What does God think about Christmas?

[SeeWithGreaterEyes]

11/17/04 From YahuShua HaMashiach, He Who Is Called Jesus The Christ, Our Lord and Savior - The Word of The Lord Spoken to Timothy, For All Those Who Have Ears to Hear

Thus says The Lord: Most assuredly, I say to you, any and all rituals which are rooted in paganism are an abomination in the eyes of God! And all who place My name upon them, or do them by permission in My name, have surely taken the name of The Lord in vain... Desecration!

I know many say they celebrate this holiday in loving memory of My earthly birth, yet on this day I did not come into the world by way of water and blood. For that day and hour remains unknown to you, nor do you understand. Indeed, all you who call of yourselves Christian cast off knowledge, and refuse to honor the appointed times, which The Father commanded you to keep holy and remember. For is it not written: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”?
How long shall you mar My image before the people?! How long shall My name be blasphemed because of you, O churches of men?! How long shall you commit adultery with the harlot and revel in the idolatries of the pagan?! How long shall you remain married to this world and all its fornications against God?! Again I tell you, ALL religions, religious rituals and celebrations, not decreed by The Father, are an abomination! Well did My servant Paul prophesy of you, saying: “Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.”
Therefore, woe to all who celebrate this detestable holiday of men! Woe, I say to you! And three times woe, to all who do so in MY name!... Hypocrites! Workers of idolatry! You are a perverse people who do always take the name of The Lord in vain! Yet I hear you saying, “But we only seek to honor You, Lord, in any and all ways.” Yet I ask you, how can we be one if your heart belongs to another? And how does reveling in those things which I hate honor Me? I tell you the truth, all who love this world more than Me are not worthy of Me! And all who honor the ways of the harlot dishonor Me, and shall share in her judgment! And ALL, who revel in the ways of the pagan, have cast their lot with satan! Or have you never read this Scripture: “You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not understand that friendship with this world is enmity with God?! Therefore whoever makes himself a friend of this world is an enemy of God”?
Indeed, what do all these things have to do with Me? Why do you decorate the tree? Is it not beautiful as it is? And why do you decorate your house? For a household, which seeks to honor Me, has no need of worldly decorations. For in humility, set apart, shall you shine forth. And why do you give worldly gifts in My name? Am I not The Gift, He who ascended on high, He who led captivity captive and gave gifts to men?... Therefore receive of Me, of all I offer, and be separate! For in following My ways do you give gifts to Me and to each other, even to all those around you, for the gifts I bring endure forever.
Therefore, again I ask you, what matter these things of the world and men, which shall soon pass away? Yet you say, “All these things are a metaphor and a testament to You, Lord.” Yet I tell you, anything which comes from sin is sin... Do not do it! Tear down all these whitewashed walls of abomination, and do only as The Word of God instructs!


For the season of giving is each and every day;
And the season of love is every day, every hour, every minute,
Every moment of your life lived in Me...

So then, share your gifts and withhold not;
Lift up the poor in spirit and feed the hungry,
Help the needy and comfort the sick;
Do so in My name...

Yet do not do as the pagans do, for this is sin;
Be completely separate and shun these perverse holidays of men;
Stop breaking My Commandments!


Yet to you, Timothy, I say this: I know your heart, and how you wish for others to know My ways... Show them by your ways, revealing My spirit in you. I know you love this December holiday, yet you must forsake it. For I have called you to be for Me a trumpet and a mouthpiece, a prophet, sent to declare My words before the people; behold, I have called you to truth and salvation, and to war, even war in My members, a great division!
You wish to celebrate My name and My earthly birth, do so; bring glory to My name by your obedience, sacrificing all these things which are against Me. You wish to enjoy festivals with your family, do so; I have given you seven. And in these seven is wisdom and understanding, the very mind of God, revelation beyond words, the will of God made manifest. Yet no more do as the pagans and false teachers would have you do. For you must be separate from this world and the churches, Timothy; be set apart for My name.
Therefore, this is what I command you: Cast off this holiday; throw away your tree and lights, rid your house of all decorations; turn away from these filthy traditions. Honor Me as I truly am, obey the Scriptures, and turn away from the commandments of men. And yes, Timothy, continue to teach your children that which is written in the Scriptures of My earthly birth and the Salvation Day of Men, for this is well pleasing in My eyes... And blessed are all those who receive this Word, and obey it, choosing to follow in your example, for they too shall be set apart.


