Why is Christmas an international holiday based on Christianity?

Mr. Ed

Mr. Ed

Be what you is not what you what you ain’t
Location
Central NY
i do not believe in Christianity, I believe in god but not Christianity. Why among all types of spiritual relationships including a direct connection with god does Christianity surpass mankind's belief system? My views are limited to my lack of knowledge and understanding but why do most people celebrate Christmas on basis of the so called birth of Jesus?

I don't get it, if the objective is to have a relationship with god, why go through Jesus to get there? I do not believe Jesus is the only way to know god and it bothers me that many are duped into following religious mumbo-jumbo when all they have do is have faith in god.

The bible is largely responsible for this detour through Jesus in order to connect with god. People are afraid of god, daring not to upset the seemingly only given path to god, yet millions of people who do not support Christianity are happily content knowing god personally. Doesn't that make you question institutionalized religious faith? Why do you believe the way you do? Is it because you accept another person's word for it or are you afraid of possible repercussion by questioning your belief system?

I am happy I did! I was miserable trying to play Christian, I tried and I tried to believe in Jesus but nothing ever came from my efforts. As far as I know Jesus did not respond to my prayers and my objective is to know god therefore all I need is faith in god. And it worked, my life is how I commune with god each moment until the next. I am happy and complete, I do not worry about making mistakes nor do I regret my actions based on the understanding of my choices at the time. No worries I am one with god and time.

Can I interest you in some prime real estate for the afterlife? Next discussion will be on the afterlife.
 

It could be possible that you've opened a can of worms with this thread.

Not all people who believe in God do like Jesus. I remember a German book some decades ago "Why I don't like Jesus", written by a former monk. In his book he called Jesus an "eschatologic busybody".
 
Why is Christmas, an international holiday, based on Christianity? Because Christmas is a date selected as Christ's birthday. We don't know exactly when he was born (probably June based on astronomy) but at some point Christians decided to celebrate the fact that he was born, And to do it on December 25 and call it Christmas (note the word Christ in the name.) It's not Buddhamas or Higherpowermas.

Over the years it became an international holiday and many non-Christians celebrate the day just as a season of goodwill and an opportunity to give and receive gifts and get together with family.

If you don't like Jesus Christ you can still celebrate, but the event belonged to Christians first so don't act like we stole your holiday.
 

Per AI:

"The original holiday of Christmas was a pagan festival that celebrated the winter solstice and the return of longer days:



  • Saturnalia: A Roman festival that involved feasting and gift-giving



  • Sol Invictus: A celebration of the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun



  • Mithras: A celebration of the Persian solar god who was popular with Roman soldiers


The Catholic Church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25, 336 CE to replace these pagan celebrations. However, some ancient manuscripts and theories suggest that Christmas celebrations began even earlier.



The date of December 25 may have been chosen to weaken the established pagan celebrations. It was also the birthday of Mithra, the god of light and loyalty.



Many Christmas traditions today have pagan origins, including decorating trees. For example, the Wild Hunt was a pagan tradition that involved Odin racing across the sky to hunt ice giants and other evil forces. Those who disrespected the gods were said to catch bad luck, while those favored by Odin received good fortune and gifts. "
 
Some Christians still don't make such a big deal of the holiday even when they observe the core event it has been tied to. Others place the date elsewhere within the year.
 
DebraMae said:
Per AI:

"The original holiday of Christmas was a pagan festival that celebrated the winter solstice and the return of longer days:



  • Saturnalia: A Roman festival that involved feasting and gift-giving



  • Sol Invictus: A celebration of the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun



  • Mithras: A celebration of the Persian solar god who was popular with Roman soldiers

The Catholic Church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25, 336 CE to replace these pagan celebrations. However, some ancient manuscripts and theories suggest that Christmas celebrations began even earlier.



The date of December 25 may have been chosen to weaken the established pagan celebrations. It was also the birthday of Mithra, the god of light and loyalty.



Many Christmas traditions today have pagan origins, including decorating trees. For example, the Wild Hunt was a pagan tradition that involved Odin racing across the sky to hunt ice giants and other evil forces. Those who disrespected the gods were said to catch bad luck, while those favored by Odin received good fortune and gifts. "
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Well which is it? A pagan festival or a celebration to replace the pagan festival? Pagans did a lot of things, that doesn't mean other cultures can't do the same or similar things without it being suggested that the custom is now and forever a pagan-thing. Pagans probably ate turkey too that doesn't mean Thanksgiving is a pagan festival.
 
To pre-Christian Rome, Christians were called "pagans." The term just means something like "outsiders."

Once the ruling class saw the benefits of control through Christianity, it took quite the sales job both in Rome and in conquered regions. Thus they created things like replacement holidays, customs, and observances. And the Roman neo-Christians (as well as their precursors going back to prehistory) created any number of secondary deities to map onto those in earlier religions. So there is "one God" but also things like a "Trinity" along with a Satan, angels, demons, saints, Nephilim, and on and on.

Clergy know this. Hell, they study it.
 
dilettante said:
To pre-Christian Rome, Christians were called "pagans." The term just means something like "outsiders."
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I don't think so. The most common use of "pagan" in the Christian world simply means "not- Christian."

AI: Pagan -- A person who practices a polytheistic religion. The term was first used in the fourth century by early Christians to describe people in the Roman Empire who practiced religions other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Pagans often come from ancient cultures in Greece, Rome, Egypt, Scandinavia, and Ireland.

There never has been a Christian pagan, it's a contradiction in terms. It's like saying a Jewish Gentile.
 
Della said:
Well which is it? A pagan festival or a celebration to replace the pagan festival? Pagans did a lot of things, that doesn't mean other cultures can't do the same or similar things without it being suggested that the custom is now and forever a pagan-thing. Pagans probably ate turkey too that doesn't mean Thanksgiving is a pagan festival.
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I think my response pretty much answered the OP's question. You might want to re-read it.
 
DebraMae said:
I think my response pretty much answered the OP's question. You might want to re-read it.
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I did read and that's why I thought it contained two contradictory lines, the one saying it was a pagan festival and the one saying it replaced a pagan festival. That seemed like a big difference to me, but maybe not.
 

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