Should a Christian celebrate Christmas ?

[simplyme]

NO ONE but GOD can see a persons heart, only what they DO.

I didn't even have to read all that sisPhyllis wrote to know in my SPIRIT that the way this lost world pretends to celebrate xmas, is just a sham., and I don't care to be associated with it., or anything that can SEEM to be that I am compromising what I purely believe GOD has shown me.

I used to be one that xmas was my fav time of year, BUT..that was BEFORE HE wiped my slate clean, allowed me to start ANEW..and filled me with HIS SPIRIT so that I would then be able to discern, see through HIS EYES..and wow, what a view!

Amazing how things re-focus/CLEAR UP., so very different than what I saw before., I love my GOD-COLORED GLASSES.

TO each his own, I don't say anything to those I encounter still in that mindset, but I have managed quite well to live my life the last almost ten years, without much of the former worldly traditions that I ( and He) find questionable.There IS "LIFE" after xmas! A more abundant LIFE!
JMHO

[Trouvere]

I celebrate in a Christian way.My favorite though is Thanksgiving.I love Thanksgiving.It rocks.Jesus did not call us to be legalists and for that I am
thankful.We could take the New Testament and use it as a legal document
and condemn the whole world.Wait? The world is already condemned.My bible
tells me Christ died for the ungodly.So I suppose we could use the time of year
that most of the world is looking to Jesus even though they don't know Him
in the power of His resurrection and take that time to be a blessing.I make
pralines and bake cookies for friends and take beautiful things to eat and share to my job.This is another time to love on people.It that is a sin then so be it.

[Truthseeker]

6. "The 'Connection' Has Been Broken" -- There are those who clearly recognize the pagan nature of the various Christmas worship forms and practices. Nevertheless, many of these Christians claim that because of the long passage of time from their pagan inception to the present (6,000 years?), the "connection" to paganism has been sufficiently diminished to allow the adoption of these forms and practices into our Christian worship and celebration. While it may be true that most symbols have lost their original demonic meaning and significance in a modern society, it is strangely bizarre and ironic that Christendom seeks to commemorate Christ's birth with the faded symbols of Satan. And even though some of God's people may be naive and ignorant about the source of these things, surely God is not. Can such things please Him? And think about this -- if it were possible to "disconnect" current practices from their pagan/occultic roots, why does Scripture not provide us any guidelines as to:

(a) how much time is necessary for the "neutralization"/disassociation process to occur; and
(b) which of the hundreds of ancient pagan rites would then be acceptable for adaptation into Christian worship (since some are obviously much more pagan/occultic than others)?

[stasis]

Prayer for the Christ Mass:

"Dear, Jesus, I know you told us that the customs of the heathen are vain, and you told us not to learn the way of the heathen.

I know that you told us that philosophy, vain deceit, and traditions of men and rudiments of this world would spoil us and lead us into captivity, which is darkness, if we follow these traditions or rituals.

Jesus. I realize you told us not to add or diminish from your Word. And I know you said your Word was pure, and I understand you said your word is unchangeable, but you won’t mind if we keep a drunken pagan festival in your honor as long as we change the name so it sounds kind of Christian even though it is fire worship. You won’t mind, will you?

Now, Jesus, we’re not going to be able to stop the drunks and the pagan worshippers from continuing to keep their customs. There will be a record number of suicides this time of year. The poor will feel oppressed, but we will take a dinner to them at xmas time and tell them we’ll be back again next year.

And Jesus, we know there will be a record number of wrecks caused by drunk drivers, and the liquor stores will be thrilled to see the season come. Playboy Magazine even has a special Christmas edition, and adultery will run rampant as husbands and wives abandon their vows at drunken parties.

And you will be real happy when you’ll hear my ideas, Jesus

We’ve gone back in history and found fire worshippers of the ancient world who had a festival that went from December 17 thru December 25. That was the birthday of their fire god Mithra or Hercules, and they worship pagan gods.

Now, Jesus, here is my idea. We are going to take this drunken festival of Saturn or Saturnalia, and we're going to put your name on it. We will call it Christmass, but we’ll drop the last S to disguise it and keep it from looking like Roman Catholicism, OK?

They offered their children in the fire and ate them, but I assure you Jesus that most of the world will be celebrating this festival in drunken revelry the same way they did thousands of years before you were born, but I want you to believe me when I tell you, we don’t do it that way.

And when they ask us why we are dragging the church into something so evil, I’ll tell them “Well, we don’t do it that way, we are using paganism to glorify God.”

Jesus, Doesn’t that make you happy. You don’t mind, do you? After all, preachers say it’s OK as long as we use this pagan festival to spread the gospel. If they say it,You won’t mind, will you? I promise Jesus we’re not going to keep the customs of the heathen like they keep them; we’re going to keep them different. You won’t mind if we do this, will you, Jesus?"

[Neck]

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born "this" day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

With the mention of the word "this" it designates the day being mentioned.

Or to take notice "this day".

Since we do not know which day the writer is speaking about specifically.

We take notice that it is "this day". The this referring to the day of his birth.

Now there is nothing in communion associted with his birth.

It does say to take eat this is my body.

So we are to remember his person that was broken for us.

And his life which this is his blood.

So we should remember his birth that brought the body and the blood into being.

Remember "this day" his birthday their was born in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord.

