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Christian or not...Has the Message of Christmas Been Lost?

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posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 04:57 AM
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Just an observation.

Christmas, is disappearing.

I am not Christian but in many areas of the World and especially the Western World it's not politically correct to refer to it as Christmas. Well, it's always been Christmas to me and will always remain as such. And I'm not even Christian.

I remember only one Christmas when I was young and I truly don't know why. Maybe because it was the Hiawatha, white wall tire bicycle that was the only gift I wanted or the surprise of it because it was one of the gifts that couldn't be wrapped, but rather a gift that was a joy to give from a parent because it was hidden in another room and not revealed for at least another hour after the gifts under the tree were unwrapped.

I don't remember exactly how old I was but it still brings tears to my eyes when I recall that morning.

However, this isn't about heartfelt memories but rather the lack of new ones. Not only for me but for many others. It brings me to question, what has happened to Christmas?

I have never hidden the fact of not following the Christian doctrine or any other religion for that matter but I also don't deny Christmas as a time of peace, acceptance and family. Am I a Christian? No. But i am also not unfeeling in understanding that many of my family and friends are of the belief. Why do I celebrate something I don't believe in? Quite simply because I accept the beliefs of others and choose to embrace the message of the time. Peace, love, sharing, forgiveness.

Whether we believe in the institution of Christmas or not, most of us will embrace the underlying message of the time. We truly want to reconnect, forgive, love and enjoy our time with our loved ones. Regardless of our personal beliefs. It's in our nature to want peace.

But now as I look around I see the loss of what Christmas meant in our youth. Many of us with children state that it's all about them. Watching their joy as they open their presents with the magic in their eyes. But how is that magic coming about?

Ipods, Pads, laptops, cameras, designer clothes, new x-box, CASH??? "Let me open my presents before I go hang with my friends".

All of this leads me to believe that the true meaning of family, Christianity( if that's you) is slowly but surely disappearing. And I see it as soon to be gone altogether. Nothing left but an obligatory exchange of gifts and a holiday. Just long enough to be gluttons while many starve and to drink ourselves to the point of "forgetting" for at least a moment, all of our real life issues, problems, bills and personal obligations.

I honestly don't know where this thread was intended to go anymore. I just started writing as I'm sitting here at 2:30 am Christmas morning and am really feeling quite lost on yet another Christmas.

I will definitely say that I have many things to be thankful for this year.

I have had the fortune of connecting with a long lost friend of almost 20 years and she has recently become a member here. I won't mention her name but I will say that I am very fortunate to have her in my life for so long and that is a true miracle if you knew our history.

We as adults have to reconnect with out inner potential of connection, tolerance and acceptance. Try to recapture our youthful joy for not only our children but for ourselves. We must navigate this new World, stand vigilante and fight against those that would oppress us but we must always remember that Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever, This time of year is only about humanity and our choice of joy or hatred of each other.

Many don't see this time of year as a time of peace but it really doesn't matter if we all accept any time of the year that certain religions celebrate as that time. What's in a calendar date anyway?

I choose joy.

Peace

.

edit on 25-12-2012 by jude11 because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 05:12 AM
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Merry Christmas!




posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 05:14 AM
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Originally posted by redbarron626
Merry Christmas!



An old favorite that we used to watch every year.


Thank you and Merry Christmas to you also.


Peace


edit on 25-12-2012 by jude11 because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 05:52 AM
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reply to post by jude11
 


I feel the exact same way that you do about this and I have been very vocal about it over the last few days with certain people.

Even though I am not Christian I understand the concept of Christmas. I celebrate it in the way that I buy gifts for my family as they do the same for me, other than that there isn't much meaning for it anymore except in many cases it brings family together so that aspect is a good thing.

One thing that bothered me today was a friend explaining how excited she was about Christmas and she claims to be a Christian but all she kept going about was the gifts she was expecting and bragging about how much money she spent on others. She eventually went on to say "Jesus Christ" as many people do when they are suprised or angered during her Christmas rant. I couldn't help but butt in and say "Did you just notice what you did?".

She didn't even notice until I pointed it out to her that she used Jesus Christ's name in the form of a curse on his birthday of all days


What also struck me to be odd was that she didn't seem to care, she just gigled and then continued on about how much shopping she did.

I then followed with a rant about how Christmas is celebrated by a mob of gift frenzied zombies who barely have any idea what they are celebrating, which is the birth of Jesus Christ.

