Is Jesus Really the Reason for the Season?
I was reading a blog by a wonderful Christian man about how Jesus is the reason for the season, but how there is a push to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, and how people are so caught up in the secular aspects of Christmas that focus on self, like getting presents, but missing the gift God gave us in His Son Jesus, and wondering how a Christian holiday got so screwed up.
But you know what? The roots behind the Christmas holiday were not Christian, they were pagan. Christians just took a pagan holiday and slapped the Name of Jesus on it as if that act claimed it for Christ and made it Christian. It started with a Mass for Christ on the day of a pagan holiday, so that people would go to Mass instead of parties with drunkenness and orgies, but what happened was, many did both – which shouldn’t be surprising, really. Ever read the Old Testament? Perhaps this was a new twist on an old bad idea, but the end result was the same: mingling the Holy with the unholy. (It never went over well then either). So why should we be surprised that the World has such a claim on this holiday or the things surrounding it, regardless of the name we give it or the attempt by a few to claim it as the time to celebrate the birth of our Lord?
As Christians, we can use this man-made holiday to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. There are many wonderful things that happen this time of year. People in general think about giving to those less fortunate, even if they ignore them the rest of the year. Families get together. But there are many holiday specific things that are rooted in ungodliness waiting to devour who it may. Should we be surprised that retail takes advantage of the holiday mood to capitalize on buying goods in a culture obsessed with materialism?
It may seem like a small thing to you, but the more I study the Word of God in its cultural and linguistical context, the more deception I see clouding the eyes of our understanding, and as time moves on, things that would have caused alarm in one generation are dismissed by another because when change is slow and subtle enough, it goes virtually unnoticed. It has been that way since the beginning of time and is a tried and tested maneuver by the enemy of our souls. Is there any doubt he is busy at work during this time of year? Suicide rates skyrocket from Thanksgiving through New Years.
Amidst the pretty lights and outward cheer of the season, people are literally dying to know truth and be set free.
Keith Green had this revealing illustration of people on a dock, dressed in party clothes, sipping tea and eating h'ordourves while all around them people are drowning in the water, but the people on the dock are oblivious. He said “The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can’t fight ‘cause its asleep in the light” That is a picture of Christmas IMO.
Like me, did you grow up believing Christ was born on a cold winter’s night and that He was born in a Stable with barn animals all around? Where in scripture did we get that from? NOWHERE. It came from songs and such that were written with the false perception that Christmas was celebrated because that is when Christ was born because we celebrate our own birthdays on the dates we were born, when in fact, it had nothing to do with the date of His birth, but as stated previously. Picture these poor shivering shepherds with their sheep out in the pastures grazing on dead grass through the snow, in the cold, trying not to freeze to death (instead of in the barn where the smart shepherds had their sheep on cold winter’s nights), just so a girly choir of angels could sing to them. What’s wrong with this picture? What isn’t?! Not to mention how stupid it would be to call a census of all the people to travel {on foot} in the dead of winter in the first place! The stable was a modern day Western culture assumption made because they used a manger as a crib. (In a barn full of animals because it was a cold winter’s night).
A Heavenly Host, that is, an ARMY of Angels appeared to the shepherds. They had to tell them to not be afraid. Like the moon reflects the sun, they probably radiated with a mere reflection of the glory of the God in Whose Presence they had just been. Think for a minute how overwhelming this must have been! I wonder if an army of angels is what frightened the Roman soldiers at the tomb of Jesus – so much so they fled, knowing this meant they chose death for leaving their posts. That is pretty powerful fear. The kind of fear that makes people wet themselves. Seriously. It had to be amazing and terrifying!
There are so many things our culture associates with Christ’s birth that are actually very different from the truth revealed in God’s Word, and yet so many cling to them as if our whole faith will unravel if it isn’t true because we have our “warm-fuzzy” feelings associated with it. I know people who think the little drummer boy is in the Bible and are shocked to find out it is not. Some will even argue, and I’ll give $1,000 to anyone who can find it – it is not there, but hey, if it gets someone into the Word of God, so be it!
Like me, did you grow up thinking three wise men came to see the baby Jesus on the night of His birth, right after the shepherds? (Did you know what wise men were and how this experience changed them?) The Hebrew text of the Word in Matthew 2 refers to these men arriving at the house of the young child. His house, not a temporary lodging. A young child, a toddler in age, not a baby. Three types of gifts are listed by name, but it is most likely there were several men in the party if you study history and context.
Does it matter when Christ was born? Does it matter when we celebrate it?
