Objections To A Merry Christmas

[olivet]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/pitman_nj_christmas_banner.html


I think every one should respond with A Merry Christmas sign

[Colin2000]

Hi Olivet,

The Puritans in England after The English Civil War banned such things as Merry Christmas because it symbolised enjoying one's self in the local English Public House, beerhall to those who have not seen an 'ye old English coaching house'!

Especially on a Sunday when people were meant to snooze through the Sermon in 'ye old parish church' occupied then by the puritan/Cromwellian!

They also banned Christmas too!

But the people of England welcomed back The King's Son Charles II as their King and threw out the Congregationalists as well, physically, from the local parish Church and made merry at Christmas!

Now we have a part of society around the world who want not to make merry without their various attachments of sin!  So what is new, well for a start you are supposed to welcome this new religious liberalism with all it's sexual immorality and other deadly sins attached and thrown in!

So what is new, well Jesus Christ is New every morning anyway,

Colin.

PS.  I nearly forgot as Xmas arrives this year like an express train, " An Early Merry Christmas too All. From a Christian who needs to sin less and love more too all!!!...!"

[olivet]

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/tx-attorney-general-tells-atheists-dont-mess-with-texas.html

Texas Attorney General gives warning to atheists

[hupo]

Christmas is not a festival I celebrate but you all have my best wishes for a
happy Christmas !!!

 

[Colin2000]

Hi All,

This year it will not be the salute of a 'Happy Christmas!'  But it will be a Merry One when the time comes which is the time of the Great Feast of Christmas comes.

And if the atheists, gays, or what ever travelling the evil path away from Christ Jesus the Saviour doesn't like it, they may be welcome to lump it!  Including TESCO!

Yours in Christ The time of The Angels and the Great Shepherd approaches,

Colin.

[hupo]

I don't know Colin,
I would rather welcome them to come see the light
If they want to travel the evil way, let it be their choice, not ours

[Colin2000]

And as a concluding comment about free thinking rather than Christ thinking, 

"Rhubarb and Scottish Mist!"

Yours in Christ, with the English spelling,

Colin.

[olivet]

David

But they do celebrate Christmas in your country....Bethlehem ........the first Christmas was not a time of merry......there was no room at the inn for the Christ child..and so Yeshua was born in a stable to Mary and Joseph while angels kept watch...the beasts of burden, the donkeys and oxen, the shepherd dogs and stable cats welcomed Him, giving the Christ child their manger, and shepherds came from the fields with their flocks.......You might want to go to Bethlehem for Christmas

[hupo]

Well, it's not part of what I grew up with and yes, many people celebrate Christmas in Israel and not just Christians either.
We have an Arab friend who invited us one year for their christmas party. Sounds and looks like fun
Personally I don't feel connected to it.
Lets face it, today many don't remember that it is Yeshua's birthday, they just remember the presents and shopping

I certainly don't have any problem with Christmas or whoever celebrates it

[olivet]

David

Your view is way too secular.......Jeshua is the light shining in the darkness of secularism

The Lord pours out intense Spiritual Blessings and Grace at His birth for 2000 years.

It is a spirituality that I rejoiced in even  as a very young child

Immanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer Living Word

Maranatha

[hupo]

If by secular you mean not religious, I totally agree with you
I am not religious and will never be if I can help it

I hope we mean the same thing by "religious"

For the same reason I wouldn't lose sleep if I missed Chanuka, or Passover
It means something to me as a picture of spiritual things and as a tradition. But non of these things are holy!

Added later: As for christmas, Yeshua can be celebrated every day of our lives, not just once a year.
Many people don't have God in their every day life and so they would need these reminders such as christmas, chanuka, passover, shabbat etc......  Not a bad idea at all but again, they are not the essence of God, just reminders for those who need or want them

[Colin2000]

Hi David,

As with the Temple Ritual and Sacrifice in Judaism there is a similar tradition in some parts of the Roman Church and other established Churches such as The Original Church of England!

Tradition is used as a reminder, a Pattern of study and working through the Bible in each two and three yearly cycles depending on which Lectionary used!

