There were Christians with other ideas that were viewed as heretics early on...they were either killed or made to submit by the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church "won". Shoot...they even gave us our Bible. It is a Catholic Bible. They invented "Christ-mass"...like it or not. So it appears the Protestants are simply Cafeteria-Catholics...
Either way...we are called to be set apart...but we partake in a secular holiday that has its roots in Paganism and we think it is about Yeshua...
CC
"Catholic" means "Universal." All Christians believe in a Universal CHURCH ---- the body of all believers.
The winter solistice has certain connotations that connect well with the birth of our Savior who was the True light coming into the world as well. It is symbolicaly a good choice.
The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days.
- wikipedia
Of course, that's incredibly northern-hermisphere-centric. Meanwhile, down in the antipodes, Christmas is celebrated at the height of summer as the days start getting shorter...
David.
__________________ David Brider
"...God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Of course, that's incredibly northern-hermisphere-centric. Meanwhile, down in the antipodes, Christmas is celebrated at the height of summer as the days start getting shorter...
David.
What? There is a southern hemisphere? Heathens!
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Kryton
Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things; Knows not the livid loneliness of fear, nor mountain hights where bitter joy can hear the sound of wings. How can life grant us boon of living, compensate for dull gray ugliness and pregnant hate unless we dare the soul's dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay with courage to behold restless day, and count it fair.
Amelia Earhart
It's worth remembering that Christmas is an extremely depressing time for some, suicides are normally quite high around that time of year. If you know anyone at work or maybe even old friends you haven't spoken to for a while who you suspect might be a bit lonely, maybe have a chat with them to see what they're doing, you could even invite them over for dinner, what's the worst that could happen?
they blow their brains out while your eating rather then in the comfort of their own home. ;p
lkely this wont happen, but you did ask what was the worst thing that could happen. I guess they could take you along with them. Its more likely though that you would be helping out someone who is lonely so its a good thing to do.
they blow their brains out while your eating rather then in the comfort of their own home. ;p
lkely this wont happen, but you did ask what was the worst thing that could happen. I guess they could take you along with them. Its more likely though that you would be helping out someone who is lonely so its a good thing to do.
Obviously you'd purchase a metal detector, and hide away all sharp objects first. That goes without saying!
But yeah, Christmas would probably be more fun with a few new faces around, better than them spending it on their own.
I don't think that there's anything wrong with the tradition of Santa at Christmastime. But I think that most people take it waaaaay too far, at least here in the US (can't speak much for what Christmas is like in other countries, as I am not too well travelled). I think it is harmless to tell little children the story of Santa, but I think that we then take too much care to keep children believing it, that it goes from a harmless fairie story to become a bold-faced lie. And everything in the media also enforces this perception, and this idea that it is virtuous to have a childlike mind and faith in Santa.
I will tell you all a story. When I was in 8th grade, I believed in Santa. Or at least, I tried to believe that I believed in Santa. But I knew in my heart (in my mind (in my brain)) that Santa was not real. I could not let myself believe that Santa was not real though, because I could hardly fathom that for years my parents had been lying to me, along with so many others. Because I had already realised that my basis for believing in Santa was identical to my basis for believing in God/Jesus.
When my parents told me outright that Santa was just made up and it was they who had been giving me presents in his name, I did not want to hear it. I had a crisis of faith. Although I spent many more years trying to tell myself that God was different than Santa, I realised that the only reason I believed in God was because I trusted my parents when they told me about him. I tried to find reasons to believe elsewhere and for many years was in the strange position of believing in God while at the same time believing that belief in God was unfounded and irrational. Since then, I have stopped believing in God, at least in any way that could still make me a Christian or any sort of ordinary theist (I don't think I'm quite an atheist though, but that might be debatable!).
My point is, that I think that Christians should be careful about what they tell their children about Santa Claus if they care about their children's faith in God/Jesus. Personally, I don't feel bad for myself, because although it was painful, I do feel better about my life as a practical atheist. Though, I do still wish I could believe in God, and I wouldn't really want to take other people's faith away from them.
Space, out of simple curiosity, if you don't believe in God, why do you wear a theists icon? I woulda figured you would have an atheist icon, or at the very least a seeker's icon or an agnostic icon.
