Written by Darryl James, (Columnist), on 12-11-2008 00:00
Favoured
66
For most of the Free World, Christmas is a holiday season celebrated more for its shopping, overeating and gift giving than the actual religious significance it once contained.
The season is represented by silver and gold adorned trees, as well as colorful twinkling lights spilling over homes, churches and businesses.
Family and friends exchange gifts, kiss under mistletoe, burn Yule logs and yet, sadly, most people have no idea where the Christmas holiday traditions come from, but they swear that it is all about Jesus.
The Christmas holiday as we know it is really an aggregation of a bunch of mythology and customs that were actually around before the birth of Jesus. And, the actual birth of Jesus has been placed somewhere around September.
And, while some Christians may not want to hear it, even the story of a god's rebirth into a new being predates Jesus.
December 25th as a commemorative date was a Roman celebration of Saturn, who was the rebirth of the Sun God. According to the Romans, the Sun God was resurrected three days after his death. This resurrection caused the Romans to celebrate with gift giving and processions of celebration featuring priests carrying wreaths of evergreen boughs.
So, how did the pagan traditions become merged with Christian traditions?
If we take a look at the history of the Roman Catholic Church, we see that the church repeatedly absorbed the traditions of as many groups as possible in order to increase its dominion.
We know that Martin Luther initiated the Reformation in 1517 and when the pagans came into the Christian church, they brought their pagan celebration of Christmas with them.
In 1611, when King James made his version of the Bible available to all people in England, other versions also became conspicuous and the roots of Christmas were revealed
Jeremiah 10:2-4 states: "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen; and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest. The work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not."
Eventually, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed as witchcraft.
However, as other versions of the Bible kept creeping up, so did the celebration of Christmas. The goal was to keep as many people under the Christian umbrella as possible, and allowing them to hold on to their traditions was a good way to continue the "Reformation."
The very word "Christmas" combines "Christ" and "Mass."
"Mass" literally means death and the ritual of Mass, once incorporated into Christianity referred to the death of Christ and the "Host," which is Latin for victim.
As for the actual Christmas tree, the Germans used the Evergreen tree to worship the Yule God. Sound familiar? Of course-Yuletide greetings...Yule logs..."Yuletide carols being sung by the choir..." The Germans also had a tradition of giving gifts as a part of the Yule celebration.
A Winter Solstice celebration, Yule was Christianized as Christmas and imbued with the birth of Jesus story. The Romans incorporated this and a number of other pagan celebrations starting when Constantine recreated, rewrote and consolidated Christianity and the Bible in 432 AD.
And finally, the German Yule celebration included hanging mistletoe and holly. How "Christian" are these symbols? Let's see...going back to the Sun God, worshippers believed that the white berries on the mistletoe represented the Sun God's semen, while the red holly was held by witches to represent the menstrual blood of heaven's queen, Diana.
There are also other fertility references, including the evergreen tree, which was regarded as a symbol of the essence of life and was used as a phallic symbol in the rituals of fertility worship.
Of course, since many Christians never really read the Bible or study history, I will be seen as evil and a hater of Christians, which is okay, because those who will label me as such are stupid anyway.
But, let's take a look at who believes in God.
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, ten percent of Protestants, twenty-one percent of Roman Catholics and fifty-two percent of Jews do not believe in God. Surprised? Well, there's more that may also shock you.
Eighty-four per cent of women believe in God, while only seventy-three per cent of men do.
In terms of education and faith, eighty-two per cent of those with no college education believe in God, while only seventy-three per cent of those who went to college have faith.
Eighty-seven per cent of Republicans believe, while seventy-eight percent of Democrats and seventy-five percent of Independents have faith.
When it comes to race, guess who has the greatest faith? African Americans lead the faithful at ninety-one percent, while eighty-one percent of Hispanics and only seventy-eight percent of whites have faith.
That brings us back to the holiday season. Many people do not believe in God and yet they celebrate Christmas. Still, others believe in God, but do not believe in Jesus Christ and yet, they too, celebrate Christmas.
The season has come to symbolize much more than the Christian holiday it originally was designed to be. It is now a season--a season of love and giving, a season of understanding and a season of peace and kindness.
Such a powerful season should have a powerful impact on people, particularly men and women who claim to love and believe in Jesus Christ, who, incidentally, was not a Christian.
I'll deal with that in depth next week.
Darryl Jamesis an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology "Notes From The Edge." He released his first mini-movie, "Crack," and will soon release his first full-length documentary. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at
Man, that's what i love about you DJ. Always putting things in perspective. I learn a lot by reading your articles every week. Keep up the good work my friend. 06'
Posted by Early Times, on 12-03-2009 16:23,
Once you start reading, you can't stop! It is indeed well done, a timely and informative must-read.
So into Favorites it goes, to be revisited again and again.
Posted by jazmin, on 12-07-2009 14:33,
I agree with you Darryl James, nowadays people are not interested in investigating the for celebrating Christmas, and those who know the truth are influenced by this environment. I do not celebrate these holidays pagna end of the year because I know the truth of the Bible and it does not say that we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, but Jesus in the Bible tells us that we celebrate his death (Luke 22:19,20) and that for this we can obtain salvation and that is what Jehovah's Witnesses do every year on the day falling 14 Nisan.
P.S. I hope you can understand what and writing as I had to translate from Spanish into English. I do not know English.
