Subject:
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Re: My version -- The meaning of CHRISTmas
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 12 Dec 1998 20:12:37 GMT
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Reply-To:
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beaker@poboxIHATESPAM.com
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Viewed:
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468 times
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Also sprach Steve Berry:
: Christmas, like it or not folks, is a CHRISTIAN holiday. It exists because
: Christ is the savior and this is the day we celebrate his birth. We don't
: celebrate Christmas because of decorated trees, lights or over-weight guys in
: red suits.
Steve, please stomp thumping that Bible and try *reading* it.
The notion that Christmas is a Christian holiday is only in the loosest
sense true. Christ himself never, not once, instructed his followers to
observe the day of his birth. There is no Biblical basis for any
tradition associated with Christmas. The day of his birth isn't even
documented in the Bible. Notably, the day of his death - Nisan 14 on
the Jewish calendar - is, and this is notably the only day Jesus told
his followers to observe.
The date itself is absurd. If you take the Bible's documentation of
Jesus' age at his death to be accurate, 33.5 years would put him born in
late September or early October. If you want to quibble about the
precise meaning of half a year, note also that the Bible states that
shepherds had their flocks out at night on the evening of Jesus birth.
The overnight temperature in Bethlehem right now, less than two weeks
from Christmas, is hovering in the low 40s. Too cold to take the flock
out at night. There is other evidence that Jesus was born in early
fall, as well.
Better than that, though, is the very well documented fact that the
current date for Christmas was chosen by the Catholic church early in
the middle ages to coincide with the date of the Roman Saturnalia, the
feast of the winter solstice, so as to urge pagans to convert. The
entire tradition of Christmas as we know it is a crass marketing ploy.
Don't assume, Steve, that because I don't believe the Bible that I don't
*know* the Bible. I am quite well studied in it.
/ _ _ / _ _ Users should be sold to and not heard from.
()(-(//((-/
============= Jim Baker -- Weather Weasel Extraordinaire ==============
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | My version -- The meaning of CHRISTmas
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| Now that Larry has defined the "True meaning of Christmas," I thought I would. Christmas, like it or not folks, is a CHRISTIAN holiday. It exists because Christ is the savior and this is the day we celebrate his birth. We don't celebrate Christmas (...) (26 years ago, 12-Dec-98, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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