[simplyme]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

6. "The 'Connection' Has Been Broken" -- There are those who clearly recognize the pagan nature of the various Christmas worship forms and practices. Nevertheless, many of these Christians claim that because of the long passage of time from their pagan inception to the present (6,000 years?), the "connection" to paganism has been sufficiently diminished to allow the adoption of these forms and practices into our Christian worship and celebration. While it may be true that most symbols have lost their original demonic meaning and significance in a modern society, it is strangely bizarre and ironic that Christendom seeks to commemorate Christ's birth with the faded symbols of Satan. And even though some of God's people may be naive and ignorant about the source of these things, surely God is not. Can such things please Him? And think about this -- if it were possible to "disconnect" current practices from their pagan/occultic roots, why does Scripture not provide us any guidelines as to:

(a) how much time is necessary for the "neutralization"/disassociation process to occur; and (b) which of the hundreds of ancient pagan rites would then be acceptable for adaptation into Christian worship (since some are obviously much more pagan/occultic than others)?

YEAH!

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Neckstadt

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born "this" day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

With the mention of the word "this" it designates the day being mentioned.

Or to take notice "this day".

Since we do not know which day the writer is speaking about specifically.

We take notice that it is "this day". The this referring to the day of his birth.

Now there is nothing in communion associted with his birth.

It does say to take eat this is my body.

So we are to remember his person that was broken for us.

And his life which this is his blood.

So we should remember his birth that brought the body and the blood into being.

Remember "this day" his birthday their was born in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord.

but why use past symbols of satan and pagan worship to celebrate his birth??

[simplyme]

Originally Posted by stasis

Prayer for the Christ Mass:

"Dear, Jesus, I know you told us that the customs of the heathen are vain, and you told us not to learn the way of the heathen.

I know that you told us that philosophy, vain deceit, and traditions of men and rudiments of this world would spoil us and lead us into captivity, which is darkness, if we follow these traditions or rituals.

Jesus. I realize you told us not to add or diminish from your Word. And I know you said your Word was pure, and I understand you said your word is unchangeable, but you won’t mind if we keep a drunken pagan festival in your honor as long as we change the name so it sounds kind of Christian even though it is fire worship. You won’t mind, will you?

Now, Jesus, we’re not going to be able to stop the drunks and the pagan worshippers from continuing to keep their customs. There will be a record number of suicides this time of year. The poor will feel oppressed, but we will take a dinner to them at xmas time and tell them we’ll be back again next year.

And Jesus, we know there will be a record number of wrecks caused by drunk drivers, and the liquor stores will be thrilled to see the season come. Playboy Magazine even has a special Christmas edition, and adultery will run rampant as husbands and wives abandon their vows at drunken parties.

And you will be real happy when you’ll hear my ideas, Jesus

We’ve gone back in history and found fire worshippers of the ancient world who had a festival that went from December 17 thru December 25. That was the birthday of their fire god Mithra or Hercules, and they worship pagan gods.

Now, Jesus, here is my idea. We are going to take this drunken festival of Saturn or Saturnalia, and we're going to put your name on it. We will call it Christmass, but we’ll drop the last S to disguise it and keep it from looking like Roman Catholicism, OK?

They offered their children in the fire and ate them, but I assure you Jesus that most of the world will be celebrating this festival in drunken revelry the same way they did thousands of years before you were born, but I want you to believe me when I tell you, we don’t do it that way.

And when they ask us why we are dragging the church into something so evil, I’ll tell them “Well, we don’t do it that way, we are using paganism to glorify God.”

Jesus, Doesn’t that make you happy. You don’t mind, do you? After all, preachers say it’s OK as long as we use this pagan festival to spread the gospel. If they say it,You won’t mind, will you? I promise Jesus we’re not going to keep the customs of the heathen like they keep them; we’re going to keep them different. You won’t mind if we do this, will you, Jesus?"

It would be sooo funny were it not so serious., this is an AWESOME POST!
I was just thinkin on this a while ago as ..and I thought to myself:
How would I like it if everyone gave presents to everyone else but ME on my birthday..if they used MY birthday just to get a paid day off of work, to go out partying and carousing..(not once seriously considering that this MIGHT offend me)..what if people died from alcohol related accidents I would feel so really bad that I even HAD a birthday"...if this is what it caused.

NOPE, not a good idea., especially when I never even told anyone that they HAD to do this.

[Michael Phelps]

There's just too much in this thread to respond to, so I won't, lol.

YES, we celebrate Christmas!
YES, we exchange gifts!
YES, we have a Christmas tree!
YES, it's a great time for our family to get together!
YES, we pray and thank God for our family, for the awesome things God has done for us, and we celebrate Jesus together.

You guys go ahead and post your thin thread of misinterpreted scripture, just to prove that you're more "holy" because you're against more stuff, but as for me and my house, we celebrate Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I will comment on one statement..........."THE MERE POPULARITY OF CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE A GOOD REASON NOT TO CELEBRATE IT.......ANYONE CAN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, THE PAGAN, THE SINNER, ETC.....

Well, everyone can get married too, should we stay single? Everyone can eat too, should we starve? Everyone can drive a car too, should we walk?

Man, oh man, just not enough time in the day for me to dissect this thread.....

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Michael Phelps

There's just too much in this thread to respond to, so I won't, lol.

YES, we celebrate Christmas!
YES, we exchange gifts!
YES, we have a Christmas tree!
YES, it's a great time for our family to get together!
YES, we pray and thank God for our family, for the awesome things God has done for us, and we celebrate Jesus together.

You guys go ahead and post your thin thread of misinterpreted scripture, just to prove that you're more "holy" because you're against more stuff, but as for me and my house, we celebrate Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and by the way, I will comment on one statement..........."THE MERE POPULARITY OF CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE A GOOD REASON NOT TO CELEBRATE IT.......ANYONE CAN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, THE PAGAN, THE SINNER, ETC.....

Well, everyone can get married too, should we stay single? Everyone can eat too, should we starve? Everyone can drive a car too, should we walk?

Man, oh man, just not enough time in the day for me to dissect this thread.....

it's still comes from paganism!