Like… what’s the point? I thought Christmas was a Christian thing
Sol Invictus…
There is a difference between celebrating and observing. Look it up.
Personally I will take all the holidays you got.
In Australia, Christmas is an imposed seasonal religious holiday, as is Easter and both have become a cultural event for most, rather than a spiritual one.
My brother is a Christadelphian, so he and his family and brethren don’t celebrate Christmas at all. They just observe it very quietly to themselves, yet curiously I observe both with secular activities, sometimes very boisterously.
I prefer Easter which provides four day long public holiday weekends. I do not celebrate with Christian rituals. I do not go to church, or pray thanks for baby Jesus or saviour Jesus. I observe each holiday with entertaining and sometimes rewarding activities which makes me appreciate being alive, which I believe was the central theme to Saturnalia.
I have taken up celebrating Festivus, but typically for an atheist, in a somewhat heretical way. My family joins together around the Pole of Power in mid January rather than in late December, but there’s no Festuvian doctrine that delineates a specific celestial time for celebrating. Its the perfect event for secular types.
You just need an aluminium pole, an attitude and a clock in a bag nailed to the nearest wall.
Keep safe. Keep your mask on.
What part of Christmas is a Christian thing?
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The birth of Jesus (If he existed) December 25 in the Roman Empire, January 6th in the East and Asia, Historically it could not have been in December because shepherds were watching sheep. Christmas, the birth day of Jesus is celebrated no-place in the bible nor is anyone told to celebrate it. It is based on a date of a pagan feast rather than historical analysis the Roman feast for Saturn, (Dec 17,) The Roman festival of Natalis Solis Invicti has also been suggested, since it was celebrated on (Dec. 25th}
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Historically, The best historical reference according to information in the bible is that Jesus would have been born in Early fall.
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Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
— Exodus 20:4-6 (KJV) Stars, Baby Jesus, Wise Men, Shepherds, Mangers, Gifts of the Magi, etc etc etd… are all anti-biblical -
Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Jeremiah 10:2-4
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” .
Jeremiah 10:1-25
5 Besides keeping the sabbath holy… You are commanded to…“Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. Exodus 23:14-33
NOTHING ABOUT THE BIRTH OF JESUS ---- NOTHING! LOADS OF STUFF ABOUT NOT ADOPTING PAGAN HOLIDAYS!
- Santa: A magical flying elf that can get into your house through the chimney and give you a gift? Where is that in your bible?
6, Santa’s flying reindeer pulling a magic sleigh across the sky? Where is that in your bible?
7, Giving gifts to good little boys and girls… How is that biblical. All I get from the Bible is that the bad ones should be killed.
- Does Frosty The Snowman, The Grinch, a Christmas elf, Rudolph, Snoopy, decorated Christmas lights on a home, Christmas carols, or the words Merry Christmas appear anyplace at all in your bible?
CHRISTMAS IS A SECULAR HOLIDAY BASED ON ANCINT WINTER SOLSTICE HOLIDAYS AND THE CHANGING OF THE SEASONS. IT HAS ALMOST NOTHING TO DO WITH CHRISTIANITY. IT JUST HAPPENS TO BE A DAY THAT CHRISTIANS CHOOSE TO DISREGARD THEIR BIBLE AND CELEBRATE THE IMAGINED BIRTH OF THIS PERSON NAMED JESUS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE ACTUALLY EXISTED,
It’s a day off with many fun activities that have nothing to do with religion. The only people I’ve ever personally known not to participate in Christmas were some who identified themselves as Christian. i.e. Jehovah Witness and Seventh Day Adventist. The Puritans (famously hard core Christians) banned the holiday.
Yah … true Christians avoid pagan worship (ie Christmas).
It is a welcoming ritual of the sun re-born. Shortest day Dec 21 (winter solstice). Noticeable “rebirth of day’s length”… about 3-4 days later.
Yeah, and I live in an area where Christian mythologies and traditions dominate the culture.
All the Christian holidays were grafted onto existing pagan festivals. Look up the etymology of Easter. The early Xtian fathers tried to stop people from celebrating Saturnalia, etc., and when that didn’t work, they hijacked the festivals and fitted them into their own fairy-tales about Jesus. It was dishonest, but a very canny piece of marketing nevertheless. People are naturally inclined to celebrate mid-winter and spring (or mid-summer and autumn here in New Zealand).
So we should really be asking every Christian worshiping little idols in church nativity scenes why they’re still celebrating Saturnalia.
Not so much in Australia. A seriously secular nation, Xmas here is a holiday. Its focus is largely hedonistic; gifts, food, booze. Time is also usually spent with family. Going by my full family I’d say that practice is more obligation driven masochism than hedonistic…
Besides, strictly speaking, December 25 has nothing to do with the alleged birth of Jesus. Modern scholars tend to agree that Jesus was born in Spring. Me? I’m almost convinced that Jesus is a mythical figure and never existed an an historical person.
December 25 is the winter solstice in northern hemisphere. As with so many other things, the christians stole December 25 from the Romans . The religious focus was for Deus Sol Invictus (the invincible sun god)
One of the most honest quasi christian observations (still, in England, but not here) is bonfire night, November 5 . Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy on a huge bonfire, accompanied by fireworks and much drinking by adults… Needless to say there are a goodly number of serious burns and the odd death.
Good catholic that he was, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the protestant parliament and King James on
the night of November 4- 5 1606. His execution for treason was especially gruesome, even for those barbaric times.
There is a jingle which has been used for centuries, and still is in England. (usually just the first few lines.
Don’t know why I responded to Nyarlathotep with this. I thought I clicked on the OP. Apologies.
What is the point of what? How are you defining Christmas, only that claim sounds like a tautological fallacy, or circular reasoning fallacy.
Watch out for overhead wires and low-flying angels.
What really annoys me is the broken tiles and reindeer shit on my white roof.
I haven’t heard shit about the war on Christmas this season. Apparently believing that Covid19 isn’t real and that Trump won the election is consuming the resources traditionally dedicated to maintaining this time honored Christian persecution fantasy. So I guess we won the war, without even showing up.
I wonder if we will get medals…
No we don’t get medals…just Christmas baubles and tinsel…real first class heroes will get stars or angels.
I do not celebrate Christmas or Easter. They are only two days on a calendar.
Shit, I do. I celebrate.
Here in Australia, Christmas is all about food, gifts, booze and family. Plus time off work. A small minority indulge in some kind of religious observance. I never really notice them. I don’t watch carols and other religious periphery on TV.
I have time with my siblings and a nice lunch.
I see a distinct difference between observing , which I do not do, and celebrating which I do…