Has Bill O'Reilly weighed in on this yet? Does this change the idea the Christmas is only a Christian holiday? Or does the U.S. federal law trump the bible? How does this all fit in with the folks that hijacked this holiday and now insist that everyone in the United States celebrate it openly, whether they want to or not.

There were festivals in the Bible celebrated by many including Jesus himself. He didn't remove himself from that culture, but rather pointed to the One who was truly a reason to celebrate during them.

Yeah, I'm game for that. I'd rather have Christmas as a beach party anyway

reply to post by saint4God

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Those festivals were called God's Holy Days and they are the only commanded days to celebrate in the bible. Even the apostles after the death of Christ celebrated the Holy Days. Christians celebrate them in a different manner than the Jews because Jesus fulfilled many of the symbolic things associated with these Holy Days, like the passover lamb being slaughtered and blood poured out on the altar. Christ was cricified on the passover and His blood spilled on the hill of Calvary... He was our passover lamb and christians should celebrate this Holy Day with the sharing of unleavened bread and red wine to signify the Last Supper and the flesh/blood of Christ. This along with the washing of each other's feet. After this Holy day are 7 days of unleavened bread signifying the removal of Sin from one's life. I'll get into this all more later but those are the first two Holy Day feasts that are found in Leviticus 23.

Only commanded in the New Testament perhaps. Thanksgiving looks like it is here:

"Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. "Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field." - Exodus 23:16

Christ celebrated a wedding feast that I don't see mentioned in the Old Testament.

"They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel." - Acts 6:13-15

"The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." - Galatians 2:13-16

I'm always comforted that modern 'problems' were solved two thousand years ago.

Here's some commanded rejoicing/celebrating without a date:

"Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" - Psalm 32:11

"Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!" - Psalm 64:10

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31

"But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord." - Luke 1:13-15

After reading the whole Bible, I don't see any 'celebrating in the endzone' penalties, but many many messages about being thankful/grateful/glad in the gifts God has given to us. There is no gift greater than Christ for us, the gift of eternal life through him is worthy of celebratioin.

Merry Christ-mas

[edit on 17-12-2008 by saint4God]

reply to post by Article11

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" Look it up. Council of Nicaea. "

Again, SO WHAT?!?!?!

You're confusing the supposed reason surrounding the celebrating with the actual date!

I don't give a rats patoot about the council of nicea with regards to the correct birth-date, it is totally irrelevant!

reply to post by toasted

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LOL It's not just that- he is wrong with what he claims about the Nicaean Council. It had nothing to do with the canonization process. Its main mission was to solidify doctrine to protect against splits. They pretty much solidified nothing that wasn't already documented by the ante-Nicene church fathers centuries in advance.

He's wrong his claim that no historian recorded Jesus' execution as well. There are historical records documenting it. I had a long reply to him typed out earlier but just closed it down. Sometimes those circular debates just aren't worth it. lol

[edit on 12/17/2008 by AshleyD]

reply to post by saint4God

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" There were festivals in the Bible celebrated by many including Jesus himself. He didn't remove himself from that culture, but rather pointed to the One who was truly a reason to celebrate during them. "

I know that, the "jews" are the only group who are celebrating the correct days. [ perhaps the 7th day adventists too ]

My point was that our Lords birthday was never a scriptual holiday! And that's been a theme throughout the Bible, that israel was constantly distracted by baal worship, and only stayed on the straight and narrow when they actually had a strong true leader, like Deborah. And once that good leader passed on another good for nothing would distract them yet again.

Fast forward 2,000 years and we're doing the same stupid things. We have our own idol worship, hollywood, rockstars, models etc, it is all idol worship.

We're still distracted by B.S. and we can't even stand up and demand from our so-called leaders that the correct days be celebrated, because we [ israel ] don't even know who we are any longer [ as was written ]. But the day is fast approaching when the false one will com in His name and fool the deceived.

[edit on 17-12-2008 by toasted]

reply to post by AshleyD

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You're right, it is easy to get caught up and argue to infinity.

Anyways, FWIW; [ a list of the correct feasts [ holidays ] to be celebrated only good thru 2009 ]

threshingfloor.onevoicemm.net...

When I again revisit the scriptural evidence for Our Lords birthday, I'll post it here or u2u.

Merry Christmas y'all, for those who are wondering why we celebrate Christ's birthday when we do, a bit of helpful history:

The real Saint Nicholas reflects back to Christ

If you want to celebrate the birth of Christ June 11th, amen. If you want to celebrate the birth of Christ every day, God bless you!

reply to post by saint4God

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" If you want to celebrate the birth of Christ June 11th, amen. If you want to celebrate the birth of Christ every day, God bless you! "

What was that He said about man celebrating mans laws and not Gods laws?

He may be pleased we are thinking of Him , but I have doubts about His being pleased that we are celebrating days that were not part of Gods Law.

Isn't that like Him asking for apples, and us giving oranges instead?

[edit on 19-12-2008 by toasted]

There you go again!

There is a point to the post you have 'conveniently' cut out of your quote.

Can you tell us what it is?

C'mon don't be shy...

You didn't answer my question. Read my post three times.

Furthermore, why does he have 31170 points and you only 95. You seem to be very aware of T&Cs!!

Reading past the third word, you would've discovered the remainder of the post:



Ah, my link doesn't copy/paste. Oh well, it's up there if anyone is interested.

[edit on 19-12-2008 by saint4God]