Caesar, Jesus Christ and Christmas?

CFP ^ | December 16, 2004 | Nathan Tabor

[MikeEdwards]

It used to be that many Americans would deplore the commercialization of the Christmas holidays (or, originally, "holy days"). Not today. Many stores are starting to display "Merry Krissmas" signs.

With so many people focusing most of their attention on buying and selling, and the giving and receiving of gifts, materialism seemed destined to displace the original Christian "reason for the season."

But in recent years, those misfits among us who are most hostile to the things of God have moved from merely ignoring the Biblical basis for our mid-winter holiday celebration to actively opposing its spiritual roots.

We now confront, therefore, not only the aforementioned commercialization of Christmas, but also the secularization and politicization of the sacred holiday as well.

Every winter, all across America, we have another big fight right around Christmas time. That’s when the liberal, atheistic ACLU types always launch their annual campaign to expel God from the public schools and banish Jesus Christ from the public square.

Santa Claus and his flying reindeer may be OK, but the God-sent, Virgin-born Babe in the Manger is clearly unacceptable to these self-proclaimed, "free-thinking" guardians of humanistic heathenism.

It never ceases to amaze me how some of these folks manage to twist the Constitution continually to mean something it plainly doesn’t say. They grossly misinterpret the First Amendment into a pagan prohibition of any public display of religious faith--rather than a blessed guarantee of the right to freely exercise that faith, both in public and in private.

The very idea of an alleged right to "freedom from religion" is antithetical to everything the Founding Fathers fought for and believed in. Even an unregenerate old Deist like the worldly Benjamin Franklin supported the public exercise of Christianity as being beneficial to the general morality . . . . .

[MineralMan]

"Many stores are starting to display "Merry Krissmas" signs.
"

Huh? Has anyone seen a Merry Krissmas sign? I haven't.

[Hi Heels]

Who's Kriss?

[Julius2]

This article is from Canada? Amazing. Furthermore, it is obvious what the Libs want to do. Holocaust on Christians. Eventually they'll start making Christians wear big crosses so they can be easily identified. Then they will send all Christians to "Christian Areas", formerly known as "concentration camps".

[EdReform]

It's okay to say Merry Christmas:

"Merry Christmas. Believe It. Say It. Wear it!"

[loborojo]

Maybe he is related to LudaKriss. Welcome to the Hip-Hopization of Christmas.

[donmeaker]

Actually the Constantine derived birthday of J.C. was based on the birthday of Mithra. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia from Dec 17th to Dec 23, exchanging gifts, and Masters served their servants (which still survives in Boxing Day traditions).

Saturn was revered as the King of G-ds before Jupiter, during the Golden Age.

Io Saturnalia!

[dangus]

The origin of Christmas:

Many people falsely believe that the date of Christmas comes from a Roman holiday. There was a Roman holiday on Dec. 25th, celebrating the return of light to the world; Dec. 25th is the first day at which the Romans could discern the lengthening of days following the Winter Solstice. But Christmas actually has an origin which predates the Roman Empire.

After the Babylonian catptivity, The Jewish Temple was re-established by Cyrus, King of Persia. Cyrus was a just emporer, but he was conquered by Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, his empire was divided among three factions, with the Selucids inheriting Israel. The Selucids tried to form the Jews into idolatry. THey set up a great abomination in the Temple, and defiled it in every way imaginable. The Jews revolted.

As they went to battle, the Jews were promised by a prophet that any faithful Jew would be spared death in the upcoming battle. The Jews triumphed, but many were slain. Those who were killed were found to have had amulets on their person. Their mourning friends, who had come to believe in the resurrection of the dead, wept that their comrades had fallen into sin. Rather than keep the enormous bounty of their victory over the Selucids, they donated to the temple all they had won in atonement for the sins of their comrades.

With the great wealth won in battle, they were able to cleanse the Temple, refurbish it, replace the desecrated altar, and adorn it fully according to the commands given to Moses. On that day, the spirit of God was said to return to the Temple, and that day became known as the Feast of the Dedication.

Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Temple of God. Hence, his birthday was the day that God dwelt in his Temple, and his birthday became linked to the Feast of the Dedication, which occurred on the 25th day of the Jewish month closest to December.

When Jesus died on the cross, the Spirit of God left its Temple; As a sign, the curtains of the Jewish Temple were torn, and the altar cracked. But on Pentecost, it returned to dwell on Earth in His Church. It shall never depart from us again.

[SittinYonder]

Freeper eyespysomething says: "If you don't like that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, you don't have to celebrate."

I agree. Non-Christians don't have to give or receive gifts; they don't have to buy a tree; they don't have to get together with friends and family; they could volunteer to work Christmas day, for that matter.

[dangus]

See? I knew someone was going to bring that up! I was already typing before you posted. Read the truth in post #8.

For the life of me, I'll never understand why people feel compelled to spread that falsehood about Christmas.

[RobbyS]

Actually, No. The Jews had a tradition that prophets died either on the anniversity of their births or the anniversity of their conception. Christians, not knowing the actual date of Christi's birth, adopted this tradition.The celebration of the Nativity has been either 25 December or 6 January, depending on which date one assigns to the Crucifixion.

