Do We Celebrate the Birth of Christ at Christmas?
| Yup, I got confused after somebody sent me an article about Christmas. I search for more online and read some more from http://endtimeforum.org/ under general forum. I still can't believe it but here's what I got....
******************* Do We Celebrate the Birth of Christ at Christmas? (I wrote this a number of years ago of my observations that year of the Christmas season) The traditional Christmas season officially began again this year the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year. Shoppers flooded parking lots and waited for hours in long lines outside the doors of Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other discount chain stores around the country. When the doors opened at 6:00 A. M, television cameras captured the mighty stampede that followed. Grown men and women ran into the store like a bunch of wild animals to the shelves of merchandise, where discounted signs of 50-75% off were posted. Cameras followed two women and a man fighting over one item. One of the women finally was able to snatch it out of the others' hands and run with it, as the others began running in hot pursuit after her. According to news reports, a lady was killed this year in this very kind of stampede at one of the discount stores in the Mid-West. She was knocked down to the floor by the rushing crowds and trampled to death. And no one knew, or seemed to care, that anything had happened for more than an hour. No doubt, some of these shoppers were professing Christians and members of Christian churches. And they really thought that this manner of shopping for Christmas was part of their honouring and celebrating the birth of our Saviour, since Christmas shopping is such a big part of the Christmas celebration. But what part of this story relates to the biblical account of the birth of Christ? And please show me "that special Christmas spirit of love, joy and peace", which any of these shoppers displayed here, that is suppose to fill all who celebrates Christmas. What pressure religious tradition puts on us every Christmas to buy more and more Christmas presents and the most popular Christmas toys for the kiddies. Somehow, we have been made to believe that the more we shop, the more we buy, and the more money we spend, the more of the Christmas spirit we can have. And the more of the Christmas spirit we have, the more we can fully celebrate the birth of Christ, thus, being able to show Him more of our love for Him. In the end though, only those who own the stores, really benefit at all from the Christmas shopping madness. "Let's cut back on our Christmas shopping this year," I heard a preacher say recently, "and put Christ back into Christmas." How can you put Christ back into Christmas, when He never was in Christmas in the first place, I wondered. (More about that later) Because of my fifty-two years' experience of "putting Christ back into Christmas", I knew exactly what he meant; taking an active role in the production of the annual Christmas program at church and buy as much or more but pay less, so you will be able to give the church a larger Christmas offering. As we compare the usual Church Christmas Program to the biblical account of the birth of Christ, we will find that it has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I will use for an example the Christmas program of a First Baptist Church, one of the last churches I attended before I stopped going to church, altogether. The Christmas program was held on the Sunday before Christmas in the Church Sanctuary, during the Sunday Morning Church Worship Service. The Sanctuary was decorated with a Christmas Tree, full of red velvet bows, which stood on the left hand side at the front of the Sanctuary. The nativity resting under a make-shift open shelter on a straw-strown floor held a bald-headed baby doll, covered in a gold-coloured blanket, sleeping in a beautiful wood-coloured baby carriage-on the right side. A glowing halo encircled "Baby Jesus" head. "Mary and Joseph" knelt beside the sleeping "Baby Jesus", as they worshiped Him. A bright shining star hung over the open shelter; its light so bright until the entire space under the open shelter lit up. Red poinsettias filled the altar area. Green fern surrounded the large lighted candles which sat on top of the organ and piano. Choir members, dressed in satin green choir robes trimmed in red, stood in front of the pulpit area and sang all, except a couple, of the traditional Christmas Carols. "Angels" donning wings, "shepherds" with their staff and "three wise men" bearing gifts made their way down the centre aisle to where "the Christ Child" lay. One of the "shepherds" sang "What Child Is This" to "the baby Jesus" "Joseph" stood up and read the traditional story, Luke 2:8-14, from the Bible. "We Three Kings" followed as one of the " wise men" sang. The "angels" bowed before the manger as they sang "Hark The Herald Angels Sing." The choir sang in between these songs and closed the program with "Silent Night" as the congregation joined in. The pastor hurried up to the front to give some closing remarks and to take an offering. "Give your biggest and best sacrificial offering to Jesus for His birthday," he said. "After all, He gave to us His best and biggest sacrifice: His life. First of all, when we celebrate Jesus' birthday, we are in essence saying that Jesus is still dead and hasn't risen