It's pretty common knowledge, December 25th was the old pagan celebration of the solstice. It's a couple days out now, which you'd expect after a couple of thousand years.
Seeing as though there's no evidence for Jesus having existed in the first place, there's certainly no evidence to support Dec 25th as being his "birthday".
Why do some christians give atheists a hard time for celebrating christmas with their families when they're actually unwittingly celebrating a pagan festival?
2007-07-04 12:51:47 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
ye old christian..........snow in Judea? I think they tend their sheep all year round in those parts dude.
2007-07-04 13:05:05 · update #1
puggirl 93........I think you might want to do some homework before making such brash statements.
2007-07-04 13:08:00 · update #2
Your right Christmas is near the winter solstice however the reason it's on the 25th exactly is that the 25 th of December was the date the Roman God Mithras was born.He was one of the most popular Gods of the Roman race when their empire turned Christian so to make converting Mithras's followers to Christianity easier they stole his birthday and used it as Christs.
They stole communion and using Vatican hill as a religious centre from the Mithras faith too.
2007-07-07 18:54:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because most Christians believe what the catholic church teaches. Catholics started from pagan tradition. As a matter of fact the entire mass celebration was originated from pagan rituals.
The catholic church took over the world for a very long time, and now most of our modern traditions come from the catholic teachings.
I for one do not celebrate Dec 25 as a holiday. Most scholars believe Jesus was born around Sept 11. Also, I do not know why you say there is no evidence He existed, there are historical secular documents that mention Jesu by name and the entries correspond almost exactly with the Bible.
Why do athiest celebrate Christmas if they don't believe there is a God? If it is truly a religious holiday, then only Christians should celebrate it. There is the proof it is wrong, the majority of the people in the world celebrate christmas.
2007-07-04 13:02:06 · answer #2 · answered by Batty1970 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Yes we know December 25th is not Jesus's birthday. Jesus's birthday is on or around September 29 5 BC.
But December 25th can be shared by all or do pagans own it? We can all celebrate Christ-mass and winter solstice cant we.Which by the way is usually 3 or 4 days before the 25th
2007-07-04 12:59:13 · answer #3 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
nother Interesting fact that supports the fact that it was not Jesus birthday is that at that time of year in Jerusalem the temperatures are sub zero! The story goes that shepherds who were out tending their flocks followed a star to the stables or manger where he was born.....The flocks would not of been outside themselves on such a night! Let alone the men!
And yes my fellow Aussie...you are so right about the fact that the christians used this date on purpose to detract from the pagan celebrations!
Perhaps if they had of been original in the first place they would not still be defending their story after 2000 years!!
~*Ariel*~
.....)O(....
2007-07-04 15:03:29 · answer #4 · answered by *~Ariel Brigalow Moondust~* 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Erm, we all know that December 25th isn't his Birthday.
However, the only reason December the 25th was chosen was because it is a convenient time for the banks and shops to close.
According the scripture, Shepards were out tending their flocks in the field when Jesus was born.
But hold on a minute; sheep in the field, in the dead of winter?
The ACTUAL date is never revealed, but is thought to really be somewhere February-April, when the sheep are actually out.
It was simply more convinient to have the day off in December, with the harsh weather and such. Most people did NOT want to work outside at the start of January on the farms, so they took a couple of weeks off and waited for the sun to come out.
Well, see ya,
Phil
2007-07-04 12:59:12 · answer #5 · answered by CanadianFundamentalist 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Christians know this but like to celebrate it anyway. I get into discussions with Christians all the time in December.
They don't care the bible commands believers not to honor pagan holidays. At least that is what it seem. I quote scripture where God specifically forbids any celebrating of our sacred days, and most people don't care.
I hear them say that it was pagan at one time but they took it over so we need to get over it because it is now a Christian day.
BB
2007-07-04 13:00:15 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I've never seen that done myself. I'm Christian and I celebrate Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ. Everyone knows that he was probably born at a different time of year, but this is the day that we celebrate his birth. We all know that people that are not Christians celebrate the day as a holiday only.
2007-07-04 12:56:14 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
This is a pagan tradition. Best we can determine for Jesus birth is September, October.
DEC 25 was thought to be pagan gods birthday due to the solstice, and I agree throw in Easter.
2007-07-04 12:59:01 · answer #8 · answered by shovelead 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
To be fair, Atheists don't follow Paganism any more than they follow Christianity, so it's irrelevant who the festival belongs to.
When you have no religion, you can celebrate whenever you want to - just the fact that everyone else is celebrating is enough.
2007-07-04 12:58:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Ive never seen anyone giving them a hard time about celebrating christmas. But Im a christian and my best friend is atheist. So I guess everyone is intitled to their own opinion.
2007-07-04 12:54:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