Christians and Christmas

[TexasBluebonnet]

Just wondering if there are any Christian denominations that don't celebrate Christmas. I, myself am Messianic and I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, but I was talking about it one day to a friend, and they were like, "Christmas is pagan, and everything about it is pagan." While that may be true, I think it's fun and I don't have any plans of stopping but it got me thinking about other Christians who don't celebrate it.

 

[freezerman2000]

I know of some Christians who don't celebrate, but they don't belong to any set denomination..To them it's a personal choice.

 

[LuxMundi]

A number of Presbyterians do not celebrate it, and some Plymouth Brethren too.

 

[Ark100]

People take things too seriously. How is christmas pagan? Even if Jesus was not born on 25th dec, does it matter anyway as long we celebrate His birth is all that matters.
If a Christian's focus on christmas is Jesus Christ and how we worship and celebrate revolves around Him, then why would i bother what anyone else thinks of my celebration.
Nothing will stop me celebrating christmas and the Lord Jesus Christ. I think you should stick to what you believe

 

[BFine]

I agree, that Christmas is pagan and it's getting worse each year.
This past Christmas I watched people in the shopping malls charging
their purchases on credit cards and by the looks on their faces I
could tell they weren't happy and many couldn't afford the stuff they were
buying.

I went to the electronic stores (FutureShop & BestBuy) and more of the same-- I never saw so many folks buying X-Boxes, Nintendo and the like, I recall one lady saying she was buying 3 game systems for her grandchildren, "it's what they want" she said and then added "they already have wii and Nintendo!"

I watched this insanity go on and on -- it started in November and went full throttle
in December! The inflatable Santas, reindeer, snowmen/snowwomen, Christmas villages-all sort of lawn displays filled the neighborhoods around us.

Then there are the Christmas parties-- folks drinking to excess, causing wrecks and injuring other folks...oh, the bars/nightclubs were in full swing too! Nothing like the drunken choruses of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" being bellowed by inebriated
guys and gals as they stumbled out the doors of those establishments.

What was even worse, Christians were doing the same thing!
Try to mention Jesus and talk about the Word of God and they act
like I was using foul language.
What do I hear from the Christians around us?
1. Christmas is the time for families to be together and enjoy
one another.
2. Christmas is for children to play with their toys with their little cousins or friends
who are with the family for Christmas Day.
3. Christmas is for eating sumptuous meals until you could bust! And then you sit
around with your families and talk about the good old days, bring out the photo
albums and reminiscence about Christmases long ago.

We celebrate Christmas but it doesn't look anything like what I mentioned above this
sentence.

 

[JRSut1000]

There are other messianics (such as me n my husband) who also do NOT celebrate Christmas.

 

[znr]

I don't celebrate it. My grandparents were Orthodox Jews, my father renounced all ties with Judaism, married a nominally Catholic woman, then suffered his whole family through the ongoing rejection from his entire family.

We also celebrated both hanukkah and Christmas, which, if you really think about it, is pretty silly.

Now I just celebrate April 1st.

 

[freezerman2000]

I agree, that Christmas is pagan and it's getting worse each year.
This past Christmas I watched people in the shopping malls charging
their purchases on credit cards and by the looks on their faces I
could tell they weren't happy and many couldn't afford the stuff they were
buying.

I went to the electronic stores (FutureShop & BestBuy) and more of the same-- I never saw so many folks buying X-Boxes, Nintendo and the like, I recall one lady saying she was buying 3 game systems for her grandchildren, "it's what they want" she said and then added "they already have wii and Nintendo!"

I watched this insanity go on and on -- it started in November and went full throttle
in December! The inflatable Santas, reindeer, snowmen/snowwomen, Christmas villages-all sort of lawn displays filled the neighborhoods around us.

Then there are the Christmas parties-- folks drinking to excess, causing wrecks and injuring other folks...oh, the bars/nightclubs were in full swing too! Nothing like the drunken choruses of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" being bellowed by inebriated
guys and gals as they stumbled out the doors of those establishments.

