Thread: Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
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Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 21 Oct, 2015 02:25 PM
It's time to learn some real history....
The idea that the celebration of Christmas originated from Pagan origin comes from two 18th century scholars. The first was a German Protestant named Paul Ernst Jablonski. He was the one who first put forward the notion that the celebration of December 25th was one of the many Pagan influences of the Church of Rome (Catholicism) on Christianity. The second was a Catholic Benedictine monk named Dom Jean Hardouin who, in response to Jablonski, tried to show that while the Church may have adopted a pagan celebration of December 25th, it did so without compromising the integrity of the gospel. Both men were wrong. Jablonski erred in his theory that the Pagan December 25 pre-dated Christian celebrations, and Hardouin erred in assuming Jablonski's date assumption was correct in the first place. From these two catastrophic errors, the whole modern world has come to believe that Christmas was originally a Pagan celebration co-opted by the medieval Church.
The controversy surrounds an event that happened in the late 3rd century (AD 274) when the Pagan Roman Caesar Aurelian decreed that December 25th would mark the celebration of the 'Feast of the Unconquered Sun' god (or 'Sol Invictus'), noting the rise of the sun's ecliptic after the winter solstice (December 21 - 23). Now, the sun worshiping cult can be traced in Rome back to about AD 158. However, the marking of the summer and winter solstices had no significant relevance to this Roman cult at that time. Instead, the dates of August 9th and August 28th held more relevance, depending on what clan of the cult one followed. The marking of equinoxes and solstices had little relevance to early Roman sun worship. That was a job for astrologers who operated from a completely different religious perspective that had nothing to do with sun worship. So according to the ancient records anyway, Roman sun worshipers had no particular interest in December 25th, or the winter solstice for that matter, before AD 274.
In contrast however, the date of December 25th did hold some religious significance to Jewish converts to Christianity during antiquity. While it is true that we are currently unable to find evidence of Roman Christians celebrating December 25th as the date of the Lord's nativity until AD 336, there is some evidence that Jewish Christians in Rome held that date in high significance as far back as the early 2nd century (AD 100's), and there were some minor celebrations going on for a different reason.
Let's begin with the ancient Christian community in Rome, which had a fairly sizable Jewish convert population for some time. These Jewish converts to the Christian faith were accustomed to celebrating the Jewish Feast of Dedication (or Hanukkah), which early Gentile Christians certainly would not have had any problem celebrating with them, since the Scriptures record that Jesus himself kept this feast (John 10:22-23). However, in the years following the forced separation of Christianity from Judaism and the fall of the Second Temple (AD 70), Jewish Christians would have found themselves increasingly isolated and alienated from the larger Jewish community, and many of these Jewish Christians were "put out of the synagogues" anyway. Jews used a complicated lunar calendar in which the months never coincided with the civil calendar commonly used in the Roman Empire during that time. So Jewish Christians living outside of the Holy Land, would have found themselves alienated from all Jewish times and seasons once they were "put out of the synagogues" (Jewish excommunication). Thus early Jewish Christians found themselves completely immersed in a civil culture that had no connection to the Jewish calendar whatsoever, and any attempt to calculate the times and seasons among themselves would have resulted in endless debates and disputes between them. So they did what any Jew would do in a similar situation. They assimilated into the prevailing culture, but kept their distinctively Jewish identity and customs. Because they were believers in Jesus Christ however, they did so in a Christian context.
Jews always marked the 25th day of the winter month of Kislev as the start of the eight-day Feast of Hanukkah. Because they no longer had access to the Jewish lunar calendar, having been "put out of the synagogue," they simply observed the 25th day of the month that most closely aligned with the winter month of Kislev. That month on the Roman (Julian) calendar is December. So for Christians of Jewish ancestry in ancient Rome, December 25th became of significant importance as the beginning of the Festival of Dedication, in which Jews remember the light that came into the Second Temple after the Maccabean Revolution in BC 167 - 160. From a Jewish Christian perspective, this would have taken on even more significance, marking the coming of The Light of God (Jesus Christ) into the Temple as well (John 10:22-23). However, the Jewish Christians were about to get a surprise from the Gentile Christians that would make their celebration even more significant.