Know this: The Salvation Day of Men is four-fold...

It was ordained before the foundation of the world,
Fulfilled at My birth,
Finished at My death on the cross,
And solidified eternally upon My resurrection...


I am The Lord.


Source: Regarding the Celebration of Christmas - Letters From God and His Christ

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hello SeeWithGreaterEyes and welcome to CF and to TAW. I hope you are blessed by being here.

I realize you are new to CF, so I would like to direct you to the Statement of Purpose for Traditional Theology. We have many forum areas here with various guidelines, and I fear your post is not on topic for this forum.

You would be welcome to post it in General Theology. Perhaps the best course is to move it there.

Again, welcome to CF, and if you have questions about the forums or need help finding your way around, please let us know.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Hello SeeWithGreaterEyes and welcome to CF and to TAW. I hope you are blessed by being here.

I realize you are new to CF, so I would like to direct you to the Statement of Purpose for Traditional Theology. We have many forum areas here with various guidelines, and I fear your post is not on topic for this forum.

You would be welcome to post it in General Theology. Perhaps the best course is to move it there.

Again, welcome to CF, and if you have questions about the forums or need help finding your way around, please let us know.

I agree, I have moved this from Traditional Theology.

Mark
CF Admin

 

[~Anastasia~]

I agree, I have moved this from Traditional Theology.

Mark
CF Admin

Thanks Mark!

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Thanks Mark!

You are welcome!

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

To the OP question of "What does God think about Christmas? I would guess the same that He feels about every other attempt man has made at worship without being instructed by God... foolishness at best, abomination and blasphemy most likely.

I mean, the term Christmas is from the mass of Christ, correct? What does a death ceremony have to do with His birth? The mass is the re-crucification of Jesus on the alter and His blood and body given in communion by the priest. While protestants do this ceremony, which was ordained and commanded to do by Jesus Himself symbolically, the Papacy and her surrogates presumptuously think they can call the literal Jesus from His work in the Heavenly Sanctuary and literally sacrifice Him again and again at their will!?

So if the mass is the literal sacrifice of Jesus (which btw was done by His enemies), again what does that have to do with His birth? By saying merry Christmas you are in effect saying, merrily killing Christ. Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, no?

 

[Paul Yohannan]

Duplicate.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Duplicate.

I don't see the first post, if it was meant to be in this thread?

 

[Paul Yohannan]

I don't see the first post, if it was meant to be in this thread?

Oh drat I appear to have killed it.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Oh drat I appear to have killed it.

I dislike when that happens. Especially a long post, typed with one finger on a device screen. I was looking forward to reading your reply.

 

[Paul Yohannan]

I dislike when that happens. Especially a long post, typed with one finger on a device screen. I was looking forward to reading your reply.

And my reply was really very good too, and I wrote it on an iPad; alas' who am I to let down my reading public?

The reply, retyped, on an iPad, because I cant be bothered to open up my laptop, for your enjoyment:

To the OP question of "What does God think about Christmas? I would guess the same that He feels about every other attempt man has made at worship without being instructed by God... foolishness at best, abomination and blasphemy most likely.

It is crass, insensitive and ugly to refer to the second most sacred holy day of the majority of your Christian brethren as an "abomination" and "blasphemy."

I mean, the term Christmas is from the mass of Christ, correct? What does a death ceremony have to do with His birth?

