Steve Doocy, soulmate to 30 Rock's Kenneth Parcell and cheerleader-in-chief for the annual "War on Christmas" pity party at Fox News, posed an interesting question. Interviewing the group church ladies behind a "Merry Christmas from Jesus" billboard campaign, he asked them what their Lord and Savior would say if he showed up at this festive time of the year. "We thought and thought, and we thought maybe he'd say, 'I miss hearing you say, "Merry Christmas,"'" responded the grandmotherly woman in the Santa sweater.
Seems more likely to me the first words out of Jesus' mouth would be "What the...???"
Nothing about Christmas would be the least bit recognizable to the Jewish itinerant preacher who was born, as near as anyone can estimate, sometime in the spring roughly 2,015 years ago. The holiday that fervent Foxers strive to defend has no Jewish roots at all. As I have playfully pointed out in these pages, Christmas is a pagan solstice holiday co-opted by Roman Christian autocrats centuries after the life of Jesus.
As for being a birthday celebration, well, that just wouldn't have been meaningful to Jesus. People didn't have wall calendars in those days, let alone Facebook reminders, and no one paid much attention to birthdays -- not even that of Jesus Christ. There's no evidence that Jesus was aware of all the folderol that the Bible says occurred at his birth, and there's no evidence that anyone made anything of it for a long time after his death. Little wonder: the earliest Gospel, that of Mark, makes no mention of Christ's birth, and the first to do so, Matthew, was written 60 years or more after his birth. Even that gives no hint that it took place around the end of December.
And anyway, why would we celebrate it by decorating a fir tree? Apologists will try to con you that St. Boniface invented the Christmas tree while converting the Germanic tribes. "Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." This is patent nonsense. Even fur-clad, club-wielding Visigoths would have known that a fir tree is conical. It's only in modern, stylized drawings that it looks anything like a triangle. Besides, it would have been so much easier to make a cross -- the main symbol of Christ -- and put it up on the old hut wall than to cut down a conifer and drag that into their dwelling.
In short, the "Keep Christ in Christmas" crowd is barking up the wrong solstice tree. He was never there.
Does all of this render Christmas meaningless? Not at all. In fact, knowing and accepting that Christmas is much more than a Christian holiday restores it to its original, pluralistic meaning. Many different cultures in Europe and the Middle East celebrated the Winter Solstice. When the Roman Empire forcibly united them under its banner, it nevertheless allowed the varying religious celebrations of the solstice to go on -- until Constantine got it into his head that Christ was his key to military victory.
That was the beginning of the end for pluralism. In 350 Pope Julius I declared Dec. 25 to be Christ's birthday, and Christianity was enforced on all members of the empire -- excepting the Jews, who were merely persecuted and exploited for the next few millenia.
Today, however, Christmas has recaptured some of its early multicultural splendor. Since the end of World War II, Santa has been a regular department store icon in Japan, where almost no one is Christian. There are European Muslims who celebrate a non-religious version of Christmas by having a guy dressed up as Santa come to a public place and give out presents to children. And of course, in America, despite Charlie Brown's best efforts, Christmas has become an orgy of crass commercialism.
I'm sympathetic to Charlie Brown's view. If I were benevolent dictator, I would ban the use of Santa or sacred music in commercials. I even have a little sympathy for the church ladies. Their implicit xenophobia and cultural imperialism aside, I understand the fears they harbor -- a magical, mythical childlike, worldview that Christmas more than any other holiday embodies is slipping from our grasp. Yet, this is like grieving over the fall of the British Empire while failing to notice that English has, more or less peacefully, become our global common language.
True, science has torn down the illusion that we live in a morally ordered world, where a benevolent God deals out harsh justice to evildoers and upholds the righteous. We know beyond all reasonable doubt that natural disaster and tragedy strike blindly at the good, the bad and the indifferent. We know that Santa cannot possibly visit every child's home on Christmas Eve. Worse yet, we know that on Christmas Day, as on every day, tens of thousands of children will die of starvation, accident, disease and abuse. And we know that, somehow, we have to learn to live in a world where people will never agree on a single set of sacred beliefs.
None of this means that Christians cannot keep observing Christmas in their own way. It just means that they need to accept that it the days when the Holy Roman Empire could enforce it on all citizens are gone forever. Yet, despite all the disillusionment, Christmas has found a new and beautiful meaning as a celebration of love made good by the giving of gifts to children, to family and friends, and to strangers in need.