What was even worse, Christians were doing the same thing!
Try to mention Jesus and talk about the Word of God and they act
like I was using foul language.
What do I hear from the Christians around us?
1. Christmas is the time for families to be together and enjoy
one another.
2. Christmas is for children to play with their toys with their little cousins or friends
who are with the family for Christmas Day.
3. Christmas is for eating sumptuous meals until you could bust! And then you sit
around with your families and talk about the good old days, bring out the photo
albums and reminiscence about Christmases long ago.

We celebrate Christmas but it doesn't look anything like what I mentioned above this
sentence.

 

[Radagast]

I agree, that Christmas is pagan

No it isn't; it's a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Something worth celebrating!

This past Christmas I watched people in the shopping malls...

That's not Christmas. As C.S. Lewis wrote in this satirical essay:

Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus

And beyond this there lies in the ocean, turned towards the west and north, the island of Niatirb which Hecataeus indeed declares to be the same size and shape as Sicily, but it is larger, though in calling it triangular a man would not miss the mark. It is densely inhabited by men who wear clothes not very different from the other barbarians who occupy the north western parts of Europe though they do not agree with them in language. These islanders, surpassing all the men of whom we know in patience and endurance, use the following customs.

In the middle of winter when fogs and rains most abound they have a great festival which they call Exmas and for fifty days they prepare for it in the fashion I shall describe. First of all, every citizen is obliged to send to each of his friends and relations a square piece of hard paper stamped with a picture, which in their speech is called an Exmas-card. But the pictures represent birds sitting on branches, or trees with a dark green prickly leaf, or else men in such garments as the Niatirbians believe that their ancestors wore two hundred years ago riding in coaches such as their ancestors used, or houses with snow on their roofs. And the Niatirbians are unwilling to say what these pictures have to do with the festival; guarding (as I suppose) some sacred mystery. And because all men must send these cards the marketplace is filled with the crowd of those buying them, so that there is great labour and weariness.

But having bought as many as they suppose to be sufficient, they return to their houses and find there the like cards which others have sent to them. And when they find cards from any to whom they also have sent cards, they throw them away and give thanks to the gods that this labour at least is over for another year. But when they find cards from any to whom they have not sent, then they beat their breasts and wail and utter curses against the sender; and, having sufficiently lamented their misfortune, they put on their boots again and go out into the fog and rain and buy a card for him also. And let this account suffice about Exmas-cards.

They also send gifts to one another, suffering the same things about the gifts as about the cards, or even worse. For every citizen has to guess the value of the gift which every friend will send to him so that he may send one of equal value, whether he can afford it or not. And they buy as gifts for one another such things as no man ever bought for himself. For the sellers, understanding the custom, put forth all kinds of trumpery, and whatever, being useless and ridiculous, they have been unable to sell throughout the year they now sell as an Exmas gift. And though the Niatirbians profess themselves to lack sufficient necessary things, such as metal, leather, wood and paper, yet an incredible quantity of these things is wasted every year, being made into the gifts.

But during these fifty days the oldest, poorest, and most miserable of the citizens put on false beards and red robes and walk about the market-place; being disguised (in my opinion) as Cronos. And the sellers of gifts no less than the purchaser’s become pale and weary, because of the crowds and the fog, so that any man who came into a Niatirbian city at this season would think some great public calamity had fallen on Niatirb. This fifty days of preparation is called in their barbarian speech the Exmas Rush.

But when the day of the festival comes, then most of the citizens, being exhausted with the Rush, lie in bed till noon. But in the evening they eat five times as much supper as on other days and, crowning themselves with crowns of paper, they become intoxicated. And on the day after Exmas they are very grave, being internally disordered by the supper and the drinking and reckoning how much they have spent on gifts and on the wine. For wine is so dear among the Niatirbians that a man must swallow the worth of a talent before he is well intoxicated.