[dangus]

>> Actually, No. The Jews had a tradition that prophets died either on the anniversity of their births or the anniversity of their conception. Christians, not knowing the actual date of Christi's birth, adopted this tradition. <<

Why do you presume that the Jews were wrong? The Catholic Church still follows this belief, setting the date of the Immaculate Conception on Marsh 25. You've really only demonstrated another prophetic proof of the date of Jesus' birth.

[dangus]

By the way, I had a housemate who had been big into astrology. She one day asked me, "Is there any chance they put Christmas on the wrong day?" I asked her why and she told me: "Because from what I figure about Jesus' personality [she had just watched The Passion of The Christ] and who he was and all that, I worked out when the planets seem to predict something big like that. But I get March 25th, 4BC. "

I long ago renounced astrology, and she has since, also. (I think the movie had a BIG impact on her.) But hey, the wise men were astrologers...

[dangus]

Oh, yeah... and you do know that Saints' feast days are on the "heavenly birthday." IOW: the day they died.

[Preachin']

"With the great wealth won in battle, they were able to cleanse the Temple, refurbish it, replace the desecrated altar, and adorn it fully according to the commands given to Moses. On that day, the spirit of God was said to return to the Temple, and that day became known as the Feast of the Dedication.

Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Temple of God. Hence, his birthday was the day that God dwelt in his Temple, and his birthday became linked to the Feast of the Dedication, which occurred on the 25th day of the Jewish month closest to December."

I honestly appreciate all the effort, but there is no factual link between His birthday and Hanukkah(or the feast of the dedication).

Some have said that His birth was during the feast of Sukkot, since John says in John chapter 1 that "The Word became flesh, and dwelled (or tabernacled) with us."

In the end, none of us know, and it's not that important.

[Jay777]

http://www.earstohear.net/aclu.html

[dangus]

The point is that the celebration of his feast day is pius and bears no relationship to the Feast of Saturnalia, other than that God provided Christians an opportunity to celebrate Jesus' birth without their celebrations being conspicuous.

>> I honestly appreciate all the effort, but there is no factual link between His birthday and Hanukkah(or the feast of the dedication).<<

Other than that they are on the same day of the same month, and celebrate the same thing?

[Jay777]

ping!


http://www.earstohear.net/aclu.html

[Jay777]

You can join the fight against the ACLU and their ilk by becoming involved with and supporting the following organizations:

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org

Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) - http://www.thomasmore.org

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) - http://www.aclj.org

The Rutherford Institute - http://www.rutherford.org/

Stop the ACLU Coalition - http://www.stoptheaclu.org

Here are a few examples of how two of those organizations are fighting back:

ADF Contacts Over 3,600 School Districts Over Attempts To Censor Christmas

ADF: 700 lawyers ready to fight ACLU lawsuits

ADF: Pentagons' Warning About Boyscouts Is Absurd

Thomas More Law Center: Town of Palm Beach Pays $50,000 In Attorney Fees Apologizes To Women In Nativity Lawsuit

Additional information:

The ACLU must be destroyed: Joseph Farah supports Boy Scouts, urges Americans to fight back

Citizens mobilized to stop ACLU (seeks to consign group to 'ash heap of history')

ACLU fulfilling communist agenda

Revealing FACTS on the ACLU from its own writings

See how YOUR Senator or Representative ranks with the ACLU

Let me know if you would like to join my ACLU ping list

You can join the fight against the ACLU and their ilk by becoming involved with and supporting the following organizations:

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org

Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) - http://www.thomasmore.org

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) - http://www.aclj.org

The Rutherford Institute - http://www.rutherford.org/

Stop the ACLU Coalition - http://www.stoptheaclu.org

Here are a few examples of how two of those organizations are fighting back:

ADF Contacts Over 3,600 School Districts Over Attempts To Censor Christmas

ADF: 700 lawyers ready to fight ACLU lawsuits

ADF: Pentagons' Warning About Boyscouts Is Absurd

Thomas More Law Center: Town of Palm Beach Pays $50,000 In Attorney Fees Apologizes To Women In Nativity Lawsuit

Additional information:

The ACLU must be destroyed: Joseph Farah supports Boy Scouts, urges Americans to fight back

Citizens mobilized to stop ACLU (seeks to consign group to 'ash heap of history')

ACLU fulfilling communist agenda

Revealing FACTS on the ACLU from its own writings

See how YOUR Senator or Representative ranks with the ACLU

Let me know if you would like to join my ACLU ping list

[rockabyebaby]

Haven't see a Krissmas sign, man that's rude! I remember when they started with the Xmas signs, what is this world coming to? Krissmas????

[geopyg]

I've heard that Jesus was probably born in 4 B.C. Springtime was a probable time as the shepards were "out in their fields" and some other indicators as well.

A few weeks ago a visiting preacher said that Constantine (in the 300's AD?) declared that the Roman Solstice parties should celebrate Jesus' birth instead of the Roman Gods. Christianity was the official religion of the Romans by that time. His sermon was on how Christians can and should influence the world around him (Constantine, Martin Luther, Mother Theresa) - including government.

