This is the culmination of the Advent season, which for Catholics begins on the 4th Sunday prior to Christmas with the lighting of the Advent wreath.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
War on Christmas - Actual bans in the United States
- Thread starter lewisnotmiller
- Start date
This is the culmination of the Advent season, which for Catholics begins on the 4th Sunday prior to Christmas with the lighting of the Advent wreath.
In the interests of full disclosure, I celebrate Christmas. Always have, always will. Most of the people I celebrate it with are Christian, if loosely.
But it holds no personal religious significance. Just a time to come together in terms of extended family. My family used to have that one intoxicated old uncle with the wandering hands, but he's passed away a few years back, so there's an opening if anyone is interested?
But it holds no personal religious significance. Just a time to come together in terms of extended family. My family used to have that one intoxicated old uncle with the wandering hands, but he's passed away a few years back, so there's an opening if anyone is interested?
I guess that is only significant if one believes that Jesus was God incarnated. I do not subscribe to that idea . It was "adopted' into "church" dogma centuries after Christ's death. Prior to that Mary was just the mother of Jesus...not the Mother of God.
That makes God a racist then.....all us southern hemisphere inhabitants are in the middle of a hot summer. "Dashing through the snow" with "jingle bells" is a bit lost on us in Oz. Frosty the snowman would be a puddle here.
Seasonal festivals are for local inhabitants. Christians are in every nation on earth, so it makes no sense to have seasonal emblems that have no significance for those in other parts of the earth.
I guess that is what people used to enjoy.....the family time over a meal together....nothing wrong with that, except that the days of happy united families are all but over. Blended or dysfunctional families have more to fight over at this time of year with kids at times being the pawns in the middle of it. It is also a time when police see a spike in domestic violence. It isn't the simple happy family time it once was for too many people. It has become a financial nightmare for others.
But why do you need a certain date in the year to spend time with family? Can't that be done at any time of year? Can't you give presents to your family any time of year? It makes no sense to have the whole country on holiday at the same time.....especially when the date holds no significance for many people like yourself.
The road toll alone should be enough for authorities to want to rethink this whole holiday. The sense of entitlement held by so many kids at this time of year, with no one to thank except someone who isn't even real. The kids who live in poverty must wonder why santa is so mean with his gifts when the rich kids can get presents worth thousands of dollars. How do you explain that to young children? Better not to lie to them in the first place IMO.
Holiday accommodation prices increase significantly too at this time of year, so it can be a very expensive exercise at the end of the day.
Summer in Australia usually means the beach, and as I live in a place where people come for their vacations, we have to put up with bottlenecks of traffic and tourists taking up all the spaces in the parking lots and on the beaches....empty shelves in the supermarket...and very slow internet.
We are glad to see the back of them.
I guess you don't miss him then...?
Given the beliefs and worldview of the people that this was delivered to (by God Himself) , doesn't worshipping Jesus seem awfully risky? Christianity sure looks like blatantly disregarding the 1st Commandment to me.
Tom
Come to my place and you'll see a happy family. As for dysfunctional...yeah, I'm not about to believe there was a golden age when families were both honest AND functional.
Violence spikes, yep. But it actually spikes much more on New Years than Christmas. And that's nothing new either.
It holds no significance to me, but it does to others within my extended family. Unlike SOME stereotypes, atheists really aren't trying to rain on other people's parades, generally. I can fit with their celebratory calendar. Besides, we're all on leave from work, and have the precedent of our shared memories, our summer holidays, etc to make this more meaningful than an arbitrary date. Let's face it, May 13 just isn't going to cut it. December 25 has multiple precedents, even apart from Christian belief. It MUST be a good date.
You want the AUTHORITIES to ban Christmas? Woooo.....no. So much wrong in that. I'm no Christian, but hands off.
I can see the sense in this. Let's just leave it as 'The community my kids are raised in and lived in is not the same as the one you'd raise yours in'. Just like the rules would be different again were I in another country.
Holiday accommodation prices increase significantly too at this time of year, so it can be a very expensive exercise at the end of the day.
