Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Why do some Christians celebrate Christmas as Christ's birthday?
Secondly, December 25 was originally celebrated to honor the Sun not the Son, and therefore has pagan origins.
Lastly, we recogize December 25 as the birthday of Jesus because it has been tradition. If a person is a true believer, it really doesn't matter what day you celebrate His birthday because that is not what saves you anyway.
as for why do christians celebrate it: well, why not? it's good to reflect on the reason he came to earth (to save us). it's also important to remember that at one point he was just a baby, like we all were at one point. it reminds us that he was human and he experienced a lot of the same things we have.
Whenever I'd like to find out the truth about something (as it relates to the Bible), I usually go to the website, CRI, (which stands for Christian Research Institute). It's a reliable source for uncovering truth.
AS FOR YOUR QUESTION:
FROM the article, Is Christmas Christian?: (CP9001 - equip.org):
Often we are told that celebrating Christâ ™s birthday on December 25th is very wrong, for two reasons. The first is that Christ was probably not even born on December 25th. Thatâ ™s probably true, but so what? We donâ ™t know on what day Jesus Christ was actually born, but what does it really matter? What matters is that we are commemorating the birth of the Savior of the world"
FROM the article, Christ in Christmas: (DC336 - equip.org):
"We donâ ™t know the exact day of the year Jesus was born.1 We do know, however, that the December 25 date was advocated as early as about A.D. 220.2 The church may have chosen to celebrate on December 25 as a triumph of Christianity over paganism because it came right after the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, one of the popular pagan winter solstice holidays (December 17-24)."
To get on the CRI website, click here
http://www.equip.org
and then look up your question in the little search box. (top left or bottom right I think)...
Hope this helps! Good luck, and God bless.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica reports that "The traditional customs connected with Christmas have developed from several sources as a result of the coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ with the pagan agricultural and solar observations at midwinter. In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness."
Colliers Encyclopedia agrees. Quote: "After the triumph of Constantine, the church at Rome assigned December 25 as the date for the celebration of the feast, possibly about A.D. 320 or 353. By the end of the fourth century the whole Christian world was celebrating Christmas on that day, with the exception of the Eastern churches, where it was celebrated on January 6. The choice of December 25 was probably influenced by the fact that on this day the Romans celebrated the Mithraic feast of the Sun-god (natalis solis invicti), and that the Saturnalia also came at this time."
Both encyclopedias plainly reveal that the source of the celebration of December 25 is the birthday of Mithra, the pagan sun god.
Sun worshippers since the time of Babel recognized this time of year in honor of their gods.
December 25th is well known as the birthday of various pagan gods.
A Roman calendar drawn up by a "Christian" in 354 A.D. (The Codex Calendar of 354) shows December 25 to be the birthday of Sol Invictus. Not only is it listed as a pagan birthday; but, it is listed as the most important pagan birthday of the whole year. It was celebrated in the Roman Circus with extra chariot races. This is the sun god that Constantine the Great worshipped while claiming to be a "Christian." His coins state that he was "committed to Sol Invictus." Constantinesâ ™ form of "Christianity" continues to influence Christianity today. December 25th is just one example. Satan wants to be "God." The first four commandments tell us who "God" really is. Satan hates that and has done everything possible to abrogate those commandments. Calling December 25th the birthday of Jesus is nothing less than sticking a pagan god in the face of the "God" of the Bible - a direct violation of the first commandment.
There was no consensus among third and fourth scholars as to the birthday of Jesus. Different scholars gave many different dates. It seems that January 6th was one of the more popular choices during that time period.
Before the fourth century, the only possible reference to December 25 as the birthday of Jesus is assumed from the writings of Hippolytus. In his writings he indicates that Jesus was born on Passover, which would be either March 25th or April 2nd. Those who desire a December 25th birthday have theorized that Hippolytus really meant "conception" instead of "birth," therefore nine months after "conception" the baby would be born on December 25th. A study of his other writings however, indicates that the Greek word he chose does indeed mean "birth." An ancient monument of Hippolytus, now in the Lateran Museum in Rome, shows April 2nd as the birthday of Christ.