The Eucharistic liturgy is not a "death ceremony." In fact, it is the central sacramental mystery for the reception of life everlasting in obedience to the precise instructions of our Lord; it is the supreme act of worship to Jesus Christ.

The mass is the re-crucification of Jesus on the alter

Spelling note:

"altar"
"crucifixion"

At any rate, this is a mischaracterization; it is a participation in the one sufficient sacrifice, not a new sacrifice, and certainly not a new crucifixion.

and His blood and body given in communion by the priest.

The priest and indeed the faithful merely lend their hands and voice to God. The priest acts in persone Christi, in the person of Christ, and not on his own behalf.

While protestants do this ceremony, which was ordained and commanded to do by Jesus Himself symbolically,

Alas, no matter how much Zwingli, Melancthon, or White, may have wished otherwise, our Lord did not say, "take, eat, this is a symbol of my body."

the Papacy and her surrogates presumptuously think they can call the literal Jesus from His work in the Heavenly Sanctuary and literally sacrifice Him again and again at their will!?

I suppose by "surrogates" you mean the Orthodox, Lutherans, high-Church Anglicans, etc?

Now, firstly, Jesus Christ is God incarnate. This means He is according to His divinity omnipresent and not circumscribed to a particular location. What is more, "Heavenly sanctuary" implies a physical or corporeal Heaven, and many theologians, probably most theologians, consider Heaven to be a spiritual reality in which we will if we are so blessed reside between now and the eschaton.

Now what is more, our Lord sacrificed Himself; we participate in that sacrifice, but only through and according to His will and His instructions.

So if the mass is the literal sacrifice of Jesus (which btw was done by His enemies),

Wrong, and soteriologically dangerous. Our Lord sacrificed Himself; the mass is a "rational" or "noetic" and "bloodless" sacrifice through which we participate in his one salvific act. Our Lord was not sacrificed by His enemies; He willingly made a sacrifice of Himself and allowed them to kill Him, but the sacrifice was His alone.

again what does that have to do with His birth?

Our Lord giving himself for our salvation was the raison d'etre for His incarnation. He did not have to do it; He did not have to become incarnate, except for His infinite love for us.

By saying merry Christmas you are in effect saying, merrily killing Christ.

This is a falsehood, expressed with the same vitriolic insensitivity that characterized your initial OP.

What we are saying is "Christ is born, glorify Him!"

Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, no?

The true meaning of Christmas, as opposed to that which you allege, absolutely does give me a warm and fuzzy.

 

[Greg J.]

It depends on what you are referring to regarding Christmas. God looks at our hearts, not our calendars. And he does so full of love, forgiveness, and mercy for us.

 

[thecolorsblend]

Alas, no matter how much Zwingli, Melancthon, or White, may have wished otherwise, our Lord did not say, "take, eat, this is a symbol of my body."

 

[sturgeonslawyer]

Here is what I think. There are three holidays which take place on December 25th.

The first is Xmas, which is a celebration of gifts and food and consumerism.

The second is Christmas, which some people believe is the birthday of Jesus Christ.

The third is the Feast of the Nativity, which some people celebrate as a commemoration (not necessarily an anniversary) of the birth of Christ.

As a Catholic, I celebrate the third.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Oh drat I appear to have killed it.

I dislike when that happens. Especially a long post, typed with one finger on a device screen. I was looking forward to reading your reply.

When this happens, I can restore them... Just so you guys know.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Here is what I think. There are three holidays which take place on December 25th.

The first is Xmas, which is a celebration of gifts and food and consumerism.

The second is Christmas, which some people believe is the birthday of Jesus Christ.

The third is the Feast of the Nativity, which some people celebrate as a commemoration (not necessarily an anniversary) of the birth of Christ.

As a Catholic, I celebrate the third.

Third for me too; but the third also celebrates and expresses faith and hope in our Lords glorious return!

 

[JackRT]

The first is Xmas, which is a celebration of gifts and food and consumerism.

