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#Post#: 55--------------------------------------------------
Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:27 pm
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The True Origin of Christmas
Where did Christmas originate? From the Bible or paganism? What
is the real origin of Santa Claus—mistletoe—Christmas
trees—holly wreaths—and the custom of exchanging gifts? Many are
concerned about putting “Christ back into Christmas.” Was He
ever there? Here are the stunning answers!
Every year after Thanksgiving, most people's thoughts turn to
Christmas. It is the time when professing Christians are
supposed to focus on Jesus Christ. After all, it is the
“Christ-mass” season!
Christmas is thought by most to be a wonderful time, focusing
the participants on giving, family togetherness, beautiful music
and decorations, feasting on special foods and singing Christmas
carols throughout the neighborhood (as my family did every
year). All of this is supposedly centered around the worship of
Christ. Surely the Bible instructs us to do all this—right?
The answers will shock you!
Why do people think that Christmas is wonderful? Most never
reflect on why they believe what they believe or do what they
do. We live in a world filled with customs, but few ever seek to
understand their origin. We generally accept them without
question. Most people basically do what everyone else
does—because it is easy and natural!
Let's carefully examine the roots of Christmas. Let's look at
why people follow the customs associated with it. Why is it kept
on December 25th? Did the early New Testament Church keep it?
This article is filled with facts from history that, when placed
together, paint a complete picture. Let's avoid all assumptions
and only accept what can be PROVEN!
realtruth.org
#Post#: 56--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:27 pm
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Pagan Origin
In 1990, the Solon, Ohio (a Cleveland suburb) school board
banned all nativity and other Christmas scenes on any school
property because they felt it violated the separation of church
and state. They were challenged in court when outraged parents
opposed them, feeling that Christmas was being stolen from their
children and the community. The board lost the case! The
citizenry had contended that Christmas was a worldwide tradition
that was not part of, and transcended, religion. It was deemed
to be secular—a part of virtually all cultures worldwide.
The court decision affirmed that Christmas has no Christian
roots! However, the court's opinion also noted that bible
reading and prayer obviously are associated with Christ-ianity—a
remarkable admission! The court concluded that Christmas-keeping
and manger scenes could remain because they are not really part
of either Christianity or religion—but prayer and Bible reading,
which are, must remain excluded from schools!
Nearly all aspects of Christmas observance have their roots in
Roman custom and religion. Consider the following admission from
a large American newspaper (The Buffalo News, Nov. 22, 1984):
“The earliest reference to Christmas being marked on Dec. 25
comes from the second century after Jesus' birth. It is
considered likely the first Christmas celebrations were in
reaction to the Roman Saturnalia, a harvest festival that marked
the winter solstice—the return of the sun—and honored Saturn,
the god of sowing. Saturnalia was a rowdy time, much opposed by
the more austere leaders among the still-minority Christian
sect. Christmas developed, one scholar says, as a means of
replacing worship of the sun with worship of the Son. By 529
A.D., after Christianity had become the official state religion
of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinian made Christmas a civic
holiday. The celebration of Christmas reached its peak—some
would say its worst moments—in the medieval period when it
became a time for conspicuous consumption and unequaled
revelry.”
Consider these quotes from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911
edition, under “Christmas”: “Christmas was not among the
earliest festivals of the Church…the first evidence of the feast
is from Egypt.” Further, “Pagan customs centering around the
January calends gravitated to Christmas.” Under “Natal Day,”
Origen, an early Catholic writer, admitted, “…In the Scriptures,
no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet
on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who
make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into
this world” (emphasis mine).
The Encyclopedia Americana, 1956 edition, adds, “Christmas…was
not observed in the first centuries of the Christian church,
since the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death
of remarkable persons rather than their birth…a feast was
established in memory of this event [Christ's birth] in the
fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered
the feast to be celebrated forever on the day of the Mithraic
rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of the
Saturnalia, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ's birth
existed.”
There is no mistaking the origin of the modern Christmas
celebration. Many additional sources could be cited and we will
return to this later. Let's begin to tie some other facts
together.
It was 300 years after Christ before the Roman church kept
Christmas, and not until the fifth century that it was mandated
to be kept throughout the empire as an official festival
honoring “Christ.”
realtruth.org
#Post#: 57--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:28 pm
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Can Christ Be Honored by Christmas?
The most common justification that one will hear regarding
Christmas is that people have replaced old pagan customs and
intents by asserting that they are now “focusing on Christ.” I
have heard many say that they are “honoring Christ” in their
Christmas-keeping. The problem is that God does not say this is
acceptable to Him! Actually, He plainly commands against it!
Keeping Christmas dishonors Christ! He considers everything
about it to be an abomination! We will soon see why.
Christ said, “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9). Christmas is
not a command of God —it is a tradition of men. Christ
continued, “Full well you reject the commandment of God, that
you may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9). Every year,
throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do
just that!
We will see that God plainly commands, “Follow not the way of
the heathen.” But most people do not fear God, and He allows
them to make their own decisions. Human beings are free moral
agents—free to obey or disobey God! But woe to those who ignore
the plain Word of God!
realtruth.org
#Post#: 58--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:28 pm
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Was Christ Born on December 25th?
Christ was born in the fall of the year. Many have mistakenly
believed He was born around the beginning of winter—December
25th! They are wrong! Notice the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume
5, page 370, New York edition: “It was custom among Jews to send
out their sheep to the deserts about the Passover [early
spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first
rain.” The first rains began in early-to-mid fall. Continuing
with this same quote: “During the time they were out, the
shepherds watched them night and day. As…the first rain began
early in the month of March-esvan, which answers to part of our
October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that
the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole
summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their
flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet
commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the
25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor
could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were
still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity
in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by
night in the fields is a chronological fact…See the quotations
from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.”
Luke 2:8 explains that when Christ was born, “there were in the
same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night.” Note that they were “abiding” in the
field. This never happened in December. Both Ezra 10:9-13 and
the Song of Solomon 2:11 show that winter was the rainy season
and shepherds could not stay on cold, open fields at night.
Numerous encyclopedias plainly state that Christ was not born on
December 25th! The Catholic Encyclopedia directly confirms this.
In all likelihood, Christ was born in the fall! A lengthy
technical explanation would prove this point.
Since we now know that December 25th was nowhere near Christ's
actual birthdate, where did the festival associated with this
date come from?
Now read this quote under “Christmas”: “In the Roman world, the
Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and
exchanging of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the
birthdate of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of
Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were
decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to
children and the poor. To these observances were added the
German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated
into Gaul, Britain and central Europe. Food and good fellowship,
the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, gifts and
greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive
season. Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life,
have always been associated with the winter festival, both pagan
and Christian” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. II, p.
903).
A final quote about the selection of December 25th as the
birthdate of Christ is necessary. Note an article in The Toronto
Star, December 1984, by Alan Edmonds, entitled, “We owe a lot to
Druids, Dutch”: “The Reformation cast a blight on Christmas. By
then, of course, clever ecclesiastical politicians had adopted
the Pagan mid-winter festival as the alleged birthdate of Jesus,
of Nazareth, and thrown in a few other Pagan goodies to make
their takeover more palatable.”
December 25th was not selected because it was the birth of
Christ or because it was even near it. It was selected because
it coincided with the idolatrous pagan festival Saturnalia—and
this celebration must be carefully examined. In any event, we do
not know the exact date of Christ's birth. While God certainly
could have made it known, He chose to hide it from the world's
eyes!
realtruth.org
#Post#: 59--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:29 pm
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What About Santa Claus?
Parents reason that they owe the whole Christmas myth to their
children! Christmas traditions are focused primarily on kids,
and they are certainly the center of most of what happens. I
know because I kept seventeen Christmases. My older sister and
younger brother and I were the recipients of much and the givers
of very little on that day—and it all started with the Santa
Claus lie.
Some years ago, a priest in New Jersey told his Sunday school
class that Santa was a myth. The outrage from parents and his
supervisors was swift. He had “killed Santa!” He had “destroyed
family tradition!” He had “usurped family authority,” the
article continued. He was officially censored by his superiors
for being “overzealous and insensitive.”
His crime? He told the truth!
According to Langer's Encyclo-pedia of World History, (article
“Santa”), “Santa” was a common name for Nimrod throughout Asia
Minor. This was also the same fire god who came down the
chimneys of the ancient pagans and the same fire god to whom
infants were burned and eaten in human sacrifice among those who
were once God's people.
Today Santa Claus comes from “Saint Nicholas.” Washington
Irving, in 1809, is responsible for remaking the original old,
stern bishop of this same name into the new “jolly St. Nick” in
his Knickerbocker History of New York. (Most of the rest of
America's Christmas traditions are even more recent than this.)
“Old Nick” has long been recognized as a term for the devil.
