Should Christmas be celebrated or rejected according to the word of God?

[Vine Abider]

13 hours ago, Bro.Tan said:

A man asked Jesus this very question, "...What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?", and Jesus replied, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:16-19). 

Amen.  And in yourself you cannot do that, only His Spirit can, through you. "This is the work of God, that you believe on Him who He has sent."  John 6:29

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[(that is, to bring Christ down)  “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”^[ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."   Romans 10:5-10

So no works out of yourself - even if you could ascend into heaven and bring Christ down - pleases God.

We have died to the law and are no longer married to it, bro! (Gal 4:31 & Rom 7:1-2)  As the word says, we are not saved or justified in any way by the works of the law, but rather simply believing (faith) in Christ's work on the cross and His life operating in and through us. (Gal 2:16)  Again, apart from Him and His life in you, you will be able to do nothing profitable at all!

[Yes, and]

13 hours ago, Bro.Tan said:

All of God's laws are still good and must be obeyed if we want eternal life. We might not be able to observe everything perfectly, but can fight a good fight. If we do this our prize awaits us at the end.

What @Your closest friendnt just said. I'll say it this way: No, no, no, no, no. A thousand times No! Why would I "oppose you to your face"? Simply because, as said before, you preach "another gospel," which is not good news, and even further, in its essence says that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross was pointless. We have no need of it if all we must do is obey all the commandments, or at least show God that we're trying.

Again, it's one thing to say you believe celebrating Christmas is an error and you have not the freedom to do so yourself. That would be all well and good. I have some very dear friends and siblings in the Lord who recently came to the conclusion that they would no longer celebrate Christmas. They are following their own consciences, but neither would the judge me for doing so. But, when you go WAY beyond and accuse anyone who does celebrate as being in essence a Godless pagan, that's another thing entirely. And here again, you completely misread and misunderstand Paul's teaching in Ro 14.

PS to Moderators: I do not believe I am exhibiting "righteous indignation" in this thread, nor am I attacking the person. This is too important a matter to leave as just a topical discussion about the origins of Christmas traditions, and @Bro.Tan has gone well beyond that scope. And yes, this belief should be opposed in no less strident terms as Paul and others in the NT did.

[farouk]

On 12/9/2023 at 3:21 PM, Anne2 said:

 

Hi bro tan

It doesn't matter. That he was to born is what matters. 

@Anne2 It was indeed an historical event. So was His sad and deeply wondrous Crucifixion and His glorious Resurrection: all Biblically attested.

[farouk]

On 12/6/2023 at 1:15 AM, CaptWalker said:

YES you should jump up and down with JOY for what this all means...that Christ was born(actually in September) and we should celebrate that whenever possible. And you would be doing a lot more than me and most everyone else on Earth by celebrating the birth of Christ(at any point) since everyone else(the World) puts on a good "face" at this time of year, but thats about all you will get, and about all the so-called "praise" GOD will get...but WE as true believers do try to honor HIM at this time of year, but its just so hard to keep the other BS out of it...sorry but it had to be said.

Hi @CaptWalker The Incarnation of the Saviour is indeed most glorious: 1 Timothy 3.16; John 1.14.......

[farouk]

While the OT points forward wonderfully to Christ, what is sometimes forgotten is that according to Hebrews 7 the law was changed (Hebrews 7.12) and what we now have is better than the law (Hebrews 7.19).

cc

@Marathoner @Anne2

[Your closest friendnt]

On 12/9/2023 at 3:21 PM, Anne2 said:

 

Hi bro tan

It doesn't matter. That he was to born is what matters. 

That he was born it matters, and that he is born in our hearts within the meaning that when someone believes in him he is partaking of his Spirit. He is born to him, born from above. Through him we are also the children of the Heavenly Father, that what it matters. As Paul put the emphasis that he is also born in the hearts of the Gentiles...Paul said what a mystery. A mystery indeed to the Jews when they look from the point of view from the old Covenant but not a mystery to those who look at the Gentiles through the Atonic sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Your closest friendnt

[Your closest friendnt]

1 hour ago, farouk said:

Hi @CaptWalker The Incarnation of the Saviour is indeed most glorious: 1 Timothy 3.16; John 1.14.......

