honey001: Just did some research on it now, I think Christ was not actually born on the 25th, dat day is linked to pagan idol worship....

jhidey08: av u 4gotten prophet noah?

KasaMary: “Christmas is a Pagan Celebration”
by: KasaMary

On entering the Board Room for a presentation with a colleague, we were greeted by the subject of this article. A very articulate and energetic man was saying this to two colleagues who were trying to convince him that Christmas is not a pagan celebration.

This man seemed to have more “facts” or rather knew how to present his position better than his colleagues. Being my superiors, I couldn’t join in the "debate". What I could not share with them, I share with you.

Christmas is not a pagan celebration. It is the commemoration of the birth of Our Lord rather than the celebration of His birthday.

The feast of Christmas, “the Mass of Christ”, used to be celebrated on January 6. (January 6 is now being celebrated as the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. The Feast of Epiphany which originated in the Eastern Church in the Third Century is a three-fold commemoration of Our Lord’s manifestation among men: First to the gentiles, in the persons of the Magi (Matt 2:1-12), second at the time of his baptism in the river Jordan when His divinity was made manifest (Matt 3:13-17, Mk1:9-11, Lk 3:21-22), and lastly at the wedding feast in Cana where He turned water into wine at His Mother’s request (Jn 2:1-12).

In the Eastern rite, the baptism in the Jordan was particularly stressed, whereas in our Latin rite the coming of the Magi is more prominent). Celebration of Christmas became distinct in the Roman Church at about 300AD and the date was December 25, but the Church in other states kept different days for a long time. Why was the date moved from January 6 to December 25 in Rome?

Ancient Rome was a highly pagan empire with numerous gods and elaborate and “gluttonic” celebrations in their honour. December 25 was the day they celebrated the great Roman Solar Feast, Notalis Solis Invicti, (the birthday of the unconquerable sun-god), which the Roman Emperor Aurelian made compulsory throughout his empire in AD 274. It was one of their greatest celebrations with rituals and feasting everywhere.

The Elders (Magisterium) of the growing but underground Church in Rome discovered to their dismay that most new converts still joined in this stupendous celebration, to eat and wine and enjoy themselves. So the Magisterium met, discussed and prayed ernestly about this trend. At the end, they and the Holy Spirit (Whom Christ has promised that He will be with the Church to guard, guide, inspire and help her to the end of time (Jn 14:16-17; 16:12-15)) decided (Acts 15:28) to move the Feast of Christmas to December 25th to supplant the pagan feast since Christ is the true “Light of the world” (Jn 8:12). They did this so that as the pagans celebrated theirs, the Christians in the catacombs commemorated the birth of the Messiah and as such would have no reason to join in the pagan celebrations. St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople from 397 till he died in exile in 404AD wrote and said: Who indeed is so unconquerable as our Lord? He is the Sun of Justice. So December 25 became the day to commemorate the birth of our Lord till tomorrow.

Does the supplanting of the pagan feast with Christmas make the feast of Christ’s birth (Christmas) a pagan celebration? Does the conquering of evil with good necessarily make the conqueror evil? Are we not urged in the Scripture to conquer evil with good (Rom 12:21)? On Christmas day, do we offer sacrifices to the non-existent ancient Roman sun-god or do we worship the Omnipotent God of the sun? Most Churches in the Eastern part of Nigeria are built on what used to be village shrines dedicated to certain gods; does this make worshipers in such church worshippers of the "overthrown" gods? No!

Christmas is not a pagan celebration but indeed the celebration of the conquering of evil and evil practices with the Divine and divine practices. That is what and why Christ came for: to supplant evil with good. The conquering has not only been in ancient Rome alone, but in most countries, towns and villages where Catholicism has triumphantly entered. And this conquering should also be the same in our individual lives. The gods of sexual revolution (fornication, adultery, masturbation, pornography) and materialism, the gods of gossip and lying, the gods of bribery and corruption, pride, jealousy, laziness, abortion, etc, must be conquered and burnt up by the Sun of Justice and supplanted with love for God and the godly. This is the bold statement the Church made by that singular decision. If the ancient Roman feast had subsisted and upheld by the Church, then the protestations would have been weightier. The argument is completely hollow, so long as that evil has been forever supplanted!