Follow Clay Farris Naff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/claynaff
Skye Jethani: 'War on Christmas'? Christians Are Fighting the Wrong One
Really? It seems to me that religion still gets much more love and support than science. The concept of peace has been well-known for a while, and may well even be growing in popularity; but if I therefore called the present age the "International Age of Peace," I would be generally ridiculed, and rightly so, because it would be a premature pronouncement.
a moral God to save them! What a preposterous and simpleminded accusation. Thanks to the Bible and science, we know for a fact that Jesus was not born roughly near the Spring but at the end of Summer in September of 6BC! His birth was foretold in the Old Testament and described in the New Testament by at least 35 Authors! With the exception of Luke, none of the Authors pagan.
I'm trying to think of a sentence that could begin that way and not end badly.
I'll have to get back to you.
"described in the New Testament by at least 35 Authors!"
The Bible, and science, but not so much with math: there are only 27 books in the NT. 7 of those, maybe more, are generally agreed to have been written by Paul, bringing the number of articles down to 21, maybe less.
Unless you're into all that NT apocrypha and consider it part of the NT. Which I personally would find even worse but hey who am I to say.
Yes, it can be argued that common man didn't celebrate his birthdate. However, we don't know this with certainty, and just because it wasn't historically important enough to record doesn't mean that celebrations by the common man didn't take place.
Once again, the know-it-all atheists don't know it all.
You write well, so you couldn't be that stupid or ignorant. Not only don't they know WHEN he was born but they don't know IF he was ever born....or just a myth....which explains why everybody forgot about him for 70-100 years before the book got started....and not one of the Roman bureaucrats ever documented him in realtime.....or any of the thousands of artists ever drew his picture, while he was standing there before him....
Ask your cleric "Why?".
Christmas Day is a common convention to recognize the incarnation of God in Jesus. And yes, the celebration borrowed other traditions to tell the story. Like old country roads that followed deer trails, its not neat and tidy but it gets you to where you need to go.
Regarding the earliest written records about Jesus, it starts with St. Paul, between 48 and 50 CE, that is about 20 years between the crucifixion and the letters. And there was already an established Christian Community by the time he became part of the movement. Before Paul there was oral tradition - which is very accurate (remember "Roots").
While you may be using Jesus Seminar pronouncements or Bart Ehrman's electrifying book titles as a proof for your point about corrupt scribes changing the scripture, you might want to point out which verse in which NT book has been corrupted to the point of creating the person of Jesus ex nihilo?
Thanks, for recognizing that sometimes my writings are "well". I tend not to think of myself as too stupid or ignorant. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with degrees in Religion, Philosophy, Humanities, and Chemistry. I speak three languages, and I read and write Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Latin. I have translated several books of the OT and the NT. I am an artist and muscian with several copyrights on songs...some which you may actually hum now and then.
I own three businesses which are successful, and from my other endeavors, (i.e., patented inventions) am a self-made millionaire. My IQ has been tested at approximately 170. So, "yes" I am little smarter than you think.
If there was enough room to post here...I could tell you many things. However, let it be sufficient when I say to you that Jesus is real, and He is the source of all my potential. I was not born into an affluent family. So, I have worked from the time I was 13 years old, and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
As a matter of fact the Puritans in the middle age banned this holiday though it was later revived.
So to say this was originally a Christian holiday is a stretch especially since it was borrowed heavily from Mithraism:
"1) Hundreds of years before Jesus, according to the Mithraic religion, three Wise Men of Persia came to visit the baby savior-god Mithra, bring him gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.
2) Mithra was born on December 25 as told in the “Great Religions of the Worldâ€, page 330; “…it was the winter solstice celebrated by ancients as the birthday of Mithraism’s sun godâ€.
3) According to Mithraism, before Mithra died on a cross, he celebrated a “Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.
4) After the death of Mithra, his body was laid to rest in a rock tomb.
5) Mithra had a celibate priesthood."
http://jdstone.org/cr/files/mithraschristianity.html
http://carm.org/christianity/bible/doesnt-religion-mithra-prove-christianity-false
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
To those who believe in Him and have told others of His gospel, He would say something like;
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Mt 25:23
It doesn't matter that a birthday celebration would not have been meaningful to Jesus. His followers now use this day to remind themselves of his sacrifice for them.
As for the use of the tree as part of the celebration, that too was brought to Christianity by new believers who brought their traditions with them.
Christmas was not originally pluralistic. It has been a holiday observed by Christians which is now becoming pluralistic because many Christians have lost sight of what we truly celebrate and many others in society wish to take part in the fun but don't want to embrace the religious aspect of the holiday.
Christians don't want to force their holiday down anyone's throat. Ironically, one of the few honest things the author mentions is that so many others want "in" on the Christmas fun. Christians just want to celebrate Christmas and not be forced to call it "the holidays" or to listen to secular Christmas music or be forced to hide the true meaning of Christmas which is JESUS.
Have a blessed Christmas.
Thanks for sharing.
You contradict nothing I said.
