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The
author of this article has changed his mind
a couple of times about this issue, due to the scripture in the red box to
your bottom left (Romans 14:
5-12).
Ultimately, the author has found this scripture unrelated to
the subject of Christmas. However, I have provided this scripture to
let you know that the author has taken it into consideration.
My iconoclastic friend wrote the following letter to me, after I asked him the following
question:
You can look into
any encyclopedia to find out that no one is absolutely sure of the exact
date of Christ's birth. Most say that, well, Christ was born near or
around Dec. 25. But lets look at Jerusalem historically; animals were
traditionally held in mangers because of the rainy season, which in
Jerusulum occured around October and November. Now we all know that
Christ was born in a manger, so what were the animals doing in the manger
with our Lord and Savior in December when the rainy season was over? I'm
here to say that Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with Christ and
that we are not obligated to celebrate it. How many people have ever
questioned the customs and traditions of their parents, grandparents, or
great grand parents? Where did the Christmas tree come from? The Yule
loge? The mistletoe? Christmas lights? Do many people who celebrate
Christmas know that there is an international religious holiday
celebrated all over the world that falls on Dec. 25 and predates
Christmas? The predominant religion before Christianity was sun worship
that started from the Babylonians, who forced all the people of the
conquered lands to accept their religion. After the Babylonian empire
broke up, the people of those lands still held on to the religion of
their conquerors. They continued to worship the sun and other pagan
doctrines that somehow found its way in modern day Christian churches.
Now one might ask
what does sun worship have to do with Christmas? Christmas, has always been
a celebration of the belief that the days will
become 1
minute longer. Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year falling on the
winter solstice. The Druids, Egyptians Syrians, etc. believed that the
sun god was responsible for the days becoming one minute longer. They
believed that he/it was responsible for bringing back vegetation, where
people could start growing crops that year. In the purest sense, people
worshipped astrology. They had no idea that it is the planetary
evolvement of the
earth around the sun that brings about the changes in the climate and the
day length. Now I will explain where the Christmas tree came form. The
druids and other religions saw evergreen trees as a promise that
vegetation would return. That's the history of the Christmas tree. Most
people would say, but what's wrong with having a Christmas tree, its good
for children. To understand how God feels about paganism, see Jeremiah
10:2-5.
|
2. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the
heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; (Could he be
referring to astrology?) for (just because) the heathen are
dismayed at them. In this verse, God is commanding the Hebrews to not
accept the customs and traditions of pagan cultures. |
Most people would
interpret this verse to justify putting a Christmas tree in their home or
office as O.K. because the verse says to not be afraid of them for they
cannot do good nor evil, but verse 2 says to not accept the customs and
traditions of pagan religions. So a Christmas tree must be frowned upon
by Jesus Christ! The mistletoe was handed down by the Druids and probably
borrowed by the Romans during the inquisition period. The Driuds, on Dec.
25 in honor of the sun god, would form a circle in a cave and slay an ox;
they would then pass around mistletoes and embrace the person next them,
thinking the are under some magical spell. The burning of the Yule log
came from the Vikings on Dec. 25 when they would burn a Yule log in honor
of the war god Thor. Christmas lights came from the Druids and other
pagan religions where they would light candles all over the hillside at
night in honor of their sun god. Is not surprising that Druids and other
people of pagan religions laugh at Christians? I won't begin to describe
the history of the Easter rabbit, bulbs, and eater eggs in this letter,
you can read about them for yourself in any encyclopedia and wonder why
churches today hold the annual Easter egg hunt and the Easter sun rise
service. Read Ezekiel 8: 15-18.
What about a Santa
Claus. When I was a child, my parents told me about a Santa Claus, a
fat man with a beard dressed in red who would ride a slay with reindeer,
and bring gifts to little children who were good. Most people I talk to
say that it pleased God to know that little children are made happy
believing this. This act violates one of the 10 commandments: "Though
shalt not lie". I dont care how you put it or try to go around it to
justify it. They will say that he is symbolic to some way of thinking, or
some spirit this or spirit that, but a lie is a lie is a lie! As I was
growing up in my church, there was a Christmas Eve party where some man
would dress up as Santa Claus and I and other little children would sit
in his lap and tell him what we wanted him to bring us for Christmas. My
parents and the preacher would say he is Santa claus. Also, there is a man
who dresses up as Santa claus at the mall and rings a bell outside
representing the salvation army. Any parent who would tell his/her child
that he is Santa claus is violating the commandment "though shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbor". Santa claus is an invention of
merchandising. That's what Christmas is all about anyway, merchandising.
How did Jesus Christ feel about people doing business in his church? He
chased the money changers out of his church with a cat of nine tails (a
whip) and overturned a table.
Another excuse
people will use to justify Christmas is gift giving. They related this to
the three wise men who gave gifts to Christ after his birth at the
manger; they adorned Christ with jewelry. Notice what was going on, it
was an Asian custom for people to give gifts to kings. Jesus Christ is
definitely the King, but you and I are not. Even using the word Christ in
Christmas could be violation the commandment "Though shalt not take the
lords name in vain". Look at the history of America. Santa Claus started
in New York from the Dutch, but the Puritans in the early part of
Americas history made it illegal in their colony to celebrate Christmas
saying it is a secular holiday and one caught celebrating would be fined
or imprisoned. The law was eventually repealed, but it was not until the
mid 1800s that it became widely celebrated.
Even if Christmas
is a time of sharing and family and friends, did you know Christmas is
statistically the time of the year when the following is at its peak:
Drunkenness, depression, drug use, suicide, drunken orgies, husband/ wife
swapping at office parties. Those problems date all the way back to
England in the 1700s when the Puritans made it illegal to celebrate
Christmas for the above reasons. What does the word mass mean in
Christmas? It is the Greek word for death. So where do you get the birth
out of it? One last thing, for those of you who still think its all right
to celebrate Christmas, I challenge you to find in the Bible where Christ
gives the authority to celebrate his birthday. I guarantee you wont find
it anywhere! I know that what I have written down may offend some people,
possibly anger some of you who have fond memories of the holiday. But I
challenge any one who reads this to look into this matter. Don't take my
word for it, find out on your own. Do a little research. Go to the
library and try to prove me wrong. I am an open minded individual who has
been turned off by organized religions based on what I have found. I
believe in Jesus Christ and believe that the Bible is the written
inspired word of God. I understand the sincerity of gift giving and
family and friends getting together, yet, I have in the past blindly
accepted customs, traditions, and cultural attainments handed down from
my ancestors with out asking WHY we blindly follow the religious holidays
and ancient practices.
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