In Revelation 2:6 and 15, we read about a “doctrine of the
Nicolaitanes,” which Christ twice tells His Church “[He] hates.”
Let's analyze the word Nicolaitane. It means “follower of
Nicholas.” Nikos means “conqueror, destroyer.” Laos means
“people.” Nicolaitanes, then, are people who follow the
conqueror or destroyer—Nimrod. If you have believed that
following Christmas is an innocent Christian custom, let this
truth sink in!
realtruth.org
#Post#: 60--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:30 pm
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Is It Scriptural to Exchange Gifts?
Merchants regularly report that over 60% of their annual retail
sales occur during the Christmas shopping season. This
represents a tremendous amount of gift buying. Most today
believe that gift-giving comes from the Bible example of the
“three wise men” (the Bible gives no number) presenting gifts to
Christ. Is this true? Where did exchanging gifts come from, and
what does God's Word say about it?
The Bibliotheca Sacra states, “The interchange of presents
between friends is a like characteristic of Christmas and the
Saturnalia, and must have been adopted by Christians from the
pagans, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows” (Vol. 12,
pp. 153-155).
Like every other aspect of Christmas, the shocking truth is that
even this supposed Christian custom does not come from the
Bible. It is an irony that people love to believe they are
following the custom of the wise men giving to Christ, when
actually they are giving almost exclusively to each other! What
hypocrisy! Christ is completely forgotten.
The Bible actually teaches that Christians should not keep
birthdays. Numerous scriptures make this principle clear. (Read
our article “Are Birthday Celebrations Christian?”) However,
what if you went to a birthday party that had been prepared for
you and everybody gave gifts to each other and you were left
out? The idea is ridiculous! If this happened, you would say
that people were being selfish and forgetting you. In fact, most
people give to others on Christmas merely because they expect to
receive gifts themselves!
Let's briefly return to the “wise men” who gave gifts to Christ.
The scripture describing this is Matthew 2:1-11: “Now when Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,
Where is He that is born King of the Jews?…And when they were
come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His
mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had
opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and
frankincense, and myrrh.”
It is commonly supposed that these were birthday presents for
“baby Jesus.” But is this what the Bible actually says?
Absolutely not! First, it is important to note that they did
give the gifts to Jesus. They did not stand in his presence and
exchange gifts among themselves or give them to others. The
gifts were “presented unto Him.” Also, they arrived well after
his “birthday.” This is another reason these could not have been
“birthday presents.”
A long-standing, ancient custom of the East was to present gifts
when coming before a king. These men understood they were in the
presence of the “King of the Jews.” The Bible carries many
examples of people sending gifts to kings or presenting them
upon arrival into their presence. This custom is common today
when ambassadors or others come into the presence of a world
leader.
Finally, notice what the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page
46, states about what really happened on this occasion: “Verse
11. They presented unto him gifts. The people of the east never
approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a
present in their hands. This custom is often noticed in the Old
Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the
newly discovered South Seas Islands.” Gifts were customarily
presented to kings.
What could be more plain?
realtruth.org
#Post#: 61--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:30 pm
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Origin of the Christmas Tree
No article about Christmas is complete without some explanation
of the “Christmas tree.” We have touched on it without directly
focusing on it. The modern Christmas tree originated in Germany.
But the Germans got it from the Romans, who got it from the
Babylonians and the Egyptians.
The following demonstrates what the Babylonians believe about
the origin of the Christmas tree: “An old Babylonish fable told
of an evergreen tree which sprang out of a dead tree stump. The
old stump symbolized the dead Nimrod, the new evergreen tree
symbolized that Nimrod had come to life again in Tammuz! Among
the Druids the oak was sacred, among the Egyptians it was the
palm, and in Rome it was the fir, which was decorated with red
berries during the Saturnalia!” (Walsh, Curiosities of Popular
Customs, p. 242).
Frederick J. Haskin's Answers to Questions states, “The
Christmas tree is from Egypt, and its origin dates from a period
long anterior to the Christmas Era.” Did you know this—that the
Christmas tree long preceded Christianity?
Most aspects of Christmas are not referred to in the Bible. Of
course, the reason is that they are not from God—they are not
part of the way He wants people to worship Him. The Christmas
tree, however, is directly mentioned in the Bible! Turn to
Jeremiah 10:2-5, “Thus says the Lord, Learn not the way of the
heathen…For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts 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. They
are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be
borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they
cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”
This plain description of the modern Christmas tree is clear.
