Happy Holidays!
I love the days ahead, Christmas and the new year season! I chuckle though, when I hear well meaning Christians arguing their position on declaring the true meaning of our celebrations. It is most honorable that we are to the defense of “Christ” in these holidays; but let us not argue in vain. I am persuaded that whatever we do under the title and in the vein of Christianity, we must do according to the absolute truth. Jesus declared that those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth.
For a little history: The truth is that the Lord our Saviour, Jesus Christ was born in the month April. However, there were many underworld or pagan gods born or re-born on December 25th. This celebration finds its roots in Babylonian culture. Their winter solstice is the day of the year where daylight is the shortest. December 25th was the date each year when days became noticeably longer. Thus, it was fitting for the early pagans to designate this as the date of the re-birth of the sun god. Thousands of years before Santa Claus, there was the god Nimrod who supposedly visited a tree and left gifts every December 25th.
According to ancient Babylonian traditions, Semiramis (who eventually became known as the goddess Astarte/ Asherah/ Ashtoreth/Isis/Ishtar/Easter in their pagan religions) claimed that after the untimely death of her son/husband Nimrod (yes, she married her own son), a full grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump and left gifts celebrating the anniversary of his birth. This is the true origin of the Christmas tree. (We will finish this next week).
Jesus came to buy our liberty!
Let no man therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind.
Christians, most often, error in two verbal wars, (1) keeping Christ in Christmas, (2) Declaring that Christmas has become all about money. Studies show that from the 12th century through 17th century, this holiday was all about money and selfishness; so much that it was banned in the 17th century. As its counterpart Halloween, this pagan culture permitted death, bloodshed and other acts of violence during this season of celebration, even by children, hence the toys’ emphasis (next week) . It was reborn late 17th to 18th century by the Catholic order; influenced by commerce. The Catholic Church cleaned it up for us, the church today.
My conclusion for this week: Let every man be persuaded by his own opinion. You must determine why you do what you do! If you find any holiday to be a hardship, remember, this is not a God-inflicted wound but a man made tradition. Let’s talk about it. I value your opinion.
Electra Adams – electra.gethsemaneministries@yahoo.com. For His Glory!