Does it matter that God already had a celebration for the birth of His Son (at the time He was most certainly born) within the Feast of Tabernacles (God come to dwell among us), and the Gentile world disregarded it because those who associated with Messianic Judaism (which is what Christianity is) years before were persecuted to death? Are we more concerned with the opinions of men and our good feelings than we are with the opinions of God if we find the answers are yes? (I Thess. 2:4)
Were the Priests who came up with the idea of a Christ Mass trying to do a good thing? Were they deceived or perhaps misguided despite their best of intentions? (Considering a Mass is for a dead person, and Christ is Alive aside). Can we reach people for Christ through this holiday we call Christmas? YES!
But we need to not be ignorant of the truth we are professing to claim.
In Jeremiah, God said people perish for their lack of knowledge. I think this is true today.
God also said we would be better off to have a millstone around our necks and be drowned than to lead a soul astray, especially children. So this is serious business deserving our attention.
Is it ever okay to lie or is lying always sin?
Lying is what the enemy of our souls does best.
Do we want to be like him?
So what about our modern day Santa (BTW, move the letter n and you spell satan). Our culture gives him the three Omni’s: Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient. (He sees you when you sleep and when you wake, he knows who is good and bad, he has the power to give or not). How can the World not see that ONLY THE LORD GOD MOST HIGH - POSESSOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient?!?!?! We blaspheme Him with a false idol when we tell children to “Just Believe in the magic of Christmas and in santa who will bring them presents if they have been good enough”
Then, without skipping a beat, turn around and say with almost the same conviction: “Jesus is the reason for the season, if you Believe in Him, you will have Eternal Life.”
If you are a liar about one, why should anyone believe what you say about the other?
Magic is the enemy’s counterfeit of miracles. Just Believe is the new age idea of tolerance for all religious thought (however blind or mindless) as a means to Heaven. Santa perpetuates giving God our ‘wish lists’ if we can just be good enough for Him to see fit to give them to us, along with the idea of earning our salvation. Most Christians will say “Well, I don’t take it that way” but don’t realize the subtleness of idolatry is a stealth bomber flying under the radar of our understanding or how a Lost World has taken it all to heart.
I’m not trying to be all negative. The Good News of Jesus Christ is AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and He wants us to Live in the Joy of the Lord! Not the joy of the world. If we who profess to know the truth deny or ignore the evil in the world, we will find ourselves part of it without even knowing it because it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing inside our own camp, stealing right under our noses. We are told Satan disguises himself as an angel of light so that he might deceive and seduce us away from God.
Many professing Christians are ignorant that a portion of the World sees right through this farce and spits in God’s face because of it. (Although as some countries are “Westernized” they have adopted the same lies as “cute” or “quaint”). A Jewish girl I went to grade school with once commented how stupid all the Christian kids were and how disappointed they were going to be when they realized Santa and Jesus were both fakes. Her heart was closed to hearing about her Messiah because of the place Santa has in the “Christian” culture. She is only one of many Jewish people with this stumbling block.
Daniel walked among idolatry. He was made the Chief over all the magicians, diviners, seers {all these things forbidden by God}, but he did not partake of those things. Instead he remained uncompromisingly faithful to the Lord. I think when we know the whole truth of the Christmas holiday, then we can be like Daniel, not partakers of idolatry and lies, but servants of the Lord who can be trusted to speak the truth with Love to the many who are open to hear of the wonderful gift of salvation that has been given in Jesus to all who will receive.
So I am not saying we should necessarily abandon the whole idea of celebrating the birth of our Lord during the celebration called Christmas, but we need to put it in perspective with the world in which we live. For one thing, if we are going to call it Christmas, we need to recognize that we are indeed using the Name of Christ to identify it, which is serious business. We are told not to say things mindlessly or repetitiously – our words should mean something. If we use the Name of the Lord without embracing Who and What He is, we are using His Name in vain.
Does flippantly crying out “Merry Christmas” to everyone we meet really carry any value or meaning? Is it just some mindless thing we repeat for the sake of a holiday? When you ask the lost world to call it Christmas, you are asking them to use the Name of the Lord. And if they use that Name without embracing its meaning, you are asking them to use the Name of the Lord vainly. So maybe happy holidays is appropriate for the world, and maybe Merry Christmas should be reserved only for those who embrace its meaning.
And just repeating words over and over, does that convey its meaning to the lost world – or is it Christianeze and you have to be a member of the club to ‘get it’? I don’t know the answers, but I know what Merry Christmas means to me:
“Rejoice! for the Christ came to dwell among Mankind and we are celebrating His birth, and the gift of Salvation to the world. Come celebrate with me!” I can’t say one without saying the other, and in it, is the opportunity to share our Christ with a lost and dying world.