@farouk I copy and paste the verses above from the KJV, and they do not seem to comunicate what you posted. Wondering why sometimes some people they post the scripture reference and their comments but they do not post the scriptures and the bible version. Any way your comments are not found in the scripture reference in your post. 

* 1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

* John 1:14 KJVAnd 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.

 

[farouk]

@Your closest friendnt

Great quotes, thanks...

* 1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

* John 1:14 KJVAnd 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.

 

[Your closest friendnt]

38 minutes ago, farouk said:

@Your closest friendnt

Great quotes, thanks...

* 1 Timothy 3:16 KJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

* John 1:14 KJVAnd 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.

 

Paul indeed said that in his letter to Timothy and John indeed said that in the Gospel of John. 

Paul used the word reference to "God" and John used the reference to the "Word". 

How do we know that they both have the same reference in their minds, that they both are referring to Jesus Christ. Paul using the word "God" John using the word "Word". 

John did not say "God" was made flesh in reference to the birth of Jesus and Paul used the word "God" in reference to the birth of Jesus. Paul in all his epistles is making the distinction between the Heavenly Father and Jesus calling the Heavenly Father God and calling Jesus Christ the man Jesus to make the distinction between the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by calling Jesus "the Man Jesus Christ".

John also made the same distinction in John chapter one when he said Jesus Christ was a man and he is like a man he in the likeness of man in every way but the Heavenly Father is not in the likeness of man as in having a body of flesh and blood or be born from a woman like Jesus. And John put the emphasis between the two when he said that God is a Spirit and he is not having a human body an earthly human body. 

Paul when he said in Timothy 3:16 "God was manifest in the flesh in referring to the birth of Jesus Christ like John when he used the word "Word" in John 1:14, they both are referring to the Creator of all, the God of the Creation who also created man. They both have declared that the God of all Creation was the same one who did not esteemed himself being who he was and having the glory he had as we see him in action through out the old Testament but he humble himself to leave everything behind and be born from Mary in that day in Bethlehem according to the witness of the Prophets and his own words as the Lord God Almighty and the witness of the Angel Gabriel. 

In Revelation chapter one Jesus Christ as he was in his New Glory he made the bold statement that He is God Almighty to make the distinction between him and the Heavenly Father. 

Jesus Christ said that after the Father glorified him after his obedience all the way to the Cross and not before testifying when he was only testifying about the Glory awaiting ahead of him. 

And in likely manner Paul said that the Heavenly Father gave Jesus Christ every thing he had , he gave him all his Theotis, Paul said God gave all his Theotis to a Man, the Man Jesus Christ. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Your closest friendnt

[TheBlade]

20 hours ago, Bro.Tan said:

Many fight to uphold man's traditional holidays (Sunday the 1st day as the Sabbath, Christmas, Easter and Halloween), but few are obeying God's Holy Days (Saturday the 7th day Sabbath, the Passover, Pentecost, etc...Leviticus 23:1-44). All of God's laws are still good and must be obeyed if we want eternal life. We might not be able to observe everything perfectly, but can fight a good fight. If we do this our prize awaits us at the end. "...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:17).

It would have been better to stop awhile ago. In this post there are words obeying and laws. "few are obeying God's Holy days". You said about those laws "must be obeyed". Yet you can't even see what you did. I can't tell someone "best not to lie" when I am lying. 

See anyone can say what you said, just flip it and it will be true? "Many fight to uphold and are keeping the Sabbath the Passover, Pentecost". " Many are obeying God's holy days". Now for me if I do not know many and just guessing, speculating then that's all it is and GOD never does this. I tend to take it further its just lying. I know I don't know many, some, few yet I speak write those words anyway.

If Christ was still walking the earth then yes amen but He died and rose. When He did walk this earth He and all of Israel were under and living, obeying the law all 613. You quote the OT praise GOD yet not Romans or Hebrews which deals with all this.

Were not auditioning for anything here. Some will understand.