St. Paul never mention anything about christmas celebration?Paul always gave rules for the Gentiles, like the comunnion and the duties of the deacons, to eat any kind of food, wine is permisable, women cover your head, etc.
Yet he never mentioned christmas celebration.Heck it aint even in the bible.
So why do you follow a festival that non of your apostles mentioned?
Peace.
2006-12-05 22:56:37 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Christmas is a holiday shared and celebrated by many religions.
It is a day that has an effect on the entire world.
To many people, it is a favorite time of the year involving gift giving, parties and feasting. Christmas is a holiday that unifies almost all of professing Christendom.
The spirit of Christmas causes people to decorate their homes and churches, cut down trees and bring them into their homes, decking them with silver and gold.
In the light of that tree, families make merry and give gifts one to another.
When the sun goes down on December 24th, and darkness covers the land, families and churches prepare for participation in customs such as burning the yule log, singing around the decorated tree, kissing under the mistletoe and holly, and attending a late night service or midnight mass.
What is the meaning of Christmas? Where did the customs and traditions originate?
You, as a Christian, would want to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, discerning good from evil.
The truth is that all of the customs of Christmas pre-date the birth of Jesus Christ, and a study of this would reveal that
Christmas in our day is a collection of traditions and practices taken from many cultures and nations.
The date of December 25th comes from Rome and was a celebration of the Italic god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god.
This was done long before the birth of Jesus.
It was noted by the pre-Christian Romans and other pagans, that daylight began to increase after December 22nd, when they assumed that the sun god died.
These ancients believed that the sun god rose from the dead three days later as the new-born and venerable sun.
Thus, they figured that to be the reason for increasing daylight.
This was a cause for much wild excitement and celebration. Gift giving and merriment filled the temples of ancient Rome, as sacred priests of Saturn, called dendrophori, carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession.
In Germany, the evergreen tree was used in worship and celebration of the yule god, also in observance of the resurrected sun god.
The evergreen tree was a symbol of the essence of life and was regarded as a phallic symbol in fertility worship.
Witches and other pagans regarded the red holly as a symbol of the menstrual blood of the queen of heaven, also known as Diana.
The holly wood was used by witches to make wands.
The white berries of mistletoe were believed by pagans to represent droplets of the semen of the sun god.
Both holly and mistletoe were hung in doorways of temples and homes to invoke powers of fertility in those who stood beneath and kissed, causing the spirits of the god and goddess to enter them.
These customs transcended the borders of Rome and Germany to the far reaches of the known world.
The question now arises: How did all of these customs find their way into contemporary Christianity, ranging from Catholicism to Protestantism to fundamentalist churches?
The word "Christmas"itself reveals who married paganism to Christianity.
The word "Christmas" is a combination of the words "Christ" and "Mass.
The word "Mass" means death and was coined originally by the Roman Catholic Church, and belongs exclusively to the church of Rome.
The ritual of the Mass involves the death of Christ, and the distribution of the "Host", a word taken from the Latin word "hostiall" meaning victim!
In short, Christmas is strictly a Roman Catholic word.
A simple study of the tactics of the Romish Church reveals that in every case, the church absorbed the customs, traditions and general paganism of every tribe, culture and nation in their efforts to increase the number of people under their control.
In short, the Romish church told all of these pagan cultures, "Bring your gods, goddesses, rituals and rites, and we will assign Christian sounding titles and names to them.
When Martin Luther started the reformation on October 31st, 1517, and other reformers followed his lead, all of them took with them the paganism that was so firmly imbedded in Rome.
These reformers left Christmas intact.
In England, as the authorized Bible became available to the common people by the decree of King James the II in 1611, people began to discover the pagan roots of Christmas, which are clearly revealed in Scripture.
The Puritans in England, and later in Massachusetts Colony, outlawed this holiday as witchcraft.
Near the end of the nineteenth century, when other Bible versions began to appear, there was a revival of the celebration of Christmas.
We are now seeing ever-increasing celebrating of Christmas or Yule, its true name, as we draw closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In both witchcraft circles and contemporary Christian churches, the same things are going on.
As the Bible clearly states in Jeremiah 10:2-4, "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen; and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them. 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."
So, what is wrong with Christmas?
1. To say that Jesus was born on December 25th is a lie! The true date is sometime in September according to the Scriptures.
2. Trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe and the like are strictly forbidden as pagan and heathen! To say that these are Christian or that they can be made Christian is a lie!
3. The Lord never spoke of commemorating his birth but rather commanded us to remember the sacrifice of His suffering and death, which purchased our salvation.
Think about it! Can we worship and honor God by involving ourselves with customs and traditions, which God Himself forbade as idolatry? Can we convince God to somehow "Christianize" these customs and the whole pretense and lie of Christmas, so we can enjoy ourselves? Can we obey through disobedience?
So what is right about Christmas? 1. Nothing!
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MY COMMENT:
Since the Bible does not condemn or encourage christians to commemorate Christ's Birth Day I do not think that by 'sanitizing' pagan traditions and owning them in worship to our Lord and Saviour is against the Scriptures furthermore I feel that the action of 'Christianizing' these customs is a victory to the christian faith against our sole evil principality.
2006-12-05 23:27:02 · answer #1 · answered by Ithea Nzau 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Paul's focus was on Christ and his teachings as it should be and not on celebrating anything secular nor religious in his day and age. I am very thankful for that! Our focus should be on Christ daily not once a year. In my case, I worship and not only follow him on this day but 364 other days in the year. Christmas has been secularize by those who reject Christ and those who put too much emphasis on his birth literally. Not all Christians who label themselves as that celebrate what you call a "festival". Christmas should be everyday from a personal ,secular and religious point of view when it comes to a gift of giving and family gatherings.
2006-12-05 23:22:13 · answer #2 · answered by Pashur 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Friend, it is true Christmas is not mentioned in the bible & Dec. 25 was pick by the catholics, But there is something in the bible, that you are not aware of, We chose to celebrate Christmas on Dec 25,Turn to Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man(or woman) therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which is a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
2006-12-05 23:18:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
We celebrate the event of Christ's birth. The date is only important as much as we celebrate it together.
The apostles never mention any specific celebrations. It wasn't the purpose of their writings. They were establishing the rules to govern our every day lives, they weren't giving specifics on this day or that day.
The event that we celebrate is in the Bible. First few chapters of Matthew and Luke.
Is every Moslem holiday mentnioned in the Quran? Is Mid-Sha'ban? Laylat ul Isra' wa-I-Miraaj? (I honestly don't know, so if they are, great.)
2006-12-06 02:36:53 · answer #4 · answered by Sifu Shaun 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since when was everything left to be decided by Paul? You are forgetting God is the one who is in charge he told Paul what to do or teach and say but that is besides the point. Why are you just looking at Paul's actions what about ALL of God's followers?
2006-12-05 23:06:37 · answer #5 · answered by calieyecandy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Thank Constantine and his people.
But, think of it logically. We have a date for Jesus death (just before passover) a date for his resurrection (Easter, celebrated differently by Eastern and Western), why not a date for his birth.
Seeing as how NONE of these things are real (Death and Easter are real very so often as a "movable feast" but not each year) what does it matter.
It's the THOUGHT that counts.
2006-12-05 23:12:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're right, that it was never mentioned in the Bible. However, that doesn't mean that Christians can't celebrate our Savior's birth. We also mark the day that He was resurrected. Is that wrong also? I don't think so.
We're just commemorating the occasion, even if it's not on the right date.
2006-12-05 22:59:05 · answer #7 · answered by The_Cricket: Thinking Pink! 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
St. Hallmark mentioned it 13 times, chapter 1-3 verses 9, 13, 15.
2006-12-05 23:06:05 · answer #8 · answered by Jazzys_mom 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The Dec. 25 holiday known as Christmas is never mentioned in the Bible -- but Jesus' birth is mentioned in it clearly.
Therefore, it's an event that all Christians should commemorate.
Christ gave the Catholic Church the authority to "run things," so to speak, on earth.
As long as it's not contrary to the Bible or to Sacred Christian Teaching, the Church is empowered to set disciplinary rules and customs -- and one of those customs is to celebrate Christ's birth on Dec. 25.
True, the Bible doesn't tell us to celebrate Christ's birth on Dec. 25 -- but it doesn't forbid us to celebrate it on that day either.
As with many other things, the Bible is silent on the issue of celebrating Jesus' birth on Dec. 25. That's where the teaching authority of the Catholic Church comes in.
.
2006-12-05 23:03:28 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
Actually, true Christians do *NOT* celebrate so-called "Christmas".
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe!
Jehovah's Witnesses love and respect and honor Christ and are true Christians. They do NOT celebrate so-called "Christmas" because "Christmas" does NOT celebrate Christ; "Christmas" celebrates the pagan Saturnalia. Jesus was not even born in December. Nearly all so-called Christmas customs dishonor Christ.
http://watchtower.org/e/19981215/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20001215/
http://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19981215/
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm
By contrast, it's tragic that the one holiday Christ actually *DID* ask Christians to commemorate is entirely ignored by almost all of Christendom. It is, of course, the Memorial of Christ's death, sometimes called "the Last Supper" or "the Lord's Evening Meal".
(1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NWT) The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” 25 He did likewise respecting the cup.. Keep doing this... in remembrance of me.”
(1 Cor 11:24, 25, NEB) "Do this as a memorial of me.”
Christ Jesus himself personally celebrated and explained the significance of that Last Supper to his followers (see Matthew 26:26-29). Christians who commemorate the Last Supper have done so on the same Jewish calendar date as Jesus did, Nisan 14, which generally falls between late March and mid-April. Interestingly, Christians in the centuries immediately after Christ's impalement were sometimes called "Quartodecimans" which literally mean "Fourteen-ers", because the early Christians were well-known for this true holy day.
How would Jesus feel to learn that the holiday he commanded was widely ignored, while his so-called followers chose to celebrate a pagan false god and their own traditions of men? We don't need to wonder.
(Matthew 15:6-9) You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said, 8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. 9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’”
Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/article_08.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20011115/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/
2006-12-05 23:07:35 · answer #10 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Christmas is a pagan festival.
Christ never told christians to celebrate his birth as His mission was not complete at birth until His death and resurrection.
Anywat todays christmas is not so much associated with Christ as it celebrates commerialism.
2006-12-05 23:06:22 · answer #11 · answered by tapperlorraine 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