But you know what? The roots behind the Christmas holiday were not Christian, they were pagan. Christians just took a pagan holiday and slapped the Name of Jesus on it as if that act claimed it for Christ and made it Christian. It started with a Mass for Christ on the day of a pagan holiday, so that people would go to Mass instead of parties with drunkenness and orgies, but what happened was, many did both – which shouldn’t be surprising, really. Ever read the Old Testament? Perhaps this was a new twist on an old bad idea, but the end result was the same: mingling the Holy with the unholy. (It never went over well then either). So why should we be surprised that the World has such a claim on this holiday or the things surrounding it, regardless of the name we give it or the attempt by a few to claim it as the time to celebrate the birth of our Lord?
As Christians, we can use this man-made holiday to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. There are many wonderful things that happen this time of year. People in general think about giving to those less fortunate, even if they ignore them the rest of the year. Families get together. But there are many holiday specific things that are rooted in ungodliness waiting to devour who it may. Should we be surprised that retail takes advantage of the holiday mood to capitalize on buying goods in a culture obsessed with materialism?
It may seem like a small thing to you, but the more I study the Word of God in its cultural and linguistical context, the more deception I see clouding the eyes of our understanding, and as time moves on, things that would have caused alarm in one generation are dismissed by another because when change is slow and subtle enough, it goes virtually unnoticed. It has been that way since the beginning of time and is a tried and tested maneuver by the enemy of our souls. Is there any doubt he is busy at work during this time of year? Suicide rates skyrocket from Thanksgiving through New Years.
Amidst the pretty lights and outward cheer of the season, people are literally dying to know truth and be set free.
Keith Green had this revealing illustration of people on a dock, dressed in party clothes, sipping tea and eating h'ordourves while all around them people are drowning in the water, but the people on the dock are oblivious. He said “The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can’t fight ‘cause its asleep in the light” That is a picture of Christmas IMO.
Like me, did you grow up believing Christ was born on a cold winter’s night and that He was born in a Stable with barn animals all around? Where in scripture did we get that from? NOWHERE. It came from songs and such that were written with the false perception that Christmas was celebrated because that is when Christ was born because we celebrate our own birthdays on the dates we were born, when in fact, it had nothing to do with the date of His birth, but as stated previously. Picture these poor shivering shepherds with their sheep out in the pastures grazing on dead grass through the snow, in the cold, trying not to freeze to death (instead of in the barn where the smart shepherds had their sheep on cold winter’s nights), just so a girly choir of angels could sing to them. What’s wrong with this picture? What isn’t?! Not to mention how stupid it would be to call a census of all the people to travel {on foot} in the dead of winter in the first place! The stable was a modern day Western culture assumption made because they used a manger as a crib. (In a barn full of animals because it was a cold winter’s night).
A Heavenly Host, that is, an ARMY of Angels appeared to the shepherds. They had to tell them to not be afraid. Like the moon reflects the sun, they probably radiated with a mere reflection of the glory of the God in Whose Presence they had just been. Think for a minute how overwhelming this must have been! I wonder if an army of angels is what frightened the Roman soldiers at the tomb of Jesus – so much so they fled, knowing this meant they chose death for leaving their posts. That is pretty powerful fear. The kind of fear that makes people wet themselves. Seriously. It had to be amazing and terrifying!
There are so many things our culture associates with Christ’s birth that are actually very different from the truth revealed in God’s Word, and yet so many cling to them as if our whole faith will unravel if it isn’t true because we have our “warm-fuzzy” feelings associated with it. I know people who think the little drummer boy is in the Bible and are shocked to find out it is not. Some will even argue, and I’ll give $1,000 to anyone who can find it – it is not there, but hey, if it gets someone into the Word of God, so be it!
Like me, did you grow up thinking three wise men came to see the baby Jesus on the night of His birth, right after the shepherds? (Did you know what wise men were and how this experience changed them?) The Hebrew text of the Word in Matthew 2 refers to these men arriving at the house of the young child. His house, not a temporary lodging. A young child, a toddler in age, not a baby. Three types of gifts are listed by name, but it is most likely there were several men in the party if you study history and context.
Does it matter when Christ was born? Does it matter when we celebrate it?