Such, then, are their customs about the Exmas. But the few among the Niatirbians have also a festival, separate and to themselves, called Crissmas, which is on the same day as Exmas. And those who keep Crissmas, doing the opposite to the majority of the Niatirbians, rise early on that day with shining faces and go before sunrise to certain temples where they partake of a sacred feast. And in most of the temples they set out images of a fair woman with a new-born Child on her knees and certain animals and shepherds adoring the Child. (The reason of these images is given in a certain sacred story which I know but do not repeat.)

But I myself conversed with a priest in one of these temples and asked him why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas; for it appeared to me inconvenient. But the priest replied, “It is not lawful, O stranger, for us to change the date of Chrissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left.” And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, “It is, O Stranger, a racket”; using (as I suppose) the words of some oracle and speaking unintelligibly to me (for a racket is an instrument which the barbarians use in a game called tennis).

But what Hecataeus says, that Exmas and Crissmas are the same, is not credible. For first, the pictures which are stamped on the Exmas-cards have nothing to do with the sacred story which the priests tell about Crissmas. And secondly, the most part of the Niatirbians, not believing the religion of the few, nevertheless send the gifts and cards and participate in the Rush and drink, wearing paper caps. But it is not likely that men, even being barbarians, should suffer so many and great things in honour of a god they do not believe in. And now, enough about Niatirb.

 

[BFine]

I am relating what I'm seeing here where I live in Canada from both Christians
and non-Christians...they aren't celebrating Christ at Christmas time...they are celebrating SELF and the world system.

I am a firm believer in celebrating Christ not only on December 25th but 365 days to the year.

I am disgusted by the so-called Christians who celebrate Christmas as I described in my previous post.

I love my Lord and Savior but I do not uphold those who have turned into a pagan celebration and now it's to the point where Christians here will hardly even say "Merry Christmas" at all...they don't want to offend anyone.

 

[NoelAsa]

There are other messianics (such as me n my husband) who also do NOT celebrate Christmas.

Yes JRSut1000 I am very aware of your thoughts about Christmas. I got to see all of it on December 25, 2011 when you voiced your opposition to anyone celebrating Christmas. It was most distasteful. The thread got moved to the General Theology forum because of your debating.

I am a Christian and I celebrate Christmas. In fact 2011 was the first time I had put up a Christmas tree and decorations since my husband's death in 2007. Besides the condemnation I received from JRSut1000, I enjoyed it. As long as I am not hurting anyone I don't understand why other people feel it is their right to tell other people that they are wrong in their Christian beliefs.

 

[TheDag]

Just wondering if there are any Christian denominations that don't celebrate Christmas. I, myself am Messianic and I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, but I was talking about it one day to a friend, and they were like, "Christmas is pagan, and everything about it is pagan." While that may be true, I think it's fun and I don't have any plans of stopping but it got me thinking about other Christians who don't celebrate it.

Both Christmas and Easter were originally pagan festivals. Christianity adapted them it would seem to make it easier for converts from paganism to christianity. I can't be certain of the reasons but they definitely were pagan festivals originally. To me if you celebrate it from a christian perspective and celebrate the right things i see no problem.
years ago I actually volunteered to work christmas day because i got sick of the arguing amongst extended family. I also didn't like the amount of cleaning to make sure there wasn't a single speck of dust before people came over. To me you are who you are and if your happy to have newspapers sitting in a corner and taken out once a week for recycling then why yell at someone to take them out a second time that week when nobody could use that corner anyway. I would do a 13 hour shift and get home about 2 hours before everyone left so it was more bearable than the entire day. these days I would not volunteer to work christmas day. In my previous job which was aslo open every day of the year my boss would not roster anyone with kids on for christmas day instead we would work boxing day.

 

[freezerman2000]

I am a Christian and I celebrate Christmas. In fact 2011 was the first time I had put up a Christmas tree and decorations since my husband's death in 2007. As long as I am not hurting anyone I don't understand why other people feel it is their right to tell other people that they are wrong in their Christian beliefs.

