The Meaning of Christmas

[RonD1120 62]

John 1New King James Version (NKJV)
The Eternal Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Moses came a God gave him the Law. Man could not live up to the Law. Jesus came and brougt grace and truth. That is the true meaning of Christmas.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Phil1111 1,149]

Sorry you're wrong.

The meaning is for everyone including non Christians. Is to buy, buy and buy some more. To turn excess consumption into a competitive sport. Endlessly discuss the best apps to utilize Amazon Prime, etc. and get crap you and your loved ones don't really need.

Instead of donating to a animal shelter or a charity. Its:
An alarming number of shoppers are still paying off debt from last Christmas
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/budget-and-spending/2017/11/20/alarming-number-shoppers-still-paying-off-debt-last-christmas/874304001/

Bah humbug,pass the rum and eggnog.

Oh hold-on. I see a popup add on this page. Its from Chutingstar, Holiday Deals..MMMMM... need to check it out!

[rifleman 70]

Christmas is a superimposed religious festival designed to coincide with the Pagan midwinter festival (Yule, Saturnalia or whichever version floats your boat). It certainly existed long before Christianity (of whatever flavour took hold) and is characterised by log fires, large amounts of food and lots of alcohol. It celebrates the return of the sun following the winter solstice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/for_christmas/_new_year/pagan_christmas/37276.stm

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[kallend 2,027]

I enjoy the (northern hemisphere) winter solstice festivals. Cool that all these different cultures celebrated an astronomical event in much the same way.

It's solstice for everyone regardless of belief.

I hope everyone's solstice is a happy one.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[gowlerk 2,200]

Merry Christmas Ron. And may all the joy of the season be upon you and yours.

Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

[normiss 801]

The only church people in our large family are ruining the family get together this year due to their refusal to go to a service at a time that works with the schedule of a very large group.
Most people are refusing to tolerate a 4 hour break in the festivities to wait for them due to kids needing to be home and in bed at a decent hour.
If only there were 6 different services on Christmas eve and Christmas day for them to chose from.
We won't miss them this year as they are very difficult people to interact with and the wife is pretty much a drunken disaster anyway. I guess there's still a chance she will drunkenly stumble and fall through the glass shower door. Again. For the 4th time.
So very christian of them.

I've long felt the meaning of Christmas was family.

Merry Christmas to everyone here, I hope we all enjoy the family time.....or the skydiving boogie of your choice for that matter!

[ryoder 1,590]

rifleman

Christmas is a superimposed religious festival designed to coincide with the Pagan midwinter festival (Yule, Saturnalia or whichever version floats your boat). It certainly existed long before Christianity (of whatever flavour took hold) and is characterised by log fires, large amounts of food and lots of alcohol. It celebrates the return of the sun following the winter solstice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/for_christmas/_new_year/pagan_christmas/37276.stm

Here is a shortened version of one of Adam Conovers infotainment pieces on Xmas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D11jAEKgB2o

And the really amusing thing is that the Puritans banned it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Puritan_New_England

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[kallend 2,027]

ryoder

***Christmas is a superimposed religious festival designed to coincide with the Pagan midwinter festival (Yule, Saturnalia or whichever version floats your boat). It certainly existed long before Christianity (of whatever flavour took hold) and is characterised by log fires, large amounts of food and lots of alcohol. It celebrates the return of the sun following the winter solstice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/for_christmas/_new_year/pagan_christmas/37276.stm

Here is a shortened version of one of Adam Conovers infotainment pieces on Xmas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D11jAEKgB2o

And the really amusing thing is that the Puritans banned it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Puritan_New_England

It's funny how American kids are taught that the Mayflower pilgrims fled to escape religious persecution, when it was their religion that was by far the most intolerant and obnoxious, and pretty much no-one else in England could stand them and their preachy self-righteous ways.

