OK, so what does Christmas mean? Well, I suppose, first and foremost it depends on whom you are asking. Is it the British, US & European secular lobby or the Christian Religious lobby, or even the heathen religious lobby, because here in the UK we have Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and even some Muslims keeping Christmas - you name 'em and they keep it? So what's going on? Perhaps the answer to this question is tied up in why I, as a Christian, do not keep Christmas and haven't done so for many years. Now, before I get labeled Ebenezer Scrooge 2007 I will quickly explain that it's for Spiritual reasons that I don't keep Christmas, not for financial reasons. That being said, this year I reckon I must have saved more than a £1,000.00 or in excess of $2,000.00 US. The projected national Christmas spend here in the UK is expected to be £17 billion or $34 billion US. This equates to nearly £400 or $800.00 for every man woman and child in the UK!! This is awesome big business - nativity or no nativity.
Now, from a Spiritual and Biblical perspective where is God or Jesus Christ in all this frantic commercialized frenzy? How can God play any part in such a festival where Mammon is king? Mammon rules, OK, God does not. Now I can hear some of you saying: "Ah yes, but there is a Spiritual dimension to Christmas - it's all about one's perspectives, priorities and focus" True, there can be a Spiritual side to the 25th December and if you want to keep the 25th of December Holy to the Lord that's your business and I'm not against you doing so, nor am I going to speak against it. In turn, I trust you are not going to speak against me in my not keeping it and would perhaps like to know why, as a Christian, I do not keep it. We all need to know the truth about Christmas to enable us to come to an informed decision as to whether we should continue keeping it, once we know the truth about it. If after reading my article on Christmas you still want to carry on with it, OK, as I said - that's your business.
Ok, apart from the commercial negativity of Christmas, what are the supposed Spiritual aspects and benefits of Christmas? Is it, for instance, something that was or is commanded by Jesus Christ, let's face it; it is His birthday after all, isn't it? Well no, actually it isn't, there is no known date for His birth nor did He leave us with any command to keep it. Now why do you think that is? We know the date of His death and resurrection, but not His birth, why? To me, this means we are not meant to keep it, if we were, He would have left us a date at least, surely!? So why do so many Christians keep it? Why is it called Christmas or Christ's Mass? When did Christians start holding a mass for His birth? Indeed, where in The Holy Bible are we commanded to hold a 'mass' for anything, let alone Jesus Christ's birth?
All the answers lie in the origins of Christmas which are steeped in pagan fertility rites and man made religious traditions and there is no Biblical foundation for these traditions at all. The 25th of December is actually the culmination of the Feast of Saturnalia, a pagan festival kept by the Romans. This feast began on the 17th December and ended a week later on the 24th culminating in the festival of Sol Invictus or Unconquered Sun on the 25th December. This feasting was just a pagan celebration of fertility rites and the winter solstice, nothing else. This pagan festival has no connection with the birth of Jesus Christ at all - not one part of it. What it does have connections with though, is Rome; The Roman Empire and would you believe the 'holy' Roman Empire as well - should we be surprised? Furthermore, all the Biblical evidence, such as there is, points to another time of the year altogether for Jesus Christ's birth.
So for this evidence, let us start in the Gospel of Luke: Luke 2:8 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." Herewe read of the shepherds watching over their flocks at night, but this didn't happen in December in Judea, it was far too cold and wet for that. All the animals were taken indoors before the winter season arrived, so just from this evidence alone a very big question mark appears over the 25th December as the birth date of Jesus Christ. This event most certainly took place at a warmer time of the year, when shepherds would have been out in the fields watching their flocks.
Here is another piece of evidence: In September the Israelites used to keep (and the Jews still do) a festival known as the Feast of Trumpets: Leviticus 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, (of the Hebrew Calendar and the ninth month of Julian Calendar) in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an Holy Convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. (Brackets Mine) This feast was symbolic of the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ, in both his physical coming in the first century and His Spiritual coming in the future to rule this earth. When The Lord Jesus Christ returns a Trumpet will sound prior to His arrival. First we have Joel in the Old Testament announcing the first coming and then The Lord Himself prophesying His second coming.
Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.
Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Here is more Biblical evidence: The birth of John the Baptist took place six months before Jesus Christ was born and we know this from Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. Now if we can roughly prove when John was born we will know that Jesus Christ was born six months later. Luke 1:5 "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth."
Verse 8 "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course." Holy Scripture tells us that Elizabeth became pregnant just after her husband Zacharias, who was a priest, had finished his stint of service at the temple; called "the course of Abijah" This was six months before Mary was miraculously found with child - The Lord Jesus Christ. In Old Testament times during the reign of King David, the priestly course was separated into 24 sessions of duty and we can read the proof of it in 1 Chr 24:7-19. These sessions of service began in the first month of the Hebrew year - Abib or Nisan or March/April in the western secular calendar. Again, read 1 Chr 27:2.
Each of these priestly sessions or shifts of duty, to use a modern term, lasted a week and the first course was the first week and the second course the second week until the 24th course and 24th week and then they were repeated or rotated all over again. Additional weeks were also served at the time of their annual feasts. Now Zacharias' term of duty or course of Abijah was the eighth session or week taking us to early June. If it was the second rotation of service it would have been in December. So Elisabeth conceived either in June or December. In the first instance this would mean that John the Baptist was born in March and Jesus Christ six months later in September. In the second instance John the Baptist would have been born in September and Jesus Christ six months later in March. Either way, we certainly don't have a December birth date for Jesus Christ - it never happened in December it's all conjured up by man and it is all lies of the Christian Religion.
If you wish to learn more about The Truth - Jesus Christ, please feel free to e-mail me at yes2faith@yahoo.co.uk
Revised and edited 8th August 2007
Charles Crosby
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Crosby
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