Justmemyselfandi

There is no argument here. I am not arguing with anyone. I'm stating fact that what you are talking about is apart of the OT law. It was written down in the book of Moses. That is an established fact. Christmas, which is the topic of the conversation here has never been a part of anything that is in any way Biblical. That is what I am saying.

Could someone please tell me how to get rid of this attachment. I have no idea how it got here and I don't want it in my post.

There is no cynics here. Being cynical is believing that Christmas was done for self-centered reasons and that is not the case. I don't believe that anyone celebrates Christmas for their own selves, but the fact is that it has nothing to do with the Birth, the death or the life of our savior. There is no getting around this and I for one would think it more appropriate to have an unblemished day, untarnished by false religion, in which to celebrate the only perfect person to ever walk the Earth and one who sacrificed everything, including his life for us, so that we could have everlasting life. What Christmas is is a hand me down day, like a pair of pants given to a younger sibling by and older. What is happening in this thread is those who back the traditions of man are going up against people who have come to the conclusion that only with the full and unmitigated truth being known about things can we honestly and forthrightly deal with the subject at hand The 25th of December was a day of celebration It was a public holiday celebrated around December 25th in the family home. A time for feasting, goodwill, generosity to the poor, the exchange of gifts and the decoration of trees. But it wasn't Christmas. This was Saturnalia, the pagan Roman winter solstice festival. The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.

There are no technical this or that. It was apart of the law of Moses and it does not aplly especially when taken in the context of what the topic is, which is the day called Christmas. As I have stated several times. My arguement was not with the celebration, but with the date, how it came to being and the trappings around it.

That was the most profound statement I've yet heard today. Thank you.

I look forward to God turning Evil things to good. I am no way political to the point of backing candidates but I think the "Anything but Christian" groups are gathering together those who will be their own downfall, because they aren't scrutinizing their strange bed fellows as much as they scrutinize the Christian community In their zeal to drive their agendas they will run over more than those people who believe in Christ and they will turn public opinion back on themselves for their insidious nature. I am sure they will run 90 feet off a 40 foot pier and end up floating in their own demise.. They are angry and they will embrace that anger to fuel them without understanding that such anger is an ugly thing and society sees that ugliness and will get tired of it.

We must jealously guard ourselves, our actions and activities in such a way as to leave as few openings as possible for the Devil to exploit in his quest to undermine the credibility of Christianity. If we ignore the2000 lbs gorilla in the room on anything those who wish our downfall will most assuredly point it out and sow the seeds of doubt into those we are tasked to bring into the light of Jesus Christ.

The problem is that enough Christians have had Christmas attacked by secularists that some automatically assume that any attack is based solely on the act of celebrating Christ and not the inappropriateness of the day, the history of that day and the trappings, which have nothing to do with Christianity what so ever. Some even claim ownership of the day as if it were an institution like the Church.

Were not the free will offerings set up as part of the law and structured so that the priests had a part in such activities?

I would not say that a day created for a pagan festival, repackaged deceitfully in the name of God would not be taken by him as homage to him. I would likewise submit that images taken from other pagan ceremonies would make it any more palatable. This is not about us. It's not about what we do, either conscientiously or subconsciously. It's about It is about the dignity and honoring the truth that is God. We should not offer him a day that is steeped in paganism, confiscated by deceitful means and then repackaged as if it were a 2 dollar bobble that was marked down at Walmart and served up to the public as honoring God.

Life is full of choices, but it is only the choices that God gave us that matters. All else is simply window dressing, for our benefit to which we pat our own shoulder in acknowledgment of what we do.

Gods son did not need to be born at all. He was who he was long before Mary or Joseph even exited. He chose the manner in which he entered into the world just as he choose how he removed himself from it and for the same reason. Ask yourself why God would be support something he did not command us to do. There is only one event he told us to celebrate and that was the Passover. It is not logical to assume that God would support something just because we call out his name more loudly on that day.

You are correct in this. The Catholic church co-opted a Roman festival and simply inserted Jesus's name into that festival as a way of bringing the authority of the church over more people. If you look at it the Christmas tree came from Viking mythology. Most of what is accredited to Christmas came from folklore that precedes the Christian influence into the culture.

What bothers me about Christmas is it is a celebration of an event and not of Jesus himself. Then there is the entire matter that he was not born anywhere near that time of the year. I think what should matter to us is not wither we recognize Christmas but wither God recognizes Christmas because he is the one who defined Christianity and all that it entails. I would think if God would have approved of the day it would not have been confiscated so quickly by commercial interests. We can claim something is what we claim it to be, whenever and wherever we want, but it is God that makes it sacred and without his power and authority we are just being people making noise.

Has anyone here ever heard of false memories. I used to believe that I had walked across America when I was younger and the feeling was pretty convincing. There has also be documented cases of physiologists getting sued for malpractice because they instilled false memories in some patients. Here is an example of that http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm