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Christmas Trees & Lights

Lewis

Lewis

Member
It is time for that question again, being that we have a bunch of new people here.
And the question is who here still puts up Christmas trees and decorate outside the house with lights ? Well I still do, I missed it last year but I will not this year. The reason why I am asking is because most of you know that December the 25th is not the birthday of Jesus. and that Christmas came into being as a international holiday via the Catholic Church in 1466. But anyway many Christians refuse to do the Christmas trees and lights thing, because of the true origins of Christmas. I love the trees and the lights, but the big difference is that I don't worship the trees. I am getting ready to put the lights up and get a tree in December. But anyway here is some links on this subject.

The Real Story of Christmas

http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm


The True Origin of Christmas
http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooc.html


Origin Of Christmas-Controversial Roots
http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/origin-of-christmas.htm

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm
 
Oh, we'll be putting up a tree complete with lights and ornaments (otherwise known as the Interactive Cat Toy)...presents underneath it, non-stop Christmas music, movies. I love this holiday.

We don't put outside lights up...tried it a couple of years, but we get too much snow and ice that pulls them down.

No, Jesus wasn't born on December 25...most likely He was born sometime in April or May. But, it's a good time to celebrate the birth of Christ anyway.
 
Yes Dora it is still great to the birth of Jesus. Some accounts say He was born in April and some say the fall.
 
I don't think the celebration of Christ's birth has to be completely accurate to be celebrated. And yes, a lot of our Christmas traditions have pagan roots, but I'm OK with that. C.S. Lewis writes about pagans having "good dreams," myths that predate Christ but are eerily similar to the stories we have about Jesus in the Gospels. I think of Christ as a sort of fulfillment of all of humanity's hopes, needs, and dreams--the Jewish Messiah, the Savior God who dies and returns--so I don't have a problem turning some pagan traditions Christian.
 
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I believe the same way, CE...that there are just some universal truths that all humanity has picked up on, either because of the evidence of God within creation (Romans 1) or through Satan's deliberate copying in order to confuse. The god who dies then lives again is something that reaches far, far back into paganism...and yet, Jesus most certainly is the God Who died and rose again. Humanity certainly has always had hopes, dreams and needs and all are fulfilled in Christ. Having a time to celebrate His birth...even if co-opted on an old pagan holiday...it a good thing.

As for the "roots" of Christmas...I find many the many articles on the horrific "roots" of Christmas to be like the many articles on the horrific "roots" of Halloween...50 different articles cite 50 different "roots"....other than the fact that Christmas replaced Saturnalia and Halloween, Samhain (sp?) ...most of what the actual practices and roots of those holidays are lost to history and there is just a lot of misinformation out there. I don't worry about it. Christmas has always been our family's time to celebrate Jesus' Incarnation as well as the very American traditions of gift-giving, decorations, eggnog and lots of cookies. :yes
 
I went through a antichristmass spell :sad

Most of the reasons are listed in this thread. Good ol mom came to my rescue... With a few words some thing like this...

Yea i know it is so commercialized, i know Dec 25 is not His birthday, But Beck, the whole world lights up and wither they know it or not they are celebrating the LIGHT of the WORLD!
 
I live alone, so I don't put them up, but once did. I see nothing wrong with it. It's sort of like animals killed in pagan worship, Paul said there was nothing wrong with eating idol worshipped meat, as long as you didn't view it as an idol and he also said for those that felt it wrong to eat such meat, that they were doing the right thing by not eating..Simply, some feel it's wrong and that's OK, others enjoy it with no ties to the pagan concepts and that's OK, neither should judge the other
 
I have both German and Nordic ancestry in my family so the whole tree and wreaths thing is actually more tradition than anything. I'm probably going to finish putting mine up tonight.
 
hannukah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol. it has gifts too.lol

i wont be doing that but yes its done with gifts. this will be my first time so i will post the prayers and what they mean.
 
jasoncran said:
hannukah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this will be my first time so i will post the prayers and what they mean.
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I'd like to hear about them Jason. Maybe you can start another thread so we don't de-rail this Christmas tree train.

Our lights and tree were up right after Thanksgiving dinner. I love this time of year. The little town I live in put them up downtown Friday right after Thanksgiving. Now all we need is some snow. :lol:lol In West Texas?? Oh well, at least we have the lights!!

Westtexas
 
westtexas said:
Our lights and tree were up right after Thanksgiving dinner. I love this time of year. The little town I live in put them up downtown Friday right after Thanksgiving. Now all we need is some snow. :lol:lol In West Texas?? Oh well, at least we have the lights!!

Westtexas
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:lol Reminds me of the Christmas displays folks put on in Mesa, Arizona. The light displays folks put on down there are really beautiful.

Snow? Who needs stinkin' snow?

