Is "The Big American Christmas" Disappearing?

[Revelation1217]

Recent polls reveal that a huge percentage of Americans will be spending less this Christmas, and more Americans than ever are choosing not to celebrate Christmas at all. Is this the beginning of the end for "the Big American Christmas"?:

http://themoralcollapseofamerica.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-big-american-christmas-disappearing.html

What do you all think?

 

[Zoness]

Well since everyone is going broke of course it will be hard to afford stuff. Except for me I stockpiled lots of money and will be cashing in hard at Christmas time, but not in celebration of Christmas -- I don't correllate excessive gift giving with Christ's birth.

 

[Sphinx777]

Christmas, also referred to as Christmas Day or Christmastide, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that marks and honors the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birth, which is the basis for the Anno Domini system of dating, has been determined by modern historians as having occurred between 7 and 2 BC. The date of celebration is not thought to be Jesus' actual date of birth, and may have been chosen to coincide with ancient Roman solar festivals that were held on December 25.

Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between St. Nicholas of Myra and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. The holiday is widely celebrated around the world, including in the United States, where it is celebrated by 96% of the population.

 

[mont974x4]

We have been scaling back slowly over the years and refocusing. We will never stopp celebrating the birth of our Savior.

 

[seashale76]

Heartening news, if true. Now, if they would only go to church on Christmas Eve.

 

[mont974x4]

I'll be at church CHRISTmas Eve. I'll be serving Communion to families.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

We will probably celebrate Christ-mas on New Years this time, which will be in San Diego.

 

[Chaplain David]

Recent polls reveal that a huge percentage of Americans will be spending less this Christmas, and more Americans than ever are choosing not to celebrate Christmas at all. Is this the beginning of the end for "the Big American Christmas"?:

http://themoralcollapseofamerica.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-big-american-christmas-disappearing.html

What do you all think?

I hope that the big Christmas present thing is disappearing but that's my families preference. In times of trouble people generally look more to God. Hopefully that will happen with our country.

 

[Kristos]

xmas december 25th? Is outrage!

january 7th sounds much better.

 

[SouthernPlanter]

I wish Christmas would be practiced as it is in Germany, more vivaciously and with more charity than it has been in the last years here. I remember a time when public places had Christmas ornamentations everywhere, but now they are more limited as public places do not want ACLU emboldened plants coming to town to create issues. Our Christian way of life is attacked by the ACLU and AU and no one seems to raise a word in protest on their side of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[Sphinx777]

xmas december 25th? Is outrage!

january 7th sounds much better.

Another article of interest... how does your culture celebrate Christmas...

Christmas Worldwide

 

[SouthernPlanter]

And considering the Gregorian Calendar came after the Julian Calendar, the correct birthday of Christ is December 25th, at least as is claimed by those who established the event altogether. The Gregorian Calender came in the 1500s and rather since the Gregorian Calendar system does not celebrate Christmas on the same day as the Julians do, they must therefore be in the wrong.

 

[george]

Other than giving to charities. I'm scaling back to. hey it's christ birthday anyway. we should be giving back to him. maybe this econemy may turn ppl's focous on the true meaning of christmas.

 

[christianmomof3]

Recent polls reveal that a huge percentage of Americans will be spending less this Christmas, and more Americans than ever are choosing not to celebrate Christmas at all. Is this the beginning of the end for "the Big American Christmas"?:

http://themoralcollapseofamerica.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-big-american-christmas-disappearing.html

What do you all think?

I think that Christmas is a retail holiday and is the equivallent of heaven for the retail industry. It is all about the money and food and decorations and gifts.

xmas december 25th? Is outrage!

january 7th sounds much better.

Neither date is likely to be the actual date of the birth of Jesus since shepherds in Palestine would not have been out in the fields with their flocks at that time of year - too cold. Jesus was more likely born in the spring when the sheep had baby lambs and the shepherds would stay out with their flocks at night.
The Bible does not record the date of His birth, nor is there record of it being known and celebrated in the first few centuries after His life.

But by the early fourth century, Church leaders decided they needed a Christian alternative to rival popular solstice celebrations. They chose December 25th as the date of Christ's birth and held the first recorded Feast of the Nativity in Rome in A.D. 336. Whether they did so intentionally or not, Church leaders directly challenged a fellow up-start religion by placing the nativity on December 25th. The Cult of Mithras celebrated the birth of their infant god of light on the very same day. http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/christmas4.htm

 

[Thekla]

I found this most interesting:

[FONT=arial, helvetica, verdana, sans-serif]"December 25 is an historical date," Professor Tommaso Federici, Professor at the Pontifical Urbanian University and a consultant to two Vatican Congregations, has stressed. In an article in the Osservatore Romano on December 24, he wrote: "December 25 is explained as the 'Christianization' of a pagan feast, 'birth of the Sol Invictus'; or as the symmetrical balance, an aesthetic balance between the winter solstice (Dec. 21-22) and the spring equinox (March 23-24). But a discovery of recent years has shed definitive light on the date of the Lord's birth. As long ago as 1958, the Israeli scholar Shemaryahu Talmon published an in-depth study on the calendar of the Qumran sect [Ed. based , in part, on Parchment

