Christmas is important.

[elliott95]

Well, the Incarnation began 9 months before Christmas, of course.

That is a very good point that is worth repeating in today's world which is no longer aware of when human life begins.

 

[MoreCoffee]

That is a very good point that is worth repeating in today's world which is no longer aware of when human life begins.

And it is also an important indication that the feast of the annunciation (25th of March) is a sign of the birth of our Lord which is to come nine months later.

The Annunciation always falls on the 25th of March, although the celebration of the feast is transferred to a different date if it falls during Holy Week or the octave of Easter.

There is a reason for each season in the church's calendar.

 

[elliott95]

And it is also an important indication that the feast of the annunciation (25th of March) is a sign of the birth of our Lord which is to come nine months later.

The Annunciation always falls on the 25th of March, although the celebration of the feast is transferred to a different date if it falls during Holy Week or the octave of Easter.

There is a reason for each season in the church's calendar.

Christmas is also historically associated with the Epiphany. In Eastern Christianity, where the practice originated, the nativity and the Epiphany were both celebrated on the 6 January. The birth of Christ and the Epiphany, which is the are the appearance of God among us, a theophany even.
The name associated with Christmas is Immanuel, from the Old Testament, which is to say that 'God is with us'.

Christmas is also not merely a day, but a season of twelve days, beginning on Christmas Eve and ending in the Epiphany.
God becomes Incarnate nine months previous, at the Annunciation, yet hidden still, with us, but not with us, unseen like all unborn children are hidden. On the day of the Nativity he become Immanuel, literally God among us, and at the Ephiphany his true nature as Son of God becomes fully revealed. Through the voice of God at his baptism, and through the understanding of the three wise men, the nature of the man becomes fully apparent to all present.

Like all fully human beings, the fullest nature of the man is revealed through time, from the time in the womb, through the appearance of the child of promise, through to the full realization of the person through adulthood.

Puritan urges to erase the bacchanalia associated with all joyous festivities have always been with us too, and are a necessary part of any culture too. Where there is joy, there is the presence of desires, and where there are desires, there is always the tendency to excess.

And yet, to erase the Christmas season from the calendar out of puritan instinct is to erase one of the most fundamental means of evangelization of the message found in Christian Scripture that has been developed over the Christian millennium.

Nine months between the Anunciation and the Nativity is rife with meaning, and it is an annual teaching. The twelve days between Christmas Eve and the Ephiphany more thoroughly remind us of exactly what child is this, the Son of God, recognized as such at the Baptism of Christ, and acknowledged as sent for all of mankind through the visitation of the Magi from the surrounding gentile nations.
Puritans sound a useful reminder to the excesses that Christmas celebrations can bring. The response of the greater Christian community has been to take to heart the need to have the dirt and the outer layers of skin removed, but to balk when the scrubbing proceeds to scouring the bared bones of the Christian faith. out o existence.

 

[Bobinator]

You're wrong on two points.

1) Christmas has nothing to do with Tammuz. It would seem you've been drinking from Alexander Hislop's personal kool aid. I suppose you also believe that Tammuz was the offspring of Semiramis and Nimrod.

2) Christmas isn't Jesus' birthday. It's the liturgical celebration of His birth. It is when, on the Christian liturgical calendar, we honor His birth.

-CryptoLutheran[/,

One doesn't need to look far to know that Tammuz was the immaculately conceived child Semiramis claimed to have soon after Nimrod's death, or to know that it has everything to do with the traditional observance of Christmas- everything from the Christmas tree, the mistletoe and the burning of the Yule log. Unless you think you can provide better historical facts than Wikipedia, I suggest you try some kool aid.

I offer you Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Ezekiel 8:14 to see how God feels about Christmas. If you continue reading Ezekiel 9, you'll see how our justifications for our rebellious attitude amounts to zero. I bet you even had an excuse to go trick or treating the other week.

 

[Radagast]

2) Christmas isn't Jesus' birthday. It's the liturgical celebration of His birth. It is when, on the Christian liturgical calendar, we honor His birth.

Outside the US, we get this. The Queens Birthday is a public holiday in several Commonwealth countries... even though it isn't actually the anniversary of the day she was born.

 

[elliott95]

Outside the US, we get this. The Queens Birthday is a public holiday in several Commonwealth countries... even though it isn't actually the anniversary of the day she was born.

It was close to Queen Victoria's Birthday, I think., and a Monday in the middle of May is a great time to have a picnic, in the Northern hemisphere at least.

