Why do Christians continue to celebrate Christmas?

[Jipsah]

Yeah because the 25th was when the pagans celebrated the birth of the sun god.

And? That is the day we celebrate the coming of our Savior. The pagans and their imaginary deities have been forgotten for time out of mind. Only some few Christians still seem to be concerned with them, for no real discernible reason .

Even the Christmas tree is satanic.

Really? I never heard that Satan created anything.

What does a tree have to do with Christ?.

He created them, and thus they are good.

Bottom line is this: If you believe that the birth of Jesus Christ is not important enough tp be celebrated, then don't celebrate it. Seems pretty strange for a Christian, but I don't judge any brother "in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days". If you want to stay in the house with the shades drawn while the rest of the Church is singing "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!" then that's entirely your business.

And bother a bunch of pathetic pagans anyway.

 

[Jipsah]

most Christians and their pastors take it for granted that Christmas is a Christian holiday.

As, of course, it is, despite the efforts of some Christians to abandon those Christians feasts and give them back to some long-dead pagans who for some reason they believe own certain spots on the calendar. They almost seem to have more faith in the nonexistent "gods" invoked by the benighted heathens than they do in the Lordship of Christ over all His Creation.

In my opinion, Satan has done a masterful job in luring believers into participating in Christmas.

Satan must love Lesson and Carols, and midnight Masses, and Christmas day worship services, then, in spite of the fact tht they're all associated with the worship of Christ. Let's face it, most people don't gather at church to sing the praises of God on Groundhog Day, do they? If Satan is inspiring people to "remember Christ our Savior", then I say let him; who am I to complain if he does something worthwhile even if it was unintentional?

The sights, sounds, smell of the Christmas tree and Christmas music/carols appeal to the human senses and create happy memories which are difficult to disassociate from even when one acknowledges the history behind Christmas.

I'm sorry, mate, but you don't know any more about the history behind Christmas, or any other Church history, than you do about brain surgery. You're simply parroting what you've been told by someone else who didn't know any history, but who was pretty sure that if his denomination said it was bad then it was bad. That's how ninnyhammer narratives like this are perpetuated. They become articles of faith in themselves, syncretized into their beliefs to tightly that they become as important as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and even the Resurrection, so that those who don't share in that belief become something other than, and less than, Christian.

 

[Jipsah]

I didn’t know Scripture directs us to work on Christmas.

Jude 7:14 <Laugh>

 

[Vi]

The Xian church calendar, or liturgical calendar is a tool, a teaching tool as well as a worshipping tool. It doesn't start on jan1 and it teaches us the chronologic birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascention of Christ. The date picked to celebrate Christ's birth isn't the date of Christ's birth. I'm guessing the date chosen to celebrate and respect the Pentecost isn't actually held on the day of the actual Pentecost.
I'm not sure I agree that everything and anything that isn't Xian is then of satan... or even if something in the past was done for one reason is still done for that same reason. There was a time when evergreen was used for pagan reasons while now evergreen depicts Xian idealogy.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

There are a few who know the days appointed by Yahweh, throughout Scripture, as Yahweh decreed. They do as He Says.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Obey Jesus. Follow Jesus. He never celebrated such a holiday(nor did the Apostles or disciples in the first century) , because He obeyed His Father, always, and He did not follow man's worldly ways.

 

[NW82]

<NW82>Using Catholic tradition is a poor argument. For the pre-Christian Romans, December 25 marked their most important holiday, Saturnalia. This was later renamed to ‘Sol Invicti’, which means ‘the unconquerable sun’, in honor of the Syrian sun-god Apollo. Ancient Egyptians also used to celebrate December 25 in worship of Ra, or Horus, the sun-god child of Isis and Orisis. In Mesopotamia, the mythical god Marduk, who was believed to fight against the cold and darkness, was also worshipped on this day. The Aztecs on this day would sacrifice children in worship of their sun-god, Huitzilopochli. North-western Europe hosted festivities for the Nordic god Balder, while the Ancient Greeks dedicated the day for Adonis and Dionysos. For the Ancient Persians, December 25 represented the birth of Mithra, the sun-god. All of which pre-date Christian celebration of Christmas, of which there is no record that the early church even cared about it.<end>.
All internet nonsense with no, zero, none credible, verifiable, historical evidence.

Prove me wrong.

 

[NW82]

<NW82>Very true, but it doesn't diminish my point. The fact that many cults and religions did in fact have celebrations on the 25th of December, when people are saying it didn't happen, is the point; and in some fashion the early Catholic Church did adopt those pagan celebrations days to attract converts. Many of today's customs used in the Church can be traced back to the 4th century, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.
"The use of temples, and those dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church" (Newman, 1878).
References
Newman, J. H. (1878 ). Essay on the Development of the Christian Doctrine.<end>
This was published in 1878 how does this Newman guy know what happened 100s of years before? He doesn't unless he quotes sources from that time written by participant or direct eyewitness.

Have you done scholarly research papers?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

blurp from internet:

"If you say black is white and I show you that it is not then I've proved you wrong. It doesn't mean you'll believe me even though proof is provided. "

 

[Der Alte]

Prove me wrong.

It is impossible to prove a negative. For example "Apollo" was a Greek god but that does not prove that there was not a Syrian god named Apollo. The burden of proof is on you to support your claims.

