Around the holidays some of my Facebook 'friends' began feverishly posting status updates, links and videos that portrayed their heightened emotional/spiritual/combative state. The holidays, to me, seem like a time of stress and overstretched bank accounts. The true holiday, a celebration of our obsessive consumerism, seems masked by various religious celebrations. Of course, I was always taught to respect the beliefs of others, as I still attempt to do today. I scrolled through the various proclamations of respect for God, Jesus, or whoever was behind the 'real' reason for the season that began filling my News Feed on the addictive social network. One individual in particular caught my attention. He was ranting and raving about the truth vs. tradition. His status was as follows:
"Is Jesus really the reason for the season? & can we put the Christ back into Christmas... if he was never really there in the first place? what will you follow? TRUTH or tradition?"
He then continued by citing the bible:
"lets see what the bible has to say about this holiday...THE CHRISTMAS TREE FORBIDDEN-
Jeremiah 10
2Thus 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.
3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a treeout of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
CHRIST'S BIRTHDAY? NO WAY-
Christ nor the apostles acknowledged birthday celebrations... only the pagans did..
Christ was not even born anywhere near December 25th...
according to most scholars Christ was actually born during late September... it would have been too cold for him to be born in a manger during winter time in jerusalem…
so it was not Christ who was born December 25th but NIMROD & many other pagan gods... Nimrod is the one who constructed the tower of babel in rebellion against God in the book of Genesis!
additional birthday information-
The giving of birthday gifts is a custom associated with the offering of sacrifices to pagan gods on their birthdays. Certainly the custom was linked with the same superstitions that formed the background for... birthday greetings. The exchange of presents is associated with the importance of ingratiating good and evil fairies on their or our birthdays (ibid.).
The traditional birthday cake and candles also have their origin in ancient pagan idol worship. The ancients believed that the fire of candles had magical properties. They offered prayers and made wishes to be carried to the gods on the flames of the candles. Thus we still have the widely practiced birthday custom of making a wish, then blowing out the candles. The Greeks celebrated the birthday of their moon goddess, Artemis, with cakes adorned with lighted candles...
The first century Israelite historian Josephus noted that Israelite families did not celebrate birthdays:
Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess (Josephus. Translated by W. Whiston. Against Apion, Book II, Chapter 26. Extracted from Josephus Complete Works, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids (MI), 14th printing, 1977, p. 632).
I have fond memories of christmas just like everyone else but the thing is that Gods memory reaches back farther than ours & he remembers the paganism that these man made holidays rooted from that apparently we all have forgotten...
also on every biblical account recorded of a birthday someone was murdered... on Pharaohs birthday he had the chief baker killed & on Herods birthday John the baptist was killed... Christ & the apostles knew of the pagan origins of birthdays so they did not partake in them
PAGAN ORIGINS-
Christmas or "Christ-Mass" which actually stands for Christ's death or dismissal rather than birth… hence the catholic term "Mass" is a pagan holiday which was adopted by the catholic church from the ancient Roman festival "Saturnalia" which has been celebrated long before Christ's birth during the Winter Solstice!
Saturnalia was a day where where sin & debauchery were completely lawful… homosexuals & pedophiles literally had orgies in the streets in the midst of giving gifts to one another…
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Christmas/Saturnalia/Winte
ORIGINS MATTER-
& anyone who tells u otherwise is full of philosophy & vain deceit!
it used to be bad but now its good? nope...
Ecclesiastes 1:15
[That which is] crooked cannot be made straight:
COME OUT OF BABYLON!-
christmas is nothing but a pagan Babylonian custom!
Revelation 18
4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
christians are supposed to be protestants... yet they fail to PROTEST the babylonian teachings of the Roman catholic church!
we may have forgotten these evil origins… but scripture says God has REMEMBERED her iniquities!
IDOLATRY-
christmas... we are doing the opposite of what this scripture tells us not to! we are trying to serve our God in the same manner that the pagans worshiped their gods... & that is forbidden! we are actually dishonoring our savior rather than honoring him…
Deuteronomy 12
30Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods;
Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
as u can see several gods were worshiped before Christ on this most of pagan days... so this is idolatry at its worst…
WE CANT MIX PAGANISM WITH TRUE WORSHIP-
Deuteronomy 12
21Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.
2 Corinthians 6
...for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,FALSE WORSHIP-
Matthew 15
8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
christmas is VAIN worship... it is tradition of man & NOT God... & our heavenly Father does not acknowledge it... but his scriptures actually condemn it!
John 4:24
God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
& this is FAR from worshiping in TRUTH!
all of these customs are honoring & acknowledging other gods whether we know it or not... & the bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters... now when we celebrate christmas... even though we may have a positive sentiment... we are actually showing that we despise our savior who died for our sins...
Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
u cant honor Christ & celebrate christmas at the same time when u know of its origins & paganism & how it is condemned in scripture…
choose today… Christ… or Christ-Mass… true follower of Christ… or pagan…
1 John 2:4
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 1:6
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1 John 2:15
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
YOU WORSHIP WHAT YOU KNOW NOT-
many people are thinking that they are sincerely worshipping the Most High on these days but in actuality they are not... they have no idea that they are actually worshipping, reverencing, & idolizing false deities... & this is why the Messiah said that people are worshipping what they know not...