from the dead, therefore, none of us are truly fully saved nor can we be. (As you would've seen in the "Helpful Information" column) Christmas - the Christ-mass originated with the Roman Catholics. The mass is a prayer for the dead, for a dead Christ! Inside their churches and hospitals they display a dead Jesus on the cross. And the crosses they wear around their necks display the same. Whose birthday, then, do we celebrate at Christmas? Certainly not the Jesus Christ of the Bible, our Saviour, and the Son of the living God. For He presently is seated physically in His spiritual body, on the throne in Heaven by the right hand of the Father. And He dwells spiritually on earth in every heart, which is truly born again. Jesus is as much alive in heaven today as He was before He left heaven and put on human flesh. And He is as much alive on earth today in Christians' hearts as He was when He walked on the earth with His disciples. Praise God! Read carefully Luke 2:1-20; Luke 2:21- 24; Luke 2:39; Lev. 12:2-4, 39; Matt. 2:1-16, and you will clearly see that everything in this Christmas program completely contradicts the true biblical account of Jesus' birth, with the exception of a few minor details. Mary and Joseph were present, of course, at Jesus' birth. But we don't ever see them at His birth or at any other time, on their knees and worshiping Him. The shepherds were the only other people to see Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger in Bethlehem. But we don't see any of them singing Him a song there. The angels appeared to the shepherds in the field outside of Bethlehem, not at the manger in the city of Bethlehem. Nor do we see them singing to Jesus or to the shepherds. The "wise men" saw Jesus in the city of Nazareth, when He was a young child and living in a house; not in the city of Bethlehem, at the manger of Jesus, when He was a new-born babe. Neither do we find the star standing still over the stable in Bethlehem where the baby Jesus lay in His manger. The star did appear to the wise men, at the moment that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Yet the star didn't appear to them in Bethlehem but in a country in the east where they lived. The star didn't appear to them again until after they were leaving Jerusalem, two years later. The reading of part of the birth of Christ from Luke 2:8-14 was the only thing about the program that was actually true to the biblical account. The reading of this Scripture passage, however, rejects totally, the account portrayed in the program. In addition, we never see Joseph reading the Scriptures at Jesus' physical birth or at any other time. What about our giving a sacrificial offering to Jesus at Christmas? We don't see any of the religious leaders going to their synagogues or to the temple, on the night when Jesus was born, and receiving an offering to give to the new-born babe. None of the Jews knew that the long-awaited promised Messiah of the Old Covenant had finally come, except for Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. Mary and Joseph never celebrated the birth of Christ. Nor did His disciples, while He was physically with them. None of the Christians, from the day of Pentecost, when the Church was born, ever celebrated His birthday. We don't find Jesus, one time, command us to remember His birth, as He commanded us to remember His death, every time we came together. The first year that I stopped celebrating Christmas, a neighbour asked me if I had joined The Jehovah's Witness. I assured her that I hadn't and asked her why she would ask me such a question. "Well, I see that you didn't decorate your house and put up a Christmas tree this year, " she answered. I explained to her a few of the things I have said here. "I have heard all of that before," she replied. "But I don't think there is any thing wrong with God's children doing something special for Jesus, especially on His birthday. "After all, it's only one time a year that we have the opportunity to do something really special for Jesus, when he does such special things for each and every one of us, everyday of the year, year in and year out." She, like most Christians today, didn't realize that Jesus doesn't accept anything from us, if He has not commanded us to do so or it contradicts His word in any way. Remember, the Pharisees? They lived very moral lives. They did many good deeds in the name of God. But rejecting the word of God, they rejected Jesus, also. Likewise, the Bible clearly shows that the same applies to us today, 2000 years later. (Matt. 7:21-22) Think about this for a moment. Where did Christians ever get the idea that in order to adequately celebrate the birth of Christ, we must re-enact the scenes and events, though biblically inaccurate, surrounding His birth, as if He were being born again physically every year, year after year? We don't do that with any other person's birthday. The following explains exactly where this idea came from. Just today, I heard a Baptist preacher on television say, "Let Jesus be born in you this Christmas." Although I had heard other pastors make this same plea over the years, I was still so very shocked, when I heard it. This idea comes from Catholicism. As Catholics eat the wafer and drink of the cup in communion, they believe that they are actually eating the physical body and drinking the blood of Jesus. And by doing so, He is somehow born in them every time they partake