Does it matter that God already had a celebration for the birth of His Son (at the time He was most certainly born) within the Feast of Tabernacles (God come to dwell among us), and the Gentile world disregarded it because those who associated with Messianic Judaism (which is what Christianity is) years before were persecuted to death? Are we more concerned with the opinions of men and our good feelings than we are with the opinions of God if we find the answers are yes? (I Thess. 2:4)
Were the Priests who came up with the idea of a Christ Mass trying to do a good thing? Were they deceived or perhaps misguided despite their best of intentions? (Considering a Mass is for a dead person, and Christ is Alive aside). Can we reach people for Christ through this holiday we call Christmas? YES!
But we need to not be ignorant of the truth we are professing to claim.
In Jeremiah, God said people perish for their lack of knowledge. I think this is true today.
God also said we would be better off to have a millstone around our necks and be drowned than to lead a soul astray, especially children. So this is serious business deserving our attention.
Is it ever okay to lie or is lying always sin?
Lying is what the enemy of our souls does best.
Do we want to be like him?
So what about our modern day Santa (BTW, move the letter n and you spell satan). Our culture gives him the three Omni’s: Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient. (He sees you when you sleep and when you wake, he knows who is good and bad, he has the power to give or not). How can the World not see that ONLY THE LORD GOD MOST HIGH - POSESSOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient?!?!?! We blaspheme Him with a false idol when we tell children to “Just Believe in the magic of Christmas and in santa who will bring them presents if they have been good enough”
Then, without skipping a beat, turn around and say with almost the same conviction: “Jesus is the reason for the season, if you Believe in Him, you will have Eternal Life.”
If you are a liar about one, why should anyone believe what you say about the other?
Magic is the enemy’s counterfeit of miracles. Just Believe is the new age idea of tolerance for all religious thought (however blind or mindless) as a means to Heaven. Santa perpetuates giving God our ‘wish lists’ if we can just be good enough for Him to see fit to give them to us, along with the idea of earning our salvation. Most Christians will say “Well, I don’t take it that way” but don’t realize the subtleness of idolatry is a stealth bomber flying under the radar of our understanding or how a Lost World has taken it all to heart.
I’m not trying to be all negative. The Good News of Jesus Christ is AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and He wants us to Live in the Joy of the Lord! Not the joy of the world. If we who profess to know the truth deny or ignore the evil in the world, we will find ourselves part of it without even knowing it because it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing inside our own camp, stealing right under our noses. We are told Satan disguises himself as an angel of light so that he might deceive and seduce us away from God.
Many professing Christians are ignorant that a portion of the World sees right through this farce and spits in God’s face because of it. (Although as some countries are “Westernized” they have adopted the same lies as “cute” or “quaint”). A Jewish girl I went to grade school with once commented how stupid all the Christian kids were and how disappointed they were going to be when they realized Santa and Jesus were both fakes. Her heart was closed to hearing about her Messiah because of the place Santa has in the “Christian” culture. She is only one of many Jewish people with this stumbling block.
Daniel walked among idolatry. He was made the Chief over all the magicians, diviners, seers {all these things forbidden by God}, but he did not partake of those things. Instead he remained uncompromisingly faithful to the Lord. I think when we know the whole truth of the Christmas holiday, then we can be like Daniel, not partakers of idolatry and lies, but servants of the Lord who can be trusted to speak the truth with Love to the many who are open to hear of the wonderful gift of salvation that has been given in Jesus to all who will receive.
So I am not saying we should necessarily abandon the whole idea of celebrating the birth of our Lord during the celebration called Christmas, but we need to put it in perspective with the world in which we live. For one thing, if we are going to call it Christmas, we need to recognize that we are indeed using the Name of Christ to identify it, which is serious business. We are told not to say things mindlessly or repetitiously – our words should mean something. If we use the Name of the Lord without embracing Who and What He is, we are using His Name in vain.
Does flippantly crying out “Merry Christmas” to everyone we meet really carry any value or meaning? Is it just some mindless thing we repeat for the sake of a holiday? When you ask the lost world to call it Christmas, you are asking them to use the Name of the Lord. And if they use that Name without embracing its meaning, you are asking them to use the Name of the Lord vainly. So maybe happy holidays is appropriate for the world, and maybe Merry Christmas should be reserved only for those who embrace its meaning.
And just repeating words over and over, does that convey its meaning to the lost world – or is it Christianeze and you have to be a member of the club to ‘get it’? I don’t know the answers, but I know what Merry Christmas means to me:
“Rejoice! for the Christ came to dwell among Mankind and we are celebrating His birth, and the gift of Salvation to the world. Come celebrate with me!” I can’t say one without saying the other, and in it, is the opportunity to share our Christ with a lost and dying world.
posted by Shirley @ 4:39 PM
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