Sorry if I cut your post apart, but these two points are what I wish to address.
I'm sorry to hear about your husband's death. I'm glad that you have started to enjoy the Holidays again.

I wish that ALL Christians had your outlook about other's faith and the way they show it.
Kudos to you!

 

[Ark100]

Yes JRSut1000 I am very aware of your thoughts about Christmas. I got to see all of it on December 25, 2011 when you voiced your opposition to anyone celebrating Christmas. It was most distasteful. The thread got moved to the General Theology forum because of your debating.

I am a Christian and I celebrate Christmas. In fact 2011 was the first time I had put up a Christmas tree and decorations since my husband's death in 2007. Besides the condemnation I received from JRSut1000, I enjoyed it. As long as I am not hurting anyone I don't understand why other people feel it is their right to tell other people that they are wrong in their Christian beliefs.

Don't ever feel condemned by anyone at all for celebrating christmas. Some people love to tear others down because what they believe is different. Exactly as long as you are not hurting anyone. No one should condemn anyone else for celebrating the birth of Christ. Not only does that day draws one closer to Christ, but it also encourages sharing time with family and friends which otherwise you may not get to do.

The Lord does not disapprove of it. It is what IS in the heart that matters. Whatever I buy or eat on christmas day is for the Lord, not for anyone else, and I will never feel sorry for it. The Lord had blessed me and my family at Christmas and we get to share the joy of the Lord and memorable experiences together.
I never even heard of Christmas connected to pagan till about a yr ago. And then when I heard, did it change anything? NO, and it never will.

Each to their own. If not celebrating christmas suit some people, so be it, but as for me and my household, we will ALWAYS celebrate the birth of Christ on christmas day. I love Jesus

 

[JRSut1000]

I see I'm the 'bad guy' even among messianics. That's okay, I still wont be celebrating or advocating paganism and it's traditions.

 

[TheDag]

I see I'm the 'bad guy' even among messianics. That's okay, I still wont be celebrating or advocating paganism and it's traditions.

ok i won't celebrate christmas. What i will do is celbrate iofdjgjknflksdf which is something I created to celebrate the birth of my Lord & Saviour. I choose 25th December to celebrate! I just don't understand why people want to get so hung up on a name. God looks at the heart according to the bible. To me if you are celebrating the right thing then whatever it is called is not relevent. Saying you can't celebrate Jesus birth at christmas time would be as logical as saying nobody uses the word gay to refer to homosexuals. Words change in meaning over time and/or get additional meanings. It is a fact of life. if you want to push it then there is barely a day in the entire year that is not a special day for other faiths of one kind or another. yet I don't see you advocating to stop meeting together to worship. That is why I think it is double standard.

Of course if you think it is wrong then don't celebrate it. however i was taught that on 25th December we celebrate the birth of Jesus even though we don't know when he was born.

 

[judylew]

I do not celebrate Christmas either because of it's pagan origins as the feast of Saturnalia, marking the winter solstice. We should not be commandeering a pagan holiday and say it is now a Christian holiday. Besides, Jesus was not born in December, and in all likelihood, was probably born some time in the spring (based on the fact that the shepherds were tending their flock out in the fields).

While many Christians may celebrate it to commemorate the birth of Christ because they don't know any better, I think one should not if they do know better. And while I do not believe they should celebrate it, I also don't think celebrating it makes anyone less godly or anything.

 

[JRSut1000]

It's good to know I'm not the only one with such realizations, judylew.

 

[judylew]

It's good to know I'm not the only one with such realizations, judylew.

Great minds think alike.

 

[NoelAsa]

I see I'm the 'bad guy' even among messianics. That's okay, I still wont be celebrating or advocating paganism and it's traditions.

I don't think you are the bad guy. I just think your insistence that you are right and everyone should believe what you believe is wrong. Saying everyone who celebrates Christmas is into paganism is an insult to all Christians.