Christians and Christmas

[blackheartgirl2]

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

[The Credits]

The pegan holiday you speak of, which is called Yule, is the celebration of the winter solstice. Not of the birth of the sun. lol

And Idk, I'm not Christian and I never thought Santa made any sense. He was just some old guy that used to give kids coal like forever ago on Christmas. It became a tradition which somehow turned into giving everyone presents.

[Abdul Salaam]

blackheartgirl2

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

It does not, Santa Clause and all that good stuff, is a cultural and secular tradition that has evolved separate to the Religious Aspect of tradition(thus why it is celebrated by Christians, Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists and even yes...Muslims).

Jesus was not borne in Decemeber, and funilly enough the Church never once claimed he was, December is simply when they choose to "Celebrate" his birth.

And it was undoubtedly placed on this date to help ease Non-Christians into Christianity by simply replacing one winter festival, with another winter festival.

In a similar way many Islamic Traditions are very Pagan in origin, but were simply "Islamafied" for want of a better term, to help the early Islamic converts ease into the spreading faith.

[Happi Chappi]

The Irish Economy

blackheartgirl2

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

It does not, Santa Clause and all that good stuff, is a cultural and secular tradition that has evolved separate to the Religious Aspect of tradition(thus why it is celebrated by Christians, Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists and even yes...Muslims).

Jesus was not borne in Decemeber, and funilly enough the Church never once claimed he was, December is simply when they choose to "Celebrate" his birth.

And it was undoubtedly placed on this date to help ease Non-Christians into Christianity by simply replacing one winter festival, with another winter festival.

In a similar way many Islamic Traditions are very Pagan in origin, but were simply "Islamafied" for want of a better term, to help the early Islamic converts ease into the spreading faith.

really, like what traditions?

[The New Wineskin]

There are generally two different ideas as to why Christianity associated Jesus' birth with the winter solstice:

I was taught in my world history class that Christians got much of their symbolism and holidays (Lent, for instance) from the Romans; the Roman emperors, especially Nero, were extremely cruel and genocidal towards the Christians. Those who did not celebrate Roman festivals were under suspicion of being Christian, and so these people were targeted. So, the Christians began celebrating Roman holidays under the plot of worshiping Y'shua ha'Machiash. Christmas was the Saturnalia to the Romans. A second reason is that the Catholic Church, during much of the Middle Ages and beyond, were conquering Pagan areas. This may be where they got the ideas such as gift-giving and the use of the pine tree as incentives for Pagans to convert to Christianity. These two concepts specifically were from the celebration of Yule, a Germanic holiday.

As for Santa Claus, he comes from the Greek Bishop of Myra Saint Nikolaos the Wonderworker, or Saint Nicholas. He had a reputation as a gift-giver, providing coin to beggars and friends by hiding them in their shoes as they slept, which is where the French get their celebration of putting gifts in children's shoes instead of in stockings, as is traditional in America. The look of Santa Claus was largely influenced by Thomas Nast and Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas".

Jesus' birthday was likely in Spring. Luke 2:8 (NIV) says, "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night." Shepherds do not flock their sheep during the nights of Winter. They usually do this during the Spring.

I hope that helped answer your question.

This post has been edited: 3 times

[blackheartgirl2]

The Credits

The pegan holiday you speak of, which is called Yule, is the celebration of the winter solstice. Not of the birth of the sun. lol

And Idk, I'm not Christian and I never thought Santa made any sense. He was just some old guy that used to give kids coal like forever ago on Christmas. It became a tradition which somehow turned into giving everyone presents.

thank you for correcting me. i knew that but i don't know hahaha

well i used to celebrate christmas and never questioned it but now that i'm not christian it makes no sense to me.

[Xiam]

blackheartgirl2

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

For a period prior to the Middle Ages, the Christians converted Pagans by devouring other religions instead of outright slaughtering them. Basically, what they did was convert the Pagans by taking their rituals and holy places and consecrating them to Jesus. As such, Christmas (which should have been in the spring or summer) was placed in with the Solstice and adopted traits of winter festivals such as Saturnalia, Yule, etc.

I'm sure everybody's talked of this so far, so let's move on to the next issue which nobody seems to mention.

Santa Claus was originally Saint Nicholas, a Turkish Catholic bishop. His birthday is also celebrated in December, particularly in the Netherlands where they call him Sinterklaas. Over time, pop culture has shifted him into Santa Claus, and while many differing versions of his appearance occurred, he eventually became heavyset. Coca-Cola ads pretty much made the colors a certainty. The whole "breaking into your home and give gifts" is a direct branch off the original story of Saint Nicholas, who would drop gifts and money into people's homes.

EDIT:

The New Wineskin

There are generally two different ideas as to why Christianity associated Jesus' birth with the winter solstice:

I was taught in my world history class that Christians got much of their symbolism and holidays (Lent, for instance) from the Romans; the Roman emperors, especially Nero, were extremely cruel and genocidal towards the Christians. Those who did not celebrate Roman festivals were under suspicion of being Christian, and so these people were targeted. So, the Christians began celebrating Roman holidays under the plot of worshiping Y'shua ha'Machiash. Christmas was the Saturnalia to the Romans. A second reason is that the Catholic Church, during much of the Middle Ages and beyond, were conquering Pagan areas. This may be where they got the ideas such as gift-giving and the use of the pine tree as incentives for Pagans to convert to Christianity. These two concepts specifically were from the celebration of Yule, a Germanic holiday.