Not much different from the religious right today.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rushmc 23]

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

Merry Christmas Ron. I pray that the peace that you find in your religion will continue for you and yours. Again, Merry Christmas. Marc

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[Bob_Church 7]

ryoder

***Christmas is a superimposed religious festival designed to coincide with the Pagan midwinter festival (Yule, Saturnalia or whichever version floats your boat). It certainly existed long before Christianity (of whatever flavour took hold) and is characterised by log fires, large amounts of food and lots of alcohol. It celebrates the return of the sun following the winter solstice.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/for_christmas/_new_year/pagan_christmas/37276.stm

Here is a shortened version of one of Adam Conovers infotainment pieces on Xmas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D11jAEKgB2o

And the really amusing thing is that the Puritans banned it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Puritan_New_England

The biggest irony of modern Christmas to me is the travel. In the 19th Century and even a lot of the 20th this was a dark snowy time when it was best to light up the house and visit each other locally. And personally I think it still is. Only now what do so many people have to do? Buy a ticket on an airline and try to fly through Chicago during the worst time of the year.

[AlanS 1]

Merry Christmas Ron.

[434 2]

Is to celebrate mother earth and father sun. Respect the natural laws and bring the family together for a feast.

The rest we are claiming is just fairy tales.

[winsor 236]

RonD1120

John 1New King James Version (NKJV)
The Eternal Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Moses came a God gave him the Law. Man could not live up to the Law. Jesus came and brougt grace and truth. That is the true meaning of Christmas.

Of the 613 Mitzvot, there is nobody to whom all apply. Some are specific to men or women, some are specific to Kohanim (Priests), some to butchers and so forth.

In practice we cherry pick amongst the others. Where stoning people at the drop of a hat appears mandated, we are closer to using the Bob Dylan interpretation. We also tend to gloss over those Mitzvot mandating genocide.

Given the combination of redaction, lack of original texts, cherry picking of texts (see apocrypha) and questionable translations, accepting verbatim any variant of the 'New Testament' is a stretch. "The Passover Plot," despite its title, is a remarkably dispassionate review of the Christian Scriptures, and actually lends credence to much of what "is written."

As best as we can tell, Cousin Jesus was an observant Jew who was the son of Joseph per the criteria for the 'Messiah' laid out in Isaiah, as specified in Matthew and Luke. The 'Virgin Birth' story line is European in origin, and did not enter the narrative for some hundreds of years after he left the building. There is nothing to suggest that he was born on the Winter Solstice, and his 'birthday' was selected to coincide with the Pagan Yule festival for political reasons.

The Tannenbaum is of purely Pagan origin, 'Santa Claus' as we know him was the brainchild of Thomas Nast.

All that regardless, Merry Christmas!

[RMK 3]

Jesus was not born on 25 December; all evidence points that he wasn’t even born in the month. This fallacy just “jumped on the back” of the mid-winter pagan festivals and for modern man so neatly fits with the end of Q4 and the fiscal year.

Google the research on the exact date yourself, however here’s a couple points noting extracts from your “favourite book”:

1. We know that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:7-8).
Shepherds were not in the fields during December. According to Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, Luke’s account “suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night” (p. 309).
Similarly, The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary says this passage argues “against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted” shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields at night.

2. Jesus’ parents came to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census (Luke 2:1-4).
Such censuses were not taken in winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor condition. Taking a census under such conditions would have been self-defeating.

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[RonD1120 62]

We all know that. Most place the birth of Jesus sometime in Autumn, maybe October. I believe the Romans established the December ritual.

The when does not matter. The Who means everything.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[RonD1120 62]

Given what you say is true, the Holy Spirit still worked it out to get the message of the Gospel of Christ to the world.

Blessings to you and yours.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[Phil1111 1,149]

Merry Christmas to you Ron and your family. Best wishes in the new year.

And the same to everyone else!

[kallend 2,027]

RonD1120

The Who means everything.

I like Pete Townshend too, but prefer the Stones.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.