licentious pagan feasting that early Christians avoided

 

[Comprehend]

yes , self righteousness is not a good thing . humbly submitting to right worship is the way to go . even if it goes against the grain . there are many so called christian leaders out there who know that christmas is wrong in the eyes of God ,yet not only do they carry on mixing true with false ,they even lead their flocks to believe it is good in the eyes of God .:no:

Since when did God say that celebrating him or his son is wrong?

You seem to be stuck on the fact that it used to be pagan holiday and has now been turned into a way to worship God. Somehow you believe that because it used to be bad, it is always bad.

I seem to remember stories in the Bible that say you are wrong. What about the prostitute that God forgave and told her to sin no more?

(used to be bad, now is good)

What about Saul who went about killing Christians, what did God do there? Oh yes, he convinced Saul to follow him and teach about Christ.

(used to be bad, now is good)

I could go on and on but I hope you get the point.

Anyway, if you want to complain about things with pagan origins, then you can't use the regular days of the week since they all derive from paganism. Do you use the regular names for days of the week? you dirty pagan!!!


relax.

 

[Comprehend]

The truth is, Christmas is a pagan celebration that was adopted by Christendom. December 25 is, not the birth date of Jesus Christ, but a date linked with ancient licentious pagan feasting that early Christians avoided

so is "monday" "tuesday" "wednesday" "thursday" "friday" "saturday" and "sunday"

Do you avoid the days of the week too?

The Days of the Week

 

[Comet]

I only celebrate Christmas because my roommates make me. They say some dude named Santa will kick my @$$ if I don't put up a tree and stuff. I heard this Santa dude will leave you coal if he doesn't like you. That would be nice since it is getting cold up here now...

My roommates work a ton durring the year and Christmas Day seems to be their only day off. Most of the time they are up at the toy shop making gifts for all the good boys and girls. I hear a few of them got out of that sweat shop and moved on to making cookies and stuff. They must not be doing well though, I hear they live in a treehouse now. Rumor has it, one of them became a dentist and settled down with some reindeer! Can you believe that?


Seriously though: I'm not Christian, but most of my family is. It is a big deal to them. So I'll do the tree, gifts, etc.... but I don't go to church with them, etc... So I celebrate it for the commerical holiday it has become, not the birthday of Jesus or whatever else. (Though I do love having a Christmas Tree and the stories of where some of the traditions came from- so not Christian, makes me laugh!)

 

[Smoke]

To those of you who don't believe in Jesus Christ or the Christian religion, do you still celebrate Christmas?

Yes, though I can't say it's my first choice.

Oddly enough, the religious aspect of it isn't what bothers me. I'd gladly go to Divine Liturgy or Midnight Mass with John if he were so inclined, since the Christian liturgical tradition is so well-developed that I can appreciate it regardless of my disbelief. However, he comes from a Baptist/Pentecostal background, and I don't do those kinds of churches. He doesn't care, because he's all about the "Me and Jesus got our own thing going" kind of Christianity, and only goes to church on rare occasions, and then mainly to please his mother or grandmother.

I'm about to give up railing against the commercialism of Christmas, though, because I think what really bothers me is the high level of expectation. There's so much pressure for it to be "the happiest time of the year" that the whole thing just wears me out.

Why or why not?

Because it pleases my husband and my mother. Both of them love Christmas.

We don't have an overtly religious Christmas, though, except that my father, at my parents' house, and John's father, at their house, will always offer a prayer reminding everybody that Jesus is the reason for the season. Then we have our orgy of food and gifts.

Our Christmas works like this:

Christmas Eve, early afternoon: My family.
Christmas Eve, evening: Friends.
Christmas morning: His family.
​

It's not bad, really. It's kind of like a long trip out of town. I'm glad I went, but I'm glad to be home, too.

 

[Smoke]

I personally celebrate Yule instead of Christmas.

How do you celebrate it?

The reason I ask is, I was about to say that sounds better to me, and I realized I was just basing that on the "Yule" in my head, without knowing what you actually do.

 

[Smoke]

The truth is, Christmas is a pagan celebration that was adopted by Christendom. December 25 is, not the birth date of Jesus Christ, but a date linked with ancient licentious pagan feasting that early Christians avoided

My cousin Esther is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, too, and she won't even say Christmas. She says things like, "Ted was off work because it was December 25th."

 

[MaddLlama]

How do you celebrate it?

The reason I ask is, I was about to say that sounds better to me, and I realized I was just basing that on the "Yule" in my head, without knowing what you actually do.

It varies from year to year. Before I moved upstate I was a member of a Pagan group, so we would celebrate together with a circle and then a pot-luck type thing. Now, it all depends on where I'll be, and whether or not I join another group in the future.

I still go to my mother's place for Christmas though (but, I haven't been to church since I was 14). I don't really consider that "celebrating" Christmas.

 

[Comprehend]

My cousin Esther is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, too, and she won't even say Christmas. She says things like, "Ted was off work because it was December 25th."

uh oh. I hope she knows that "december" is a pagan name for the 10th roman lunar month...

 

[Smoke]

uh oh. I hope she knows that "december" is a pagan name for the 10th roman lunar month...

As far as I know, Jehovah's Witnesses don't object to using pagan names or days or months.

Quakers used to, though, and would say things like "Third Day" and "Fourth Month." The Quakers I know still say "First Day School" and not "Sunday School."

Since December means the tenth month, I can't imagine how anybody could have any objection other than the fact that it isn't the tenth month any more.

It used to confuse me a bit when I first started researching Latin records, though. At first, it takes a conscious effort to remember that "die 9ta 8bri" is the ninth of October, and not the ninth of August.

 

[Comprehend]

As far as I know, Jehovah's Witnesses don't object to using pagan names or days or months.

Quakers used to, though, and would say things like "Third Day" and "Fourth Month." The Quakers I know still say "First Day School" and not "Sunday School."

Since December means the tenth month, I can't imagine how anybody could have any objection other than the fact that it isn't the tenth month any more.

It used to confuse me a bit when I first started researching Latin records, though. At first, it takes a conscious effort to remember that "die 9ta 8bri" is the ninth of October, and not the ninth of August.

I was just trying to be funny...