The early Church was preoccupied with debates and disputes over the proper time to celebrate not the birth, but the death and resurrection, of Jesus Christ. Again, the problem goes back to the Jewish calendar. Christianity had been forcibly ejected from Judaism. This is not because Christians rejected Jews. Quite the opposite really. It was the Jewish leaders who rejected Christians, telling them that by following Jesus of Nazareth they had apostatized themselves from Judaism. The acceptance of uncircumcised Gentiles into the Christian communities just exacerbated the situation. Essentially, the early Christians were rejected by the larger Jewish population and told they no longer had any connection to the Jewish faith and religion whatsoever. They were all "put out of the synagogue" so to speak, many of which having never been granted admission in the first place, in what amounted to a full scale mass excommunication from Judaism and all things Jewish. It was this ejection from Judaism that led to the Roman persecution of Christians in the first place. So long as Christianity was considered a Jewish sect, Christians were under an accommodation made between the Jewish leaders and the Roman Empire, that exempted them from having to participate in emperor worship. (Jewish leaders had for centuries agreed to make sacrifices to the Jewish God Yahweh on behalf of Caesar, and pray for Yahweh to bless his rule, rather than actually worship Caesar as everyone else was required to. Because such action guaranteed Jewish allegiance to Rome, there was no need to force the emperor worship cult on the Jews.) However, as Christians were ejected from all things Jewish, the Pharisees made arguments before Roman authorities that Christians could no longer enjoy the exemptions afforded to Jews. Thus, when Rome finally agreed that Christians were no longer Jewish (AD 67), the Christians were then required to worship Caesar. When they refused, they were tortured and put to death in the circuses of Rome. This Roman persecution of Christians continued from the late 1st century, until the Edict of Milan in AD 312.
In addition to this ongoing Roman persecution, ancient Christians were confronted with a problem created by no longer having access to the Jewish calendar. The date of the Passover could no longer be accurately projected, thus the dates marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ could not longer be accurately projected either. No longer having reliable access to the Jewish calendar, ancient Christians set out to create their own method of calculating the time of the Passover, and thus projecting the dates of Good Friday and Easter (Pasch) Sunday. Naturally there was a significant amount of dispute over this, especially between the Eastern and Western Christians, but in the 2nd to 3rd centuries (AD 100 through 300), there was a consensus among Roman Christians that March 25th marked the actual date of Christ's crucifixion according to the Roman (Julian) calendar. Later research would reveal this to be impossible, but for those early days of the Church, that was the consensus among Christians living in and around Rome.
There is another dimension we must add to this here. It is called the 'integral age.' Here we have yet another example of ancient Jewish influence on early Christianity. While such a belief is found nowhere in the Scriptures, it was widely held by ancient Jews that great prophets died on the same date as either their birth or conception. So according to this extra-biblical JEWISH TRADITION, which was accepted by early Christians (though it was never required as an article of faith), Jesus being the greatest of all Jewish prophets, must have died on the same date on which he was originally conceived in the womb of his mother -- Mary. So March 25th came to be assigned not only as Good Friday (which rarely fell on a Friday actually) but also the date of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel announced the coming of Christ to the Virgin Mary, wherein she accepted her destiny and conceived Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. March 25th is to this day marked as the Feast of the Annunciation in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. Even though this date was determined by flawed calendar calculations coupled with extra-biblical Jewish traditions, it should be taken as the historical reason for the selection of this date as the Feast of the Annunciation. It should not be taken as the literal date in which it actually happened. There is no way we can know the actual literal date of Christ's conception. Every theory out there is just speculation. Still, the early Christians in and around Rome were satisfied with this date, and there is evidence that many Christians accepted it as both the Annunciation and Good Friday throughout various regions of the Roman Empire.