The idea of a birthday celebration for Jesus' birthday is ridiculous because celebrate one day of birth in itself is not a Biblical practice. The bible does mention two birthday celebrations and at both someone was killed the latter John the baptist
Clay
I am surprised the bible has not been changed more than it has. but preachers just omit those parts too threating to their system of beliefs.
one evangel retired preacher I asked had never thought about the teachings of jesus that the least in heaven is greater than john the bapist. 40 years reading the bible daily. that gives us an idea of the power of beliefs.
I have grandchildren I like christmas. :-)
It was founded in AD 800, on Christmas, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor in Rome. In the 16th century its name was officially changed to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, or in German, das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation, or, in Latin, Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ. I'm not sure when the term "Holy Roman Empire" was first applied to it unofficially. It was often called the Western Empire, to distinguish it from the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, the original name of the ancient Greek city later called Constantinople and Istanbul. Charlemagne and most of his successors were German, but there were a few non-German western Emperors, especially early on. Sometime around the 13th century the custom was established that 7 Electors voted on who the Emperors would be. These Electors were all German princes or German Bishops, and so it was pretty much established that all emperors would be German. Pretty much. Charles V wasn't particularly German. The person chosen by the electors was called the King of the Romans and wasn't officially emperor until the Pope crowned him. The bulk of the territory of the Western Empire was in German speaking lands, and became more so as the centuries rolled on, but Charlemagne also ruled all of present-day France and about half of Italy, and Frederick II, Emperor from 1220 to 1250, was most at home in Italy and Sicily and rarely saw Germany.
Earlier today, I was listening to a radio broadcast --on NPR-- depicting an elf in a retail store. It was good-natured and funny, but it makes you think. The fellow was tired of lying. It wasn't fun any more. Truth is a thing this world needs more of, child or adult. Truth rather than mythology.
Peace and goodwill. =).
Oh, if only I had not been lied to about unicorns, elves and flying carpets. What might have been!
TDC Prisoner #175051
Those Magi were actually astrologers from the east. (Matt. 2:1, 2, NW; NE) Although astrology is popular among many people today, the practice is strongly disapproved in the Bible. Would God have led to the newborn Jesus persons whose practices He condemned?
Matthew 2:1-16 shows that the star led the astrologers first to King Herod and then to Jesus and that Herod then sought to have Jesus killed. No mention is made that anyone other than the astrologers saw the “star.†After they left, Jehovah’s angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt to safeguard the child. Was that “star†a sign from God or was it from someone who was seeking to have God’s Son destroyed?
Note that the Bible account does not say that they found the babe Jesus in a manger, as customarily depicted in Christmas art. When the astrologers arrived, Jesus and his parents were living in a house. As to Jesus’ age at that time, remember that, based on what Herod had learned from the astrologers, he decreed that all the boys in the district of Bethlehem two years of age and under were to be destroyed.—Matt. 2:1, 11, 16.
The Gospel passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke combine with Revelation chapters 17-19 to shed considerable light on what will soon occur. At God’s fixed time, the great tribulation will begin with an attack against the world empire of false religion (Babylon the Great). This will be particularly intense against Christendom, which corresponds to unfaithful Jerusalem. “Immediately after†this phase of the tribulation, “there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth [unprecedented] anguish of nations.â€â€”Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25.
In what sense will ‘the sun be darkened, the moon not give its light, the stars fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens be shaken’? Doubtless, in the early part of the great tribulation, many luminaries—prominent clergymen of the religious world—will have been exposed and eliminated by “the ten horns†mentioned at Revelation 17:16. No doubt political powers too will have been shaken up. Could there also be frightening events in the physical heavens? Quite likely, and far more awe-inspiring than those described by Josephus as occurring near the end of the Jewish system. We know that in the ancient past, God displayed his power to cause such cataclysmic effects, and he can do so again.—Exodus 10:21-23; Joshua 10:12-14; Judges 5:20; Luke 23:44, 45.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-d_6A6t29s
The "Three Kings" are the belt of Orion for thousands of years. They "follow" the "Star in the East", Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, then and now. If you draw an imaginary line from the 3 kings through Sirius, it points the the Sun's "rebirth" on Dec 25th. This astrology allowed ancients to measure the sun's movement NORTH, 1 degree, on Dec 25th, promising Spring and relief from the Winter starvation and evil darkness...
Only man could make this coincidence into a religious event...before Physics and Science, of course.
Jesus died in March or early April. The scripures tell us that Jesus began his ministry when he was about 30 years of age See Luke 3v23. His ministry lasted three and half years. If we count 6 months on we arrive at Sept/Oct for Jesus birth. This would have been a warm time in Israel so fits better than Dec which is a cold month in the Bethlehem area. Shepherds would not have been in the fields in Dec.