Traditions of Men

What Christmas are you celebrating?

It seems the world has 3 very different views of this annual event.

First are those that see Christmas as a sacred event. The claim states that Jesus was born on December 25th and all our hope and faith surround this epic event.

Churches spend nearly 40% of their annual budget on reeling in the lost to hear the miracle of Christs birth. While I believe this story needs our attention and should be shared … this attention to a birthday is not typical of 1st century Hebrews.

The truth of the timing of the birth of the Messiah is found in Luke 1:1-17 and in Isaiah. Your knowledge of the Old Testament is paramount to the things revealed in the New Testament and Luke states this specifically in verse 4. Then in verse 5 he lays it out in detail. (Link in comments)

This description would allow for the timing of the conception to have occurred around the winter solstice resulting in a September birth. Based again on Isaiah’s prophecy where we are told he would be called Emmanuel (meaning God living among us) and that the Feast of Tabernacles (means to live among them) occurred at this exact time. It is only logical that God did “all that he pleasures” on a day he has already set aside as holy.

This fact eliminates any possibility of Christmas having anything to do with Biblical faith.

The Second perception of Christmas is a position accepting the day is incorrect but the celebration is still a religious event with heavy societal expectations. This is where the “grinch” and “Scrooge” get their infamy. There is this robotic compulsion to avoid being ostracized by the mainstream.

God specifically addressed this with the believers coming out of Egypt telling them to NOT take on the habits and traditions of the land in which He was sending them. (Deuteronomy)

The prohibition of cutting evergreens and decoration of them and the possession of them in home is recorded in Jeremiah hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. Additional warning from the prophets state the people were sinning by mixing the profane with the holy. This is the main topic overlooked by the church when it claims the New Testament is a replacement of the Old Testament.

“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt.15.7-9

The 3rd approach is purely societal or secular and the attempt is to create an atmosphere of “warmth” or “gratitude” that ultimately results in generosity and brotherhood. Sounds like a great thing and may actually work over a percentage of the population. Still we hear story after story about explosive and violent public gatherings, some at corporate parties and some at family homes.

Black Friday was a term initiated as one to talk about the profits from Christmas shopping yet the irony is this day is notorious for people fighting and even killing others over merchandise. Generosity is eroded by the self gratification in garnering a “gift” that can be boasted about in latter days.

The study of Saturnalia of the Romans, the Yule of the Celts, the worship of Ashteroh and many others will uncover the traditions that so many have just blindly embraced because another person (probably a parent that fell for the same stories) and have never rooted out for themselves.

Saturnalia specifically was nothing more than a Mardi Gras style event over several days. Gluttonous speads focused on unbiblical foods … endless alcohol abuse … public fornication … brawls and murder … all common elements while people went house to house bearing “gifts” all in celebration of the god Saturn.

For me… I choose the Feast of Tabernacles and denounce the December debacle called Christmas.