Okay, so now we have the date of Christ's conception and death, which was accepted by many early Christians from the 2nd to 3rd centuries. The actual date of Christ's death would be recalculated in later centuries much more accurately, but March 25th would remain as the accepted date of Christ's conception in later centuries, as by that time the Jewish tradition of the "integral age" had fallen into obscurity. To this day, March 25th remains the commonly accepted date of Christ's conception, if for no other reason than tradition's sake, and that is why we celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. Just count exactly nine months from the traditional date observed as Christ's conception (March 25th) and you land on the 25th day of December, which from the fourth century (AD 300s) onward was marked as the traditional date observed as Christ's birth -- the Feast of the Nativity. Of course, this worked out quite well for the Jewish Christians, particularly those living in Rome, because that date happened to coincide exactly (coincidence or providence?) with the beginning of the Jewish Christian observance of Hanukkah they had been celebrating on December 25th for a couple hundred years already. Now the Jewish Christians living in Rome were not only celebrating the coming of the Light of God (Jesus Christ) into the Second Temple (John 10:22-23) along with remembrance of the light that entered during the Maccabean Revolution, but December 25th now marked the coming of the Light of God into the whole world at his birth! Naturally, this added significance for this date to Gentile Christians as well, who were keen on celebrating birthdays, and in all likelihood the growing observance of December 25th among Christians in Rome was enough for the Pagan Caesar Aurelian to take notice of it in AD 274. Thus, seeing how closely this celebration was in proximity to the winter solstice, he tried to trump it with his Pagan Feast of Sol Invictus. The observance of December 25th was not a Pagan celebration hijacked by Christians as theorised by Jablonski and Hardouin in the 18th century, but rather the other way around. It was a growing Christian celebration that the Pagan Emperor attempted to hijack instead, in his vain attempt to reunify the crumbling Pagan religions of Rome. His attempted Feast of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), which marked the close of a winter solstice that Roman sun worshippers never cared about prior to his decree, was a miserable failure. Basically, it was a flop! The cult (and the empire) went extinct sometime in the 5th century. By that time Christianity had spread throughout all the known world, and would soon come to power as Christendom, the prevailing governance of all Europe during the Middle Ages.
So that is how the date for Christmas (December 25th) came about. The Octave of Christmas, on the Roman Catholic calendar, which spans from December 25th to January 1st, ends with the beginning of the civil new year, and is a tribute to the contribution made by the eight-day festival by early Jewish Christians. In time the Jewish population of the early Church faded away, and with them the Jewish origins of Christmas fell into obscurity. Hints and clues of this have remained with us to this day, but they are veiled by a general lack of historical knowledge. Later, the Christmas festival was expanded to encompass a full twelve days, which came to be called Christmastide or the 'Season of Christmas,' marking the time between the Feast of the Nativity (December 25th) and the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th), commemorating the visit of the wise men (magi) from the East. In the West, the emphasis for Christmastide has always been on the first day of the twelve-day festival -- the Feast of the Nativity (December 25th). While in the East, the emphasis has always been on the last day of the twelve-day festival -- the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th).
In the Western world, other traditions and customs developed over the centuries. Most of them are actually Protestant in origin, but equally enjoyed by Catholics. The Christmas tree comes from Germany, particularly from the Protestant founder Martin Luther. Yule logs and mistletoe likely come from northern European folk customs. Some may perhaps be Pagan in origin, but have since lost their Pagan meaning. These things have little significance in the modern celebration of Christmas anyway. Of course the legends of Santa Claus originated with the Catholic Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of sailors and children. The story of his life has been embellished with legends and myths from all over the world, resulting in the Santa Claus traditions we are familiar with today. Much of that was commercialized in the United States in the early 20th century.
