Let's Talk Christmas

[Knotical]

Indeed! Although its understood that God by no means made a mistake in how the planet operates with the whole north/south hemisphere thing, im convinced it was done to get us in the upper half to invite the others to dinner and a rest. And with that, my fingers are now going in my ears as I sing la la la real loud as to not hear any naysay on the issue.

Oh a PS...you guys from the hot parts need to bring the vegetables lol

Are you inviting us all over for Christmas dinner?

 

[Northman]

Are you inviting us all over for Christmas dinner?

Stranger things have happened.

 

[Eugene]

Hi Dear Brother Chopper. May God bless you this year during this season as you haven't been in years. I contemplate what you've been through and wonder how I would hold up, and it would have to God's grace carrying me. Regardless the trial until we are face to face with our Lord there abides faith, hope, and charity. We can thank God for the blessings He gave us with our wives, and now go forth to comfort others even if we need to search them out.

I lived in a downtown high-rise condo where we had a doorman. On Christmas day he was working and happy, and me and my wife went to a local restaurant to enjoy Christmas dinner. When we returned we found him sobbing; another condo owner had purchased him a Christmas dinner and if I remember correctly gave him a small present. It doesn't take giving your life, but what you can do will be like giving life to someone. There are many suffering and many just need a word of encouragement. It no longer is about us, but Him that gave all for us. Make this day good for someone and you'll be the beneficiary.

Love you brother, God bless you in Jesus' name & Merry Christmas.

 

[turnorburn]

Found this lying around collecting dust...

Many Christians today believe that Christmas is a Christian holiday. The fact is that people have been celebrating Christmas, long before the birth of Christ. The festivity was known then, as Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a festival in which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn. As winter approached, they were losing harvest & were in need of the sun in order for their harvest to grow & bear fruit. Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture and harvest.

This meant that the god Saturn was in need of the sun god in order to complete his job, therefore the attention was then shifted to the sun god. The Saturnalia custom is rooted in pagan & Celtic believes & traditions. They believed in human sacrifice including the sacrifice of small children & infants in which were offered to their gods in order to empower the sun to return with strength. They believed that winter was due to the sun losing its power due to a battle between the sun god & the god of the dead. Since winter is annually, they believed these battles were fought annually and thus the sacrifices had to be annually in order to appease or empower their respective gods. Because the sun always return at the beginning of the new year, they believed that its was due to all of their human sacrifices, and costum rituals that took effect; empowering their sun god to return each year victoriously.

The Origins of Christmas Customs:

A. Christmas TreesJust as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Catholic Church. Jerimiah 10:3 says: “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not”

B. MistletoeNorse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim. The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.

C. Christmas Presents
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).

https://thetruthandlight.wordpress.com/2008/12/25/saturnalia-the-real-roots-of-christmas/

tob

 

[evenifigoalone]

Not that I've studied this area deeply, and I am well aware of the pagan origins mentioned, but from what I heard at the Bible study last night, Christmas traditions as we know them today have come from Christians trying to turn those pagan traditions around in order to point the people they were ministering to to Christ.
Like the Christmas tree came from someone (forgot his name) going to a town and after cutting down an oak tree they worshiped he told them instead to put fir trees in their homes to remind them of Jesus--because fir trees are evergreens--green even during winter--and can represent eternal life in that way. And lights on the tree because Jesus shines even in the darkness.

Just pointing that there's more some might like to consider. History can be a tricky subject since deciphering the past accurately can be pretty tricky and historians often disagree with each other.

In any case, it personally doesn't matter much to me what Christmas used to be, but how and why it's celebrated today. People have different POVs on that, though, and I think people should do whatever they think best. It matters little if someone decides that they'd rather not celebrate Christmas on moral grounds, and it's certainly not my decision to make for them.

 

[turnorburn]

When Satan attacks where does he start his attack is it with the bold and the mighty.. not from my experience he doesn't.. he goes after women and children in the case of Christmas its the children.. When i was at that age when Santa was as real as real can be i believed my parents.. don't be naughty better be nice "or else" In my mind it was unnerving to find out that my parents had lied to me will they continue to lie to me.. and don't think for a minute Satan isn't loving every minute of this charade. We don't become as the world to win the world to Christ these folks are looking for truth..



tob

 

[evenifigoalone]

I believed in Santa Claus until I was 8, when my stepdad told me. I didn't think it was a big deal.

Anyway, children believing in Santa Claus is certainly no requirement, and a look into the history behind what he's seen as today can definitely be used as a good learning experience.

