Jesus, My Reason
JoyIndestructible has recently offered her approach to understanding Christmas, and she makes some good points. I am unable to tell by her style if she is describing her approach or prescribing it for others.
If our Christianity is nothing more than venerating a day on the calendar, then it is worthless. I cannot agree with her more on this point. Nothing counts except for faith expressing itself through love.
Here is the devotional truth: one day we will all present our lives to the One who gave us life. He will not care which days we ate, which days we fasted, which days we celebrated, which days we stopped others from celebrating. Nothing will count except faith expressing itself through love. Everything else will be consumed as by fire. Everything not done in faith is sin.
More than anything else, we must understand that against love there is no law. It doesn't matter if someone is jumping on their bed, cutting the tags off their pillows, watching questionable shows on television, etc ... if they are behaving in love then there is no law that stands against them.
I lend Joy the microphone not out of my human calculation but out of my inner conviction. She writes like someone who understands what is important to God, and she sets a good model for others. I have a lot to learn from her.
My preference is to 'let each person be convinced in his own mind', and I wish to say nothing to discourage those who prefer not to celebrate Christmas on December 25th from the conviction of their hearts. What I do wish is to show how the issue is neither here nor there, and to offer some assurance to those who celebrate the gift of Jesus on December 25th.
Consider Joy's words:
As soon as I see the word, "Know" I get nervous. Do you really know Jesus was not born on December 25th? How many people were using the Gregorian calendar back then? Have you talked to eyewitnesses who recorded the exact date? What if someone received Jesus into their life on December 25th? Couldn't such a person claim Christ came down into their own life on that day?
If you are really so sure, if you are certain in the serious certainty from God that brings men assurance in the face of death, I have no argument and I have no wish to destroy such a measure of faith.
Yet consider this:
The Bible tells us that Jesus celebrated the feast of Dedication. What is the Hebrew word for dedication? It is Hannakuh. Yes, that is right, Jesus celebrated Hannakuh.
In my opinion, most of the Hannakuh stories are myths added years later to a story about purifying the temple. This doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned: Jesus' dedication of himself to God was something that was very real, and it was not delayed and made up later.
Where does it say in the Old Testament that we are to celebrate Hannakuh? It doesn't command us (or anyone) to celebrate Hannakuh anywhere in the Bible. Jesus could have said, 'Well, if God wanted us to celebrate it, He would have put it into the letter of the Scriptures.' The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Jesus' celebration of Hannakuh was righteous because he celebrated righteously.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the righteous who do not believe nothing is pure.
Does Christmas have a pagan origin? Who knows? What do you call Christmas? If you consider Christmas to be a continuation of an earlier pagan/animistic holiday, then maybe for you it has a pagan origin. If you consider Christmas as a replacement for that holiday, or if for you Christmas was a time of repentence where God gave you the gift of his Son and this is the origin of your understanding of Christmas, then for you it has nothing pagan whatsoever.
This I believe in my heart: Santa Claus was no pagan. Saint Nicholaus was a person who was recognized as a believer in Jesus Christ by the church in the fourth century. Despite his mistakes (ahem, punching Arius in the face), he lead a godly example for other believers to follow, and in my heart I believe people are served by having an example of a person who lived Christ's words: "It is more blessed to give than receive". Also, Santa Claus believed Jesus was God when that was not widely held (or at least not in some parts of the empire).
Generally speaking, I fail to see how the origins mean anything.
If God originally instituted the Levitical priesthood, does that mean all Levitical priests were blessed? No, many of them, such as Eli (and later priests like Annias) were severely punished by God. Just because something means something to a person who does one thing, it doesn't follow that it means the same thing to another. There were also godly Levites as well.
The children of Israel left Egypt with treasures the Egyptians gave them to leave. These treasures were originally obtained by pagans who lusted after more possessions. Was it wrong for the Israelites to take the treasures? No, it meant something completely different to them. Their faith sanctified the treasures in spite of their origins.