Summer in Australia usually means the beach, and as I live in a place where people come for their vacations, we have to put up with bottlenecks of traffic and tourists taking up all the spaces in the parking lots and on the beaches....empty shelves in the supermarket...and very slow internet.
We are glad to see the back of them.
Stick your house up on AirBnB, turn a profit, and use the cash to have a nice holiday away from the maddening crowds.
I guess you don't miss him then...?
I do, actually. He was funny, and less...err...random I guess...when he was younger. He was not himself for the last few years though.
The Kilted Heathen
Crow FreyjasmaðR
Or pretty... contradictory.
Kangaroo Feathers
Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
*eyeroll*
No, no ,no...all I was suggesting is staggering the holidays throughout the year. Some could then have a skiing holiday
I used to have a neighbor who did this. He and his family always went away camping for 6 weeks over Christmas, so he rented his house out for the 6 weeks and made a nice little profit. Stone's throw to the beach.
Its not the kind of jealousy that humans experience...that would be petty.
According to Biblical usage, “jealousy” may be a positive or a negative quality or emotion. (Proverbs 14:30; Zechariah 1:14) The Hebrew noun qin·ʼahʹ variously means “insistence on exclusive devotion; toleration of no rivalry; zeal; ardor; jealousy [righteous or sinful]; envying.” The Greek zeʹlos has a similar meaning. (2 Corinthians 11:2; 12:20)
Its similar to the kind of jealousy a man feels when his wife might be attracted to another man. The repercussions of acting on that attraction might be disastrous for the family, especially the children. He wants the family to stay together and warns us not to play around with other gods and bust up his spiritual family. A faithful wife is prized by her husband because he trusts her implicitly....and so is a faithful worshiper to God.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
Christmas in no where any more "pagan" than having a church, a temple, or a kingdom hall because "pagan" religions had much the same long before Christianity developed.
"Guilt by association" is maybe an interesting game to play, but the reality is that Christmas in a Christian holiday even though there are symbols involved in churches today that may have also been part of some "pagan" worship way back when.
IOW, if you're Christian, go out and celebrate Christmas with your families without feeling guilty, but if it bothers some other Christians here, then don't.
"Guilt by association" is maybe an interesting game to play, but the reality is that Christmas in a Christian holiday even though there are symbols involved in churches today that may have also been part of some "pagan" worship way back when.
IOW, if you're Christian, go out and celebrate Christmas with your families without feeling guilty, but if it bothers some other Christians here, then don't.
Akivah
Well-Known Member
I'm not aware of anyone that eats latkes every single day of Hanuka.
Akivah
Well-Known Member
Yes, the reason for your season. It's why I will never celebrate this holiday. It's baffling to the people around my office that I refuse to participate in their holiday cheer. One fellow asked about the celebrations of jesus within Hanuka. He was surprised when I explained our reason for the season and how his god isn't in it.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
I could! But I don't.
There is a religious celebration of Christmas and a secular celebration of Christmas. Any Christian familiar with Hebrew Scripture knows the reason for the celebration of Hanukkah and that it has nothing to do with Christmas.
In your office is Hanukkah acknowledged a joyous occasion to celebrate?
Which can be taken many ways, depending on one's view of the concept of 'faith'.
I agree that each should make their own choice in these matters.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
No one whom is a serious Bible student would suggest that observing a holiday like Christmas is "breaking God's laws".
On top of that.you are one who's breaking "God's Laws" by not even trying to observe all 613 Commandments as found in Torah, so you should be one of the last people here demanding that others not break "God's Laws". When the scriptures talk about "the Law", that is a reference to Jewish Law-- all 613 of them.
So, for you to lay a guilt trip on others here about "observing God's Law", it is you, not they, that is acting unethically.
Paul's own account is much older than that of Acts which is not authored by any of the Apostles. What is found in Acts is the theology of its author, thus the added details.
Akivah
Well-Known Member
Actually Hanukkah isn't mentioned in the Hebrew bible.
It's swept up into xmas. But there's only one other Jew here, so not much demand.