Re: Christmas is pagan
 

yes ...
Early church is also not celebrated Christmas until 368 AD.
Apostles are not celebrated this
And they proclaimed only on crucified Christ

Now Christmas is become as traditional festival like other religions festivals..
Very sad.. very sad..

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

From the other thread:



Baal was the Canaanite sun god and god of fertility. Pagan religions of different nations worshipped the same gods, but under different names and forms. Thus Ares to the Greeks was Mars to the Romans, etc. Also, many gods from one nation might be recognized as one god in another nation, and vice versa. Thus, Baal in Canaan would be identified with Amon, Ra, the later composite deity Amon-Ra, and Osiris in Egypt. Etc.

Pagans across Europe, North Africa, the middle east, Persia, and India, recognized the Sun God as "dying" (represented by and resulting in winter) but being revived, or reborn, or reincarnated, to bring the next spring/summer cycle. The Sun God was thus considered "eternal and immortal, conquering death through revivification". And so the Sun God was also the god of death, the god of the afterlife, and the god of immortality or "eternal life".

This Sun God was said to be reborn at the time of the winter solstice. This was common throughout the pagan world, regardless of nation. Thus, Mithra (the Persian Sun God, known to Romans as Sol Invictus) was said to born on December 25th. This Sun God was also nearly universally represented by evergreen trees and plants, symbolizing his immortality and conquering of death. This Sun God was also nearly universally associated with phallus worship (because of his association with life, rebirth, and fertility). Obelisks, ziggurats, poles, trees, stone pillars, etc are all well known symbols of the phallus, used throughout the pagan world.

European pagans using evergreen trees to represent life, eternal life, during the winter solstice, is nothing less than the Germanic (and Celtic!) variation on the same theme found throughout the Ancient World: worship of the Sun God and his phallic symbolism, who was "born" on December 25th.

Nobody seems to ask themselves: "WHY December 25th? WHY evergreen trees, holly, mistletoe? How did any of that ever get associated with Jesus Christ?"

The answer is pretty simple and obvious. The cult of the Sun God (Baal, Osiris, Ra, Mithra, etc) continues on in the guise of Catholicism and Protestantism. Baal is now near-universally worshipped under the name "Jesus", represented by phallic symbols and evergreens, born on December 25th, Lord of the Afterlife where the immortal human soul goes upon death of the physical body.

Modern Christendom is largely Baal worship. He's got a new name, but he's still the same old phallic Sun God, born in the winter, worshipped with evergreens, trees, obelisks (including steeples in his temples!). What people today can't wrap their minds around is that the gods CHANGE NAMES FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE. How then can they be recognized? How did the ancients know that Baal, Osiris, Saturn, etc were all the same deity? BY THEIR ASSOCIATIONS.

EVERY pagan would INSTANTLY know which deity was being worshipped (regardless of name) if you told them you worship a dying god of immortality born at the winter solstice represented by evergreen trees, whose temples are adorned with obelisks, and whose main day of worship is the first day of the week (day of the SUN). The only thing they'd ask is "where did his temple prostitutes go?" But then they would understand, when they discovered the highly sensual, effeminate worship music led by females and soyboys so popular in his temples.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

You make it too easy.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

Harry Morse, Azusa Street and Arroyo Seco participant, had Christmas programs every year at his church.

If "old time" Apostolic Pentecostals had no problem with celebrating Christmas, neither should we.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

So truth is now measured by whether or not Harry Morse approved?

Get outta here, youre just trolling us now.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

Google does not back up this assertion that it was illegal until 1836.
It was not a holiday until 1836 when Alabama made it a state holiday.
And it was not a federal holiday until 1870.
However, it was not illegal in all parts of the US before 1836.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

Your google results differ from mine.

"This ban on Christmas, becoming law in many places, lasted until the apparently progressive state of Alabama was the first US state to legalise Christmas in 1836, meaning there was almost 200 years during which it was criminal to celebrate Christmas in the US. Oklahoma became the very last state to make Christmas legal again in 1907 despite the US making it a federal holiday in 1870." https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/judit...b_2350974.html

Numerous other results provide more insight to the fact that Christmas in America was largely unknown to most of the population as any kind of celebratory day until after the War (1860s). Northern marketing combined with Reconstruction propaganda spread "Christmas cheer" across the nation as an intended means of helping solidify a sense of national unity.

See here:https://www.historytoday.com/penne-r...entury-america

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

We are not to learn the way of the heathen, because their customs are vain. They are dismayed at the signs of the heaven, and we therefore should NOT be dismayed at the signs of the heaven. They cut trees out of the forest, deck them with silver and gold, and fasten it so that it stands upright, And therefore neither should we.

The Christmas custom of cutting a tree (or going to the tree lot and picking your tree), putting it in a stand in your living room, decorating it (especially with silver and gold tinsel and hanging balls), is a hold-over from the old days of pagan idolatry.

Why are present piled up at the foot of the tree? Because offerings were piled up at the base of an idol as an act of worship.

Consider Halloween (Samhain): The ancient idolatry involved putting a jack o-lantern with a candle inside out on your doorstep, or some variation thereof, in order to ward off evil spirits. Food offerings were left on the table or on the doorstep to placate the spirits of the dead and the demons who were believed to roam about that night, otherwise those spirits would bring trouble and vex your household.

The modern Halloween custom of jack o'lanterns, people dressing up (usually with a demonic or ghoulish costume) and going around "trick or treating" demanding a treat, otherwise they will paper your house or play some kind of trick on you, blah blah blah... all that is pagan idolatrous customs continuing into the modern era.

Christmas is no different.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

Most people recognize the modern Halloween customs are MIMICS of ancient pagan customs, and conclude Christians should not do those things, we should not IMITATE HEATHEN RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS. Yet, for some reason, they fail to be consistent, and give Christmas a pass.

The only arguments being made in support of Christmas are these:

1. We do it for Jesus, so it's okay. Well then, so is "All Souls' Day". So is genuflecting before statues and icons of saints. So is praying to dead saints, or to angels.

2. We aren't LITERALLY doing EXACTLY what the pagans did, so it's okay. Well then, so is "All Souls' Day". So is genuflecting before statues and icons of saints. So is praying to dead saints, or to angels.

Re: Christmas is pagan
 

I know this thread is about paganism in Christmas, but it makes me wonder about paganism in our culture in general, in entertainment, music, government, ideology, psychiatry, on and on.

The church is the only bastion against the paganism of our culture/society.

One example that concerns me is a family member who is an Osmond fan, goes to Osmond concerts and buy all of their products. I wonder if God considers this idolatry.
Then after wondering about that, I have to extend the thought to supporting trinitarians in their ministries, after which my head starts to explode and I start thinking I really don't want to go there.