So in answer to the above question. No, Christmas is not Pagan. Far from it really, but it seems that some people are hell bent on finding something Pagan about it, regardless if it is true or historically accurate. So have a Happy Advent and a Merry Christmas everyone!
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 21 Oct, 2015 08:54 PM
Jeremiah 10:2-4
�Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; (astrology was idolized) for the heathen are dismayed at them�For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not.�
The Baal worshipers would place gifts under the tree at the winter solstice in anticipation for their new sun god Tammuz. The gold balls would represents the Sun, and the silver balls would represent the Moon. The garland would represent a serpent
Constantine, founder of the Catholic Church, worshiped the Sun to his dying day.
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 21 Oct, 2015 09:59 PM
The Cult of Sol Invictus
The Roman Empire began their official recognition of sun worship during the time of Aurelian when he instituted the cult of "Sol Invictus". There is virtually no difference between the cult of Sol Invictus and that of Mithraism or for that matter catholicism.
In the year 307 A.D. Emperor Diocletian, a Sun Worshipper, was involved in the dedication of a temple to Mithra, and was responsible for the burning of Holy Scripture (which made it possible for later emperors to formulate Christianity, and thus began the Roman version of the "Universal the Christo-pagan Mystery Religion.") After the rein of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was an early the Christo-pagan (Christian) maintained the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest of paganism, and remained a worshipper of Apollo. His coins were inscribed: "SOL INVICTO COMITI", which is interpreted as "Committed to the Invincible Sun". During his reign pagan Sun worship was blended with the worship of the True Creator (syncretism), and officially titled "Christianity" by the (less than holy) Roman Empire and its' official church the (less than holy) catholic (universal) church.
Cybele, the Phrygian goddess, known to her followers as "the mother of god", was closely related to the worship of Mithra. Just as Mithraism was a man's religion, the worship of Cybele was practiced by women. The priests of Mithra were known as "Fathers" and the Priestesses of Cybele as "Mothers". After baptism into the Mysteries of Mithra, the initiate was marked on the forehead. The sign of the cross formed by the elliptic and the celestial equator was one of the signs of Mithra. Sunday (Deis Solis), the day of the Sun, was considered by Mithraist a sacred day of rest. December 25th (the birthday of Mithra) was celebrated as the birth of the Sun, given birth by the "Queen of Heaven" - "Mother of god." The Mithraists celebrated a mithraic love feast. This feast consisted of loaves of bread decorated with crosses with wine, over which the priest pronounced a mystic formula. Mithra was considered mediator between god and man (does this sound like Jesus?).
Note: In 46 BC, when the Roman "Julian Calendar" was adopted, December 24th was the shortest day of the year. Therefore, December 25th was the first annual day that daylight began to increase. Thus, the origin of the REBIRTH or Annual Birthday of the Invincible SUN.
In accordance with the Roman "Julian calendar," the "Saturnalia" festival appears to have taken place on or about December 17th; it was preceded by the "Consualia" near December 15th, and followed by the "Opalia" on December 19th. These pagan celebrations typically lasted for at least a week, ending just before the late Roman Imperial Festival for "Sol Invictus" (Invincible Sun) on December 25th.
In 1582 AD. Roman Catholic Pope Gregory the XIII caused the current "Gregorian Calendar" to be adopted, in order to eliminate the solar time shift error introduced by the "Julian Calendar."
By December 1582 AD the shortest day of the year had shifted 12 days on the Roman "Julian Calendar" to Wednesday, December 12, 1582.
However, the Original December 25th 'Birth Date' was retained for all pagan Sun gods by the Roman "Saturnalia" and "Sol Invictus" traditions; which were now called the "Twelve Days the Christmass."
On the new Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar the shortest annual day was numerically shifted back 10 days to the 22nd of December, where it remains to this day; while the original order of the days of the week remained unchanged.
Therefore, Wednesday, December 12th, 1582 AD, became Wednesday, December 22nd, 1582 AD, and the True Sabbath Day remained unchanged.
