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Christmas & The Non Religious
- Nov 21, 2009 at 4:30 PM
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- Comments (9) Total Views (238) Everyone can see this journal post.
How can non religious or should I say non- christians celebrate Christmas?
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is not about giving and receiving presents. Why don't ppl remember that!
Of course I buy my kids gifts but I am also going to teach them the true meaning of Christmas and the gift of giving to others who are less fortunate.
I just don't understand Atheists and non religious ppl celebrating Christmas.
Jewish ppl celebrate Hannukah bc they dont believe in Jesus so why do other non believers of our Savior celebrate his birth?
Comments:
Origins of Christmas....pagan in nature. I know of many Christians who have stopped celebrating it.
Actually Christmas started out as a pagan celebration, the church usurped it centuries ago and gave it a christian meaning. They did this with many holidays. The bible doesn't say to celebrate Christs birth, but it does say to remember his death as that is what paid for the sins of mankind.
I think you are pretty confused about history. the celebrations around this time of year have NOTHING to do with Christianity. You might wanna fact check before posting. just a suggestion.
when i was pagan I celebrated Yule. since that is the ORIGINAL holiday for this time of year. I usually wrapped it all up around christmas as well. since most people celebrate on the 25th.
as a christian I stil do christmas. but i plan on an actual celebration in the spring around when Jesus was likely ACTUALLY born.
hate to tell you but Jesus is not actually the reason for the season.
it's more of a cultural holiday now, not so much religious anymore.
Jesus was born on Dec 25th aka Christmas not spring.
I know its not a religious holiday anymore but it should be. Jesus died for our sins and we celebrate his birth by an obese guy in a red suit!
Christmas is a religious holiday for Christians. For others, it's a cultural holiday. Their celebration doesn't infringe on those who are celebrating the birth of Christ.
I think most theologians now believe that December 25 is likely not the date of Jesus' birth.
Was Jesus born on December 25?
Was Jesus born on December 25? There is no evidence for this date. So then, who decided that Jesus' birth would be celebrated on that date? The early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus' birth. It wasn't until A.D. 440 that the church officially proclaimed December 25 as the birth of Christ. This was not based on any religious evidence but on a pagan feast. Saturnalia was a tradition inherited by the Roman pagans from an earlier Babylonian priesthood. December 25 was used as a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. It was observed near the winter solstice.
The apostles in the Bible predicted that some Christians would adopt pagan beliefs to enable them to make their religion more palatable to the pagans around them. Therefore, some scholars think the church chose the date of this pagan celebration to interest them in Christianity. The pagans were already used to celebrating on this date.
The Bible itself tells us that December 25 is an unlikely date for His birth. Palestine is very cold in December. It was much too cold to ask everyone to travel to the city of their fathers to register for taxes. Also the shepherds were in the fields (Luke 2:8-12). Shepherds were not in the fields in the winter time. They are in the fields early in March until early October. This would place Jesus' birth in the spring or early fall. It is also known that Jesus lived for 33.5 years and died at the feast of the Passover, which is at Easter time. He must therefore have been born six months the other side of Easter - making the date around the September/October time frames.
Other evidence that December 25 is the wrong date for the birth of Jesus comes from early writings. Iranaeus, born about a century after Jesus, notes that Jesus was born in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus. Since Augustus began his reign in the autumn of 43 B.C., this appears to substantiate the birth of Jesus as the autumn of 2 B.C. Eusebius (A.D. 264-340), the "Father of Church History," ascribes it to the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus and the 28th from the subjection of Egypt on the death of Anthony and Cleopatra. The 42nd year of Augustus ran from the autumn of 2 B.C. to the autumn of 1 B.C. The subjugation of Egypt into the Roman Empire occurred in the autumn of 30 B.C. The 28th year extended from the autumn of 3 B.C. to the autumn of 2 B.C. The only date that would meet both of these constraints would be the autumn of 2 B.C.
John the Baptist also helps us determine that December 25 is not the birth of Jesus. Elizabeth, John's mother, was a cousin of Mary. John began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. The minimum age for the ministry was 30. As Augustus died on August 19, A.D. 14, that was the accession year for Tiberius. If John was born on April 19-20, 2 B.C., his 30th birthday would have been April 19-20, A.D. 29, or the 15th year of Tiberius. This seems to confirm the 2 B.C. date, and, since John was 5 months older, this also confirms an autumn birth date for Jesus.
Another interesting fact comes from Elizabeth herself. She hid herself for 5 months and then the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary both Elizabeth's condition and that Mary would also bear a son who would be called Jesus. Mary went "with haste" to visit Elizabeth, who was then in the first week of her 6th month, or the 4th week of Dec., 3 B.C. If Jesus was born 280 days later it would place his birth on Sept. 29, 2 B.C. Some scholars interpret the 6 months to be in line with the Hebrew calendar or the August-September time frame. Since Mary's pregnancy commenced a little before the sixth month around July, Jesus would be born somewhere around March-June. But does it matter if Jesus was born on the spring, the fall, or on December 25? Does it matter, theologically, when Jesus was born? What do you think, does it matter what day we celebrate His birth?
Jesus, if he existed, wasn't born on December 25th. Also, Christmas is a pagan holiday, there is little to nothing Christian about it other than the name and certain decorations.
And we celebrate Christmas because we live in the good ol' USA and we have the freedom to do whatever we want. It's also a tradition. Even though I'm not a Christian now, I grew up as a Christian and celebrated Christmas as a secular holiday. Plus, who doesn't like getting presents, eating good food, and spending time with family? =)
Jesus did exist so dont say IF, that is blasphemy.
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Well for their families. Plus it is a national holiday. It's a day that is spent with their families.
Truth is I not going to try to get into it with you over the whole Religious debate. But many religions have celebrations this time of year. They don't celebrate on the same day but celebrate the season.
- Midnite00
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