John 4:22
Ye worship ye know not what:
Definition of Worship:
Greek 4352. proskuneó
bow down (1), bow down before (1), bowed down (1), bowed down before (2), bowing before (1), bowing down (1), prostrated himself before (1), worship (32), worshiped (17), worshipers (1), worshiping (1), worships (1).
to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore) -- worship.
now on December 25th millions bow down to the Christ-Mass tree & unwrap their presents failing to realize in doing so that they are actually reverencing/worshipping what was called a god in the book of Jeremiah chapter 10...
the Christmas tree has been forbidden in scripture... yet why do nearly all christians ignore this?
THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS-
despite the positive sentiment that many people hold during this holiday season... these holidays are actually hell days in the eyes of the Most High.... & he instructs us not to partake in them... but to rather to reprove & EXPOSE them...
Romans 10:2
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
we live in a time where people want to worship God the way that THEY want to & not necessarily the way that HE commands us to...
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them
Revelation 22:15
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Christmas is full of lies & falsehood… & its practitioners will not inherit the kingdom…
REPENT WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME-
Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
if u did not know any of this information… there is forgiveness, mercy, & grace in our heavenly Father… but it is time to repent…"
At this point I'd like to be honest, I did not read all that he put forth. If you did, I commend you! He had much to say.
With this particular friend, I often skim his postings out of morbid curiosity. However, I rarely put in my two cents. Individuals with such strong belief systems rarely will listen to another person with beliefs quite different from their own. This time, though, I did not remain silent. I had no intention of changing this person's beliefs, but I did wish to challenge them and learn more about his perspective.
"So why not embrace the pagan religion and rituals that were around before the bible? "
"people tend to confuse the bible & christianity to be one in the same... I believe in the bible but not in christianity...
the religion that christians have today roots from the notorious Roman Catholic church which is actually the mother of all modern day churches... all of the so called protestant denominations of christianity branch out from that very same evil Roman Empire that sacked & destroyed Jerusalem & its true worshippers in 70 A.D.
so I dont embrace anything that they have taught the other 38,000 false denominations of christianity under the order of their Emperor Constantine who was nothing but a pagan sun worshipper...
the traditions that christians practice today were never advocated by the Israelites in scriptures..."
the religion that christians have today roots from the notorious Roman Catholic church which is actually the mother of all modern day churches... all of the so called protestant denominations of christianity branch out from that very same evil Roman Empire that sacked & destroyed Jerusalem & its true worshippers in 70 A.D.
so I dont embrace anything that they have taught the other 38,000 false denominations of christianity under the order of their Emperor Constantine who was nothing but a pagan sun worshipper...
the traditions that christians practice today were never advocated by the Israelites in scriptures..."
"That doesn't answer my question lol what makes the bible so legitimate, but the practices of the people before the bible existed irrelevant?"
"im not sure what u mean by... "the people before the bible existed"...
scripture has been recorded since Moses & documented from the creation of the first man Adam...
the Torah was given to the Israelites... as far as the other people who didn't practice the Torah (scripture/bible) they were considered pagans... in other words they were lawless people... the Torah means Law or Instructions... & unless the other nations kept Torah as the Israelites did then they became irrelevant... (in Gods eyes)
but yes there were great empires like the ancient Egyptians who enslaved the Israelites before the Torah was given to them...
& those ancient civilizations actually remain relevant to this day in this corrupt society...
America is modeled after ancient Egypt (just look at the back of your dollar & the Washington D.C. architecture... America is also called a modern day Babylon... being that a number of our customs such as the holidays we celebrate root from ancient Babylon...
I would say that the bible is legitimate because it continues to stand the test of time prophetically... & institutes a law of moral code...
& that the other practices are irrelevant because they institute over liberal or pagan traditions as law while shunning good ethics..."
"I understand that that is your particular mythological belief system, but there are many people out there who feel equally as strong and adamant in their religious conviction as you do, and some of these people practice the "pagan/irrelevant/lawless" religions. I understand that your particular subscription to this biblical version of the "truth" inherently must reject all other versions of the "truth," but, and I go back to my original question, what makes you choose to feel the bible is more legitimate over, say, the Avesta? Or the Pahlavi? Or the Vedas? Or the Book of the Dead (Though you seem to reject such civilizations religions)?
Again, I understand that once you accepted the bible as a legitimate authoritative voice, you began to learn and research all the theological information you just gave us, but what was the decision before all that to lead you to accepting the bible as the ultimate source of "truth" for you? As in, not what the bible teaches you, but why you choose to accept its teachings and spread it's ideals over other scriptures? Because this was the religion/word of god that was most readily available for you when you needed spiritual guidance bc of your community, family or geographic locale? Your rejection of "pagan" religions reflects your acceptance of the bible as "truth," so I'm just continuously wondering, and asking you to explore within yourself, why the bible and its teachings hold such a severe, absolute and unyielding place for you, when the "truth" of other religions, even those you reject, have extreme validity to others."
To which he never responded.
I suppose the concept I'm attempting to convey is that while I do believe it is appropriate to listen to others and appreciate their own values, beliefs and opinions, sometimes it is okay to voice your own. Sometimes those of us who believe in tolerance and cultural/moral relativism seem to find ourselves in a pattern of accommodation for those individuals who are more rigid within their own beliefs. This accommodation for others can turn into a sort of passive attitude towards the important questions, debates and popular discourses of the world, and it should not. While we should remain open to listening to the individuals that surround us, we should also make our opinions and beliefs as available to them as they make theirs to us. (I use the terms "us" and "we" will fully acknowledging I may simply be referring to only me, myself and I.)
I believe the voices of those who firmly believe that 'we do not know' should also be heard.
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