It is there to teach the moral Christian Code of what is right and wrong also, the second field of Christianity after Doctrine and based on Doctrine!

You know what they say, no plan, no pattern of worship, no teaching/work ethic, spiritual as well as in the world leads to idol hands and idol minds leading Jack into mischief and worse!

For instance using the Hebrew word Yeshua instead of The English name Jesus Christ when speaking to the English speakers in the world breaks the truth that there is power in the Name of Jesus where all you would get by using Yeshua is blank faces usually!

But no matter, we have a choice of carrying the Word and the Cross with us into the world and in this case the Sun-Cross used as a witness and physically central point of worship in that shopping mall is tantamount to carrying The Ark of the Old Jewish Covenant out of the Temple into Jerusalem when it was carried from that Roman Catholic Church into the presence of believers shopping there!  A good witness.  Especially when it went into an Anglo-Saxon culture in an American street/mall!

Yours in The Name of Jesus,

Colin.

[olivet]

To miss Christmas is to miss a very deep encounter with our Lord, born in the stable of our hearts come down from heaven, born of a virgin
n as a helpless babe in the darkness of this world, He is the light shining in the darkness and the darkness could not extinguish it. I want to prepare myself for His arrival a new .
This time also prepares us for His Second Coming, did I miss His First?

[hupo]

Colin,

I think we agree about the need for festivals and traditions.
We do need them as reminders and for study purposes, but it isn't the festival or tradition itself that is holy,
and I'm saying this because religious people here in Israel all too often mistake the worship object that is God and God alone!
We make traditions holy. We make people holy. We make God's name holy as do the JW's
If we make a tradition holy, we are at danger of idol worshiping.

The name of Jesus being used among Christians is not a bad thing. Not by a long shot.
Using that name in Israel turns people off, even believers at times.
I don't see any reason for not using the name Yeshua where it is appropriate, or Isus for Russian speakers, Dieu for the frenchies and so on
What use for instance is a bible in English for people who only understand Swedish?

It is the essence that is important rather than the name.

When we say "In Jesus's name" we should say "B'shem Yeshua" if we don't understand English
The essence is the same and the essence is what counts!!

So Colin, I think we can safely say we agree.... in different languages 

[hupo]

Olivet,

If christmas works for you, that is great.
Sorry to say but Chanuka works better for me.
It is the festival of lights, and what is more appropriate to explain Yeshua but the light that pushes away the darkness in our lives?





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[olivet]

The meaning of Chanukah is unmistakable in our church David. There are three candles on either side of the alter and the crucifix in the center..Jesus is the servant candle.  He gives of His light to others but no candle sits above the darkness of the cross.

[olivet]

This Sunday is Palm Sunday when carpets of palms were draped in his processional on a foal of a donkey hailing Him as king.

Thursday commemorates His last Passover, the giving of the matzoh and wine as His body and blood, there is actual foot washing commemorating His act of love and how we are to love one another. The Blessed Sacrament is removed from church and brought to another area to adore, the church is open till midnite

Good Friday is more than somber,the priestly processional can involve actual lying face down before the alter, we embrace the cross, we relive Calvary as never before for it is our sins that he bore. The drama is powerful, the reality of His passion is brought home.

Easter Sunday washes away our tears and brings joy to our hearts for He is risen

Hallelujah

[hupo]

Easter is around our Passover if I got it correctly, which is around March April, not December

[Colin2000]

Hi Olivet,

You have swap The Easter Continuum with the Christmas Continuum!

I fully understand and sympathise with your reasoning here but David is right as far as historical accuracy is about.

But David is still rotten for pointing it out.  It depends on the position of the moon in the month and sky and something else I will refrain from mentioning when sleep is elusive too-ooh!

Yours in Christ, the Cross is empty and Jesus is risen indeed, with a choir of angels about to appear and sheep lost and found making the Nativity look untidy you know!

Yours in Christ again,

Colin.

[hupo]

I know, I'm a rotten egg   

The plus about rotten is you can make compost out of it