But that's just an aside. I agree with a lot of you said. My parents always gave us presents from Santa, but we knew from a young age that Santa wasn't real. It was just a running family thing for us to get presents from Santa. We pretty much do the same thing for our kids now. They get a present or two from Santa, which they know actually came from grandma and grandpa.
I had a friend in elementary school who totally bought into the whole Santa thing and was crushed to have her fifth grade teacher blurt out that it was all a ruse and that there was no fat jolly man sliding down our chimneys to deliver presents. The case was severe enough that it made it to the agenda of the school board meetings!! The school adopted a policy that teachers shouldn't dispel any myths about Santa. (The school was, incidentally, still allowed to say that God didn't exist...)
Even little white lies that parents tell their children can cause massive landslides.
I think I just mixed a metaphor there...
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My children were taught that St. Nicolas really did live- because he did.
I also taught them that St. Nicolas loved the Lord so much that he went to prison a few times because he just couldn't stop talking about Him. This is a fact.
My children learned that St. Nicolas was generous, always giving-he loved to give. This also is a fact.
They were taught that perhaps St. Nicolas loved to give because he received Christ and felt the blessings given to him should be shared.
They were taught that the Spirit in which St. Nicolas gave and talked about the Lord we should too.
We would then find something that we owned and wrap it, place it under the tree and give it to the Lord for His "birthday".
Then we'd shop to give to someone in need.
As for presents at "Christmas", the kids got one present and a stocking. Didn't make a big deal out of "Easter" either. Simply because these two holidays or Holy days were "ordained" by the church, not Scripture.
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Space, out of simple curiosity, if you don't believe in God, why do you wear a theists icon? I woulda figured you would have an atheist icon, or at the very least a seeker's icon or an agnostic icon.
But that's just an aside. I agree with a lot of you said. My parents always gave us presents from Santa, but we knew from a young age that Santa wasn't real. It was just a running family thing for us to get presents from Santa. We pretty much do the same thing for our kids now. They get a present or two from Santa, which they know actually came from grandma and grandpa.
I had a friend in elementary school who totally bought into the whole Santa thing and was crushed to have her fifth grade teacher blurt out that it was all a ruse and that there was no fat jolly man sliding down our chimneys to deliver presents. The case was severe enough that it made it to the agenda of the school board meetings!! The school adopted a policy that teachers shouldn't dispel any myths about Santa. (The school was, incidentally, still allowed to say that God didn't exist...)
Even little white lies that parents tell their children can cause massive landslides.
I think I just mixed a metaphor there...
Well, as regards my faith icon. I guess I was a little loose with terminology in that post, so I can understand the confusion (I'm a bit confused myself). In truth my concept of God is a bit complicated. I don't know what God really means, but I don't think the concept is inherently contradictory. I think most religions have probably got it wrong in the specifics, since they tend to make a lot claims that don't appear to be true (at least, they haven't been demonstrated so to my satisfaction), though I'm certainly open to changing my mind. For instance, I'm not much inclined to believing in miracles. I don't know anything about God, or even whether or not God exists, but I don't call myself agnostic because I think that if God exists it is theoretically possible to know whether this is true. I don't even think it matters much in my daily life whether or not god exists (hence why I say I'm practically an atheist). However, I still sort of see God as a concept that is worth exploring and considering. I tend to approach the matter philosophically, and I have this idea in my mind about the nature of God, but have no beliefs about this God. Just ideas. But I tend to stick to the idea that whatever we, as human beings, can know about God, we can gain through reason, logic, and observation. At the moment, my thoughts on the matter are a bit murky, but I thought "deist" matched my views more closely than "atheist" or "agnostic". Though, I think that I may be close to a pantheist in some respects. I guess that's a really long-winded response to an aside, but if there's any thing I'm good at, it's long-winded responses.
I feel sorry for all the people involved in that incident involving your friend. It sounds like it was a rather painful event. I hope the teacher didn't get into any trouble, I know if it was me I'd feel so bad... Although, I would probably expect most kids in 5th grade to already know the truth about Santa (even if I wasn't one of them myself, which I guess makes me a little bit of a hypocrite...).
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