I want all men to live in freedom with one another. We should not impose rules on each other that are not in the Bible. I support Joy to this end. I command no man to celebrate on any given calendar day, and I insist that he be given the freedom to celebrate what God has done on any given day -especially for the day called "Today".
If JoyIndestructible knows of people who are forcing people to observe Christmas by the Catholic calendar she is right to rebuke them. If she forbids people to remember the gift of Christ on December 25th, she forbids people to do what is pleasing to God.
We would all do well to remember that the wise men we see in the nativities (of pagan origin) brought their gifts (of pagan origin) to the Lord. They left their lands as soon as they saw the star. Most scholars think they arrived long after he was born (maybe December 25th, who knows?).
Did God rebuke these wise men who brought these gifts? Did the infant Jesus tell them that they picked the wrong date to bring them their most precious things?
No. I believe God honored these travelers, even though they were pagans.
So let us not become contentious about these matters (just as Paul refused to become contentious). Instead let us recognize the earnest efforts others make to draw near to God. Let us remember the woman who asked Jesus about the right way to worship God (whether it had to be in Jerusalem) and was told that the true worshipers are the ones who worship in spirit and in truth (which is to say, inwardly).
In all things may God reign in the hearts of those who fear him!
I have borrowed the nativity picture from here.
If our Christianity is nothing more than venerating a day on the calendar, then it is worthless. I cannot agree with her more on this point. Nothing counts except for faith expressing itself through love.
Here is the devotional truth: one day we will all present our lives to the One who gave us life. He will not care which days we ate, which days we fasted, which days we celebrated, which days we stopped others from celebrating. Nothing will count except faith expressing itself through love. Everything else will be consumed as by fire. Everything not done in faith is sin.
More than anything else, we must understand that against love there is no law. It doesn't matter if someone is jumping on their bed, cutting the tags off their pillows, watching questionable shows on television, etc ... if they are behaving in love then there is no law that stands against them.
I lend Joy the microphone not out of my human calculation but out of my inner conviction. She writes like someone who understands what is important to God, and she sets a good model for others. I have a lot to learn from her.
My preference is to 'let each person be convinced in his own mind', and I wish to say nothing to discourage those who prefer not to celebrate Christmas on December 25th from the conviction of their hearts. What I do wish is to show how the issue is neither here nor there, and to offer some assurance to those who celebrate the gift of Jesus on December 25th.
Consider Joy's words:
I know that Jesus was not born on December 25th so I don't celebrate that day as His birthday.
As soon as I see the word, "Know" I get nervous. Do you really know Jesus was not born on December 25th? How many people were using the Gregorian calendar back then? Have you talked to eyewitnesses who recorded the exact date? What if someone received Jesus into their life on December 25th? Couldn't such a person claim Christ came down into their own life on that day?
I am sure that if He wanted His birthday celebrated, He would have made known the true date and would have commanded that we do so. He did neither and instead, the only religious observation He commanded was the celebration of His last supper.
If you are really so sure, if you are certain in the serious certainty from God that brings men assurance in the face of death, I have no argument and I have no wish to destroy such a measure of faith.
Yet consider this:
The Bible tells us that Jesus celebrated the feast of Dedication. What is the Hebrew word for dedication? It is Hannakuh. Yes, that is right, Jesus celebrated Hannakuh.
In my opinion, most of the Hannakuh stories are myths added years later to a story about purifying the temple. This doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned: Jesus' dedication of himself to God was something that was very real, and it was not delayed and made up later.
Where does it say in the Old Testament that we are to celebrate Hannakuh? It doesn't command us (or anyone) to celebrate Hannakuh anywhere in the Bible. Jesus could have said, 'Well, if God wanted us to celebrate it, He would have put it into the letter of the Scriptures.' The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Jesus' celebration of Hannakuh was righteous because he celebrated righteously.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the righteous who do not believe nothing is pure.
Does Christmas have a pagan origin? Who knows? What do you call Christmas? If you consider Christmas to be a continuation of an earlier pagan/animistic holiday, then maybe for you it has a pagan origin. If you consider Christmas as a replacement for that holiday, or if for you Christmas was a time of repentence where God gave you the gift of his Son and this is the origin of your understanding of Christmas, then for you it has nothing pagan whatsoever.
