If you celebrate Christmas, are you a Christian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure Jesus would just LOVE all this bickering. Jesus is well known for his love of discord, right? I mean, he'd totally WANT his followers to bash, harangue, harass and rail against others...right?

Jesus would walk around the "market" and kick people's asses for being commercializing his birthday, exactly like the did in the temple in Jerusalem.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Look, I just want a party. Do I have to wait until mardigras? Oh I forgot that has something to do with easter or lent or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure Jesus would just LOVE all this bickering. Jesus is well known for his love of discord, right? I mean, he'd totally WANT his followers to bash, harangue, harass and rail against others...right?

Jesus would walk around the "market" and kick people's asses for being commercializing his birthday, exactly like the did in the temple in Jerusalem.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

This is a fine example of using a Biblical quote inappropriately. The passage speaks of false righteousness. Is there a claim that purveyors of Christmas gifts are falsely righteous? Is the Gap claiming to be holy and righteous? I'm thinking that maybe you're the one with a bit of false righteousness going on.

[Anonymous]

Mighty Christian of the PP who says Jesus would "kick people's asses." That's, like, TOTALLY what Jesus is known for and teaches. Isn't there a famous Jesus Saying - "Slap the Other Cheek"?

signed, a Christian who actually believes in the teachings of Jesus (but still thinks it's okay for people to hang up stockings and twinkly lights)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP who said that most people who celebrate Christmas probably come from Christian backgrounds. Obviously I was wrong and cannot speak for Hindus, Muslims, etc. Heck, I can only speak for one Jew. But from previous posts, it seems that Jewish people are the most likely to feel put off by Christmas celebrations, even the arguably "secular" ones. I don't know why that is, but it seems true. I really enjoy going to Christmas celebrations at the homes of Christian or non-religious friends, but when a few of my Jewish friends start with Hannukah bushes and blue lights and such, it makes my skin crawl. (I lied in my previous post when I said it doesn't bother me.)

But, it isn't any of your business. I don't mean to sound harsh, but if a Jew wants to join in the fun then so be it.
I would suggest that some element of Judaism think about making their holidays a bit more enjoyable.

Atheist-raised-Jewish here. I don't have the "skin crawl" feeling that PP does but I can say that it is very common. My own very religious family threw a screaming fit once because my housemate and I had bought a Charlie Brown-type Christmas tree and I'd participated in buying and decorating it. For them, any gesture of accepting what they see as Christian culture is a betrayal of the Jewish people, whom they often remind me did not go through millenia of crap just to become fake Christians. I think that they are the extreme, but for many, there's kind of a siege mentality where you have to hold the line against the greater culture seeping into your home and swallowing your cultural identity.

Jewish holidays aren't as much fun, it's true. I just explained to my Argentine plumber that Chanukah is like Christmas, but not as good. Flame away, fellow children of Israel, but let's face it: Jewish observance is a lot of work in exchange for very few things that appeal to kids. The religious philosophy could be equally beautiful to believers, but for trappings and rituals, Chanukah is Christmas's b-tch.

Hee hee.
An easy way to bump up Hanuka is to work on the music. Christmas music was not this good until black people came along to fix the songs, along with some great Mediterranean opera stars.
I would not worry too much, a Christmas tree here and there won't kill. No lightning bolt. Many a Hindu or Muslim will celebrate Christmas, and after, their identities will be intact.

BTW, back in the days of the Pale, Christians had a bleak Christmas. It only took off in the west 100 years ago. If your ancestors in Eastern Europe saw this show, they might have trouble resisting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just so you know, here is a bit about candy canes:

"The distinctive "hook" shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's crook, and gave them to children at church services.[5] The shepherd's staff is often used in Christianity as a metaphor for The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ." and I will add... the red symbolizes Jesus' blood and the white his purity.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Just like they're trying to claim the winter holidays as theirs, they're now trying to claim candy canes are Christ-inspired. Check out Snopes (debunker of all urban myths) and wikipedia:

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/candycane.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cane

Let's hope they don't start calling them Christy canes and it enters the vernacular like Christmas has come to mean winter holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just so you know, here is a bit about candy canes:

"The distinctive "hook" shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's crook, and gave them to children at church services.[5] The shepherd's staff is often used in Christianity as a metaphor for The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ." and I will add... the red symbolizes Jesus' blood and the white his purity.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Just like they're trying to claim the winter holidays as theirs, they're now trying to claim candy canes are Christ-inspired. Check out Snopes (debunker of all urban myths) and wikipedia:

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/candycane.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cane

Let's hope they don't start calling them Christy canes and it enters the vernacular like Christmas has come to mean winter holidays.

THanks for clearing that one up. That would explain why I, as a German, had never encountered a candy cane until the US--and still think of it as a very uniquely American holiday candy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, happy birthday Jesus!

According to the Qu'ran, he was born in the season of the date harvest--late summer.

and who said the quran is a credible source?

From a historical perspective, is was written by one person, and is still in the original language in which it was written. WHich means that instead of a collection of stories and events written and rewritten (often hundreds of years apart) and translated through dozens of languages, it is likely to be more accurate. Many of historical events referred to in the Bible are also refered to in the Qu'ran, such as the birth of Jesus, who is a prophet. Just not THE prophet, or the Son of God, if you're a follower of Islam.

Who said the Bible is a credible source? Even biblical scholars can't say that, at least not from a historical perspective--that's when it comes back down to faith. ANd to call the Bible the word of god is just plain laughable--I'm sure he doesn't speak in vernacular english.

[Anonymous]

I would celebrate Hannuka many days giving and receiving gifts.. eating good food...

WHY NOT??
Christmas would be the same thing...!

I do celebrate carnaval in Brazil and It 's all about religion.How many people know about that???

I bet most of U.S. Citizend wich spend time in Rio de Janeiro or Bahia don't even know about why we do have carnaval!!!

[Anonymous]

Sparkly atheist jewish pp totally gets it.

Not Jewish, personally, but I feel the same way about the thrill of the season. None of my family is religious -- all agnostic or atheist. We like the sparkly stuff as well.

Decorations, tree, santa, rudolph, etc. Man, I love it.

And no, I really don't see any conflict between the way I celebrate it and denying Christianity. There's plenty of room for both.

[Anonymous]

pp here, I guess I'll add one more thing..

For those of you whom this is a deeply religious holiday AND also like the sparkly part:

Without all of us who celebrate mainly the secular side, your holiday would be far more somber and a lot less fun. =p Of course very important spiritually, etc, but I'm sure there are many of you who also enjoy the santa and rudolph and frosty right along with the celebration over the birth of your Christ.

[Anonymous]

And on a similar note, do those of you who celebrate Easter not also hide eggs for your children and tell tales of the bunny? Not so much with the Christ rising again theme, though...

[Anonymous]

I have told my children that Easter is a commemoration of the Easter bunny being crucified by people jealous of the chocolatey goodness he brought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have told my children that Easter is a commemoration of the Easter bunny being crucified by people jealous of the chocolatey goodness he brought.

snort.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of Easter, I looked it up on Wikipedia and what I found was most interesting. Some Christian denominations don't celebrate Easter or Christmas because they consider them too tainted with "paganism and idoltry". In fact, Christmas wasn't a legal holiday in Scotland until 1967 when the Church of Scotland gave up it's objections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#Christian_denominations_and_organizations_that_do_not_observe_Easter

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry to say that I hate this conversation.