There is a strand of strict Christianity that objects to such abbreviations as Xmas (Christmas) and Xian (Christian) as profane or in some cases even Satanic. Nothing could be further from the truth. The X is the Greek letter Chi the first letter of Χριστός which translates into English as Christ. The use of X or Chi as a symbol for Christ goes back to the very early days of Christianity when the phrase "Iesous Xristos Theou Yios Sotare" was used as a sort of creed "Jesus Christ Son of God Savior". In capitol letters this abbreviates as ΙΧΘΥΣ in Greek or IXOYC in English. This acronym also spells the word "fish" in Greek, hence the use of the fish symbol as a secret recognition sign among Christians. There is absolutely no disrespect in using "Xmas" since the X as a symbol of the Christ has a long and honourable history.

 

[JussiOlavi]

"and refuse to honor the appointed times, which The Father commanded you to keep holy and remember"

From Bible
" Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." (Acts 15)
Here is not mentioned keeping holy days or times.

To all of us Christians
"Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.
For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself." (Rom. 14)

Christfull Christmas to everyone!

 

[ViaCrucis]

I'm broke, but if I wasn't, I'd put money on this being a drive-by "prophecy". At least most false prophets usually have the decency to stick around long enough to throw a tantrum.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[PeaceByJesus]

Hello SeeWithGreaterEyes and welcome to CF and to TAW. I hope you are blessed by being here.

I realize you are new to CF, so I would like to direct you to the Statement of Purpose for Traditional Theology. We have many forum areas here with various guidelines, and I fear your post is not on topic for this forum.

You would be welcome to post it in General Theology. Perhaps the best course is to move it there.

Again, welcome to CF, and if you have questions about the forums or need help finding your way around, please let us know.

That dissent and liberty from an imposed annual Christianized pagan celebration that was not manifestly part of the NT church is not consistent with "Traditional theology" is a profound confession.

As the Lord leads, there is nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of Christ any more than other events, and giving gifts is consistent with that gift, but the problem with Christmas (Christ-mass) has to do with the nature of the annual Dec. event, and the basically mandated observance (in the light of how those who dissent are treated) of the season every December.

Before detailing my reasons, let us first look at a synopsis of the historical context in which Christmas as a day and season developed.
...it was from the pagan holiday that many of the customs of Christmas had their roots. The celebrations of Saturnalia included the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia). This holiday was observed over a series of days beginning on December 17 (the birthday of Saturn), and ending on December 25 (the birthday of Sol Invictus, the "Unconquered Sun"). The combined festivals resulted in an extended winter holiday season. Business was postponed and even slaves feasted. There was drinking, gambling and singing, and nudity was relatively common. It was the "best of days," according to the poet Catullus.[3]

The feast of Sol Invictus on December 25 was a sacred day in the religion of Mithraism, which was widespread in the Roman Empire. Its god, Mithras, was a solar deity of Persian origin, identified with the Sun. It displayed its unconquerability as "Sol Invictus" when it began to rise higher in the sky following the Winter Solstice—hence December 25 was celebrated as the Sun's birthday. In 274 C.E., Emperor Aurelian officially designated December 25 as the festival of Sol Invictus.

Evidence that early Christians were observing December 25 as Jesus' birthday comes from Sextus Julius Africanus's book Chronographiai (221 C.E.), an early reference book for Christians. Yet from the first, identification of Christ's birth with a pagan holiday was controversial. The theologian Origen, writing in 245 C.E., denounced the idea of celebrating the birthday of Jesus "as if he were a king pharaoh." Thus Christmas was celebrated with a mixture of Christian and secular customs from the beginning, and remains so to this day.