Yahuah, the Only True Yahuah, would never have allowed The True Messiah to be born on or near the December 25th birthday period of the pagan Sun gods; during the time in which virgins were sacrificed, murder was commonplace, and orgies the norm. This would be an entirely unacceptable association.
Mithraists, also, believed in eternal life in heaven, and in the torture of the wicked after death. Many of these beliefs and rituals were exclusive to Mithraism and up until the fourth century were not an official part of the the Christo-pagan faith. In the 4th century, through confusion and deliberate manipulation by the Roman Empire and its' official universal (catholic) church, rituals of "Sun Worship" were legitimized, under the guise of the "Authority of the Church" (Yahuah Never Granted Any Such Authority) to be "Christian" in nature. There is no Biblical support for the inclusion of Mithraic rituals (pagan Worship) into the worship of the Yahuah of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Creator of heaven and earth, and the Only Duty of the True Church is one of Obedience To The Authority of Yahuah. It is a Satanic scheme of deception to disguise the transgression of Yahuah's laws under the title of "Christianity" (the Christo-pagan syncretism). This same system, characterized by the shrouding of truth in secrecy and the manipulation of the truth in order to achieve its ends, has been working for two millennia to perfect the the Christo-pagan religion of Christianity. The mystery of iniquity is at work and it only takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. The next step is the actual forced taking of the "Mark of the Beast," however, millions have already taken the "Mark of the Beast" voluntarily.
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 22 Oct, 2015 12:00 PM
:applause:...A most excellent article about Christmas ET. Thank you for sharing it. There is a wealth of documented Jewish/Christian history in this article and even though it is from a source of which is a Catholic base...it does not negate the truth within it. After all...without the LORD's birth...their would have been no "Death on the Cross" for our Sins nor Resurrection of our LORD in which the Prophecy is being Fulfilled as Spoken and Recorded in the Ancient and New text which we call the Bible...God's continued Blessings to you Sister in Christ...xo
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 29 Oct, 2015 09:21 PM
Hark quoted
Je 10:2-4
Thus 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. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Firstly. I'm not sure why you started with verse 2 any way, why would it be necessary to warn a Christian who celebrates Christmas against astrology. it's fixed (certainly nowadays) by the Julian Calender, not by the winter solstice.
But more to the point, I believe Jeremiah is refering to the sort of idol-statue crafting prophesied by Isaiah a generation earlier;
Is 40:19,20
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
It is rather striking how similar the two descriptions appear.
Speaking strictly for myself, I am not so concerned with hanging on to something clearly 'of the world' and clearly not biblical when the Holy Spirit tells me to let go of it, I have done so with many things since I received Jesus into my life.
But I am however not compelled at this time to make the decision to throw my Christmas tree away, I have not celebrated Christmas as a Christian yet, but the thought of doing so in December does fill me with Joy. And if, when the time comes, the Holy Spirit does condemns me, of course I will heed him! I also enjoy a cup of coffee every so often, the occasional game of chess and pool, and though none are biblical; they simply bring me joy and do no harm to my walk with the Almighty!
I do think though, that striking as the Jeremiah scripture you quoted earlier is to a logical mind, I see it as more of a warning against fashioning idols from wood, to worship them...I do not plan worship my Christmas tree!
It seems to me that in your zeal to condemn Christmas trees you've taken a piece of scripture that could 'to secular ears' sound like the description of a Christmas tree and used it for your own agenda. When in fact it was intended to be used against the kind of idolatry (for instance - since my Brother is a Nigerian) practised in some African countries even today, where wood is carved into idols; decorated, and worshiped.
When I read the Word of God I tend not have an agenda, I let Him give me what He wants me to know. Instead of having a goal and trying to back it up with scripture, I pray that God searches my life and shows me what I am missing or what I need to dismiss.