Posted by Ben Israel, on 12-07-2009 17:45,
I appreciate that because thats the truth. What's appalling is so many church leaders know that yet they continue with the lie instead of standing up for the truth. We have been duped into bowing at Europes pagan altars for centuries and we teach our children to do so. Days of the week and most months of the year are named after Europes false gods. The planets are also named for their false gods.
Thanks for bringing some truth to your people. Babylon and Babel has Fallen! Black Jesus shall reign!
Posted by G Watts, on 12-18-2009 07:25,
Got a question about this statement, ""Mass" literally means death and the ritual of Mass, once incorporated into Christianity referred to the death of Christ and the "Host," which is Latin for victim."
I looked it up and Mass in Latin and it means 'dismissal'. I also looked up death in Latin and here are the words that popped up: nex, mortalitas, mors mortis, letum, plecto aliquem capite, excessum, decessus.
So I'm not understanding this line of reasoning.
Posted by Kerry, on 12-22-2009 21:53,
I agree that we as a society has perverted the Christmas holiday. The reason Christians started celebrating the birth of Christ during the same time pagans worshipped Saturn or whatever pagans were celbrating wasn't to incorporate pagan religion with Chritianity. It was to remind pagans that there is a Holy and righteous God in heaven, and to celebrate His birth, death and resurrection opposed to pagan rituals.
By the way, Constantine did not re-write or write the Bible. Constantine, a new believer in Christ had the Church "fathers" gather to answer the "Arian" heresey, those who didn't believe in the deity of Christ. All of these Church "fathers" except for one, Arian, confirmed what had always been taught since the death of Christ, that Christ was God in the flesh, lived a sinless life, was crucified for our sins and rose on the third day, defeating death. Since you are such a big fan of history and the Bible, if you bother reading the Nicene Creed and then read your Bible, everything written in the Nicene Creed is supported by Biblical texts (I can send you a copy of the Nicene Creed with accompnying texts if you like). King James didn't write a version of the Bible. King James assembled Christian theologians who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English. Christmas, Christ mas is another way of saying Holy Messiah. The word Christ is derived from the Greek word Christos, meaning Messiah. Mass derived from the Latin word Holy. You could have found this in any encyclopedia, assuming you didn't have a preconceived agenda.
You also seem to be saying that educated people tend to believe less in God then those uneducated. I'm sure this is a yet another slight. Just so you know, schools such as Harvard, Princeto and Yale were founded by Christians as seminary's so God's word could be proclaimed. I also noticed that you say that Jesus wasn't a Christian. No need to argue that point, true Judaism points to Jesus, all one has to do is read the O.T.
Posted by Darryl James, on 12-24-2009 13:54,
Kerry, the essential problem with dogmatic Christians such as yourself is that you want everyone to think as you do and you become angry when we do not. Your snide and silly comments such as “since you are a big fan of history," and my alleged "preconceived agenda,” are just a sign of your dogma, intolerance and ignorance, which, by the way, is not Jesus-like at all.
I disagree with your reasoning behind the pagan incorporation into Christianity and I still believe I am correct. I also disagree with you about Constantine and King James.
Don't misrepresent my words in order to make your point. I never said Constantine rewrote the Bible, but that he rewrote Christianity, which he did. You should do some historical research to find that Constantine called the Council to decide which books would go into the Bible. That’s why there are still references to books of the Bible that we have never seen, such as the Book of Remembrance. Essentially, in choosing what would go into the Bible, he rewrote Christianity.
I also never said that King James wrote a version of the Bible. I said he presented his version to the people, which he did. He commissioned a translation and oversaw the process, assuring the text would say what he wanted it to.
Finally, you are either a liar, or you just don’t have basic reading comprehension. I never said that educated people tend to believe less than the uneducated. If you were able to understand plain English, I simply presented a survey, which found those results.
Again, read and comprehend. Stop assigning things to me that just were not in my text. And stop being angry that people disagree with you. You are not Jesus, just a believer. Believe and keep it moving, because you have no idea where I am truly coming from.
Posted by Kerry, on 12-24-2009 20:54,
Darryl,
You are sadly mistaken, and you calling me stupid won't change the truth. I'm not dogmatic, just a Christian, and one who is tired of Christianity being defined and misrepresented by non believers. I don't have a problem if you choose to not to believe in the Jesus of the Bible. The Nicene Council and the Creed which followed reaffirmed what the early Church fathers had always taught and beilieved. If you should choose to some proper research instead of listeneg to "scholars" who deny the deity of Christ, you will find that the council was convened to correct the Arain heresy. All of the church fathers who voted, except one voted to reaffirm that Jesus is GOD. As far as the books of the Bible, if check further, you will see that every book that is in the New Testament was quoted in full except for 11 vwerses by the early church fathers as they preached / taught the Word of God.
You can take the King James 1611 Bible and check it against the manuscripts used and see that are the same as the Greek manuscripts they were copied / translated from. As for these other books of the Bible that were left out, if you read them carefully, you will see that they contradict scripture, both OLd and New Testament. This is why theye were excluded because they weren't inspired from God, not because of some conspiriacy to hide the truth. Please explain how Christianity was rewritten. How was Christianity prior to the Nicene Council if what I'm saying isn't true? Where is your historical proof that the King James Bible is not a true translation of the Textus Receptus?
