Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke
If you are against celebrating Christmas as the birth of our Saviour (which is probably isn't, but it's something worth celebrating), it would logically follow that
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Let's just get this cleared up a bit.
For me, the Christmas question isn't "is it okay to celebrate a birthday." Of course it is. It's not prohibited. The "question" for me is if I am honoring my Savior by attributing the day of the birth of the "son god" to the One True God and commandeering pagan practices in order to "worship" and "remember" my Lord.
Christmas, for us, is just an enjoyable time of year with some nice, unimportant traditions. There are three important things we leave out:
1. The tree. Sure, this is a liberty issue -- deck out your tree if you want. But I can't read Jeremiah 10 and come away thinking it's a good practice to emulate and "re-define" for the Lord. So no tree for me.
2. Santa Clause -- there is simply no excuse for making up fairy tales and making your children believe them! Fiction = fun and okay. Lies = evil sin. No child we expect to believe in Jesus should be taught as truth that there is a "Santa Clause" bringing him what he wants if he is a "good little boy." No liberty here -- this one is sin, plain and simple.
3. Spiritual meanings. Christmas is not about Christ in my home. And every time someone says "put Christ back into Christmas" I cringe, knowing that it was the "mass" put into Christ by the pagan Roman Catholic Church "Christianizing" various pagan celibrations so they could claim cultures for their church.
But I enjoy Christmas. I put lights around the house earlier this week. We give each other gifts. We take the day off. I am fine with saying "Merry Christmas" and I am not offended by "Happy Holidays."
Finally, this must be said: I am completely fine with other Christians doing whatever they want on Christmas. I do not care! But why is it that if I tell someone I don't have a tree and that Christmas is not "Christ's birthday,"
I am judged for it? I can not count how many times this issue has caused someone else to get angry, just because they found out I do not have a "Christian Christmas" or a tree in my home. I don't go out of my way to tell anyone what I think of Christmas -- I generally regard it as a personal liberty issue. But more often than not, people are offended merely knowing that I don't do it the way they do.
Oh well. I expect this will be an annual thread here.