There is no record of a December 25th celebration of the birth of Christ in Rome earlier than 336. In Constantinople, no record of a celebration before 378. In Alexandria, not before 400; and in Jerusalem, not before 425.
The bottom line is that there are no reliable historical documents that would place the birth of Jesus on December 25th. On the other hand, there is overwhelming documentation that the birthday of many of the sun gods of antiquity was recognized as December 25th.
In 273 A.D. Aurelian brought the worship of Baal, from Syria, back to Rome, and instituted the cult of Sol Invictus, which combined the worship of all the pagan sun gods into one - "Sol Invictus." A few years earlier, the Roman emperor Elogabalus had unsuccessfully attempted to make the worship of the sun god Baal the predominant religion in Rome. The way Aurelian was able to get everyone, with their own specific sun gods, to be happy, was by proclaiming December 25th to be the birthday of Sol Invictus. They recognized December 25th as the birthday of their own god, therefore they were happy with the new name "Sol Invictus" - The Invincible Sun. Because of the association with December 25th. they recoginzed Sol Invictus as their own God.
The abominable worship of Tammuz, as spoken of in the book of Ezekiel, is related to December 25th. Today visitors to Bethlehem are taken to a subterranean cave, under the "Church of the Nativity" and are told that Jesus was born there on December 25th. It was Helena, the mother of Constantine, who declared that site to be the birth place of Christ. Jesus was not born there. It is a pagan sun worship cave in honor of Tammuz. The "church" historian Jerome, who wrote the Latin "Vulgate" tells us that Tammuz was worshipped there. He ought to know. His school was right next door. In fact, the back door of his school leads into the temple of Tammuz. In spite of all these facts, thousands of unknowing Christians bow down and kiss the spot in the niche where the idol of Tammuz was placed. Although theologians know, they will not tell people the truth. They will be held accountable.
Our Christian ancestors knew better. The celebration of December 25th was illegal in England. It was outlawed in New England from 1649 to 1658. The December 25th celebration was condemned for its pagan roots by the Puritans, the Methodists, the Quakers, the Amish, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists. Why would they do that if there was not a legitimate problem? Christmas was made a legal holiday in Massachusetts in 1856.
Considering these facts, it is not unreasonable for a person to want to disassociate himself from a pagan birthday that never had anything to do with Christ Jesus. The Bible says that "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." We are only responsible for what we know. Even so, we must not be "willingly ignorant." Everyone will have to make their own decision.
These are just a few facts that no scholar will deny.
In closing, let us not forget that at Mt. Sinai the people declared the celebrations associated with the "golden calf" to be "a feast to the LORD." He wanted to kill them all, and would have, except for the intervention of Moses. We cannot decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. That is what Satan wants us to do. We cannot proclaim a known pagan birthday to be in honor of Jesus, just because we think it is a good thing to do.
In the same manner, it doesn't really matter when Christ died - as long as he resurrected three days after. That's all I need to know :-)
Theology really rings true in Jesus' teaching and way of life - not in the polemic of when he was brought into this world.
(By the way, the "fact" that Jesus was born the 25th of December is NOT in the Bible, as someone said.)
Hope I helped!
but why not celebrate it during the happiest time of the year :D
a time of giving (Jesus gave the ultimate gift)
a time of loving (Jesus gave eternal love)
so why not celebrate it :D
it only makes sense
Christmas=2words
Christ mas
CHRIST's MASS
Mass=church or time when preacher preaches to you
it doesnt matter when he was born or if he was born. It just means that God gave us the ultimate gift JESUS CHRIST
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...
Im sure all the brainwashed are getting angry now because im testing their beliefs. well this is the truth.
December 21st is the shortest day of the year, at the northern most part of the earth the SUN appears to stop moving for 3 days while under the crux (southern cross) constellation, on the 25th of December the sun moves 1 degree north, foreshadowing longer days. Hence the birth of the son, which actually means the SUN is risen. this is where the saying "jesus died on the cross, was buried and was risen after three days" its all astrological.
Regarding Easter - (spring equinox)
this is when the sun or light officially over powers the dark (or night) . meaning the days are now longer than the night.
checkout ZeitgeistMovie.com - I'm not using this to base my argument, but it explains this in detail in the first 20 mins of the movie.
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Posted by cfz |