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Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa
No one is introducing anything about Holy three piece suits that are worn to celebrate Jesus Christ.
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Your premise was that it's not in the bible. Period. I can make the same arguments about Christmas for most Christians. It's not taught as a doctrine in churches that you have to celebrate it, that you have to have a tree...that jesus was born on this day. Just like your three piece suit....BTW are you against Christmas because it celebrates jesus Christ or are you against it because it's not in the bible to celebrate it?
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How can one shun a moment in history that passes every year no matter if they like it or not? These moments also cause you to become older and it's not just you but where you live, the job you work at, people you have known through the years, etc, etc. Do you acknowledge these dates, or do you throw elaborate celebrations to honor yourself as some king.
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They are NOT in the bible, just like your three piece suit, the trinity and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Your argument was based on whether or not it's found in the bible. We can spend a day or so going over what is or is not found in the bible.
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Even what I posted above still has nothing to do with the Bible, and therefore anyone who is presently involved with those type celebrations NEVER say that they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Shinto, or Baptist.
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But that IS exactly the point. Your assertion was based on something NOT being biblical...we shun the Trinity because it is not biblical....all these other things are not biblical either. The difference is this...are certain things that are NOT biblical being promoted as being biblical or are they bein promoted as a requirement or doctrine to hold and believe? No, but if they are and they are not biblical they DO need to be shunned then.
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Xmas on the other hand is called a CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION and it's NOT. It's a tradition held over from paganism, and therefore it was never part of the Christian experience.
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Christmas is called a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ BUT it is NOT mandated. It is not taught as a biblical concept or doctrine.
Do you celebrate the Resurrection? While Christmas is a later addition "Easter" or The Resurrection WAS celebrated. Christmas was added in the 4th century and the date many believe was chosen because the bible does not give the date and the thought absorbing the 25th as a Christian holiday would help convert pagans over to Christianity. That alone does not make celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ a pagan holiday...Jesus is not a pagan deity.
Christmas as it is celebrated today by many, christian and non-christian, has notihng to do with the originality of that decision. Those practices were added later on and during the later years in the middle centuries it was really a time like mardi gras or Halloween. It was full of debauchery and was not about the meek and mild christ
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By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated.
On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today's Mardi Gras. http://www.history.com/minisite.do?c...2&mini_id=1290
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Christmas as we know it is really an Ameican invention.
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In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston.
In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?c...3&mini_id=1290
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Washington Irving invented American Christmas
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It wasn't until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia.
In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. - in fact, many historians say that Irving's account actually "invented" tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season.
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?c...4&mini_id=1290
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BTW I quoted portions of the above since I did not have time to email and ask if I can cite the entire content, but it's an interesting read if you all would go back and read it all.
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Instead they
Call it a Catholic celebration that is closer to the truth than saying it's Christian or Apostolic.
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Christmas is really a secular Holiday, but for many Christians it is about not only the birth of Christ but the spirit of Christ in giving and fellowship. It's sad that it is become so commercialized and more about family than helping the poor, but that does not mean you or I should not do better on this day or this time of the year as through all days of the year
In Jesus name