As for Santa Claus, he comes from the Greek Bishop of Myra Saint Nikolaos the Wonderworker, or Saint Nicholas. He had a reputation as a gift-giver, providing coin to beggars and friends by hiding them in their shoes as they slept, which is where the French get their celebration of putting gifts in children's shoes instead of in stockings, as is traditional in America. The look of Santa Claus was largely influenced by Thomas Nast and Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas".

Jesus' birthday was likely in Spring. Luke 2:8 (NIV) says, "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night." Shepherds do not flock their sheep during the nights of Winter. They usually do this during the Spring.

I hope that helped answer your question.

This post has been edited: 3 times

Well, s**t. emo

[Abdul Salaam]

Happi Chappi

The Irish Economy

blackheartgirl2

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

It does not, Santa Clause and all that good stuff, is a cultural and secular tradition that has evolved separate to the Religious Aspect of tradition(thus why it is celebrated by Christians, Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists and even yes...Muslims).

Jesus was not borne in Decemeber, and funilly enough the Church never once claimed he was, December is simply when they choose to "Celebrate" his birth.

And it was undoubtedly placed on this date to help ease Non-Christians into Christianity by simply replacing one winter festival, with another winter festival.

In a similar way many Islamic Traditions are very Pagan in origin, but were simply "Islamafied" for want of a better term, to help the early Islamic converts ease into the spreading faith.

really, like what traditions?

4
Pretty much all of the Hajj to get the ball rolling.

[Abdul Salaam]

THE ULTIMATE DOOM

God created the infinite universe in one day, but it took him 5 days to make our planet. WTF?

Why are you posting the same comment everywhere?

[RiverSong_MelodyPond]

THE ULTIMATE DOOM

God created the infinite universe in one day, but it took him 5 days to make our planet. WTF?

The translation of day from the original meant more of a time period with a beginning and end. It could have taken a lot long than 24 hours for each "day".

[Taikyoku]

It doesn't mention it in the Bible, because it isn't a Christian holiday, it's a Christianized holiday, in keeping with traditional solstice celebrations, which I'm guessing probably made it a great tool for converting European pagans who had winter celebrations such as Yule. Astrological celebrations are really nothing special or new, if someone tells you that Christmas is a uniquely Christian tradition, don't buy it. In fact, let me go ahead and suggest that you always be wary when someone tells you that something is "uniquely [insert religion here]." There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but more often than not, this argument is made for things that really have little or nothing to do with said religion at all. I once even heard that teaching is a uniquely Christian thing to do, which is, of course, ludicrous. I'm not saying it's just Christians who do this, anyone with enough blind, unquestioning, unthinking, hardline zeal will likely be willing to tell you that just about everything down to the air you breathe is all thanks to them, or their ideology, or whatever.

[Abdul Salaam]

RiverSong_MelodyPond

THE ULTIMATE DOOM

God created the infinite universe in one day, but it took him 5 days to make our planet. WTF?

The translation of day from the original meant more of a time period with a beginning and end. It could have taken a lot long than 24 hours for each "day".

I hear this a lot, except people fail to give a single Instance in recorded literary history where the word "Yom" has been used to denote anything longer than a 24 hour period, or the changing of night to day or vice versa.

Excepting possibly modern Hebrew Poetry. I.e "The night turned to day and I found my life anew and refreshed"

I mean it sounds nice to say "Oh a day is just metaphorical, it's just Gods way of saying a really long time" but why use Yom to indicate extended periods of unspecified time, when Genesis is a literal book and Hebrew has very precise words to describe Millenia, Aeons, even words to describe "Periods of unspecified lengths of long time".

None of those words are "Yom" which is what we get in the Genesis creation account.

[THE ULTIMATE DOOM]

RiverSong_MelodyPond

THE ULTIMATE DOOM

God created the infinite universe in one day, but it took him 5 days to make our planet. WTF?

The translation of day from the original meant more of a time period with a beginning and end. It could have taken a lot long than 24 hours for each "day".

But still, he made the creation of our planet look like quite a big deal compared to all the others.

[rmcdra]

blackheartgirl2

I have another question of Christians. I just want to understand.

Christmas is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus, but where in the bible does it say that and where does it say that you celebrate Jesus's birthday by having and old, fat, magic man break into your home and give gifts. Also i have been told that Jesus was not even born in December but there is a pagan holiday around the same time as Christmas that is the celebration of the birth of the sun.

It is very confusing. i hope someone can explain it to me.

It doesn't. Celebration of Christ's birth on Decemeber 25 goes back to Catholic tradition. It's based upon a Jewish tradition that prophets die on the day they were conceived. Since it's believed that Christ died on March 25, then based on this tradition, he was conceived on March 25. Add 9 months and you get... December 25.

As others have mentioned, most of the celebration is secular and Santa Clause derived from legends of a Bishop.

The other holidays being around this time are coincidence and idea of December 25 being selected to "convert the pagans" is a largely discredited idea in credible academic circles since the idea was based on now outdated information.