Oooooh, thank you for this. I was just debating this with an atheist friend of mine. I was trying to explain to him that even if Christians did adopt certain customs in their celebrations over the years, that Christmas nonetheless still originated as a Christian feast day in the Church... Hence the name, "Christ's Mass." Another thing that one of my priests told me was that one reason for lining up the day with the winter solstice was that persecution of Christians was so rampant and it was hard for Christians to celebrate elaborate feast days. He said that part of the reasoning for lining it up with this drunken celebration was that it made it easier to celebrate without being caught. & I assume that naturally trees and other decorations of pagan origin would have been added, since it was a cultural norm to decorate with these items...
Also keep in mind that something being "pagan" didn't necessarily mean it was evil. Decorating trees isn't evil. So, just take the meaning and change it into a Christian meaning... a tree that Jesus hung upon and took our curse, presents as Christ's grace is a present to us....
Take what is GOOD! Remember the world and everything there in is God's. All good comes from God and we can confidently embrace all good no matter who is doing it!
King David plundered many things from pagan nations around him and all he did was send the items through fire or water to "baptize" them and then he placed them in the TEMPLE for use.
2 comments:
Oooooh, thank you for this. I was just debating this with an atheist friend of mine. I was trying to explain to him that even if Christians did adopt certain customs in their celebrations over the years, that Christmas nonetheless still originated as a Christian feast day in the Church... Hence the name, "Christ's Mass." Another thing that one of my priests told me was that one reason for lining up the day with the winter solstice was that persecution of Christians was so rampant and it was hard for Christians to celebrate elaborate feast days. He said that part of the reasoning for lining it up with this drunken celebration was that it made it easier to celebrate without being caught. & I assume that naturally trees and other decorations of pagan origin would have been added, since it was a cultural norm to decorate with these items...
Also keep in mind that something being "pagan" didn't necessarily mean it was evil. Decorating trees isn't evil. So, just take the meaning and change it into a Christian meaning... a tree that Jesus hung upon and took our curse, presents as Christ's grace is a present to us....
Take what is GOOD! Remember the world and everything there in is God's. All good comes from God and we can confidently embrace all good no matter who is doing it!
King David plundered many things from pagan nations around him and all he did was send the items through fire or water to "baptize" them and then he placed them in the TEMPLE for use.
We do the same today....
Post a Comment