Jesus' birth and Christmas... ?

Question

Alright, now I have a question, and I'm not even going to go into deep theology, just an easy question...

When I talk to people about the origin of christmas, they often say "well not it centers Jesus' birth so it's not pagan"
I have a question about this, and to answer, all you will have to do is look around you.

How much of the celebration of christmas actualy centers Jesus?
How many of the Movies/shows even MENTION Jesus?

Here comes the Question:
If the main things celebrated in christmas are pagan (list to follow) and we rarely even remember Jesus (not everyone but most) then how can we claim that we aren't celebrating pagan things?

Pagan aspects of Christmas (christmas things with pagan origins - and meanings) - not complete list.

* The tree
* The giving of gifts
* Santa Clause
* Santa's sack of goodies
* The giving of cookies to Santa
* Yule
* Kissing under mistletoe
* Adorning the home
* The Date of Dec 25 (birth day of every pagan god)
...& more.

I agree that it is completely secular, but the winter solstace is pagan - came from the sun worship, hence they celebrated the shortest day being over...

By the way, the giving gifts isn't christian, it started in Rome I believe and it celebrated the fact that their sun god, (forgot his name ) no longer required them to sacrifice their children to him, the most common gift was dolls.

Alex, your right, but as the fan lady said, I think its most historical that it was likely fall.

mastermind, how is santa christian?

heres a link to santa's origins...
The Russian Grandfather Frost has strong Pagan relations. He is always accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow girl), a merry girl who helps Grandfather Frost provide a New Year party for children as well as bringing them gifts.

http://www.lone-star.net/mall/main-areas/santafaq.htm

http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm

http://www.realmagick.com/articles/14/2014.html
this one is good.

Yahoo- I have to say, you show my point but thank you for your honesty.

Answer 1

Most answers from so called Christians will be weak attempts at justification, for the simple reason that celebrating christmas cant be proven right from the Bible.

The fact IS ..Real Christians follow what the Bible REALLY teaches , and they abandon false religious or pagan practices and teachings.

For more info please feel free to email me.

Answer 2

Christmas is pagan. Television shows are proving it every year, but they say it isn't a big deal. It is a big deal though, because if it is pagan then God doesn't want it being done. The holiday is pagan, and people over time turned it into a day that has to do with christ's birth. The bible even gives clues that jesus wasn't even born in the winter. And God never said to Celebrate jesus being born.
Go to www.ucg.org.... you can get free booklets (shipping and all) answering almost any question you can have. And it all makes sense. Trust me.. we have almost all of them, and they are great! This site will really interest you. =)

Answer 3

Christmas was superimposed on a pagan festival to celebrate the winter solstice and the cracks are now showing badly. A hundred years ago it wasn't anything like as commercialised as it is now and was celebrated in a simple way at home. Christmas carols were essentially Christian hymns (although pagan touches crept in with such carols as "The Holly and the Ivy"). Now there is a huge repertoire of secular Christmas songs and I am dismayed to see that things like "Jingle Bells" and "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly" (the latter being a version of a Welsh New Year song with no Christian connotations) have crept into the Christmas programmes of churches in the West Indies, where I live.

Our own celebration of Christmas is increasingly simple and church focused. We have cut out all the things you mention except the date (which was almost certainly not the date Jesus was born, as He was probably born in the spring time) and some token presents.

Answer 4

Jesus is the reason 4 the season. The rest isn't. Santa does not exist, and the rest is mostly tradition that have become the center of the years. I believe that Christmas became "pagan" when people started focusing only on the tree, the gifts and everything else that that is now the focus of Christmas.

Answer 5

Christmas is only as Christian or as pagan as we made it. Whether you believe in Christ or not, you have the option of celebrating Christmas in your own way. You can decorate your house, or leave it plain. You can set up a nativity or a north pole. You can choose to remember Jesus and the day we celebrate his birth, or you can focus on the giving and recieveing of gifts and Santa Claus.

A tree is only a decoration when one choses to focus on Jesus, as much as the painting of the sun is only a painting, and not reverence to the sun. One cannot deny that Jesus has been removed from the Christmas holiday for many people, but he remains for some people. Just because a person has a Bible in their home doesn't make them Christian and just because a Christian has a tree in their home doesn't make them pagan.

P.S. The giving of gifts has Biblical origin as well. Jesus was brought gold, and precious oils when he was born, gifts are given to honor that.

Answer 6

For me, Christmas is a complete secular holiday, and it is better that way. Much of the list you gave is secular, and not particularly pagan. The holiday really had its origins in the Winter solstice which marked the halfway point through winter. After that, the days start becoming longer again. It's really a celebration of life surviving through winter.

Pagans tended to be fairly naturalistic, so they also adopted the holiday at solstice time and added some of the trimmings we see today. Christianity did the same thing much later.

Personally, celebrating peace on Earth and goodwill towards men, remembering family, celebrating the winter season, and especially remembering those who might be having a tougher time making it through the cold, are all grand secular reasons for having a holiday.

Answer 7

The date of christmas was actually moved so that it could take over the pagan holiday

Jesus was more likely to have been born in March
but the christians were cunning, and started using pagan celebrations as their festival for Jesus. And it got popular

Answer 8

Good point. I am a minister and I tend to celebrate the birth of Jesus and pagan aspects of Christmas separately. Overall though we focus a lot less on gift giving and more on spending time with family and friends.

Great post made me think a little

Answer 9

There is no such thing as "Christmas". Why? Because Jesus necer injstigated any mass, or anything else regarding his birthday. Look in the book, the shepards were in their fields, Jewish tradition would never have allowed shepards to be in fields during the Winter season, The most likely date would be around April. Its why in the UK, we have April fools day, that used to be New Years Day. Jesus was never a "Christian", he was always a Jew, he never renounced his Jewish heritage. Jesus cannot have been the Messiah, because the Messiah has to come from the line of David in order to fulfill prophecy, But Jesus was not fathered by Joseph (who was of the line of David), His mother, Mary, was the cousin of Elizabeth, and so, Mary, like Elizabeth, must be of the line of Aaron! Look in the book, Whenever "God" is talking about "God", "It" never refers to "Itself" by the masculine, it is only when people (Men) refer to "It" that "It" suddenly becomes male, Refer to Genesis, there "God" (the Elohim) is speaking, "It" does so in the plural, We, our, us. Elohim is a word with a feminine ending, The Hebrew letters, transliterated into English as "Y.H.V.H." (given to Moses on the mount, mean (amongst other things, Notice the order here folks) Mother, Father, Daughter, Son. It really is time to wake up folks, you have been misled for centuries, nay! for millenia.

First_Pagan_Wiccan_Church @ hotmail.co.uk

"Bringing Light into the Darkness".

Answer 10

Isn't what you celebrate based on what is in your heart and mind? I know the origin or basic history of all of these things, but they are tradition more than they are a clebration of those things. We don't do Santa in our house and I have never hung mistletoe. We do decorate our home and our tree, but there is nothing pagan going through our minds when we do it. We all know why the 25th was chosen and I have no problem with that either. In my heart and mind I am celebrating God, humbling Himself to take on the form of man in order to redeem mankind.

Answer 11

This a just traditions, that everyone seems to follow.
Those who have a strong faith in God, center Christmas around the birth of Christ. Those who don't celebrate Christmas the Santa Claus way, & some ppl mix it up for fun & worship. But your right, if its about the birth of Jesus, then it should be centered around him, but with all the political correctness now, that's kinda hard to do from a public standpoint.