Christmas and Easter....opinions wanted!

[hannahfievel]

Hello to all those here,

I have been dwelling on something since last year, when I first encountered this discussion on several forums on the web.

Okay, most people know that *especially* Christmas, and then Easter have had some pagan rituals spattered into our Lords birth and death. Can anyone explain NICELY.... "what they do at both Holidays and the "why" you do it?

I will tell how I have been celebrating and then "why some have told me..."this is wrong and NOT to do it this way"!

I am a born jew, who along my walk came to know the Lord. So, at Christmas so not to loose what I had known about Chanukah...my family has always celebrated "on Christmas day" with the tree and the whole nine yards..and we "also...Light the Chanukah candles...during which I explained to my own children that the lighting of the candles is to express our Love for God and that we "Thank Him" for sending Christ(the light of the world) to save us, and of course the "story of Chanukah and the oil"! Then on Easter...we do the Passover story at the Easter dinner.

Can anyone tell me..."if Jesus' blood sacrifice "has indeed" covered the sins of celebrating Him...incorrectly"??? Or should we really be celebrating the original jewish holidays and skip Celebrating Christ and all that He did for us? I keep being told...I'm wrong in doing as I do...Really??? In His awesome love for us all, your sis, hannah

 

[ContentInHim]

I don't know the answer to that, Hannah, and we probably won't know until our Messiah is with us.

All I know is that I became convicted to not celebrate Christmas or Easter. Instead I celebrate the Hebrew Feasts which are the ones that Messiah celebrated! It's been personally more satisfying but then it's not about us, is it?

edited to add: My brother who is not adopted no matter what I said when I was 5 is NOT convicted about Christmas or Easter. He doesn't understand where I'm coming from and thinks I'm nuts, but he doesn't condemn it. I don't condemn him either. We love eachother and we love God with everything in us!

 

[EnemyPartyII]

Humans are naturally inclined towards tradition...

yes, there is a pagan root to much Christian celebration...

But such things only have the meaning we bring to them. If we have a Christmas tree in recognition of our saviours birth, then it is still in recognition of our saviours birth, even though the tradition started as a pagan practice.

Further, as Christianity "borrowed" aspects from older religions to make converts more comfortable, we can see these traditions as a good thing, as they offer a path to salvation to those who otherwise may not have taken it, and as such we should be respectful to the humble mistletoe or Yule log, as their adoption into Christian tradition may have made it that much easier for our forebears to convert.

Finally, its really not the THING that matters, but the intention behind it... like pagan temples aren't really any different from Christian churches, indeed, in many parts of the world, Christian churches now occupy the site, in some cases even the BUILDINGS of pagan worship... and thats OK, because God is everywhere and cares about our INTENT, rather than the history of an object...

God is everywhere, and understands our attempts at worship. If our attempts are genuine, I don't think we have to worry about accidentally using a pagan tradition when we mean to worship Him... its not as though you can accidentally be offering sacrifices to Dianna or Wotan when you mean to be worshipping God.

A prayer prayed to God at Stonehenge, the Parthenon, the Pantheon, Luxor, Chichen Itza or the Dome of the Rock is JUST as valid as a prayer pryed in the Vatican, in Canterbury Cathedral, in your local parish church, in your bedroom, or in a cow paddock

 

[hannahfievel]

I don't know the answer to that, Hannah, and we probably won't know until our Messiah is with us.

All I know is that I became convicted to not celebrate Christmas or Easter. Instead I celebrate the Hebrew Feasts which are the ones that Messiah celebrated! It's been personally more satisfying but then it's not about us, is it?

edited to add: My brother who is not adopted no matter what I said when I was 5 is NOT convicted about Christmas or Easter. He doesn't understand where I'm coming from and thinks I'm nuts, but he doesn't condemn it. I don't condemn him either. We love eachother and we love God with everything in us!

Thank you and amen...that you do not try to convience others as to what makes YOU feel close to God! This is my main contention with those who "force" others to try to worship as they do...didn't Jesus say "We all walk our own roads to salvation"? I have great respect for how you choose to walk your walk..and allowing your brother to too! Awesome! your sis, hannah

 

[hannahfievel]

Humans are naturally inclined towards tradition...

yes, there is a pagan root to much Christian celebration...

But such things only have the meaning we bring to them. If we have a Christmas tree in recognition of our saviours birth, then it is still in recognition of our saviours birth, even though the tradition started as a pagan practice.

Further, as Christianity "borrowed" aspects from older religions to make converts more comfortable, we can see these traditions as a good thing, as they offer a path to salvation to those who otherwise may not have taken it, and as such we should be respectful to the humble mistletoe or Yule log, as their adoption into Christian tradition may have made it that much easier for our forebears to convert.

Finally, its really not the THING that matters, but the intention behind it... like pagan temples aren't really any different from Christian churches, indeed, in many parts of the world, Christian churches now occupy the site, in some cases even the BUILDINGS of pagan worship... and thats OK, because God is everywhere and cares about our INTENT, rather than the history of an object...

God is everywhere, and understands our attempts at worship. If our attempts are genuine, I don't think we have to worry about accidentally using a pagan tradition when we mean to worship Him... its not as though you can accidentally be offering sacrifices to Dianna or Wotan when you mean to be worshipping God.

A prayer prayed to God at Stonehenge, the Parthenon, the Pantheon, Luxor, Chichen Itza or the Dome of the Rock is JUST as valid as a prayer pryed in the Vatican, in Canterbury Cathedral, in your local parish church, in your bedroom, or in a cow paddock

Yes, I do agree, I do believe why we worship HIM way more important than the "how"! Thank you for your thoughts, hannah