Of course, we all are aware that we are approaching that time that occurs every year called “Christmas.” And, most of us assume that the holiday, or “Holy Day,” began with the Birth of Jesus, since this is what we are generally taught.
But look into THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, and you will find the statement, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church.” And if you study the religion known as “Mithraism,” you will find that the Romans and Greeks, way back when, celebrated December 25 as “The Nativity of the Unconquered Sun” long before the Birth of Jesus.
If, indeed, we are celebrating the birthday of Jesus, why do all these other people–including ourselves–get presents also? How many other people get gifts on your birthday, because it is your birthday? You spend all the money, and an unknown called “Santa Claus” gets the appreciation (not the “credit”–you have to pay for that).
›Everybody was not in accord with this hand-made holiday. In 1659, the Puritan Colony of Massachusetts passed a law against celebrating Christmas. Boston rebelled against the move until finally, in 1856, the legislature made it a legal holiday.
To those Biblical scholars among you, if you celebrate the day we have come to know as “Christmas,” does it ever bother you when you read the 10th Chapter of Jeremiah, which begins with a warning from God not to follow the ways of the heathen nations–such as cutting down a tree, fastening it in place, then decorating it “with silver and gold”? There are no instructions in the Bible for the exchange of gifts, but the practice is found in all of the pagan mid-winter “festivals.” I was quite amused by a statement in one writer’s column that, “If we believed in Jesus, we would respect Him too much to get drunk and act a fool on His Birthday!”
This raised another question: “Where in the Bible do we find “Santa Claus” and “Easter Bunny” as we see them portrayed around the churches? One writer suggested that children learn an old song and sing it to their elders, to wit: “How can I believe you when you tell me that you love me, when I know you’ve been a liar all your life?”
One writer suggests that we “Reflect on how Xmas is celebrated–including the predominance of liquor and illicit sex–and ask yourself if such behavior is fitting to honor a Righteous Man!”
The question of “equal rights” arouses, to wit: “On what grounds can a parent punish children for lying, then tell them lies like virgins giving birth and rabbits laying eggs?” (Christmas and Easter!).
A headline on the December 18, 1968 Phoenix Gazette stated that the “BIRTH OF CHRIST NOT CELEBRATED UNTIL 5th CENTURY.” Obviously, there were no witnesses present at the celebration.
Ever wonder what the “Christmas tree” represented? I have, and finally got the answer. Sun-worshipers believe that the mother of Adonis, the “Sun God,” was mystically said to have been changed into a tree and, when in that state, to have brought forth her divine son–hence, the “Christmas Tree”!
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