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J esus said , "T hou sha lt do no mur–
der" (Ma lthew
19: 18).
And isn ' t il a
liltle contradictory that on lhe s up–
posed birthday of the Prince of
Peace, parents buy their children
plastic guns a nd o ther toys of vio–
lence?
• One fourth of aU liq uor sa les
come d uring the Chrislmas season.
supposedly hono ring the one who
sa id. "Take heed to yourselves, lest
at any time your hea rts be over–
charged with surfeiting a nd drun k–
enness . .." (Luke 2 1:34).
• Christ a lso spoke aga inst se l–
ting one's heart on lhe " abundance
of things." Yet the purchase of ma ny
" lhings'' is wha l Chris1mas is all
a bout. He a lso sla ted. " lt
is
more
bJessed lo give 1ha n to receive' '
(Acts 20:35). Bu t no o the r day
stresses
geuing.
especia lly lo chil–
d ren. as m uch as Christmas. T he
question mos t asked a l this time of
year is. "Wha l did you ge1?" - no l
"Wha l d id you give?"
• Fina Uy. is n 't it ,omewha l
slrange l ha t profess ing Chris tians
would observe a day which nei ther
C hrisl nor his d iscipl es eve r men–
lioned - much less commanded or
kept?
Can You Put Chr ist Back
lnto Ch ristmas?
l f Jes us Christ of Naza reth we re
trans planted into a modern Chris l–
mas pa rty, he migh t enjoy lhe com–
pa nionshi p. but he certainly would
no t recognize il as his birthday. be–
ca use he was bo rn in early a ulumn.
a nd he didn' t observe birt hdays as
a nything specia l a nyway. lnstead.
he would recogni ze D ecembe r 25 as
the Roman "Sa tu rnaJia' ' of his day
or lhe Babyloni a n religious fes ti va l
hono ring the " birt hday of the Sun ."
He might even adv ise those who
worry a bout " putting Chris t back
in to Chrislmas" to stop worryi ng.
Tt's impossible. Christ never was in
Christmas. And the public loday
truly is keeping the "rea l" o r o rigi–
na l meaning of Christmas - a com–
mercial iza tion of a n u tterly paga n.
openly hedonistic celebration tha t
has been given an a ura of respect–
a bili ty via la bels of peace. joy. !ove
PLAIN TRUTH December 1974
a nd goodwill to a ll . Most have sup–
posed tha t t he Chris tmas ce lebra–
ti o n i s ro o 1e d in t he s e good
intentions. and. of course based on
the bir thday of Jesus. T his idea is
false.
There is no need in t his ar ticle lo
prove the depths of Chris tmas' pa–
ga n roo ts. That informa tion is read–
ily
availa bJe in your local library.
Discover it fo r yourse lf.
To summa rize, "Christmas" be–
gan over 4,000 years ago in Ba by–
Ion, then migrated to Egypt. Greece
and Rome. Jn Rome. it combined
witb Nordic a nd Druid ic customs
a nd was finaUy " blessed" as a Chris–
tia n ho liday over 300 yea rs aft er
Jesus Chris t d ied .
In
each of these
paga n societies. December 25 was
celebrated as th e birthday of t he
earth . They were a fra id the sun, as
the symbol of hea t a nd light. was
dying. So they lit fi res, sacrifi ced
animal s, shouted to their su n god,
and were in general " d ismayed a l
the heavens. " )
To continue, " Fo r the customs of
the people are va in : for one cuttetb
a tree out of the fores t, the work of
the ha nds of the workman, with the
axe. T hey deck it wi th silver and
wilh go ld ; they fas ten it with nails
and hammers, thal il move no t. "
A Better Day
...
Even though Chr istmas is pagan
in origin. sorne feel it is ra1her un–
fa ir to condemn th e positive aspects
o f C h ristmas un less the re we re
someth ing fa r better to take its
place.
lsn't ita little hypocritical to teach our
children a fantastic web of falsehoods about
Santa Claus, the reindeer and even the time
and circumstances of Christ's birth, while
we are supposedly honoring the one who said,
nThou shalt not bear fa/se witness''?
sun.
on the occasion of th e s un 's
"rebirth" at t he winter solstice.
An hour or two of research would
document these assertions. Look in
t he maj or encyclop edias und er
"Christmas." "Saturnalia." "Sun
Wor shi p.' ' "Yule' ' a nd re lated
words. Or peruse sorne comp lete
books abou t Christmas under the
"394' ' Dewey Decima l heading in
your loca l li brary.
You might even turn to a scrip–
ture in the Bible (Jerem iah 10: 1-4)
where God condemned the keeping
of pagan practices centuries before
the birth of Jesu s: "Thus sai th the
Lo rd ,
Learn 1101
the way
oj 1he
hea–
lhen.
and be not d ismayed a t tbe
signs of heaven ; fo r the hea the n a re
dismayed at t hem.'' (Th e hea then
nations became fr ightened as the
sun reached its winter solstice on o r
around Decem ber 21 - when the
sun is fanh est f rom our orbiting
Happily. there is.
About 3,500 Jea rs ago, God re–
vea led to his people Israel a pa ttern
of days set a part fo r a holy purpose
and for fes tive fa mily ce lebration .
Concerning those days, God com–
manded. "Thou shall rejoice' ' (Deu–
teronomy 16: 14; 14:26). These
specia l days were kept "with j oy"
(Ezra 6:22). They were joyous feas t
days in whi ch entire fami lies could
pan ake of fi ne food and drink. an d
enjoy real !ove. peace a nd goodwill.
They wer e
family
fes tivals (Deuter–
onomy 14:26) of tremendous mean–
ing a nd purpose.
rr
you would like to know more
abou t th ese "days," wri te for our
free booklet,
Pagan Holidays
-
or
God's Holy Days - Which?
Th ese ar e specia l days of rea l
mea ning a nd purpose fo r human ity
- of which Christmas
1s
a cheap
coun ter feit.
o
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