 

[SAAN]

The big issue with Christmas now is the commercialization of the day and how the non believers are having more say so than believers about how they can celebrate their own holiday. I remembered before 9/11, we always had to wait until black Friday for Christmas decorations and xmas items to go up. Now on November 1st, we have 60 foot tall trees going up in malls, people wearing Santa clause outfits in church, believers having to take down nativity scenes because it offends unbelievers, you cant say merry Christmas, and so on.

We have to ask ourselves, why a holiday that is supposed to be about Jesus, the rest of the world can do it and in the end still reject Jesus. It is because the day is about man and gift giving more than anything else now.

Take Jesus out of Christmas and you will have the same day for the rest of the world: a day of presents and gifts with no religious meaning at all. If you can take the supposed main center piece out of a holiday and it really doesnt change much, maybe they day was never about Jesus to begin with.

We should be telling others about Christ 365 days a year, not just waiting until December to really push the message.

 

[James Is Back]

 

[Rhamiel]

One doesn't need to look far to know that Tammuz was the immaculately conceived child Semiramis claimed to have soon after Nimrod's death, or to know that it has everything to do with the traditional observance of Christmas- everything from the Christmas tree, the mistletoe and the burning of the Yule log. Unless you think you can provide better historical facts than Wikipedia, I suggest you try some kool aid.

I offer you Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Ezekiel 8:14 to see how God feels about Christmas. If you continue reading Ezekiel 9, you'll see how our justifications for our rebellious attitude amounts to zero. I bet you even had an excuse to go trick or treating the other week.

do you have any primary sources for this?

as far as I know, Nimrod is mentioned in the Bible and is not in any Babylonian mythologies
so to link Nimrod, who is talked about in the Bible, with a figure from Babylonian mythology seems kind of a stretch

to link any of these with the Hellenized Mediterranean under the Roman Empire seems even weirder
like, Babylon was not a cultural force in Southern Europe during the time of he Early Church

Greek Culture, Roman Culture, Jewish Culture, and the Early Church
we can see the Goth and Vandal and Celtic tribes up north as also being a factor

but you do not really see Babylon as a cultural force in the A.D. 200s

 

[Rhamiel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0-EgjUhRqA


this is fun

 

[MoreCoffee]

Horus Ruins Christmas - YouTube


this is fun

Yep, it is fun; some of those Lutheran satires are very good.

 

[Strong in Him]

One doesn't need to look far to know that Tammuz was the immaculately conceived child Semiramis claimed to have soon after Nimrod's death, or to know that it has everything to do with the traditional observance of Christmas- everything from the Christmas tree, the mistletoe and the burning of the Yule log. Unless you think you can provide better historical facts than Wikipedia, I suggest you try some kool aid.

I don't know about you, but I don't acknowledge, celebrate or have anything to do with any pagan deities.
Christmas is a time when we remember the incarnation; the birth of the Son of God.

I offer you Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Ezekiel 8:14 to see how God feels about Christmas.

He may well feel that way about the secularisation of Christmas, and the fact that people would rather believe in Santa Claus and flying reindeer than the birth of his Son. But he does not disapprove at all of the latter event - he even sent angels to announce his birth.

If you continue reading Ezekiel 9, you'll see how our justifications for our rebellious attitude amounts to zero.

Rebellious? Non Christians, maybe. But it's not wrong to put up a tree and celebrate.

Again, this thread is about the positive aspects of Christmas, reclaiming it for Christ and telling the world the truth about the season.

 

[MoreCoffee]

You're wrong on two points.

1) Christmas has nothing to do with Tammuz. It would seem you've been drinking from Alexander Hislop's personal kool aid. I suppose you also believe that Tammuz was the offspring of Semiramis and Nimrod.

2) Christmas isn't Jesus' birthday. It's the liturgical celebration of His birth. It is when, on the Christian liturgical calendar, we honor His birth.

-CryptoLutheran

,

One doesn't need to look far to know that Tammuz was the immaculately conceived child Semiramis claimed to have soon after Nimrod's death, or to know that it has everything to do with the traditional observance of Christmas- everything from the Christmas tree, the mistletoe and the burning of the Yule log. Unless you think you can provide better historical facts than Wikipedia, I suggest you try some kool aid.

I offer you Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Ezekiel 8:14 to see how God feels about Christmas. If you continue reading Ezekiel 9, you'll see how our justifications for our rebellious attitude amounts to zero. I bet you even had an excuse to go trick or treating the other week.

That Tammuz & Semiramis being identified with Nimrod is religious-babble from Alexander Hislop who was a notorious anti-catholic shyster and obsessive. If his prattle is the "historical sources" one is relying upon then one's likelihood of writing meaningful material about Christmas is about zero.