Christmas = Evolved Satanic ritual

well, not satanic by my standards, but definately by the bibles standards.

All the major christian festivals- Christmas + Easter happen to fall on or extremely close to the original "pagan" festivals which celebrate/recognise the changing seasons.

Winter solestice (Dec 21st) happens to be the strongest time for the wiccan (witchcraft) personification of the energies of winter (the holly king).
It is a time for recognition of the natural world, and it's resiliance to weather using symbolic examples of plantlife that prospers even in the darker half of the year. (e.g. the evergreen pine trees and holly that you all drag into your homes "in the name of christ")

Plus, until intervention (in the 50's?)through advertising by the coca-cola company, santa always wore green. A green-clad man with a big white beard has always been a traditional image of the holly king. This predates christianity in England by a very long time. Do you tell your kids bout Santa?

So that's one wiccan (apparantly satanic) ritual that most of you probably join in with annually. Do you not fear for your souls?

As for easter (much older wiccan name Ostara), the celebration of the spring, when the warmth begins to coax life back into the earth. A time for recognition of the energies involved in new-life, rebirth of the earth after it's death in the winter etc. (symbols of this being chicks, eggs, etc) Jesus sure chose a convienient time to come back, no? Any of you buy easter eggs?
Another satanic black mark against your christian souls!

The point is, christianity came to this country when it already had a long upheald religious tradition, and basically intergrated itself into that. It laid it's festivals over the pre-existing ones and kept a lot of the traditions to facilitate converting people more easily.

Although most people no longer realise the significance of the rituals they go through every year, the old Celtic, and Wiccan idea of aknowledging the wonders of the seasons are very much still part of modern society.

If you adhere to any of these traditions, doesn't that by your own standards make you satan worshippers?

 

there were christians in NT times (maybe the galatians I think) and they were squabbling about different feast days and such and Paul wrote them that they shouldn't focus on that. It's about the Lord who is worshipped on the feast, not about the feast on which the Lord is worshipped.

 

lots of people say the reason many christian holidays fall on pagan ones was a way for the early church to gain converts among the pagans.

 

As Christianity spread through the old pagan world, it took on board many pre-christian elements. You are dead right about easter and christmas - the local populations were used to having a feast at these times of year. It would have been difficult for Christian missionaries to tell them they had to stop! The problem was solved by incorporating the dates of the old festivals into the christian calendar.
Also, with christmas, some traditional elements go back to pre-christian times - holly and ivy, and above all miseltoe are all pagan things.
Here in England, the same sites regarded as sacred by pre-christians were often used to site new churches. And in many early churches, even some of the stone carvings represent what were previously local deities.
There are many other things, includung the imperial purple of Rome transfered to Catholic bishops and so on.

 

The church did kinda take over pagan holidays. It was during the rise of the Catholic Church (paticularly under Constantine), and was a powerful tool for conversion. In fact, had they not done it christianity would not be as widespread as it is today.

Although paganism isn't satanic by any means, christians do seem to consider pagans "satan worshippers". Or at least they don't know the difference.


What is interesting about christians, American christians in paticular, is that they have little knoweldge of the history of their religion and aren't aware that their own holidays were pagan celebrations long before christianity claimed them as significant days (among many other things).

 

Dear astralgodlfish,

get a real hobby

much love and adoration

all rhodesian reject

 

That is why I do not celebrate, "Easter", or, "Christmas". I celebrate Christ's physical birth and ressurection.

 

You have a giant picure of the Ummmm-bops, and you want me to get a hobby?
Anyway, this is interesting. discussion like this face to face with interested christian groups generally turns into to evangelism very quickly.