I just saw this on a good friend's Facebook page and it bothered me.
Well, it's true that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ although there is speculation that he wasn't really born on December 25th. I got this information from the website of the American Presbyterian Church.
There is more than one holiday in December. We used to teach the children in our school district that people around the world celebrated many holidays in December. Christmas is also celebrated differently in other countries. The unit was called Festival of Lights. There is Chanukah, of course. There's also Diwali and Kwanzaa.
Each holiday is special to the people who celebrate it. It is hopefully a time of peace, love and reflection.
My mother is Buddhist, but she always set up a tree in our house when we were children and there was that hopeful possibility of a gift. As a little girl, we all went to the plantation manager's large mansion where he passed out gifts to us "poor" children of the laborers. I think he might have been dressed up as Santa Claus too. I can't quite remember.
When we moved to Illinois, I learned the traditions of Chanukah from our good friend, Dina and have been to midnight mass with Catholic friends. Our children were introduced to all the religions and encouraged to respect them.
At this winter holiday time, would it be possible for everyone to share the month and not claim it exclusively for their own? Could they inclusively share their holiday traditions and happiness and allow everyone to celebrate with them in their own way?
Would it be possible to wish someone a Happy Christmas or a Merry Chanukah if you know that is the religion they celebrate, but to say "Happy Holidays" if you don't? Therefore, could you leave it so that stores or public places should be allowed to wish all people happiness and not just Christians without being angry about it?
This would make for a much more peaceful, friendly, loving world, don't you think?
There were several replies after this entry with his friends all agreeing and saying things like, "Let's bring back the Christ in Christmas."
Well, it's true that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ although there is speculation that he wasn't really born on December 25th. I got this information from the website of the American Presbyterian Church.
"What the Bible does clearly teach is that Christ was born in the fall and not on December 25th. The latter date was the great pagan holy day of the ancient world. It was the birthday of the sun god, when at the winter solstice, the sun that had been in decline grew stronger again and regained new life. It was Baal’s birthday. It was Tammuz’ birthday. To the Romans it was the birthday of the invincible sun. God has given us just enough information for his purposes. He has not given us enough information to determine the exact date of Christ’s birth and thus be able to institute on mere human authority a celebration of his birth. He has also given us enough information to clearly demonstrate that Christ was not born at the time of the winter solstice and thus show us that participating in pagan traditions and resurrecting pagan festivals on the basis of a pretended birth of Christ at that time of year is totally without foundation or merit. God in his wisdom has given us the information that we need. May we have the wisdom to walk according to that knowledge and depart from evil."
Each holiday is special to the people who celebrate it. It is hopefully a time of peace, love and reflection.
My mother is Buddhist, but she always set up a tree in our house when we were children and there was that hopeful possibility of a gift. As a little girl, we all went to the plantation manager's large mansion where he passed out gifts to us "poor" children of the laborers. I think he might have been dressed up as Santa Claus too. I can't quite remember.
At this winter holiday time, would it be possible for everyone to share the month and not claim it exclusively for their own? Could they inclusively share their holiday traditions and happiness and allow everyone to celebrate with them in their own way?
Would it be possible to wish someone a Happy Christmas or a Merry Chanukah if you know that is the religion they celebrate, but to say "Happy Holidays" if you don't? Therefore, could you leave it so that stores or public places should be allowed to wish all people happiness and not just Christians without being angry about it?
This would make for a much more peaceful, friendly, loving world, don't you think?