 

[farouk]

Not that I've studied this area deeply, and I am well aware of the pagan origins mentioned, but from what I heard at the Bible study last night, Christmas traditions as we know them today have come from Christians trying to turn those pagan traditions around in order to point the people they were ministering to to Christ.
Like the Christmas tree came from someone (forgot his name) going to a town and after cutting down an oak tree they worshiped he told them instead to put fir trees in their homes to remind them of Jesus--because fir trees are evergreens--green even during winter--and can represent eternal life in that way. And lights on the tree because Jesus shines even in the darkness.

Just pointing that there's more some might like to consider. History can be a tricky subject since deciphering the past accurately can be pretty tricky and historians often disagree with each other.

In any case, it personally doesn't matter much to me what Christmas used to be, but how and why it's celebrated today. People have different POVs on that, though, and I think people should do whatever they think best. It matters little if someone decides that they'd rather not celebrate Christmas on moral grounds, and it's certainly not my decision to make for them.

The great truth of the Incarnation (John 1.14; 1 Timothy 3.16) is certainly not pagan!

Blessings.

 

[turnorburn]

Me thinks they give Old Nick the attributes of a god.. he knows when you are sleeping he knows when your awake he knows if you've been bad or good can only mean one thing..

Omniscience means all-knowing. God knows everything, and His knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to hide anything from God.

And that's not harmful to a child or anyone for that matter?

tob

 

[evenifigoalone]

There are different opinions on this issue. My stepdad didn't like it and if he had raised me from the beginning I probably would not have believed in Santa at all.

As a kid I liked to pretend things like Santa Claus was some kind of person who believed in God the same way I did. In fact that was the idea my mom gave me before I knew he wasn't real.

 

[farouk]

questdriven:

I think we can separate what is mere legend from the essential facts about the birth of the Lord Jesus.

Blessings.

 

[Chopper]

Hi Dear Brother Chopper. May God bless you this year during this season as you haven't been in years. I contemplate what you've been through and wonder how I would hold up, and it would have to God's grace carrying me. Regardless the trial until we are face to face with our Lord there abides faith, hope, and charity. We can thank God for the blessings He gave us with our wives, and now go forth to comfort others even if we need to search them out.

I lived in a downtown high-rise condo where we had a doorman. On Christmas day he was working and happy, and me and my wife went to a local restaurant to enjoy Christmas dinner. When we returned we found him sobbing; another condo owner had purchased him a Christmas dinner and if I remember correctly gave him a small present. It doesn't take giving your life, but what you can do will be like giving life to someone. There are many suffering and many just need a word of encouragement. It no longer is about us, but Him that gave all for us. Make this day good for someone and you'll be the beneficiary.

Love you brother, God bless you in Jesus' name & Merry Christmas.

Thank you sooooo much for those kind and ministering words. You are right in saying, to serve others there are blessings. After my wife died, I began my studies in psychology and Christian counselling so I could help those hurting people whom the Lord sends my way. I am not rich in material things but very rich in people, I'm certainly blessed.

Thank you again for your post, and I love you too. Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

The shepherds.
What ever became of the shepherds?
Were they the first to be born again?
Someone must have a take on the shepherds.

 

[TOG]

I heard an interesting story a couple of years ago. A boy in Sunday school asked the pastor whether Santa Clause was real. The pastor told him as gently as he could that Santa Clause didn't exist. The boy told his mother what the pastor had said and the mother complained to the bishop and demanded that the pastor be disciplined. The bishop pointed out that what the pastor said was true, as the mother knew very well, and the pastor was not disciplined.

The TOG​

 

[Knotical]

Stranger things have happened.

Great, then we will be there! My wife will make the butterbeer.

 

[Claudya]

butterbeer

 

[Knotical]

What, you've never had butterbeer?

 

[thankful]

I am with others who do not do Christmas, what turnorburn and tog says pretty much sums up my views.

As an aside I could never understand why churches who had nativity scenes persisted in including the wise men with the baby Jesus when the Bible clearly tells us they visited him as a child. My brother asked one pastor why they did it and was smiled at indulgently and told " the children like it". Is that a reason to not be truthful?
Methinks not.

 

[Mike S]

Good. Only eight more days until it's over.

You humbug.

Just think of it as a time to enjoy being with your friends and family. A time to be grateful for what we have.

 

[Mike S]

I do have to say, Christmas here in New England seems right, with the snow and chilly weather and bright winter clothes and all. I spent a few years on Guam, and it just didn't seem right. Still joyful and all, but there's something not right about Santa wearing flip flops.