of the communion. They also believe that if you "get in the Christmas spirit" as you fully celebrate Jesus' birthday, He will be born in you each year at Christmas. Apparently, so do Protestant Christians. How utterly foolish you would look to those who came to a birthday party that you were giving for your child, if you tried to re-enact the scenes and events of the day that he was born. As the guests arrived, they would be treated to a replica of your hospital room that you occupied for a few days after your child was born. A substitute for you is lying on the bed and wearing the exact kind of gown that you wore back then. Next to your bed, a substitute for your baby is lying in a bassinet, an exact replica, which is located beside your bed. In walks a substitute for your husband, wearing the same kind of clothes, as he brings with him the same kind of flowers, as he wore back then. Then you bring out a large box filled with cards and many of the presents you received, including your child's baby clothes, when your child was born. Do you think the guests would be the least bit interested or impressed? What about your child? You haven't paid him the least bit of attention. Rather you have spent your celebration of your child's birthday, reliving the birth of your child with a substitute baby and a substitute everything else. It might be a good way for you to keep your child a new-born baby. But some men in white coats might soon come and put a straight-jacket on you and lock you away somewhere, away from society. It's been thirty years or more, but I will never forget how my dear pastor tried to explain why we must celebrate Christmas in honour of Christ. During one of the church services during the Christmas season, that year, he came right out and said that December 25th was not Jesus' birthday because no one really knew the exact date, month or even year, when He was born. Therefore, we were not really celebrating His birthday at Christmas but we were actually honouring Him, when we celebrated this holiday. "We honour Jesus at Christmas by obeying the word of God, to the fullest, this one time of the year, that will carry over and put us into the habit of obeying His word fully, throughout the coming year," he said. How? I wondered. I had already begun to see that something was not quite right in our celebration of Christmas. For one thing, the tradition seemed to focus more on Santa, shopping, toys, presents, Christmas decorations, family get-togethers, and all the cooking and baking that went along with the family get-togethers, than it did on Jesus. Rushing around, stressed out, trying to get everything done for the Big Day, left me with little personal time with Jesus. And I wasn't alone. Church friends nor family members were the slightest bit interested in talking about Jesus. Wasn't Christmas suppose to be about Him? I just wanted to stop the madness of this tradition and give most of my time over to Jesus. Just where was Christ in Christmas? I couldn't seem to find Him anywhere. "Christmas is for the little children," my pastor explained. What joy it was, when my children were little, to see their little eyes would suddenly open wide and light up with the love and joy of Jesus Christ, as soon as they came into the living room on Christmas morning and saw their toys that Santa had left them under the Christmas tree." How in this world does that honour Jesus and cause us to obey His word to the fullest? "Remember, Jesus said, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, " he continued. "We are also commanded to love our children." He went on to say that we allow the little children to come to Jesus by reading them the Christmas story from the Bible. And by taking them to church. In addition, we love them and show them the love of Jesus, when we are willing to take the time and spend the money to buy their favourite toys at Christmas. "You know, it's biblical to give gifts at Christmas," the poor pastor quickly added, sensing evidently that, what he had just said, didn't sound exactly right. "God gave the ultimate gift to us ... His only begotten Son, the very best thing He had to give. And remember how the wise men brought very expensive gifts to Jesus, when he was born." As strange as these reasons the pastor had given for celebrating Christmas, had suddenly sounded to me, what he said next capped the stack. "Don't be too eager to tell your children that there is no Santa Claus. As soon as they learn the truth, Christmas is not as much fun for them or their parents anymore." I had to literally clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from blurting out, What does Santa Claus and lying to our children have to do with honouring Jesus and obeying His word? Ironically, this pastor preached heavily against sin of all kinds, including lying I had heard him say many times that there was no difference between lying, stealing and even killing a person. They all were sin. So how did he get around the fact that telling children a lie about Santa Claus is not a sin? I don't know. But probably the same way I did, when my daughter found out the truth. She was so devastated. She cried as though her heart would break. Not over learning that there was no Santa Claus, but because I had lied to her. I told her that I hadn't really lied because I knew that I would tell her the truth later on, when she was old enough. My puny explanation, however