God directly refers to it as “the way of the heathen.” Just as
directly, He commands His people to “learn not the way of the
heathen,” calling these customs “vain.” Verse 23 adds a
remarkable and powerful statement: “O LORD, I know that the way
of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct
his [own] steps.” God must teach people how to live. Man simply
cannot figure out God's ways for himself.
There is no room in Jeremiah 10 to believe, as some have tried
to suggest, that because these trees are powerless of
themselves, it is not really forbidden to have a Christmas tree.
God condemns the putting up of pagan (Christmas) trees with this
plain Bible command!
realtruth.org
#Post#: 62--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:31 pm
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The Source of Holly Wreaths, Yule Logs and Mistletoe
The Encyclopedia Americana states, “The holly, the mistletoe,
the Yule log…are relics of pre-Christian time.” In other words,
paganism! The Yule log was commonly used in a rite of Teutonic
nature worship.
Frederick Haskin further states, “The use of Christmas wreaths
is believed by authorities to be traceable to the pagan customs
of decorating buildings and places of worship at the feast which
took place at the same time as Christmas.”
The Encyclopedia Britannica, under “Celastrales,” exposes the
origin of the holly wreath: “European pagans brought holly
sprays into their homes, offering them to the fairy people of
the forests as refuge from the harsh winter weather. During the
Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival, branches of holly were
exchanged as tokens of friendship. The earliest Roman Christians
apparently used holly as a decoration at the Christmas season.”
There are dozens of different types of holly. Virtually all of
them come in male and female varieties—such as “Blue Prince and
Blue Princess” or “Blue Boy and Blue Girl” or “China Boy and
China Girl.” Female holly plants cannot have berries unless a
nearby male plant pollinates them. It is easy to see why the
holly wreath found its way into pagan rituals as a token of
friendship and fertility!
Christmas is incomplete to many unless it involves “kissing
under the mistletoe.” This pagan custom was natural on a night
that involved much revelry done in the spirit of drunken orgies.
Just like today, this “kissing” usually occurred at the
beginning of any modern Saturnalia/Christmas celebration. I will
never forget having to always kiss my friends' mothers upon
entering each of their houses every Christmas. It was the first
thing that we did. I hated it—but it was something I “had to
do”! Mistletoe was considered to have special powers of healing
for those who “reveled” under it.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, under “Santalales,” states, “The
European mistletoe is thought to have had special ritual
significance in Druidical ceremonies and lives in folklore
today, its special status as the Christmas mistletoe having come
from Anglo-Saxon times.” Mistletoe is a parasite that lives on
oak trees. (Recall that the Druids worshipped in oak tree
groves.) The ancient Celtics (associated with the Druids) used
to give mistletoe as an herbal remedy to barren animals to make
them fertile. It is still referred to as “all healer” in Celtic.
Like mistletoe, holly berries were also thought to be sacred to
the sun god. The original “sun log” came to be called the yule
log. “Yule” simply means “wheel,” which has long been a pagan
representation of the sun. No wonder people today commonly speak
of the “sacred yule-tide season.”
realtruth.org
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: Christmas Article
By: Mentor Date: December 2, 2012, 12:31 pm
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What Should You Do?
Finally, let's examine what God told His people they should do
and the way they ought to teach their children.
Human beings do not want to obey God (Rom. 8:7). They would
rather follow their own “imagination.” They do not understand
that God wants their lives to go “well.” He wants happiness, joy
and blessings to flow into people's lives. All these are the
results of obeying Him.
God inspired Moses to warn parents of the grave responsibility
that they have in what and how they teach their children. Notice
His instruction in Deuteronomy 6:1, 6-7, 20-21, 25: “Now these
are the commandments… which the LORD your God commanded to teach
you, that you might do them in the land where you go to possess
it…And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in
your heart: And you shall teach them diligently unto your
children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and
when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you
rise up…And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What
mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which
the LORD our God has commanded you? Then you shall say unto your
son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us
out of Egypt with a mighty hand…And it shall be our
righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before
the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.”
God took Israel out of Egypt—out of the customs of the world
around them and revealed His Law to them. He does not want His
people going back to the traditions, customs and ways from which
He has called them.
When all of the interconnected traditions, filled with the
symbolism of worshipping an ancient pagan, humanly devised god,
are taught, this is not worshipping the true Creator.
The prophet Isaiah was inspired to write, “Cry aloud, spare not,
lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show My people their
transgression” (58:1). I have done this.
realtruth.org
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