This I believe in my heart: Santa Claus was no pagan. Saint Nicholaus was a person who was recognized as a believer in Jesus Christ by the church in the fourth century. Despite his mistakes (ahem, punching Arius in the face), he lead a godly example for other believers to follow, and in my heart I believe people are served by having an example of a person who lived Christ's words: "It is more blessed to give than receive". Also, Santa Claus believed Jesus was God when that was not widely held (or at least not in some parts of the empire).
Generally speaking, I fail to see how the origins mean anything.
If God originally instituted the Levitical priesthood, does that mean all Levitical priests were blessed? No, many of them, such as Eli (and later priests like Annias) were severely punished by God. Just because something means something to a person who does one thing, it doesn't follow that it means the same thing to another. There were also godly Levites as well.
The children of Israel left Egypt with treasures the Egyptians gave them to leave. These treasures were originally obtained by pagans who lusted after more possessions. Was it wrong for the Israelites to take the treasures? No, it meant something completely different to them. Their faith sanctified the treasures in spite of their origins.
I want all men to live in freedom with one another. We should not impose rules on each other that are not in the Bible. I support Joy to this end. I command no man to celebrate on any given calendar day, and I insist that he be given the freedom to celebrate what God has done on any given day -especially for the day called "Today".
If JoyIndestructible knows of people who are forcing people to observe Christmas by the Catholic calendar she is right to rebuke them. If she forbids people to remember the gift of Christ on December 25th, she forbids people to do what is pleasing to God.
We would all do well to remember that the wise men we see in the nativities (of pagan origin) brought their gifts (of pagan origin) to the Lord. They left their lands as soon as they saw the star. Most scholars think they arrived long after he was born (maybe December 25th, who knows?).
Did God rebuke these wise men who brought these gifts? Did the infant Jesus tell them that they picked the wrong date to bring them their most precious things?
No. I believe God honored these travelers, even though they were pagans.
So let us not become contentious about these matters (just as Paul refused to become contentious). Instead let us recognize the earnest efforts others make to draw near to God. Let us remember the woman who asked Jesus about the right way to worship God (whether it had to be in Jerusalem) and was told that the true worshipers are the ones who worship in spirit and in truth (which is to say, inwardly).
In all things may God reign in the hearts of those who fear him!
I have borrowed the nativity picture from here.
7 Comments:
Also worth noting: the split betweent the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church seems to be related to their decision to observe Easter on a different day.
In addition to the 'split', the Catholics attacked the Byzantines (who were separated from them over this hopelessly trivial issue) in the third crusade.
Hey BB,
Somehow, I think I missed in expressing what I truly wanted to express, that being that Dec. 25th is a day to work out our own salvation just as is any other day. The individual can only do that by following the direct conviction of the Holy Spirit in obedience. Nothing I wrote was meant as a step by step prescription to follow and neither was I trying to promote my view on the pagan practices attached to the holiday. It is what is in the heart that matters most and that is what God sees.
BB, I would not have written what I have written if I were not convinced in my own heart and mind that it were true. I also know that knowledge comes from many different bases and history, in particular, is largely the perspective of the chronicler and the publisher of the history book. We are so fallible and we can't know for certainty what went before us or what will come after and even what is taking place in the moment is understood through our faulty perception. We are hopeless. No wonder we argue and fight over everything and the world is filled with our controversy. In my life, the only certainty that has proved Himself over and over is Jesus so it is by what He has taught me is true that I desire to live every day including Dec. 25th. I am completely at peace now with how I have been led to honor Him on that day and the days that lead up to it and follow it. That is why I opened my heart and life up to others on this matter, not as a 'do as I do' but as a 'do as the Lord Jesus directs you' and also find this same happiness, peace, and deep joy that Jesus has given me. I can't give you the knowledge that I have obtained in 52 years and even if I could, you would not assimilate it in the same way that I have because your are not me and your experiences of life are not mine. It is hopeless to try and fashion one another after each other. What I desire to express in my writing is my personal walk with Jesus and what He does in my life day by day with the hopes of causing those who already know Him to draw closer to Him themselves and live their lives not according to me but according to Him. I also hope that those who do not know Him might see Jesus in me as God reveals Him to them.