On a side note, I believe Jesus to be born on a different date than the 25th of December but that is a whole other subject/thread.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 06:32 AM
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If the meaning of Christmas is about familiy then maybe we could examine how families have changed over the years. My daughter assumed she was spending Christmas with her dad this year only to be told he is going out of town to spend it with his new wifes family and she wasn't invited. She is in her 20's and isn't sobbing over it but it clearly defines the relationship. Grandparents, absorbed in retirement, migrated to warmer parts surrounded by other retirees to keep company with. Siblings across the county had to work the 23 and be back the 26th making travel worthless. Letters, telephone calls and text messages aren't always enough to keep relationships strong.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 06:32 AM
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VERY thought provoking post by jude...

According to the words of Jesus below, the message of Christmas HAS been lost.

Christmas SHOULD be about Jesus, but it really isn't...

Think: what would be the one thing Jesus would REALLY want for His birthday?

Our hearts, our souls, and our lives.

Instead we buy things for ourselves...


On Christmas morning in 1997 I was awake and praying knowing that I would soon be heading downstairs to share Christmas with my daughter and her family. As I continued praying about it the L-rd gave me a vision. Standing before me in an open vision I saw a Christmas Tree beautifully decorated with presents tucked all around the bottom. Across from the tree I saw Messiah hanging upon a cross weeping. He looked at me and cried: "The foxes have spoiled the whole tree." I responded: "L-rd, what do you mean?"

He then took me into the spirit and let me see things through His eyes and feel what He felt. He moaned: "Christmas is not about Me and what I gave on the cross. It is about greed and gifts and teaching My children the ways of the world. It is about what each one can get and moaning over what they don't get. It fosters greed and rebellion in the hearts of My precious children, while the poor and the needy go without. This is not My way; it is not My holiday. It is mans!

The merchants have totally perverted the joy of My birth and have turned the focus on satisfying the craving of man's lust. My children are not taught to forget themselves and seek the interest of the poor and needy. It is a holiday that is a complete perversion of my ways." I realized that Christmas, although many Churches put on pageants and plays about Christ and His birth, truly is a pagan holiday. No matter how we try to dress it up, it really isn't about our beloved Messiah. It is about us!

All the time He was speaking, I wept, as I was feeling His broken heart. I was experiencing a brokenness that was beyond my meager ability to bear. I at last decided. Somehow I had to be part of ending the pain I was part of creating. Personally, I have not celebrated Christmas since that day.

Where Is Christ In Christmas?



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 06:33 AM
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A little background on Christmas.



Christmas is the result of Roman emperors’ search for a creed that would unite the many different cultures under their sway. By the third century A.D., it was evident that the staid gods of the Roman pantheon could not compete with compelling new cults of Dionysus, Attis, or Cybele. The emperor Aurelian decided to revamp the pantheon by making Sol, the sun God, its principal divinity, and by declaring the winter solstice a national holiday for Sol’s birthday. But Constantine, who came to power some 30 years later, favored Christianity as the imperial creed, a choice that his eventual successor Theodosius made official in 380 A.D. The birthday celebrated on Dec. 25 became that of Jesus, not Sol.


www.thedailybeast.com...

Christmas is not disappearing. Right now we live in a time where it is hard to see family across the world. Same thing goes for buying presents as well. But, the true message of Christmas isn't the birth of Jesus, it is actually time where people can come together. Think about any other holiday where people come together on a mass scale. Christmas and Thanksgiving are pretty much the only two. Thanksgiving is lost, but not Christmas.

Christmas is for everyone.
I'm religious as well. I'm also a little bit tired of people labeling Christmas as the celebrating Jesus.

But, whatever Christmas means to you, just remember to make sure it is celebrated with someone.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 06:45 AM
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Originally posted by Murgatroid
VERY thought provoking post by jude...

According to the words of Jesus below, the message of Christmas HAS been lost.

Christmas SHOULD be about Jesus, but it really isn't...

Think: what would be the one thing Jesus would REALLY want for His birthday?

Our hearts, our souls, and our lives.

Instead we buy things for ourselves...


On Christmas morning in 1997 I was awake and praying knowing that I would soon be heading downstairs to share Christmas with my daughter and her family. As I continued praying about it the L-rd gave me a vision. Standing before me in an open vision I saw a Christmas Tree beautifully decorated with presents tucked all around the bottom. Across from the tree I saw Messiah hanging upon a cross weeping. He looked at me and cried: "The foxes have spoiled the whole tree." I responded: "L-rd, what do you mean?"