Its interesting to hear all the different ideas on the date of Christmas. I may not know the true date of Christmas, but I DO know the true meaning of Christmas!

[donmeaker]

Cyrus who permitted the Jews to return from babylon is different from the guy who Alexander conquered. Just off the top of my head, there was a guy named Darius and Xerxes who fought the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis. Of course names repeat in dynasties, don't they.

[Flying Circus]

Buzz. Wrong answer. The feast of the Immaculate Conception (the conception of Mary, the mother of God)is on December 8. The Feast of the Annunciation (the conception of Jesus Christ) is on March 25.

[AppyPappy]

The Wise Men appeared when Jesus was about 3.

[dangus]

Whoops! Hehehe. Silly me! I do know better.

[dangus]

Right. It was Persia which Alexander conquered, not Cyrus himself. I do believe in fact there was a Cyrus II.

[dangus]

>>The Wise Men appeared when Jesus was about 3.<<

Yes, it took them some time to find Jesus. They saw his star only once he was born. Confronted with this sign, they needed to deduce its meaning. It's not like they said, "O look there's a star! That means that a King is born of the Lion of Judah in the House of David in Israel!"

[AppyPappy]

The "Star" may have been "stars". In short, it was astrology. They may not have been speaking of a literal star but a message. The Greek word "As-tare" could be literal or figurative.

[Preachin']

"Other than that they are on the same day of the same month, and celebrate the same thing?"

Nice try, but that is still not factual. It's your opinion, that's all.

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Jim Robinson's Master List Of Articles To Be Excerpted....


Caesar, Jesus Christ and Christmas? - Nathan Tabor

It used to be that many Americans would deplore the commercialization of the Christmas holidays (or, originally, "holy days"). Not today. Many stores are starting to display "Merry Krissmas" signs.

With so many people focusing most of their attention on buying and selling, and the giving and receiving of gifts, materialism seemed destined to displace the original Christian "reason for the season."

But in recent years, those misfits among us who are most hostile to the things of God have moved from merely ignoring the Biblical basis for our mid-winter holiday celebration to actively opposing its spiritual roots.

We now confront, therefore, not only the aforementioned commercialization of Christmas, but also the secularization and politicization of the sacred holiday as well.

Every winter, all across America, we have another big fight right around Christmas time. That’s when the liberal, atheistic ACLU types always launch their annual campaign to expel God from the public schools and banish Jesus Christ from the public square.

Santa Claus and his flying reindeer may be OK, but the God-sent, Virgin-born Babe in the Manger is clearly unacceptable to these self-proclaimed, "free-thinking" guardians of humanistic heathenism.

It never ceases to amaze me how some of these folks manage to twist the Constitution continually to mean something it plainly doesn’t say. They grossly misinterpret the First Amendment into a pagan prohibition of any public display of religious faith -- rather than a blessed guarantee of the right to freely exercise that faith, both in public and in private.

The very idea of an alleged right to "freedom from religion" is antithetical to everything the Founding Fathers fought for and believed in. Even an unregenerate old Deist like the worldly Benjamin Franklin supported the public exercise of Christianity as being beneficial to the general morality and common good of the populace.

These seeming contradictions in modern life served to set me thinking -- improbable as this may sound -- about the inherent interrelationship between Christmas and...politics, of all things.

That is a very odd combination. There is absolutely no way the two have anything to do with each other. One is about the birth of Jesus Christ, and the other is about human government and public policy.

When you look at the facts, though, you will see something different.

Why were Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem when Jesus was born? They had to pay taxes to Caesar. There were no rooms in the inn because so many people came to pay taxes. This meant that the Lamb of God came into the world in a lowly manger, among the farm animals that were used as sacrificial offerings in the Jewish religion.

Government is about human institutions taking care of the people who live in this world. The legitimate goal of government is to set up an ordered society that is free and safe, where one and all can live and prosper in peace.

God established human government through the Noahic Covenant that protected the sanctity of all human life created in the image of God. God then established through the 10 Commandments the basic moral parameters that have bounded Western Civilization for more than three millennia.

The birth of Jesus Christ, which is what Christmas (or Christ’s Mass) really commemorates, is about our Christ coming from Heaven to Earth to die on the Cross of Calvary. Why? So that redeemed men can live for all eternity with Him.

Isaiah the prophet describes Jesus as our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace..."and the government shall be upon his shoulders."

Human government is about providing physical services for mankind’s temporal needs.

Jesus Christ is about providing spiritual blessings for mankind’s eternal needs.

Christmas today is STILL about remembering God’s unspeakable gift to us through the birth of Jesus. It is also about being generous to others -- a time to give clothing to the poor, a time to share food with a needy neighbor, a time to help out a friend who has fallen on hard times and is struggling to get by.

Most importantly, Christmas should be a time of blessed family fellowship and worship toward God, with prayerful meditation and joyful thanksgiving.

Jesus gave to all of us needy humans the greatest gift of all: Himself.





"Did I forget to post the full article AGAIN? D'OH!!"

FReegards,

ConservativeStLouisGuy