One year, I did the whole 9 yards for a light display...crawled around on the roof, hanging those "icicle" kinds of lights. Then it snowed here and the weight of the snow dragged some of the "icicles" down, causing them to be all uneven and saggy...then real ice formed on them and frankly, unless you were actually in the front yard, you really couldn't see them anyway. When it came time to take them down in January, most of them were still frozen in ice.

Last time I put up outside lights. The porch light reflecting on the real icicles is pretty enough.
 
Lewis W said:
Well I still do, I missed it last year but I will not this year. The reason why I am asking is because most of you know that December the 25th is not the birthday of Jesus.
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I've never understood why this is used as a reason not to celebrate Christmas or decorate, for that matter. There will always be differing beliefs regarding when Christ was born in the calendar year. You said it could be in the spring but also acknowledged that it could have been in the fall. Since you're not certain in your mind of when the correct day, week or month was, why do you have a problem setting aside one day to commemorate it?

Whether His birth is an afterthought amidst all the commercialism or it's first and foremost, it doesn't matter when it's celebrated, IMO. Christians will keep it spiritual, and others will make it a fancy holiday. We decorate inside and outside. I do the outside and bring up the tree from the basement. Julie goes nuts and puts out all the frills. Through it all, our focus is on Him. The date and the commercialism don't change that for us.
 
Well I still do, I missed it last year but I will not this year. The reason why I am asking is because most of you know that December the 25th is not the birthday of Jesus.
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I've never understood why this is used as a reason not to celebrate Christmas or decorate, for that matter.
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Yeah, I can't figure out why the date thing is such a hang-up either? I was always pretty much aware that no one knows when Jesus was born and the December 25th date was a date to commemorate His birth, not His actual birthday. Just like President's Day isn't actually Washington's real birthday...just the day we commemorate and remember Washington's contribution to America.

The nativity story is just as much Scripture as the resurrection. And, so many of the old time Christmas carols are packed full of solid biblical truth and the Gospel. What other time of year do the secular radio stations play solid Christian gospel music to the masses?

Heard this on the secular radio station just yesterday...is this not a beautiful proclamation of the Gospel:

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
 
jasoncran said:
grr. tree worshipper.

i will do hannukah. i will post what i find on it and also what the prayers mean.
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LOL. I have a fake ficus tree like the one you see in restaurant lobbies, complete with white light too. :D

I plug it in every year around this time.

That's the extent of my Christmas decorations. :yes

BTW, Jesus was actually born sometime around the Jewish fall festivals. :nod
 
I love Christmas!! I don't like the mad shopping frenzy or some of the materialistic Christmas specials but I can look past those and enjoy the holiday. One of my favorite traditions is going out after the Christmas Eve service at my church and delivering donuts to the community as a way of saying thanks for working on Christmas Eve (so basically hospitals, police stations, and fire stations). It's a way to say we care about the community and they love it.

My family decorates the Christmas tree and puts ornaments of all kinds on it. We have Christ centered ornaments mixed in with more secular ones, like Pooh and Piglet sitting in a Christmas wreath or a Pac Man arcade game ornament (which makes sound effects). We put lights out and because in Maryland, there's rarely snow in December (doesn't start until January), they stay up with no problem.

So I guess my answer is yes, I do celebrate Christmas, I do get excited when I get to dig out the Christmas specials. It's fun and it reminds me of why we celebrate Christmas as well.
 
Vic C. said:
LOL. I have a fake ficus tree like the one you see in restaurant lobbies, complete with white light too. :D

I plug it in every year around this time.

That's the extent of my Christmas decorations. :yes

BTW, Jesus was actually born sometime around the Jewish fall festivals. :nod
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one messianic jew told that is why xmas is near channukah.



well if i did want to do the whole deal. i couldnt afford it.

its not the date for me alone , its the 12 days (not these days) but the mistletoe and hedonism with it.

if we did without the hedonism then that is fine.

i dont care for the lights. i think that is more of taught thing. i dont know,sorry i cant for the life of me understand the logic ignoring that was from babylon and reedeming it.

i will put it this way, would you let an image of the incan snake god in your home? who had a similiar story to christ?

thats why some dont like it. we are far removed from that is all.

but i know when i wont win, such as satans days i meant all hells day, i mean halloween.

so i went along with it. but not next year. i was badgered a little and didnt feel like arguing.
 
I love the Christ-mas season as Jesus is the reason we celebrate and it truly doesn't matter when he was born, but what matters is: Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Luke chapter 1 actually tells us what month and date Jesus was born in. I'll make a new thread for that.
 
Yes Mike & Dora the date is real important to a lot of people, I am not one of them but a lot of people are concerned about the date. I hear them say, well Jesus wasn't born on that day anyway so why celebrate it. As for me I love the lights and the Christmas trees and the Christmas music by Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Paul Mcartney and countless others. I listen to B 101 from Thanksgiving to Christmas because all they play is Christmas music 24/7.
 
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