Number 321 -- 4 Q 321 -- of the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, see picture at left], and he reconstructed without the shadow of doubt the order of the sacerdotal rota system for the temple of Jerusalem (1 Paralipomenon/Chronicles 24, 7-18) in New Testament times. Here the family of Abijah, of which Zechariah (Zachary) was a descendant, father of John the herald and forerunner (Luke 1, 5), was required to officiate twice a year, on the days 8-14 of the third month, and on the days 24-30 of the eighth month. This latter period fell at about the end of September. It is not without reason that the Byzantine calendar celebrated 'John's conception' on September 23 and his birth nine months later, on June 24. The 'six months' after the Annunciation established as a liturgical feast on March 25, comes three months before the forerunner's birth, prelude to the nine months in December: December 25 is a date of history."[/FONT]

http://www.fisheaters.com/customschristmasnotes.html


Additionally: my son's godfather, who grew up in Bet Jala (aka Shepherds Fields) states sheep can be grazed that time of year. As these are the close pastures, it would make sense that the sheep would be kept closer to more populated areas during the colder months.

We buy our chicken and lamb at a local farm. According to the farmer we buy from, sheep can graze through 6-12 inches of snow. (Not the only ruminant capable of doing this, btw).

 

[SouthernPlanter]

That's why I said "December 25th is the correct date as far as whoever came up with it" well ... not quoted but paraphrased.

January 7th is a result of changing the calendar, that is to say the Gregorian Calendar's January 7th should be the same as the Julian Calendar's December 25th. It should be; but it's not - and thus the Gregorian is wrong, and it's just a technicality.

 

[sunlover1]

Is this the beginning of the end for "the Big American Christmas"?:

I sure hope so!



scrooge

 

[Jig]

America alone last year spent something like 450 Billion dollars on Christmas. (All for one day!)

It would only take roughly 10-15 Billion dollars to give everyone in the world clean water to drink.

Sad. Visit the site below to learn what we can do. Watch the video.

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

 

[Ornela]

I don't see how christmas has anything to do with spending money, obviously people really have got it all wrong. Shouldn't christmas be all about Christ? Instead all I see is people getting together, (spending like crazy to buy presents even when they can't seem to afford them just for the sake of tradition...which it was made up by a man called Saint Nicholas who was a rich and generous man and who liked giving gifts to the poor), having this big meal on their family reunions or whatever and they don't even talk about Jesus. That is hypocrisy in my opinion. I'm not saying giving out gifts is bad, when you really feel led to do it then do it, but shouldn't we concentrate on blessing someone spiritualy rather than always going for the material blessings?

 

[christianmomof3]

I sure hope so!



scrooge

I work in retail and this is the biggest time of the year for retail - in fact, I work today because there is a big sale and I don't usually work on weekends. But, it is nice for me - as far as income is concerned.
This thread made me think about Mark ch 7 which I read this morning about when Jesus cast the demons out of the man and they went into the pigs who then drowned themselves. The people there asked Jesus to leave because the pigs were their livelihood and they were annoyed that He destroyed their pigs and they were not concerned about the poor man who had been demon possessed. I see the commercial Christmas holiday like that. It is the bread and butter of the retail industry. If it were not so huge with people spending so much money on all the trees and decorations and gifts and food and other junk that people spend their money on for the great Christmas holiday, it would make a HUGE dent in the economy. In fact, this year many retailers are worried about the economy making a huge dent in their Christmas profits.
To most of society, Christmas is not about Christ. Many of the people who benefit from the Christmas retail holiday are not Christians and could care less about Christ, but they love Christmas because it is their bread and butter. There would be an uproar if Christmas was done away with and the most upset people would be the retail industries. They don't care if people care about Christ or not. All they care about is if people buy their stuff. I know many people who get into the "Christmas spirit" and decorate and bake and buy gifts and they never go to church or care a fig about Christ. I have heard over and over that if there are no gifts, then Christmas is ruined. Charities have people buying gifts for children so that poor children can "have a Christmas". Children grow up thinking Christmas is about toys.
On the news there is all sorts of stuff about donating toys for poor children for Christmas.
But you don't hear the gospel preached on the news. Ever.
You don't see people going around preaching the gospel for Christmas and giving out Bibles and gospel tracts. At least I have never seen that.
When they do their big "Christmas dinners" for homeless and poor people do they mention Christ or give out Bibles or tracts or pray with those people or preach the gospel to them?

Most of the Christmas decorations that I sell in the store I work with have nothing to do with Christ. We sell fish ornaments and santa claus ornaments and animal ornaments and all sorts of sports ornaments and wreaths and trees and winter scenes and snowflake ornaments and the only stuff with any reference to Christ are the Catholic looking Jesus and Mary statues which I find a bit creepy looking anyway.
No verses about the Lord other than maybe on the inside of some of the Christmas Cards.
No mention of Christ.

Anyway, I must get ready for work to go sell stuff to people so they will have a lovely Christmas.