Furthermore, in the opinion of many theologians, there was little basis for celebrating Christ's birth in December. Around 220 C.E., Tertullian declared that Jesus died on March 25. Although scholars no longer accept this as the most likely date for the crucifixion, it does suggest that the 25th day of the month—March 25 being nine months before December 25th—had significance for the church even before it was used as a basis to calculate Christmas. [4] By 240 C.E., a list of significant events was being assigned to March 25, partly because it was believed to be the date of the vernal equinox. These events include the creation, the fall of Adam, and, most relevantly, the Incarnation.[5] The view that the Incarnation occurred on the same date as crucifixion is consistent with a Jewish belief that prophets died at an "integral age," either an anniversary of their birth or of their conception. - Christmas, Christmas - New World Encyclopedia (last visited December 16, 2016). This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution.

In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchanging of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites.. (Christmas, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1999)

While Aurelian may have attempted to give a pagan significance to a date since it was already of importance to Roman Christians, as William J. Tighe argues, a date which was derived from the extrabiblical beliefs of some in Judaism, yet we are not dealing simply with assigning a date to the birth of Christ but of the development of a annual seasonal celebration motivated by the desire to convert what was pagan to Christian. And perhaps to combat Gnosticism:

With no Biblical directive to do so and no mention in the Gospels of the correct date, it wasn't until the fourth century that church leaders in Rome embraced the holiday. At this time, Nissenbaum [author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist "The Battle for Christmas" (Vintage, 1997)] said, many people had turned to a belief the Church found heretical: That Jesus had never existed as a man, but as a sort of spiritual entity.

"If you want to show that Jesus was a real human being just like every other human being, not just somebody who appeared like a hologram, then what better way to think of him being born in a normal, humble human way than to celebrate his birth?"

Midwinter festivals, with their pagan roots, were already widely celebrated, Nissenbaum said. And the date had a pleasing philosophical fit with festivals celebrating the lengthening days after the winter solstice (which fell on Dec. 21 this year). - Pagan Roots? 5 Surprising Facts About Christmas (151 words out of 1,151

In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth...Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival...

By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced... From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. - History of Christmas - Christmas - HISTORY.com (91 words)

The Christmas that Americans celebrate today seems like a timeless weaving of custom and feeling beyond the reach of history. Yet the familiar mix of carols, cards, presents, trees, multiplicities of Santas and holiday neuroses that have come to define December 25th in the United States is little more than a hundred years old...Even as late as the early nineteenth century, many Americans, churched or unchurched, northerners or southerners, hardly took notice of the holiday at all. http://www.historytoday.com/penne-restad/christmas-19th-century-america; 77 words

My positive and negative reasons for opposing this annual (and as basically obligatory) celebration called "Christmas" as being opposed to worship God in spirit and in Truth, and the liberty to do so, are as follows:

1. The NT church under the New Covenant did not engaging in "Christianizing" distinctive pagan religious practices or events for it was based upon regeneration, not reformation of the flesh. (2Co. 5:17) The flesh, and the religion of it, is only to be crucified, and worship is to be in spirit and in Truth, (Jn. 4:24) which the NT church exampled as shown by the revelation which the Holy Spirit inspired (Scripture).

Christianizing distinctive pagan religious practices or events is akin to the conversion of pagan "high places" in the OT, in which Israel sometimes turned the groves and high places" of idolatrous nations into places of Jehovistic worship. (1Kings 15:14; 2 Chronicles 33:17 ) despite the command, "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. (Deuteronomy 16:21) This annual Christianized pagan feast is a "tree" which was planted by paganism. (And which even led to kneeling before a actual tree to get presents).

As rightly motivated and commendable as the conversion of these high places may seem to be, yet to be fully consistent with the Lord's decrees, they should have destroyed them (Ex. 23:24; Dt. 7:5), and which sometimes they accomplished (2 Chronicles 17:6; 31:1; 34:3). The failure to do so mean that the attempts to reform such idolatrous places served to keep such alive, and thus facilitated their return back to their former state. (1Kings 12:31; 13:33; 14:23; 2Kg.15:35; 16:4; 17:10-19, 31-34; 2 Chronicles 21:11; 28:4; Isaiah 57:5).

