Wow. How did he get by with other stuff the bible didn;t tell him to do, like breathing and blinking, and wiping...
I celebrate Christmas, but not the birth of Christ. I'm not religious, so it is all about the commercialization and family.
Most years I guess I "celebrate" Christmas if that means being guilt tripped into buying things for people so I don't look like a cheap b*stard. In previous years I hated the hell out of Christmas because of the obligations and the fact that my time off was not really time off because I was forced to so spend it with people I didn't really like. This year, I'm actually excited and looking forward to spending time with some of the folks and enjoying some good food. I'll leave what I consider the bad parts of Christmas (the religion and commercialism) and keep the good (time off, time with friends and the food) this year. So I guess I will be celebrating something but I don't think it's called Christmas. However, I'm down with everyone celebrating whatever and however they want as long as it makes them happy.
Except for the awkwardness, the fact that I'm forced to spend time with my family (time that will inevitably lead to tension/fights), the hokey church rituals, the way-too-many xmas decorations that are just such a pain in the ass to put up and take down, the coldness and the overabundance of sugar, fat, and alcohol in my body, I love Christmas.
You're right, I celebrate Christmas. I only nitpick because it saddens me that others aren't celebrating Christ when they celebrate Christmas. I'd never want to sour anyone's experience this time of the year. Even if it isn't driven by faith, giving and being with your loved ones is a good thing.
This question needs to be asked to either Damo Suzuki or Dave Thomas (no, not the Wendy's guy or SCTV dude).
As an atheist I celebrate just so I can lie to my kids. Haha...they think Santa is real...stupid kids!
I love christmas. It makes my kids smile. I get to watch hokey movies on TV and make a gingerbread house. Too bad on those who think we're not having the 'right' kind of joy. We're too busy enjoying our time together.
The early church often converted festivities and practices of cultures where they were spreading Christianity for a couple reasons. The obvious reason is that they thought it would make Christrianity more palatale if people didn't have to give up everything they were used to. The less obvious reason was that it seemed theologically consistant to them and it does to me as well. Specifically, while Israel was called to be a nation set apart, when Jesus came he fulfilled the promise to be a light unto the whole world. Israel was supposed to be setting a good example to the world about how to live a holy life before God but they didn't seem to be interested in that mandate. After Jesus' resurrection the disciples began to go out to the rest of the world. Their initial inclination was to get people to become Jewish culturally and then Christian since that was the historical order for the church but Peter and later Paul saw (through holy intervention in the matter) that this was not required of people for salvation. More importantly, cultural norms are not identical to moral norms and should not be held up as such. Finally, as all people are created in God's image to worship God, vestages of that truth are seen even if we are all fallen. Consequently, we can see even in pagan holidays and rituals a reflection of godly truths even if they may have some of the details wrong. What the early church did was to point out how Christ completes the picture (and corrects it). Christmas is a great example of this. The winter solstace was celebrated because there was a spiritual story for people as well as a cosmic one in which the world was getting darker and darker until the point at which days are at their shortest. From that point forward things turn around and we really can see that Spring is around the corner. Spiritually we also long for things to stop getting worse, even outside of Christian belief. Christianity points to the incarnation as the ushering in of Christ's kingdom. In a fallen world filled with darkness Jesus came as a light signaling salvation would soon be accomplished. We now look to the second coming as the completion of that, when Spring comes in an ultimate sense. I think apart from celebrating Jesus' birth, it is worth celebrating that God meets us where we are. The pagan origins of our celebration of Christmas aren't something I think Christians need to be ashamed about or apologize for. BTW, yes we celebrate Christmas.
good for you!!! great post!!! St. Patrick was particularly adept at finding the Divine in the rituals of those in Ireland. You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mrs. Valdez again.
I agree but at the same time Christians need to: A. educate themselves regarding the origins of Christmas B. drop the "holier than thou" BS when others don't "keep Christ in Christmas" But really, who is asking Christians to apologize or be ashamed? More often than not it's the Christians trying to make others apologize or be ashamed of not celebrating a holiday with Pagan origins in a purely Christian manner.
