No Christmas

[John S]

My cousin belongs to a small Christian denomination, whose name escapes me now, that doesn't celebrate Christmas. Forget about Santa Claus. They don't even celebrate the birth of Jesus. They celebrate Jewish holy days.
What is your opinion of that?
Do you belong to this or to a similar Christian denomination?

 

[AlexBP]

That would most likely be some form of Messianic Judaism, which has its own subforum a few spaces above this one. I see nothing wrong with it is principle though there's no denying that a few people who follow that line of thought are oddballs, to put it mildly.

 

[John S]

I don't believe that it is Judaic but

 

[John S]

...I could be wrong. Sorry about that.

 

[lovernotafighter]

Actually, some Christian sects don't celebrate since it is of pagan origin. December 25th was the Roman solstice feast to the sun god. When Constatine converted, the feast was changed to the day we celebrate Christ's birth (The feast of the SON) to encourage Romans to convert without losing their party day Personally, I see nothing wrong with it, but some people have major issues with anything pagan. Over in GT there are tons of threads on this

 

[John S]

Lovernotafighter - Do you celebrate Christmas?

 

[lovernotafighter]

Lovernotafighter - Do you celebrate Christmas?

yes.

 

[ittarter]

My cousin belongs to a small Christian denomination, whose name escapes me now, that doesn't celebrate Christmas. Forget about Santa Claus. They don't even celebrate the birth of Jesus. They celebrate Jewish holy days.
What is your opinion of that?
Do you belong to this or to a similar Christian denomination?

Really? They celebrate Hanukkah? Weird.

The Orthodox definitely have an "unusual" (by western standards) celebration in December but all their holidays and festivals are still decidedly Christian.

Santa Clause, as portrayed now, has little to do with Christianity. And Jesus wasn't born in December. It's proper to celebrate the messianic "advent."

 

[John S]

Ittarter - This isn't an Eastern Orthodox denomination.
It was founded in the U.S. I knew about it in the mid 70's. No Christmas at all.

 

[lovernotafighter]

I think AlexBP is right. A Messianic Jew would call themselves Christian, so it's not Jewish per se. Basically they keep the old convenant and accept Jesus, I think. Here's a thread on it. http://www.christianforums.com/t7520490/

 

[ittarter]

Ittarter - This isn't an Eastern Orthodox denomination.
It was founded in the U.S. I knew about it in the mid 70's. No Christmas at all.

I was just giving an example of a no-Santa Christian group.

 

[Tinker Grey]

Could it be JWs?

 

[Supernaut]

Could it be JWs?

JW's don't consider themselves Christians though. They are the "elect" I think...or something along those lines.

 

[Tinker Grey]

From the wiki, first sentence: Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity.

The couple of JWs I've known considered themselves Christians.

YMMV, of course.

 

[John S]

NO - This group isn't Jehovah's Witnesses.

If you're interested in looking it up, the founder's last name was Armstrong. I don't remember his first name. His son's name was Garner Ted Armstrong.

 

[lovernotafighter]

Garner Ted Armstrong (February 9, 1930 – September 15, 2003) was an American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of seventh-day Sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances derived from the Old Testament scriptures.

I guess that solves our mystery

 

[John S]

I guess that solves our mystery

Thank You.

If anyone belongs to this denomination or one like it, please let us know.

 

[Supernaut]

From the wiki, first sentence: Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity.

The couple of JWs I've known considered themselves Christians.

YMMV, of course.

The JW's I was subjected to growing up the label of Christian was akin to being called the antichrist.....but perhaps the different sects have differing views on this..

 

[Mike Ward]

I've never gone to a Worldwide Church of God or anything like it but until a year and half ago my family and I went to a non-institutional Church of Christ and they do not celebrate Christmas though most mainline Churches of Christ do.

Actually, we celebrated Christmas as a secular holiday and gave presents and sang about Santa Claus and snow and jingle bells at home, but we did not sing about baby Jesus nor do anything related to Christmas at church. Most preachers pointedly avoided talking about Jesus's birth during December unless it was to preach about why Christmas is wrong.

We go to a mainline Church of Christ now. Our Christmas program at church is on the 19th.

 

[John S]

Mike - Thank You. I have to admit that I have never heard of a church that ONLY celebrated Santa Claus and not Jesus Christ.