Christmas and Paganism: A simple confession of seeing Christ in Christmas.
By: Samuel Osei Ph.D., Yuncheng, China Nasam05@yahoo.com
During celebration of Christmas the airwaves are filled with a debate about a belief of Christmas being a pagan festival. This has been debated back and forth for centuries among Christians and the secular world. If the problem is about the name—Christmas—then it should not be a problem at all. Because “Christmas” simply means Christ’s celebration or the commemoration of God who became human for the redemption of humanity. Is it bad to celebrate or commemorate Christ? If no then the writer, like many Christmas adherents, sees no evil in Christmas.
Or is the debate about the day on which it is celebrated? December 25 regarded as the day Christ was born might be historically wrong but does it make the celebration evil? It is written in Romans 14:5-6 and verses 13-17 that “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God… Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit,”
ROBERT KENNEDY SANTHIAGU, TAPAH, PERAK, MALAYSIA annarobeli24@gmail.com
Hebrews 1:3
The Son shows the glory of God. He is a perfect copy of God’s nature, and he holds everything together by his powerful command. The Son made people clean from their sins. Then he sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven.
In the past God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke to them many times and in many different ways. And now in these last days, God has spoken to us again through his Son. He made the whole world through his Son. And he has chosen his Son to have all things. We must clearly understand, God’s last days was started in the 1st coming of CHRIST JESUS and now we are in living in seconds of last days of CHRIST JESUS 2nd coming the rapture. Our Lord and King CHRIST JESUS was sent to this world as an ordinary human to shows us the glory of GOD, his divine nature and his plan for his children. CHRIST came to this word to redeemed us by his blood sacrifice on the cross and begin the new agreement between we and GOD by the witness of his blood. No one as seen GOD but CHRIST JESUS is the image of GOD [ Colossians 1:15].
|