Christmas Eve Day

[Crazy Ivan]

:-)
Greetings and my most heartfelt Christ Mass wishes for one and all!  :-D
Tree or no tree, it is the celibration of the birth of the Son of God that we must remember, and be thankful for. All else is comercial profiteering.
It is the side show that has overshadowed the main event, much like the circus has taken over the events from the old Gladiator and Knights tourneyments of the past.
As long as we remember why he came, to save us from our sins,(read, John 3:16) all else is just frilly shiney wrappings on the joy of our salvation!

I pray for Peace and Gods Will in you and your loved ones, to the ending of the world, and beyond.
  Respectfully,
      Daniel R.
          :-)

[Guest]

Actually the whole Christmas thing has overshadowed the celebration of the Winter Solstice (which was on December 25 on the Julian Calendar, but due to cumulative errors in the Julian Callendar has shifted to be several days earlier on the more accurate Gregorian Calendar).

Longest Night of the Year.  After which, the light begins to return to the world (especially true for those folks living in the more northern stretches of Europe, Asia and North America).  Celebrating Christ’s Birth on the winter solstice makes even less sense than having Easter set as “The first Sunday after the first Full Moon of Spring.”  Now THAT is purely Pagan thinking if ever there was any!  :-D

[Amon-Sul]

@Cmdr:

Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas, a Christian.

as far as i know its simply not true

Santa Claus first came up with communists, they couldnt stand still when christians celebrated Christmass so they offered alternative, some human which bring gifts instead of Little Jesus

then Coca-Cola accepted this for commercial reasons and popularized it all over the word
and coincidence or not as far as i know coca-cola owner, or majority shares holder is a Jew, and majority of Jews cant stand with Christmas or any other purely Christian or purely muslim or even ˝joint˝ holiday

in my country when its Saint Nicholases day( 6.of December ) the children receive gifts from a man wearing red-white clothes, with bishop hat, staff and priest cloak
its organized in schools, churches and little children clean and polish their boots and put before sleep and once they get up in the morning they find lots of sweets and some gifts( which their parents put there )

but Santa Claus( Granndpa Christmass )-translated from my language is purely antichristian product

in some big cities of Austria and Bavaria on Winter Markets in the center of the city, the Santa Claus is boicoted from sellers, and there are only˝Little Jesus˝ and other chrisitan figures, statues and sweets to be sold

please correct me if i am wrong
since i would like to understand this issue better
since this Santa( Saint ) confuses me a little bit

and speaking of paganity among Christians
there is no such in official things

Church has just adopted, or rearanged some customs of old and practices them today, for example ancient romans prayed to their Gods few times a year for a good harvest. Catholic Church( maybe Orthodox and protestant too  i am dont know ) has few times in year when we pray to God to give us that our crops ˝go well˝ and that land gives us many fruits and at the same time we thank to God

-in Rome for example there is a church called Panteon-its an octogon( 8 sided shape ) which was in Roman times place where they ve done their paganic rituals, and prayed to their gods, today its a catholic church, and the building isnt changed at all, its just the altar is added and Tabernakul( place where the Corpus Christi is keped )

so the Church didnt want to sotonize the previous cultures, on the contrary the Church wants to adapt( some of the ) the customs of nations and cultures where it is present, for example in Africa they have little drums, and sing loudly( almost dance ) which isnt typical for Catholic liturgy of the West

when one Polish saint whent to Japan he was writing excellent articals in a magazine which he was owning, the articals were great but very emotional, one Japanese priest told him that Japanese are ˝tough˝ and not so lean to show emotions so they would like to hear about the same ˝Things˝ but in a different way

afcorse each of us is ˝his own˝ and doesnt need to renounce himself, but at the same time we should rescpect the customs and traditions of others…its just we need to mantain some how to say balance-i dont have the better word, in the same time respecting others as different in a diversity of traditions and cultures but still be your own

ok, i ve astrayed a bit here

all the best to everyone

˝Christmas is always

when a human child finds love,

motherly, fatherly home.

Christmas is always

when a man opens his legs and hands

for the people in need.

Christmas is always

when people forgive each other.˝

if i ve hurt anyone in anything here on this forum in i plead for forgiveness

[Jennifer]

Amon,

Santa Clause started in Scandinavia, not Russia.  It was named after Saint Nicholas.

Switch,

The Yule Tree was burned for 12 days.  The Christmas tree is decorated.  Slight difference, eh?  Christmas Trees were from the Germanics, so in that I agree they have a pagan heritage, but they were not decorated, so they were basically just a tree in the home, kinda like a fig tree one might find growing in someone’s house. :P

As for Easter, dunno why it was set like it was.  I don’t think they tried to set it over a pagan holiday to get the pagans to integrate easier.  But they might have.

[Guest]

You are confusing the Yule Tree and the Yule Log when you speak of burning…

[dezrtfish]

@Cmdr:

As for Easter, dunno why it was set like it was.  I don’t think they tried to set it over a pagan holiday to get the pagans to integrate easier.  But they might have.

LOL, if you want to know about the Easter origins, think about pagans and bunnies and eggs… And spring time…

[Jennifer]

Eggs are in Easter because they are born twice like Jesus.  Once when they are laid, once when they hatch.  It’s a stretch, but no more so then the Moon being a sentient being. :P

[stuka pilot]

@Cmdr:

Eggs are in Easter because they are born twice like Jesus.  Once when they are laid, once when they hatch.  It’s a stretch, but no more so then the Moon being a sentient being. :P

Lol

think about it… Eggs were to symbolize the fertility of springtime.

Might as well say stockings are hung on the wall to represent Jesus’ feet dangling from the cross.

[dezrtfish]

LMAO @ Stockings

[Jennifer]

Maybe that’s how it was in the pagan days, but when the death of Christ and his rising from the dead were made into a holiday, that’s the justification the Church gave it.

[Guest]

Jen, you are officially nuts. :lol:

[balungaloaf]

anyone watch the easter southpark.  that explains it all.  “hippitus hoppitus……”

[Crazy Ivan]

Hey all,
    This is all you need to know about Jesus of Nazerith, the Messiah of the Jews, ( the chosen one, which in Greek is Christos).
This is how it went down;
  About 2007 years ago a child was born to a woman named Mary.
  Jesus as a young man performed many miracals, (well documented by all the news services at the time) some of which even the Emperor of Rome heard about.
  He professed the “good news” that whoever believed what he had come into this world to teach us and followed the lifestyle that He professed, (that is, how to treat one another as outlined in the Beattitudes) then you shall know everlasting joy in the presence of your Creator.
  As was foretold in the ancient Hebrew Tora, (Bible) God sent his only Son to be the final sacrifice that would allow mankind to be removed from the laws of Moses allowing all mankind to be able to converse directly to Him through prayer. So, Jesus was beaten, humiliated, and then went willingly to the cross for crimes that he did not commit.
After 3 days he rose from the grave and was seen by many! He proved that death of the physical body was not the end of our existence. That God had the power over death, and that all mankind had the right to obtain that gift.
How is this accomplished?
By faith, and by the rebirth of the Holy Spirit in you.
Take heed, it takes a brave soul to make such a leap of faith. And the sacrifices one has to make are no less than a change of heart and of lifestyles. Too much for some sad to say.
But for those that do, rest assurd a better future awaits them.