He then took me into the spirit and let me see things through His eyes and feel what He felt. He moaned: "Christmas is not about Me and what I gave on the cross. It is about greed and gifts and teaching My children the ways of the world. It is about what each one can get and moaning over what they don't get. It fosters greed and rebellion in the hearts of My precious children, while the poor and the needy go without. This is not My way; it is not My holiday. It is mans!

The merchants have totally perverted the joy of My birth and have turned the focus on satisfying the craving of man's lust. My children are not taught to forget themselves and seek the interest of the poor and needy. It is a holiday that is a complete perversion of my ways." I realized that Christmas, although many Churches put on pageants and plays about Christ and His birth, truly is a pagan holiday. No matter how we try to dress it up, it really isn't about our beloved Messiah. It is about us!

All the time He was speaking, I wept, as I was feeling His broken heart. I was experiencing a brokenness that was beyond my meager ability to bear. I at last decided. Somehow I had to be part of ending the pain I was part of creating. Personally, I have not celebrated Christmas since that day.

Where Is Christ In Christmas?


Actually for Christianity, it is about the time of giving. The time when Jesus was born and the 3 kings gave gifts to him. That is where the present giving comes in, but as a religious man myself, what makes you think Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus only? How about an atheist that celebrates Christmas? Are they not entitled to Christmas? That's why Christmas real message is about a time of communion with one another.

In fact, the Bible does not label when Jesus was born and as time has changed since the birth of Jesus. But, what was stated in my post above is some history on Christmas. Again as a religious man...celebrating and loving Jesus should be done all year, not just Christmas. Which most Christians only do during Christmas.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 11:59 AM
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I am an atheist but I happen to live according the guidelines of the New Testament: give, forgive and postpone judging and love. And hope.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 01:35 PM
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It doesn t matter what you call Christmas, it s different in many languages.I have a friend who is Christian so I wish her
a Merry Christmas, another neighbor I wish a Felice Navidad(not sure if that is spelt right). I am of Metis heritage and
have acquaintances who are also of Metis heritage , and some say Merry Christmas and some wish me a Happy
Winter Solstice.To me it isn t the words but the spirit that is important.The gift giving was a big part for me when my
sons were young. I loved to give and see them happy and excited. It made me happy. Getting together with family and
sharing a meal made it special. It s the feelings that I remember not what I got or what I ate.

I remember one Christmas when my sons and I got delayed by snow storm from flying home from Northern B.C.
to Vancouver Island. We had to get a taxi from Vancouver airport to the Ferry to get tothe Island. This was on New
Year s Eve. My partner was picking us up at the Ferry on the Island. The Island got so much snow everything came to
a standstill. But he was there to pick us up when we finally arrived. Plus a young girl and an elderly woman who were
travelling alone and did nt know how they were going to get home from the Ferry.They lived 30 and 40 mins from the
Ferry terminal. I said "we ll give you a ride home", meaning my partner would
. The roads were a mess but he just
said , where to. After we dropped them off at their homes, we turned around and travelled 40 min back to our home.
We made it in the door at midnight on New Years Eve and he had an amazing supper spread out for us!

I will never forget his selflessness that night!

This Christmas I am totally alone, nofamily or friends. Too far away. I now live in North Saskatchewan, in a very small town. It s beautiful here today. Bright sunshine, blue sky, and -37 with the wind chill
I went out for a walk this
morning and there was one other person walking . We exchanged greetings and laughed about how crazy we were,
out here walking and enjoying nature. There were others who were loading presents and kids into the car to go to relatives, but they had time to call agreeting and inquire about your plans for the day. Love small towns!


So, although I am alone I don t feel lonely. I will be phoning family and friends and some have even phoned me this
morning. Vyou ery early for them as I am 2 hours ahead. I will walk again later when it gets dark to look at all the Xmas
lights.Bringsback many memories.

There is only one person I really miss and cannot connect with personally. But then I remember , " all I have to do is think
of you and your right here in my heart "..


So , Jude, Christmas is alive and well just as you remember it , as long as you make it so, wherever you are and whoever you are with.

Merry Christmas






posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 01:57 PM
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The Christmas I just experienced tells me you may be wrong.

And in my experience, that does not happen very often.


Christmas is left to the individual now I think as our society becomes more multicultural.



posted on Dec, 25 2012 @ 04:26 PM
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Originally posted by yourmaker
The Christmas I just experienced tells me you may be wrong.

And in my experience, that does not happen very often.


Christmas is left to the individual now I think as our society becomes more multicultural.


Wishing you well during Christmas and hope you're right in my being wrong...truly.


Merry Christmas



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