CHRISTMAS

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 CHRISTMAS

    Ho Ho ho The Jolly Red garbed man shouts a he proclaims Merry Christmas to all . Santa Claus or Saint Nick is Just one of the images now permanently part of this western holiday tradition. This and so many images of the western world's secular image of the holiday are not what the day is really about. It is to many Christians first a celebration of the Birth of a The Savior. Recorded in scripture In the Gospel of  Luke Chapter 2: Verses 1 to 20.   

    No one knows for sure on what day Christ was actually born.  The Winter celebrations predate Christianity, Judaism for example  celebrated Hanukkah" , or in Hebrew Chanukah, 100s of years before Christmas was first celebrated. Pagan also celebrated, and some still do, winter solstice. According to  Christianity .com " In an old list of Roman bishops, compiled in A. D. 354 these words appear for A.D. 336: "25 Dec.: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae." , December 25, 336, is the first recorded celebration of Christmas." -1

  Once God had been introduced into the day in the 300s AD it was made holy. It became a day to  to commemorate the birth of Christ; while not specifically stated in scripture the day Dec 25 becomes Holy as a chosen redeemed day. It is a celebration of an event that did take place on one particular day in history the birth of Jesus Christ.  To paraphrase the Larry Norman song why should the Devil have all the Good celebration days. Christ makes the day holy and allows for Christians to proclaim there faith during the same time others proudly decare there own.  -2 

   So Remember as you gather with friends and family that Christmas was never pagan, the time period and some of the rituals may have been 1500 years ago, but now it is about CHRIST.   It is a day to commemorate and celebrate  the birth of The savoir. To tell the story of Mary the virgin who was chosen and willfully accepted the honor of becoming the vessel for the physical form of God the Son. The word come in the flesh.  John 1: 14 says   " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."  Perfect human, Second Adam born to be a sacrifice for our sins and then King.  

   The western trappings of the holiday are pleasant and fun. Santa and reindeer the north pole and elves but those magical fantasy stories all pale in comparison to the reality of the greatest gift to all humanity. A chance to have their sins forgiven and righteousness given. A gift wrapped not in tinsel and multi colored paper but the bruised and bloody flesh that was once the soft perfect skin of a new born.  Enjoy the extras but keep the Christ in Christmas, in your own life.  The world may hate the real Jesus , shown not just by yearly in attempts to take down nativity scenes but in the 50 non Christ centered or even mentioning, holiday movies , TV shows and events.. They are not all evil  but can be a distraction if we allow them to replace the real reason for the celebration.  

   Some Christians refuse to celebrate Christmas because of its to close relationship in timing to pagan celebrations and many rituals pagan origins. The adapting of certain pagan trapping of the holiday like  mistletoeands the yule log only add to their dislike. For us Christians who do celebrate let us respect of brothers and sisters who feel it is improper. We take the example Paul set in Scripture in 1 Corinthians 8:4–13. We should not flaunt our freedom and cause a weaker Christian to stumble.  To those who feel  the holiday is pagan and should not be celebrated. Please remember all of this belongs to God .  Most of those things that were used for paganism God created. Using them for a new use is redeeming those things from their pagan origin and uses not the other way around. Every single day Christians could be celebrating the birth death and resurrection of Christ ; so just picking one particular day to make it an extra celebration isn't in my humble opinion pagan or wrong.   MERRY CHRISTMAS


1.  https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-1st-recorded-celebration-of-christmas-11629658.html

2 .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVyNnKsmdok

3 . https://www.history.com/news/christmas-traditions-history

Try a book about christmas. 

The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger

By: Lee Strobel

https://www.christianbook.com/christmas-journalist-investigates-identity-child-manger/lee-strobel/9780310340591/pd/340591?event=ESRCN


 by SSligh blog creator/moderator

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