Pagan Holidays

[Albion]

I'd consider it sinful to celebrate these once you know the truth of their true origins/purpose.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world."

It probably depends a lot on what is meant by "origins." There is hardly anything that Christians do in the way of worship (and belief, to a great extent) that was not done at least in a similar way by somebody else earlier on, which would of course mean pagans in most instances.

 

[Zao is life]

Again, sorry if this is not the best forum for this post but I couldn't find one that would better suit it, please move if needed. Thank you!

EDIT:REMOVED TEXT UNTIL I CAN VERIFY SOURCE OF SOME QUOTATIONS. SORRY.

Well, put it this way: We are not under law, but under grace. Don't create for yourself new "Thou shalt not's". "Thou shalt not eat pork", "Thou shalt not work on the Sabbath Day", ..

Since we Christians are all in the business of inventing new "Thou shalt not's", I'll give you a Thou shalt not: Thou shalt not create Thou shalt not's for yourself regarding any day in which anyone chooses to remember the birth of Christ. God is not waiting gleefully with a shovel and coal for you to slip up somewhere so He can cast you into the lake of fire.

 

[BlessedCreator]

I'm not saying to do this or that but If I knew something was unholy and evil I would reccomend staying far from it.

 

[prodromos]

Historically, Christmas and Easter have pagan origins.

Their origins are found in the Gospels, not in paganism.

 

[Zao is life]

I'm not saying to do this or that but If I knew something was unholy and evil I would reccomend staying far from it.

If people were teaching their children at Christmas time to worship another god it would be evil. But this is not the case. In the minds of unbelievers Christmas is associated with a pregnant woman on a donkey on a journey to a town called Bethlehem, her carpenter husband walking alongside, a baby in a manger, shepherds watching their flocks outside being visited by angels to announce the birth of the King who is Christ the Lord, etc etc etc.

There's nothing evil in it. No gods are worshiped, no matter what ancient Romans did on the same day.

 

[prodromos]

In the Orthodox Church, every day of the year is celebrating something about Christ or His holy ones. We don't leave a single day for the evil one.

 

[zoidar]

Again, sorry if this is not the best forum for this post but I couldn't find one that would better suit it, please move if needed. Thank you!

EDIT:REMOVED TEXT UNTIL I CAN VERIFY SOURCE OF SOME QUOTATIONS. SORRY.

When Christians spread, pagan temples were made into churches. It was a sign of victory over the pagan religions. I see it the same way with the holidays, turning pagan holidays into Christian holidays, turning pagan worship into Christian worship, a sign of victory through the cross of Christ.

 

[BlessedCreator]

I dont believe real Christians were the one to disguise these pagan holidays as Christian. I believe the "false apostles" and "grievous wolves" we were warned of by God that would enter the Church "not sparing the flock" are the ones that did this.

And I reckon if you did enough research you would find this to be true.

 

[Dkh587]

I figure if the Lord can redeem us old pagans there's no reason He can't do the same with old pagan holidays as well.
tulc(just a thought)

God has always commanded his people to come out of the world(paganism) and to not worship him the way pagans worship their gods.

God has his own holy days that reveal the plan of salvation(Leviticus 23)

The Israelites built a golden calf & created their own holiday, and we see how far that went (Exodus 32)

They mixed pagan worship with the worship of the 1 true God. It doesn’t work.

Christmas is no different than the golden calf.

 

[Skittles]

My research has shown me a Church that has struggled with and navigated past all sorts of heresy to preserve the truth about Jesus Christ and spread that message to all cultures of the world. Others have said it more eloquently above - we celebrate and worship the truth of Jesus Christ when we celebrate the truth of His resurrection at Easter. That is true independent of whether druids used to jump around to celebrate whatever at roughly the same time of year. We see the calendar through Christ-centric eyes - not Christian activity through pagan-suspicious ones.

 

[Skittles]

God has always commanded his people to come out of the world(paganism) and to not worship him the way pagans worship their gods.

God has his own holy days that reveal the plan of salvation(Leviticus 23)

The Israelites built a golden calf & created their own holiday, and we see how far that went (Exodus 32)

They mixed pagan worship with the worship of the 1 true God. It doesn’t work.

Christmas is no different than the golden calf.

The golden calf incident was the Israelites worshipping an idol.

Christmas is NOT that. It is us worshipping God and celebrating His incarnation.

 

[Dkh587]

The golden calf incident was the Israelites worshipping an idol.

Christmas is NOT that. It is us worshipping God and celebrating His incarnation.

The Israelites celebrated what God had done(delivered them from Egypt) through their idol:

Exodus 32:4-5

And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to Yahweh.

Christmas is an idol.

the Apostles and original Christians did not celebrate Christmas. It’s a pagan holiday

ask yourself why the world celebrates Christmas. The world hates Christ. They celebrate it because it belongs to the pagans. Pagans don’t care about Christ.

 

[prodromos]

And I reckon if you did enough research you would find this to be true.

I did, and it isn't.

What are your sources? Who are the authors of the 'history' you are reading? Are they reliable? Are they unbiased?

 

[prodromos]

Christmas is an idol.

the Apostles and original Christians did not celebrate Christmas. It’s a pagan holiday

ask yourself why the world celebrates Christmas. The world hates Christ. They celebrate it because it belongs to the pagans. Pagans don’t care about Christ.

The world doesn't even mention Christ at Christmas time. They say "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas". What they celebrate and what Christians celebrate are two entirely different things. It still does not make what Christians celebrate into something pagan.

 

[BlessedCreator]

I dont think you did enough research. I will update the original post later today and you can research from there to find the truth if really desire to understand the origins of these pagan holidays and how they entered the church.

 

[Dkh587]

The world doesn't even mention Christ at Christmas time. They say "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas". What they celebrate and what Christians celebrate are two entirely different things. It still does not make what Christians celebrate into something pagan.

Let’s not kid ourselves - they’re celebrating Christmas. That’s why they have trees, lights, Santa clause, gifts under the tree etc

it’s because they’re celebrating Christmas. Christmas belongs to the pagans

 

[HARK!]

The golden calf incident was the Israelites worshipping an idol.

Christmas is NOT that. It is us worshipping God and celebrating His incarnation.

(CLV) Dt 12:30
Guard yourself lest you should be trapped to go after them after they are exterminated before your face, and lest you inquire about their elohim, saying: How do these nations serve their elohim that I, I too, may do thus?

 

[HARK!]

 

[HARK!]

Theodoret’s Ecclesiastical History 1.9 records The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present:

“It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. … Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. … avoiding all contact with that evil way. … who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. … a people so utterly depraved. … Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord. … no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews.”

 

[Der Alte]

I have been on this forum since George H.W. Bush was president and I have seen these arguments about pagan this and pagan that multiple, multiple times and the same shoddy "evidence" is posted endlessly.
Christians are not responsible for how secular society has co-opted and commercialized the Christian celebration of the birth of our Savior, the resurrection of our Savior etc. I have been attending churches since FDR was president and I have never seen bunnies, eggs, Santa Claus, Christmas trees etc. as part of any Christian service.