didn't change her mind, one iota. It didn't sound right to me either but this is how I had always heard Christians explain this kind of lying. It's not that I hadn't heard any of this before. I had heard everything that this pastor was preaching, but not all together, all at one time, in the same sermon. But in the way he was preaching it, I could see more of the whole picture of Christmas and what it really is. "The last reason that we should celebrate Christmas is family," he continued. "Christmas is a time when families can come together to enjoy a Christmas meal together, to enjoy warm, heart-felt fellowship together, and just to simply love one another." Sounds good, I thought, but it was never that way at mine or my parents home at Christmas. As hard as we all strived at both places to made this fantasy a true reality, every year, we were never able to reach that goal. There wasn't enough time. We were all too tired and stressed out. All of our children at that time were little. We mothers, especially, had to spend our time running after our children, breaking up fights, doctoring their hurts, trying to get them to eat, and trying to find a quite corner where they could take a nap, which was mostly impossible to find. And this gave me more reason to wonder if Christmas was indeed all that it was cracked up to be. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with shopping (getting in on the sales, you bet), buying gifts for our family and friends (if and when we choose and can afford to do so), enjoying our children (and yes, buying them toys) and having family get-togethers, with all the cooking and baking they require. These are all things we do at many other times during the year, at our choosing, when it's not Christmas. Its left up to each of us then, when we spend money and how much we spend, when we shop, when we buy gifts, when we buy our children toys and what we feed our families at family get-togethers, when and if we choose to have family get-togethers. At Christmas, however, we lose these freedoms. In the name of tradition, today's Christian society, as well as the world's corporate merchandisers, force us to do all of these things during the Christmas season, in addition to all of the other "Christmas" things we must do, whether we want to or can afford to or not. Shirley ************************************** Re: Do We Celebrate the Birth of Christ at Christmas? This is great Shirley. After reading this and explaining it to my wife, I realize the REAL problem with Christmas. It makes people think that Jesus had a regular birthday like others do. It makes people forget that Jesus was 'born' before the foundation of this world. Raybob *************************************** Re: Do We Celebrate the Birth of Christ at Christmas? When I was married, my 2nd husband had a real scrooge mentality when it came to Christmas. He refused to buy anyone any presents and would not participate in family gatherings or any of the usual traditions associated with that day. He however was greatly miffed if no one got him any presents. His mindset was that he had done more than enough for all of us throughout the year and that we OWED him on that day. Being married to him was pretty much miserable all year long, but especially at Christmas. Many years later (having since left him), after I became a Christian; I did celebrate the tradition my first year. And then it hit me - what did any of this have to do with Christ in the first place? I began to see it all as a futile endeavor and certainly not a biblical requirement. But Raybob hit the nail on the head - Christ's birth into the world was not the beginning of His life as our birth is to us. Just as His death on the cross was not the end of His life either. Our hope is not found in His birth nor His death, but in His resurrection. What His birth provided for us was that we might know He is the Christ, and by His death that we have the forgiveness of our sins; but only so that we might know what His coming to die for us is that gives us the hope of eternal life. It is because He is risen that we have this hope at all. The fullness of our salvation is not therefore seen nor known in His birth. For had He not died and rose again, His birth would hold little hope for us. Whatever the Christman tradition is intended to reveal about Him, it seems to fall short of the mark in telling us about the salvation He wrought for us. Which is no doubt why He told us to remember His death and said nothing about His birth. That Christmas is a greater celebration in the world who doesn't even know Him (vs Easter), speaks volumes regarding the condition that the world is in. For it neither knows nor cares about the redemption He brought us - only that it is a great occasion for a party! And the nostalgia it promotes in their hearts for earthly things is a poor substitute for the joy which the Spirit brings, yet is confused as being the same. Jesus as the reason for the season seems little more to me than an excuse some provide to justify the things they want to do - which in the end have nothing to do with Him at all. Santa is really a better toastmaster for this holiday since it is much less confusing to put him in it rather than Jesus. Especially since Xmas really belongs to him anyway. Robin | ||||
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posted by Suozi at
9:18 PM
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