 

[Kerensa]

Obey Jesus. Follow Jesus. He never celebrated such a holiday(nor did the Apostles or disciples in the first century) , because He obeyed His Father, always, and He did not follow man's worldly ways.

True. He also never drove a car, never lived in the United States of America, never spoke English, and never posted on internet forums, for that matter.

 

[Der Alte]

Have you done scholarly research papers?

Have you? Actually I have written research papers at the graduate level but that is neither here nor there. You made claims, the burden of proof is on you to back up those claims with credible, verifiable, historical evidence. Just because some guy posted something online doesn't make it so.

 

[Der Alte]

Christian views on why Dec 25 was selected as the birth of Jesus. With actual evidence.

Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d

9 Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 8.​

This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice.

11 De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis domini nostri iesu christi et iohannis baptistae..​

Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399–419) he writes: “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”12

12 Augustine, Sermon 202.​

How December 25 Became Christmas - Biblical Archaeology Society​

 

[Kerensa]

Very interesting, Der Alter — and even if Jesus wasn't actually born on 25th December (which I would guess he probably wasn't, as the shepherds wouldn't have been out in the fields all night in winter), what on earth is wrong with Christians choosing to celebrate his birth on that date? As I think others here have said, if you say "oh no, no, it's the winter solstice, it's a pagan festival," aren't you just giving it to the pagans instead of acknowledging that ALL days and seasons belong to God and are for glorifying Him, regardless of what human beings may believe?

Again, there is absolutely no problem with some followers of Christ deciding not to celebrate Christmas. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. What IS wrong is taking the attitude that your decision not to celebrate Christmas makes you superior to all those followers of Christ who do celebrate it. Which seems to be what is ultimately going on in all these threads on this topic.

 

[BNR32FAN]

So what? The pagans are all dead, their "gods" never existed, and the dates of their feasts are irrelevant. Every date on the calendar belongs to our Lord Christ.

As we should. Who cares what some extinct pagans may or may not have done? Our God lives and reigns. Every day is His.

I’m not sure but perhaps you misunderstood my position friend. I’m not against celebrating Christmas. I was simply answering the questions in the OP. I’ve celebrated Christmas every year of my life.

 

[Kerensa]

How December 25 Became Christmas - Biblical Archaeology Society​

I should add that I've just finished this article that Der Alter posted — it's quite long, but really, really worth reading. Many thanks.

 

[Doctor.Sphinx]

When it's roots are clearly founded in pagan beliefs. The idea of 'Santa' and his reindeer's are satanic. No where does it say in the Bible that Jesus was born on the 25th December. It blows my mind that Christians today are still celebrating this pagan holiday?

I think it's all too easy to take the third letter in Santa and push it to the end of the name, and you've got "Satan". "Ho, ho, ho" is not so funny after that, is it? Also, Nick is the name of the devil, not a saint at all, although I have known some other nicks in my life, and not all of these have been devils (no offence intended to any Nicks on CF). Also, wasn't Thor the false-god who lived in the North pole, dressed all in red and carrying a hammer? The devil is also reputed to live at the North pole, but I can't remember who told me that.

Anyhoo, whenever I see a bunch of kids talking about what Santa's going to bring them, I tell them I don't believe in Santa. Sure, their faces drop, one or two might start to cry, but a bitter truth is better than a sweet lie, right?

One time, I did this at the shopping centre where a kid was sitting on fake-Santa's knee. I pulled off fake-Santa's fake beard and emptied his box of fake toys, and the children watching started to cry. Then one of fake-Santa's elves grabbed me from behind, and fake-Santa punched me on the nose, could you believe? Obviously, we got into a fight, and I was eventually beaten up further by two of the security guards and thrown out the shopping centre like a common drunk. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, I actually had been drinking just prior, and having no fixed address at that point, the police sided with the shopping centre folk. I think that one's still on my record, but what price the truth, huh?

Also, I think I watched a movie once where it showed that when kids stop believing in Santa, one of his elves in the North Pole making presents drops dead. If only we could get all kids to disbelieve in Santa! Those suckers in his toy workshops would be dropping dead like flies, and he'd have to assign more elves to morgue-duty than toy-duty. If that didn't throw a spanner in the works of his deceptive little operation, I don't know what would.

 

[mama2one]

we've never done Santa @Doctor.Sphinx
when child started school, I had to tell her not to tell any classmates


since we don't do Santa, presents is not the focus
child has said more than once, the best part of this time of year is spending time with family but then husband always takes vacation since school's out
prefer going to church Christmas eve but that's not always possible as sometimes we're traveling

 

[seeking.IAM]

Christ was born sometime. It is fitting that we commemorate and honor the occasion. December 25 seems as good of day as any other. I will honor the birth of the Word made Flesh. Others are free to do otherwise.

 

[Archivist]

Christ was born sometime. It is fitting that we commemorate and honor the occasion. December 25 seems as good of day as any other. I will honor the birth of the Word made Flesh. Others are free to do otherwise.

Well said. A man named Frederick Douglass was born a slave, probably around 1818. Because he was a slave, no one bothered to record the date of his birth. After escaping from slavery, he chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14th. Was that wrong of him to do that? Of course not. We know that Jesus was born in a stable in the town of Bethlehem. We don't know when his birth occurred. Is it wrong to celebrate it on December 25th? Of course not.