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 30 Oct, 2015 08:18 AM
Quote from Carl:
"Firstly. I'm not sure why you started with verse 2 any way, why would it be necessary to warn a Christian who celebrates Christmas against astrology. it's fixed (certainly nowadays) by the Julian Calender, not by the winter solstice. "
=====================================
I covered this in part already.
Again:
"The Cult of Sol Invictus
The Roman Empire began their official recognition of sun worship during the time of Aurelian when he instituted the cult of "Sol Invictus". There is virtually no difference between the cult of Sol Invictus and that of Mithraism or for that matter catholicism.
In the year 307 A.D. Emperor Diocletian, a Sun Worshipper, was involved in the dedication of a temple to Mithra, and was responsible for the burning of Holy Scripture (which made it possible for later emperors to formulate Christianity, and thus began the Roman version of the "Universal the Christo-pagan Mystery Religion.") After the rein of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was an early the Christo-pagan (Christian) maintained the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest of paganism, and remained a worshipper of Apollo. His coins were inscribed: "SOL INVICTO COMITI", which is interpreted as "Committed to the Invincible Sun". During his reign pagan Sun worship was blended with the worship of the True Creator (syncretism), and officially titled "Christianity" by the (less than holy) Roman Empire and its' official church the (less than holy) catholic (universal) church.
Cybele, the Phrygian goddess, known to her followers as "the mother of god", was closely related to the worship of Mithra. Just as Mithraism was a man's religion, the worship of Cybele was practiced by women. The priests of Mithra were known as "Fathers" and the Priestesses of Cybele as "Mothers". After baptism into the Mysteries of Mithra, the initiate was marked on the forehead. The sign of the cross formed by the elliptic and the celestial equator was one of the signs of Mithra. Sunday (Deis Solis), the day of the Sun, was considered by Mithraist a sacred day of rest. December 25th (the birthday of Mithra) was celebrated as the birth of the Sun, given birth by the "Queen of Heaven" - "Mother of god." The Mithraists celebrated a mithraic love feast. This feast consisted of loaves of bread decorated with crosses with wine, over which the priest pronounced a mystic formula. Mithra was considered mediator between god and man (does this sound like Jesus?).
Note: In 46 BC, when the Roman "Julian Calendar" was adopted, December 24th was the shortest day of the year. Therefore, December 25th was the first annual day that daylight began to increase. Thus, the origin of the REBIRTH or Annual Birthday of the Invincible SUN.
In accordance with the Roman "Julian calendar," the "Saturnalia" festival appears to have taken place on or about December 17th; it was preceded by the "Consualia" near December 15th, and followed by the "Opalia" on December 19th. These pagan celebrations typically lasted for at least a week, ending just before the late Roman Imperial Festival for "Sol Invictus" (Invincible Sun) on December 25th.
In 1582 AD. Roman Catholic Pope Gregory the XIII caused the current "Gregorian Calendar" to be adopted, in order to eliminate the solar time shift error introduced by the "Julian Calendar."
By December 1582 AD the shortest day of the year had shifted 12 days on the Roman "Julian Calendar" to Wednesday, December 12, 1582.
However, the Original December 25th 'Birth Date' was retained for all pagan Sun gods by the Roman "Saturnalia" and "Sol Invictus" traditions; which were now called the "Twelve Days the Christmass.""
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 30 Oct, 2015 04:48 PM
CarlAHartwell...thank you! I think it will ALWAYS be by The Spirit of God, if we are filled with HIM, that we will be guided and directed as to how HE wants us to serve and honor HIM!! Be blessed.
Is Christmas Pagan?... So What's the History Behind Christmas?
Posted : 30 Oct, 2015 07:49 PM
Hark, no my friend...I can guarantee you, who I've worshipped, honor and praised with my life all these years, has been and shall ALWAYS be The Lord my God!!
And btw, all that He's done thru my life thus far...well let's just say has been nothing short of a miracle! I'm no doubt His living testimony! Praise the name of The Lord!
