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NASB | Jeremiah 10:1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jeremiah 10:1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. |
Subject: Christmas |
Bible Note: That is reasonable, Tim. It may be correct to say they were not. I had thought that might be what you had in mind, but it is hard to cover every possibility. Actually, I think I failed to answer your question altogether. All I was saying is that many others have answered the questions, and the article I cited was only one of many. You say that the author promised scriptural reasons and did not deliver. Yet a quick count showed me that he had over fifty scriptural citations, including those in his footnotes. It is true that his work is a historical review, but he contrasts historical actions of the church with scripture. For example: “This policy (of leaving pagan temples intact) differs greatly from the conduct of the children of God who cut down sacred groves, destroyed the remnants of idolatry, or burned their heathen books in order to make a clean break with pagan ways (Ex. 34:13; Deut. 12:2-4, 29-32; 2Kings 18:4; Acts 19:19)”. You asked: “When exactly did the heathen celebrate the birth of Jesus?” My answer: Tim, I think it is fair to say they are still doing that today. It happened like this. They were worshipping the sun God. The church came in. They said we will let them continue much of what they are doing. But we will change the word “sun” to the word “Son”. I think it is a fair question to ask whether the people had been converted. If not, they were still pagan. They started calling themselves Christian, or they were told to do so. They did not mind changing their names, as long as their lives did not have to change. Is that what Jesus had in mind? Contrast that to the Thessalonians. They turned from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess 1:9). One of the defenders of Christmas has said that Paul did not preach against the goddess Diana. The people could use the same temple and artifacts. Just worship Jesus instead. Yes, that is in one of the articles. I note, however, that at Ephesus “many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men”. The church from Rome would not ask the Germans to tear down their temples. Just put the name Jesus over the door. Keep their books. Just replace the name “Saturn” with the name “Son of God”. Keep the dates the same, the activities the same, the articles the same, only change the name. These are historical statements and I am not here to attest to their accuracy. I am only saying that some writers use these to justify a celebration of Christmas. Pagan activities could be Christianized by replacing key words. The practices remained the same. Thus Christians could sing to a tree, as long as the name of the tree had Christ in it. They had never done anything like that in Bible times, but somehow it was OK now. Yet the word says we should “stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our (the apostles’) epistle (2 Thess 2:15). I think if was Pizzarro who said, “We did not come to convert these Indians. We came to take from them their gold”. Nevertheless, it was helpful, in making them loyal subjects of Spain, to have them also adopt the religion of the mother country. I can tell you that my parents were Catholics. The church did not care what kind of life they lived. They had not converted them to anything except loyalty to the church. My parents were pagans, bowing down to statues and to Christmas trees. What more can I say? I must leave this topic. But our God is a gracious God. He told Samuel to allow the people to have a king. It may be he has also said it’s OK to have Christmas. I am sure that some Christians who celebrate Christmas “regard it unto the Lord”. What the heathen and the unbelievers are doing when the celebrate it, I’m not sure. Whether or not they are really celebrating it, I'm not sure. |