I surely did not write to stir up controversy (it does seem though that I do that unintentionally quite often). I firmly believe that we are to do as the Bible teaches and not judge one another over the keeping or not keeping of any holiday or sabbath. For me Dec. 25th, like all holidays, is like any other day but for others it is more. Each of us must live as the Lord and the scriptures direct us, personally, to live.
You are my dear brother in Christ and my prayer for you is that you continue to grow in Him daily and that in any interaction between us, God will work it to your good (and my own) whether that interaction be one of mental assent and agreement or one of decent that reflects in each of us continuing spiritual growth and the struggle between the spirit and the flesh. Our unity is not in our ability to agree on everything but it is a perfect unity that is found only in Jesus. As He holds all things together, so too will He hold you and I together in order to suit His own purpose. May God richly bless your devotion to Him.
In Christ,
Pam
Hi Pam,
I hope that the people who read this blog are able to 'do as you do' in regard to how conscientious you are, just as Paul said, 'follow me as I follow Christ'. I apologize for the extent to which I misunderstood you earlier.
I fully agree with everything you said in your last comment. My hope is that people can make their choices on controversial matters with the same attention to God's leading as you bear in mind.
You are right about knowledge. You should know that I respect you in your seniority, to some extent like an 'elder', but the true source of my respect comes from your considerate and loving style. To this end I am the student and you are the teacher.
I hope you have an excellent holiday season as you reflect on the basis of your joy (just as you have proposed we do). I'm going to go try and figure out what RSS is.
BB,
I respect you also, BB because you are a young man who has overcome the devil and decided to follow Jesus. I respect your devotion to Him despite all that is set against you to do so.
There is a wonderful thing about misunderstandings between brothers and sisters in Christ, we always learn a great deal about Jesus through them. That is a mystery that is wonderful to me. Iron sharpens iron, I guess and we can't rub shoulders for long without a few sparks flying! The good thing is that our disagreements can't break us apart when we are unified in Christ. That is a bond thicker than blood and far beyond any shared ideology or culture.
It is really cold here right now and you know that doesn't agree with me very well. I've got Arizona on my mind right now and memories of Maui to keep me in a 'warm' state of mind.:0) I'm thinking of writing a book called, "Memoirs of an Iguana Woman"...
Enjoy God and the season He has created and may God shower His blessings upon you and your family in the coming New Year and all the years ahead that He has appointed to you.
Love In Christ,
Pam
Hey BB,
As an afterthoutht, it has struck me that what we each respect in the other is Jesus. Isn't that a joy? :0)
Hello Iguana Woman,
I think your book idea is excellent. Book me down for one.
I'm sure you'd like the termperature over here (although, it isn't exactly burning). Definitely no hard feelings. I hope you know how glad I am to see Jesus reflected in your style, and yes, that is another way of identifying how I respect you.
""Does Christmas have a pagan origin? Who knows?"
As soon as I see the word, "Know" I get nervous. Do you really know Jesus was not born on December 25th?"
We know. Dec 25 was chosen to coincide with the existing indigenous religions that were being merged into Christianity; this is well documented by modern scholars. It's the same reason Easter was chosen, same reason Sunday was chosen as the new sabbath, read Constantine's decree for yourself.
(Additionally, Constantine wished to distance himself from Jews, whom he despised.)
Regarding Hanukkah being in Scripture, you're right, it's not in Protestant Scripture, and it's not the same as the Feasts of the Lord, such as Passover, commanded in the Torah.
However, it should be noted that Hanukkah was in Scripture in the 1st century: the findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls show that the Qumran community considered the books of Maccabees and Judith part of Scripture. These contain the historical recordings of the Hanukkah ("dedication") story.
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