We are not talking about your birth day celebration. We are talking about how man thinks we need to celebrate the birth date of our Lord Jesus Christ in the way that he decides (When nothing is ever mentioned of it in Scripture).
Yes, and as I said, my birthday isn't mentioned in Scripture, either. Yet I, and my family, and friends celebrate my birthday every year. Sometimes, if circumstances require it, I won't even celebrate my birthday on the day of my birth but a few days earlier or later.
The date isn't super important; it's the celebration that is.
The problem is that people are adding to God's Word based in what they think Jesus should be about based upon the traditions of men. They say lets worship His birth on December 25th. But Jesus was actually born on Nisan 1 (the beginning of the Hebrew calendar year).
How is celebrating Christmas "adding to God's word"? I don't know anyone who thinks Christmas is part of the canon of Scripture. And the Christmas I celebrate revolves around the Gospel accounts of Christ's birth, not the "traditions of men."
It doesn't matter what people do with that holiday. The point is what does the holiday itself teach?
A holiday is a non-sentient thing; it doesn't teach anyone anything. There isn't a published "Christmas Beliefs and Rules" that everyone follows. So, what do you mean, then, by the
holiday itself teaching? In a free society, the Christmas holiday is whatever a person wants to make of it. That's part of what makes it a holiday.
And it
does matter what people do with the holiday. That's really at the heart of your problem with Christmas. You want Christmas to be this monolithically worldly and even pagan event that everyone celebrates identically as such so you can discard it wholesale. And this is why I call "Legalism!" on your thinking. I don't do with Christmas what secular people do with it; I don't do with Christmas what pagans may have done with it; I don't even do with Christmas what many other Christians do with it. And I am not alone in the Christ-centered, God-honoring way I celebrate Jesus' birth. Your attempt, then, to condemn Christmas across-the-board as an evil holiday just doesn't recognize the actual facts of the matter. You are, essentially, indulging in one big Strawman argument.
Christmas itself is a holiday that does not teach the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Others may do so, but the holiday itself does not do so.
The holiday is what a person makes of it. There is no universal Christmas Code we all must conform to. You are erecting a Strawman of Christmas that you have made conveniently susceptible to your arguments (which is the whole point of a Strawman) but your Strawman version of Christmas isn't
my version of Christmas. And so, your Strawman argument falls quite flat.
When I was a kid, I know of Jesus being born, Santa, Christmas tree, and receiving stuff. That was my idea of Christmas because that is all I knew the holiday to actually teach. The holiday itself did not teach anything more than that. I did not even learn that Jesus is God even. We would sing Christian songs around the Christmas tree. Have the name Jesus on our fireplace, but I was never told who Jesus was as a part of that holiday. Why? Because the holiday itself never taught such a thing.
This is what is known as a non sequitur. It doesn't follow that because your childhood experience of Christmas was a particular way that it was therefore characteristic of Christmas generally. I was raised in a home that emphasized Christ at Christmas. And, as I already pointed out, the holiday is whatever people make of it. There is no set of Christmas Rules and Regulations that those observing Christmas
must follow.
Anyways, while I am happy that you had an experience that shows Christ's birth in relation to His atoning work as the Lamb of God, this is not what the holiday itself teaches.
Says who? You? Who made you the Final Arbiter of what Christmas is? You don't have the authority to dictate to me how Christmas is or "what the holiday teaches." I keep Christmas as I like, not according to what others may do. You and all believers are free to do the same.
So if you knew no other Christians and you did not investigate Christianity outside of Christmas, you would never truly know about a risen Lord. Therein is the problem with Christmas.
This is merely an assumption you're making based upon your Strawman version of Christmas. A friend of mine visited Disneyland last year with his family during the December holidays. He told me that there weren't just secular Christmas carols, like "White Christmas," or "Jingle Bells" played over the P.A system but "We Three Kings," and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Silent Night." He said that the Nativity was enacted twice a day. Now, Disneyland may not have pointed directly to Easter in its Christmas festivities but given Disney's secular orientation, the focus on Christ was remarkable - and rather contrary to what you're arguing about the general trends of Christmas.
That and it teaches Jesus is born on a day alongside other pagan gods and we can also receive gifts from a man named Santa, too. So when some kids grow up and they learn that Santa is not real, they can then naturally think Jesus is not real, either.
I have never heard at Christmas the idea that other gods were born alongside Jesus. The truth, though, is that over the centuries, many, many people have been born on the same day as Jesus. What of it? Christmas isn't about the birthdays of these other people but about the birth of Jesus.
I know of no one who grew up hearing stories of Santa who denied Jesus as a result. Adults are usually able to distinguish fiction from actual history; they can tell the difference between a fantastical character and a real, historical figure, like Jesus.
The difference is that Jesus is God and we are not. Jesus is worshiped and we are not worshiped. So when we change the birth date of our Lord to a date of other pagan gods are worshiped instead of on his true birth date, it is an attempt to say to people (who know to worship Him) that we should worship Jesus in a way that is not true or based upon man's traditions and saying we can worship Jesus alongside other pagan gods because He is no different.
This is entirely assumption on your part, another Strawman, about what people may or may not think about Christmas. I have never heard Christians talk about Christmas and relate it to the worship of pagan deities or suggest Jesus is "no different" from them - except for those legalistic Christians who want to extend their self-righteous rules over others. Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth. Period. It has nothing whatever to do with pagan worship. This is how Christmas is understood among the Christians with whom I regularly associate.
I mean, where do you think Christmas comes from?
For me, it comes from the Bible that tells me that God became a Man some 2000 years ago. It is the Incarnation of God that I celebrate at Christmas.
Why do you think they call it Christmas? Christ-mass. It's the celebration of the mass of Christ. So unless you are Catholic, I do not see why you want to celebrate Christmas.
Because, obviously, I don't celebrate Christmas in a Catholic way. You are guilty here of committing the Genetic Fallacy. If a child is born from rape, is that child forever stained by the evil nature of his conception? If the child lives an exemplary life, moral and God-honoring, does he remain unchangeably the evil by-product of an evil act? Of course not.
The child's origin has nothing to do with who he is. The child can't control how he came to be, but he can control who he is. To fail to recognize this, to condemn the child as a consequence of his origin, is to commit the Genetic Fallacy. This is exactly what you're doing with Christmas. You are condemning Christmas as a consequence of its (possible) origins and refusing to acknowledge that Christmas can - and does - stand today entirely independent of those origins.
Actually, God's Word tells us how we are to worship Him within His Word. Christmas teaches contrary to what His Word says.
1. Bible suggests Jesus is born Nisan 1, Christmas says Dec. 25th with pagan gods.
2. Bible says putting up trees and decorating them is a problem, Christmas says it is not a problem.
3. Bible says we are not to just give to loved ones alone but we are to give to the poor, and or lend without expecting anything in return, Christmas says to give and also expect to receive something. In fact, it teaches greed and materialism.
1. The Bible doesn't stipulate a specific day of Christ's birth. In fact, the story of the Nativity happens over many months. Jesus was not a newborn when the Wise Men found him in the stable. In any case, at Christmas I celebrate, not
the day of Christ's birth, but the
birth of Christ himself. And so, the date on which I do so is not particularly important.
2. The Bible says putting up trees and decorating them
for the purposes of pagan worship is wrong. The Bible says nothing at all about decorating trees for other purposes.
3. Many churches, families and businesses give food and gift hampers to the needy at Christmas. There is no expectation whatever of getting something in return from those poor who receive them. Christmas is not, then, always and only a selfish, consumerist event like the Strawman version of Christmas you're arguing from.