[moved] I'm not a Grinch, but ...

[James Honigman]

I'm not a Grinch, but I wonder what our Lord Jesus is thinking when He looks down on our present day celebration of Christmas. I'm wondering if it is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes as mentioned in the book of Revelation. In the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation our Beloved gives us His opinion of the latter day churches and what they teach. He is only happy with two of His churches (Smyrna and Philadelphia) and explains some of the things He does not like about the other five. To the church at Pergamos He said this:

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Revelation 2.14

Our Lord, our Savior, HATES the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes! Well, as for me, anything the Lord hates, I am going to stay away from, but what is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes? In my opinion, GREED. We know that Balaam was chastised for His greed (they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward) and I think the Nicolaitanes teach the same thing. Now, history has no record of the Nicolaitanes, all we truly know about them is their doctrine is hated by GOD!

Which got me to thinking about the way we celebrate Christmas today. There is some greed there, and if you don't believe that, ask the president of Amazon, Walmart or Visa if they enjoy Christmas. Ask your husband, your wife, or your children about the importance of Christmas. Is that smile and glowing expression on their faces from the sincere appreciation of Christ coming to earth for our salvation, or is it for the greedy anticipation of opening all those gifts under the tree?

Alright, enough said. I'm not a Grinch and enjoy Christmastime as much as anyone. I do believe we could be a bit more pious with our celebrating, but it is a joyous event where we can rejoice in the Lord coming to earth for us. Besides, our celebration of Christmas isn't nearly as bad as our celebration of Easter, but that would be a separate post. Merry Christmas to everyone!

 

[Winken]

Merry Christmas !!

 

[Tolworth John]

Which got me to thinking about the way we celebrate Christmas today.

Have you noticed that Jesus in Rev didn't make a blanket accusation against All Christians. Rather he accused Christians in this town or that town.

The commercialisation of christmas is near universal as a time of excess and self indulgence.
But just because our neighbour's house can be seen from space, or they have a whole redwood tree imported for a christmas tree etc doesn't mean we have to blindly follow what the advertisers tell us to do.

Gather your family, buy presents for each other, have a feast.
But remember the poor, the homeless and the reason for the season.
Give generously to charities helping the homeless and lonely.
Try when everyone is still alert to read the Christmas story from the bible and to pray.

You want a light display, well do a nativity scene and a crucifition scene, it would be different.

 

[ewq1938]

 

[tulc]

Having kids and then grandkids helped make Christmas a lot less stressful for me. You can't afford to Grinch your way through it when they're around, I find if we want it to be better for them, then we have to make it be better.
tulc(finds Christmas to be a lot more enjoyable when the kids are enjoying it!)

 

[Dan Brooks]

I'm not a Grinch, but I wonder what our Lord Jesus is thinking when He looks down on our present day celebration of Christmas. I'm wondering if it is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes as mentioned in the book of Revelation. In the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation our Beloved gives us His opinion of the latter day churches and what they teach. He is only happy with two of His churches (Smyrna and Philadelphia) and explains some of the things He does not like about the other five. To the church at Pergamos He said this:

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Revelation 2.14

Our Lord, our Savior, HATES the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes! Well, as for me, anything the Lord hates, I am going to stay away from, but what is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes? In my opinion, GREED. We know that Balaam was chastised for His greed (they ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward) and I think the Nicolaitanes teach the same thing. Now, history has no record of the Nicolaitanes, all we truly know about them is their doctrine is hated by GOD!

Which got me to thinking about the way we celebrate Christmas today. There is some greed there, and if you don't believe that, ask the president of Amazon, Walmart or Visa if they enjoy Christmas. Ask your husband, your wife, or your children about the importance of Christmas. Is that smile and glowing expression on their faces from the sincere appreciation of Christ coming to earth for our salvation, or is it for the greedy anticipation of opening all those gifts under the tree?

Alright, enough said. I'm not a Grinch and enjoy Christmastime as much as anyone. I do believe we could be a bit more pious with our celebrating, but it is a joyous event where we can rejoice in the Lord coming to earth for us. Besides, our celebration of Christmas isn't nearly as bad as our celebration of Easter, but that would be a separate post. Merry Christmas to everyone!

I don't celebrate Christmas as at all. It isn't Jesus' birthday. It's been celebrated for thousands of years as the birthday of Tammuz, Sol Invictus, and other false deities. The time of year is also the time of Saturnalia (worship of the planet Saturn as a god, which time was full of debauchery). The Catholic Church just one day basically said, "Ok, now it's Jesus' birthday instead."
Jesus shouldn't be associated with that date at all, not to mention with the celebrated practices of the day and season.
Another thing is, the very name "Christmas" (which is a corruption of the original term, "Cristes Maesse") means, "Christ's Mass", or "Death of Christ." What an ironic term to use as the name for the day which celebrates the birth of Christ, huh?
So no, I don't celebrate it. Not only is the worldly version of it with the 400 year old jolly round guy from the North Pole, or the pagan version with it's yule logs, trees, and mistletoe, etc. quite repulsive to me, but even the supposedly "Christian" version of it is quite unpalatable as well.

(I guess I'm the Grinch around here, huh?)

 

[Dave-W]

I celebrate a holiday on the 25th day of a winter month: Chanukkah!

And Jesus celebrated it too!

I have been toying with the idea of re-writing a famous carol of the season:

Away in a Sukkah.