Celebrating the Birth of Christ – The Reality is Christ . . . . . (ya bone-heads) . . .

In the writing of the previous post, Christ’s Birth – Why It’s Okay to Celebrate, I was aware of the controversies regarding the “history” of Christmas, but perhaps was not up to speed on the passion that some feel when it comes to their hatred for all things “Christmas”.

Wow.  My heart is grieved that so many put so much energy and hate into something that has been so clearly perverted by the Enemy.  There are several comments that have come to JGIG that were not fit to approve because they were completely agenda-driven and full of stuff that has nothing to do with the true celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, nor did they contain any thoughtful, personal experience or insight as did the comments that were approved.

So determined are some to convince those of us who do celebrate the birth of Christ that we should not that one commenter even plagiarized an article, making it seem as though it was her personal comment.  She made assertions that infant males are sacrificed on Christmas Eve, so I did a search to see if there was any documentation for such a claim.  I found something that looked familiar and what do you know?  There was an article that matched the commenter’s “experience” and “insight”, word for word.  When I emailed her about it, the exchange ended with her telling me to stop wasting her time.  Um . . . okay, I’ll do that.

Did you folks who sent those comments even read the previous post?  Can you not recognize a heart in a right place of worship for the Lordship and advent of  Jesus Christ?  Have you read Luke 2?  There was a celebration!  There was a distinct event and a marking of that event by God Himself.  The fact that the Enemy has perverted the event that was foretold in prophecy and has continued to pervert it after the actual event occurred – including in the hearts of those I’m speaking of  – does not change the reality of the event itself.

Is it so far out of your mental grasp that JESUS IS THE REALITY that MANY CHRISTIANS HONOR at Christmas time???

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.  (Colossians 2:16-17)

I spent some time poking around at a couple of forums which had linked here to JGIG regarding the Hebrew Roots Movement.  There were discussions there about Christmas that were incendiary.  These were supposed believers that were sniping and ripping (I am being kind in my description of the treatment of some by these people) at other believers simply because they choose to celebrate the birth of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

They take something that is for many Christians a sacred time of honoring God and turn it into something evil and ugly, claiming that Satan had “first dibs” on all things Christmas.  To all of you demon-behind-every-bush types I say save it.  You’re judging the hearts of people you don’t know, making ASSUMPTIONS about how they worship, WHAT they worship, WHO they worship, taking scriptures out of context and projecting evil where there was none originally (speaking of Luke 2 and the REALITY of the event again here).

Yep, I am aware of the pagan origins of many modern Christmas customs and traditions.  And my goal is not to convince you of anything except that the reality for me is CHRIST.  PERIOD.  There’s no tree-worship or child-sacrifice or sun-worship going on at our house.  And some of you Torah-observant types might be comforted to know that we prefer turkey over wild boar ham for our celebration dinner.   We just celebrate with hearts full of gratitude that God was willing to dwell among men in the flesh as Jesus Christ.

The lack of character and integrity I’ve seen demonstrated in those who vehemently oppose Christmas speaks for itself in the parallel demonstration of the fruits that they bear.  And the fruit is not good, folks.  It’s ugly and rancid and not fit for consumption.

[I’m done venting now.  Merry Christmas to the rest of you!]

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For some good articles covering the issues of paganism, date setting, and traditions concerning Christmas, click on the following links:

“Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?”

“Are Christian Holidays Pagan in Origin?”

“Should We Have a Christmas Tree?”

“Was Jesus Born on December 25th?”

“Do Some Christmas Traditions Have Pagan Origins?”

“Is Christmas Pagan?”

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Other Holiday-related Posts:

• Christ’s Birth – Why It’s Okay to Celebrate
• I Think We Can All Agree – This is Cool
• Merry Christmas, All
• A New Relationship With Christmas  –  Article
• Resurrection Day!
• Hark! Is That the Gospel I Hear?

There are also links to articles from other sources regarding holidays on the Articles Page here at JGIG.

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Other articles of interest:

• The Law of Christ – Defined and Defended
• Hebrew Roots Movement – Salesmanship 101
• Hebrew Roots Movement – Believers are Grafted Into and Become Israel? Um . . . No.
• Romans 14: Indisputable Matters – Torah or the Gospel?
• Hebrew Roots Movement – The Issue of “Hellenization”
• Is Law Really Law Without Enforcement?
• Hebrew Roots Movement – New Covenant or “Renewed” Covenant?
• Tzit Tzit For the Believer In Christ?
• 12 Undeniable Truths That Drive Law ‘Keepers’ Crazy
• Old Testament Believers and New Testament Christians  – From the Articles Page – Addresses the issue of how OT saints were ‘saved’ vs. how NT saints are saved, i.e. what salvation meant and how it was obtained before and after the actual work of Christ on the timeline.  It clarifies several points that we see Law keepers bring up in debate over and over again as they misapply the phrase from Scripture, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” and couple that with the claim that the Church (ekklesia, Body of Christ) also existed in the Old Testament.  It did not, and this article clarifies the difference between OT believers and NT Christians.  Excellent study.  Highly recommended.

For more resources regarding the Hebrew Roots/Messianic movements see the Post Index and the Articles Page.  General study helps, discernment, and apologetics sites can be found HERE.   Make use of the tabs with drop-down menus found at the top of this site – there’s tons of info there, and it’s very navigable.

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