Someone wrote about Christmas and I could not find your post to reply! So here is my reply why I think Christmas is not pagan!
I just read a thread where one of the posters was saying Christmas is not Pagan.
I read your links and so far it proves that Christmas is not a pagan holiday although pagans prior to Christmas had festival similar to Christmas! Christmas was started during a confusing time in history. Constance declared December 25 as the official birth date of Christ during a counsel of men about 340 or 325 A.D. Although at the same time as winter solstice and New Years celebration, it does not appear pagan in origin. You just proved it was established so that pagan would become interested in Christ! To bring them to the church. That does not sound pagan to me but the start of celebrating Christ birth on earth. Although , I myself have not started celebrating Christmas yet , because I was raised as a JW, I wonder if there writings is just another brain washing scheme to manipulate us in thinking Christmas is pagan.
So Christians decided to celebrate during the winter time really has no bearing on the list you posted, it just near all the other Holidays that are pagan. So pagans celebrated similar winter solstice and to false goddess who celebrated their sons birthday on the 21st. You could use it to compare Christian holidays with others holidays that are near the same time but 4,000 years ago is extreme and another false goddess son birth which is not of the saviors I do not believe was the intention of early Christians during 340 A.D.
If you think about what the Christian Romans and the 500 or so during the council who really were a mixture of people! with Constance who officially made Christ birth on the 25th. How bad was this anyway? The Roman rulers wanted to start up the Christianity part and wanted to convert the Pagans to their way. In order to persuade the Pagans to their new belief system they introduced Christmas to make it where Pagans didn't have to give up their celebrations, hence where Christmas started from.
I can not see God looking down and saying how awful Christians are to celebrate his sons birth. Yet, as a Jehovah Witness I was taught exactly what you posted. I think it is twisted! It is like comparing pagan god with the YHWH or His Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ from the bible! One must not have any gods before YHWH so why compare them. There really is no comparison to YHWH love to something that is false!
I think the true meaning of Christmas in 325 (340) A.D. was to have a celebration which the Jewish and pagans did not believe, Romans soldiers had plenty of mixture of people not just Romans, and that was Jesus was born the Messiah our Savior. I bet a lot of those people did not know about Christ! Although, Christ birth date was lost, it was important to establish Christ was born. There is your difference when trying to compare Jesus birth with pagan goddess son some 4,000 years prior to Christ birth.
Paul talked about Christ birth and how important it was for people to know he was born, Paul also expressed Christ sacrifice and how he raised himself up, and probably more than 3,000 saw him ascend to heavens. Remember the famous argument! bad association will spoil useful habits! and how the JW twisted it! that was referring to Christ and some started to doubt him because of the pagans it really has nothing to do with associating with people.
How about the legend of the Christmas Tree: Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.
Well so much for it being holiday for the pagans! I think Martin Luther would not bring a tree in his house to celebrate a pagan ritual, do you? Also, a tree is natural and not man made so it would not be considered an image.
Some historians trace the lighted Christmas tree to Martin Luther. He attached lighted candles to a small evergreen tree, trying to simulate the reflections of the starlit heaven -- the heaven that looked down over Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve.
Until about 1700, the use of Christmas trees appears to have been confined to the Rhine River District. From 1700 on, when lights were accepted as part of the decorations, the Christmas tree was well on its way to becoming a tradition in Germany. Then the tradition crossed the Atlantic with the Hessian soldiers.
Ok so the Egyptians put green bows around their trees! Does that mean Christians who put green bows on their trees are celebrating the Egyptians holidays? Which Holiday does Christians celebrate and which does the Egyptians Celebrate?
As far as I am concerned the history of Christmas started with Constance at 325 A.D. I think God would love us to have a celebration about his son, but does not care about Jewish festivals. Because pagans celebrated Ashtar and Mirthia on the 21 or 25th does not mean Christian can not celebrate Christ birth on the 25th. To be totally honest with you I do not think that any of these pagan festival were even discussed or considered during the counsel of 325. Through time someone probably wrote a paper comparing all the Winter festivals and it became a book.
Jehovah's Witness probably got most of their research from the same source that are now on the net! If one celebrates pagan festivals it is not from God. However, Christmas does not have pagan origins. Also, it really would not be so bad to try to convert pagans to the Christianity as long as it was there free will.
How about Baptism is it pagan?
How about this for a thought! In the OT pagans and eventually the Israelites' baptized their children in the fires! God was mad! I am going to assume that when John the Baptized baptized it was with water and baptism is a pagan ritual because it originated with pagans! Does that mean that baptism originated and therefore we should not get baptized?
See it is the same line of thinking! that is how the Jehovah Witness brain washed their members to get them to believe Christ birth celebration is pagan! well so is baptism!
Although, I am not ready to celebrate the holidays, I still need to think about what part is pagan and what I personally will not tolerate. Like frosty the snow man, good story but it is a man made story about humans creating something and it comes to life. Origin is the Golem(Jewish tradition) who thought God's name was so sacred that the priest would keep it for themselves and they took a man made image and inserted God holy name to make the thing walk and light the children's fire, anyhow through time the Golem ended up becoming Frankenstein. I like the stories as fiction, but I don't want the pagan statues of the snowman! or statues of Jesus, Mary, and the little animals not going there! but ornament for the tree to make the room cheery okay! I think about these things so as to not go against God!
How about Dolls?
"In ancient times, dolls were used as representations of a deity, and played a central role in religious ceremonies and rituals."
Exodus 20:4
“You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth.
How many Jehovah Witness own dolls?
What I realized is that the Jehovah Witness compare similar holidays to debunk Christ birthday. Although, comparing Jesus birth with a false goddess sons birth is kind of a wicked thing to do to begin with! So why not jump to Christmas is pagan! Let just get people to say Jesus birth date is pagan to celebrate. Very tricky writing styles out there!
Try again! Christmas is not a pagan holiday in origin although you can compare to pagan holidays if you want!
Also, if you think Christmas is pagan then baptism and owning dolls, and statues of any kind are pagan too! One needs to throw out their children's dolls! I think that is something God would be really mad about not the celebration of Christ's birth.
Raised as a Jehovah's Witness and for over 45 years, I believed Christmas was pagan! Thanks WTBTS for bringing our attention and manipulate our brains to think this way! Another brain washing technique which has nothing to do with faithfullness to YHWH or the birth of Jesus!