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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a Christian and a minister.  The things you listed are pagan in origin.  Christianity adopted them in an effort to combine the nativity with well-established pagan winter festivals.  Lights and festivities make the celebration of the birth of Jesus much more fun!  So anyone can celebrate the winter holiday and more importantly, [b]Christ would welcome all to the celebration regardless of spiritual path[/b].[/quote]

How would you know something like that?  It suggests that there is something  in the Bible that indicates that  Christ would want people who don't believe he is the Messiah to be celebrating his birth.[/quote]

Jesus was kind to non-believers. He met them where they lived, fed them, taught them, and healed them (Matthew 9:9-11; Mark 1:33-34; 6:30-42; Luke 5:1-11).[/quote]

What were "non-believers" in Jesus day, which was before Christianity was a religion and Jesus was a Jew preaching to other Jews to accept him as their Messiah.  It was Paul who reached out to the Greeks to spread the word of Jesus.  The Jews were not buying it. They still aren't.

PS, Mathew refers to tax collectors and sinners, not non-believers.  The Mark passages refer to demons and the loaves and the fishes, not non-believers and the Luke passage is about Jesus choosing his disciples who acknowledge being sinful - and are grateful for the big catch of fish Jesus arranged for them.

It seems fair to call Jesus inclusive, but that hardly seems like a justification or invitation for non-Christians to celebrate his birthday -- a birthday he himself never foresaw as a cause for widespread merry-making.

21st century Americans can celebrate Christmas because they want to, not because a Jesus that many of them don't believe in welcomes them.  Bringing it all back to Jesus seems like an attempt to assure Jesus' position as a good guy, even to people who don't believe in him.  For Christians, it seems like it should be enough that Jesus is the son of God who died for their sins so they could have eternal life, as long as they believe in him. [/quote]

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