The flesh and the devil will reclaim what was a distinctive pagan celebration, which Catholicism (among other things), true to form, worked to Christianize in accommodation of pagan converts.

"The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees...holydays and seasons,...are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church." (John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Chapter 8)

Thus unlike Scriptural feasts such as Pentecost, the world celebrates Christmas, and thus the endless difficulty in putting Christ "back into" Christmas.

Note that Christianizing pagan feasts is not the same as such things as merely using the pagan names of days of the week, for these are merely points of reference, versus attempting to dress such up a pagan religious event as Christian. We may use a Hindu temple as point of reference, but Christianizing the Hindu Tilaka mark on the forehead would not be not Scriptural. And God does not need help from paganism.

2. Besides nowhere showing that the celebration of the birth of Jesus was a annual event, or even that this was encouraged by recording the date of it (though the freedom to do so as the Lord leads is not being opposed here), the NT church under the New Covenant did not manifestly observe any or even Jewish liturgical seasons. While the Christian Lord's day is manifestly the first day (the only specific day churches as churches are shown observing, and the 4th commandment is never reiterated unlike the rest of the 10), and the Lord's supper is the Christian Passover, and while Christians may be at liberty to take part in Jewish feasts such as Paul did in becoming all things to all men (as regards amoral aspects without compromising) in Acts 21 (though it almost got him killed), yet no NT church (as a church) is ever described as observing Jewish liturgical seasons.

Instead, in obeying the command to worship God and meet together, they are to be led by the Spirit, and not fall into the practice of prescribed observances of "day, months, times and years" which is censured as being part of falling back into Judaism, (Gal. 4:10)

In contrast to Spirit-led services, a pastor may pray about what to preach 11 months out the year, but come December it is typically a given that he must preach on Christmas and celebrate it at that time. Meaning the Holy Spirit is required to observe Christmas every December, as if instituted it, but neglected to even record the date of the Lord's birth and its annual observance in His wholly inspired word.

3. Since this annual observance of the Christmas season is basically obligatory then it is a form of legalism, that of requiring observance to a mere extra-Scriptural tradition. Those who deny that it is basically obligatory are ignorant or refuse to honestly admit that in most every church, those who refrain from going along with the yearly celebration of Christmas are typically suspiciously looked upon and often maligned and or shunned as a fringe Christian, and as likely being some sort of legalist (paradoxically) and or a Scrooge. And as such he is very unlikely to be placed in any with leadership position, even if he is otherwise basically as sound as the rest.

Yet rather than an anti-celebratory legalistic Scrooge, such as one is set free from basically having to "bow down" every December observe an annual even that the NT church never manifestly knew of, but was the work of Catholicism as part of the many other novelties not seen in the NT church of Scripture. And instead he may continue to worship God as the Spirit leads, which can include celebrating the birth of Christ anytime, such as in the Fall or Spring when He likely was born. But how radical that would be!

4. The celebration of Christmas typically involves the incorporation of pagan elements (a tree with presents, etc.) which I do not think should not be part of any Christian spiritual celebration, though it can be can argued that since putting the ring on in the marriage ceremony comes from paganism. However, the link to pagan idolatry is much clearer in the practice of such things as kneeling before a tree with presents, while no one should be socially pressured to go along with any such traditions.

Finally, let it be said that my stand does not mean i impugn the motives of those (relative few) who sincerely celebrate the birth of the king of kings and Lord of lords by celebrating Christmas, or that i consider myself more holy than such, any more than any who worshiped God in the converted high places in the OT. But based on Scriptural principals and the absence of this annual seasonal celebration in Scripture, and even the record of the date around it, and the Christianized paganism of it, as well as the Spirit-led nature Christian worship is to be engage in, i am glad to be set free from having to go along with the annual December celebration which Catholicism instituted, despite the social pressure, and to worship the Lord at He leads, though i certainly need to do better at that.