"Is it in the Bible?" Yes, the divine birth of Our Lord is in the Bible (Mtt1:18-25, Lk 2:1-7). What may not be explicitly stated in the Scripture is the date. And so what is the problem with that? Christ, "coming" from a humble and non-royal background, no one may have recorded the date of His divine birth. But the Church, in her wisdom and in union with the ever alive, present and active Holy Spirit have given us a date since the Third Century. And about the 19th and 20th centuries, about 1,600 (!!!) years after, people are still disputing it! (Read Gal 1:8, and be wise). The date should not bother us. Let the true celebration bother us, after all Christ lives timelessly. Even as we bother more about the true celebration of Christmas, let us realize that we still live in a timed world. A world where there is time for everything under the sun (Ecc 3:1-. And so, for the commemoration of the birth of Christ under the sun, His followers have chosen a date: formerly it was January 6, but now December 25 and they call it Christmas (Christ Mass or the Mass of Christ).

glimpse:

Even thursday means THORsday

glimpse:

Even thursday means THORsday

rabzy: For those who are mention Moonday, thors-day, Freyas-day. It is not d name dat makes d day it is d celebration. So does anyone remember or celebrate any of those gods on those days, so if xtians don't continue d practise of celebrating dem under any guise den it should nt be used as a defense for d xmas celebration.

intrepid:

Dont mind them.i wonder why they dont even read history to know things instead of allowing pastors to teach them everything about the world.I dont think God likes this kind of blinding his ppl from real knowledge.

Are we celebrating an idol or are we celebrating Jesus today?why dig up useless history to scar ppl and make them live a double life?

sunnyp20: monday is 4 the egyptian god amon, removing the A.

James Panya: I feel christmas is just a day set aside to commemorate the birth of Jesus christ. It might not be the right date but it has been chosen and I don't find anything wrong with it. Do you know sunday is meant to be a working day? going by the real date saturday is meant to be the real worship day. I rest my case!

glimpse:

Even thursday means THORsday

slimthugchimee: I have 5 things to say to this post
1:dont make me waist 5 mins of my life reading this
2:this is why i support abortion
3:how does that consign us
4:am sure u be hausa
5:how did u know

PAGAN 9JA:
Paganism is the true essence of humanity.

Take it or leave it.

You cant deny that you have lost it.

opyzy: Iro gbu! are u a jehovah witness? By d way how is it idolatry? do xtians offer chickens or any other meat to idols?smh christmas is jus to celebrate the birth of jesus

justhelp: probably you are one of the audience at Kumuyi church

GeneralShepherd: Sometimes I wonder how some people reason!

You claim people should not celebrate xmas because it has links to roman gods, do you know that everyday of the week is dedicated and name after a roman god?

Do you the mean of SUNday?

akin33: The same Kumuyi preached against TV in 80s, saying that is the devil box(apoti esu) I wonder seeing the same guy teaching study on Monday on DSTV across the world. Follow the voice of God not voice of Kumuyi.

bigdidi: It's pagan we kw, it wasn't celebrated in de Bible.-it was- de wise men went to see Jesus afta a year he was born with gift *Wise men* dat's Christmas dear but wait or if Xmas is pagan why can't we do away with de week days was name afta de worship of different gods lyk Monday- God of de moon, Thursday - dat of Thunder, sunday- god of de sun etc -pple who don't celebrate xmas but new year have no justification 4 doing so cos January is named afta de god called janus dat had 2faces and it was worshipped on 1st January. Pple are proud to answer de name Christians today right do u kw where dat name came from? THE PAGANS USE TO MOCK FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST AND CALLED DEM CHRISTIANS but today ur proud of dat name and refuse to throw it away abi? It's only Xmas dat u've seen to throw away.. See dis things go beyong de Bible bro.. Dem Catholics go tell u more

jmoore:

"The earth is the lords and his fullness thereof." Everyday belongs to God.

That a land was used by pagans in the past doesn't stop christians from building a church on the same land.

There was a time Kumuyi said TV is satanic. They own a TV channel now.

Danhumprey: It's a pagan tradition,no doubt. For one,we don't know exactly when Jesus was born. We only give speculation about the day we think he was born,which may not be true. It shouldn't be about celebrating December 25th,rather it should be about celebrating Jesus.

Princewell2012: Actualy the bible did not give us the specific date when Jesus was born. We are only guesing about about the date, nobody is 100 percent sure of, when Jesus was born, therefore i may choose a particular date, and name it chrismas , and i begin to celebrate on that day, each year, it is not an offence nor do i comited any sin .nowwhat matter most is the motive behind it.

PAGAN 9JA:


Lmao you guyz cant do away with us Pagans.

Your grandfather did a big mistake by converting.