Why'd you say that?
Anyway, may it help a lot of people!
tontowithloneranger
JoinedPosts by tontowithloneranger
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WHY YOU TOO CAN HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS - WITHOUT GUILT!
by tontowithloneranger inthe origins of christmas
some 35-40 million live christmas trees are used yearly in the u.s., millions more in great britain and other nations worldwide including mostly non-christian japan and even china.
a main source for information here is handbook of christian feasts and customs by francis weiser, although works by clement a. miles and sheryl karas were also consulted.
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what happened to 'leaving' the congregation?
by Pleasuredome inthe last time i read 'do you shun former members?
' at http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/beliefsfaq.htm i'm sure it said that people could 'simply leave without being shunned' or something along them lines.
am i wrong or has this been changed recently?
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WHY YOU TOO CAN HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS - WITHOUT GUILT!
by tontowithloneranger inthe origins of christmas
some 35-40 million live christmas trees are used yearly in the u.s., millions more in great britain and other nations worldwide including mostly non-christian japan and even china.
a main source for information here is handbook of christian feasts and customs by francis weiser, although works by clement a. miles and sheryl karas were also consulted.
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7
WHY YOU TOO CAN HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS - WITHOUT GUILT!
by tontowithloneranger inthe origins of christmas
some 35-40 million live christmas trees are used yearly in the u.s., millions more in great britain and other nations worldwide including mostly non-christian japan and even china.
a main source for information here is handbook of christian feasts and customs by francis weiser, although works by clement a. miles and sheryl karas were also consulted.
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tontowithloneranger
THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS
Some 35-40 million live Christmas trees are used yearly in the U.S., millions more in Great Britain and other nations worldwide including mostly non-Christian Japan and even China. A main source for information here is Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs by Francis Weiser, although works by Clement A. Miles and Sheryl Karas were also consulted.
Records tell of Christmas trees used in Riga, Latvia in 1510, 1521 in the German region of Alsace and Paris, France, in the U.S. during the Revolutionary war, by soldiers at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in 1803, in 1841 at Windsor Castle in Britain. Actual research, not the legends repeated most commonly including in some encyclopedias, shows the tree had come directly from the Tree of Eternal Life mentioned in Genesis 2 and 3, which was depicted in church plays of the Middle Ages, not, as legends claim from Martin Luther or St. Boniface who converted Druid tree-worshippers. Tree worshippers and other non-Christians, sometimes called heathens or pagans, had also considered trees as symbolic of new life but Christians did not take the tree from them but, as said, from Genesis.
In Germany Christmas candles were sometimes put on a "lichtstock," (light stick) a wooden pole decorated with evergreens, some shaped like a step pyramid with candles on each step. Eventually someone moved the candles from the lichtstock directly onto the tree, a legend crediting Martin Luther who sought to reform Catholicism.
Bible accounts hold positive as well as negative references to trees. For example the giant cedars of Lebanon used to build the temple at Jerusalem had bright green needles with tan-colored cones, and John 10:22-3 says Christ visited the successor temple during the Jewish "Festival of Dedication," namely Channukah (also spelled Hannukah) during the winter. Channukah is also called the Festival of Lights. Like Christmas it has singing, good food, the carrying of tree branches, homes filled with lights and joy. It is celebrated 8 days and its date varies yearly but the very first Channukah was December 25, making it an even more likely source for the December 25 celebration than Rome's Saturnalia which came later in the month. Some believe Christ was actually born about October 1, which would mean that, counting backwards from October, Mary conceived 9 months previously, that is about or on December 25.
Santa Claus originated with a Christian named Nicholaus. He came from a wealthy family but felt called to minister afar, and his life story sounds like a legend but is fact. Arriving aboard a ship in the harbor at Smyrna in Asia Minor, he went to the local church building where elders had been praying that a man of God would come to be their bishop or main minister. Not at major odds with the modern 1800s conception of Santa Claus, as bishop Nicholaus wore red and his hair may have whitened with age. After his relatives sent him gold coins he would at night go to the homes of poor girls in his church who were too poor to afford a dowry for marriage, meaning they would be sold into slavery and possibly forced prostitution. Windows were not of glass but wooden shutters. He would unlatched a shutter and slip a bag of gold through, trying to shove it toward the fireplace where girls and women left clothes to dry overnight, so that they could find the bags. When near death someone who had spotted the good bishop told everybody. The story of his kindness spred, and eventually he was declared to be Saint Nicholaus. Santa Claus is an English mispronunciation for the Dutch German meaning Saint Nicholaus.
John Mosley's The Christmas Star (1985) notes that from September 3 BC to June 2 BC Jupiter, known as "the royal planet," passed Regulus "the king star" in the constellation Leo, reversed then passed again, turned and passed a 3rd time. By June 17 Jupiter and Regulus were so close they seemed a single star when seen by the eye, making this a possible source for the Christ star in the Bible. Before Christ's birth unspecified men called "magi" in Biblical Greek came from the East first to Jerusalem (Mt 2:1-2) then went on to find the Christ child in Bethlehem. Some translations render the word magi as astrologers because its root, like the word "magician," is linked to the idea of being a person of great might but although magi can also simply mean people trying to predict events by observing the stars, not just those who use omens and consult spirits as was forbidden at Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
More precisely, it can refer to people who worked to predict future weather patterns, the best times to plant and harvest, buy and sell crops, etc via a careful observation of the clouds, stars and other natural phenomena principally in the sky or heavenly and with very little to absolutely no special focus on the occult at all. For solid reasons some translate magi as simply "wise men" or "stargazers" which is also supported by the fact that the magi brought gifts for Christ then also protected him by leaving without telling his location to King Herod who wanted to murder him. The oldest traditions of oral and written nature have called the wise men "kings," and Mesopotamia (Chaldea/Babylonia) did have sub-kings ruling city-states, often with the best education then possible which included knowledge of the stars and weather.
Some have denounced the Christmas custom of drinking of alcoholic beverages even though Christ himself was wrongly attacked as a "glutton and drunkard" simply for believing in a good time (Matthew 11:19) and turned water to wine at a wedding party in Cana (John 2:1-11), told followers to invite needy persons to parties (Luke 14:13-14), and accepted gifts including expensive nard oil. An interesting possible coincidence is that Revelation 1:14 describes the resurrected Christ's hair as like "white wool" or "snow," his cloak as scarlet-colored which is red with a bluish tinge (Matthew 27:28), and in the Bible white symbolizes purity. The earliest Christians enjoyed "love feasts" (Jude 12), angels celebrated Christ's birth (Luke 2), and Job's children had enjoyed their days of birth, meaning birthdays (Job 1:3, 3:1, 3). At Colossians 2:16 Paul says it is wrong to misjudge Christians based on if they do or do not celebrate holidays, so please do have a merry Christmas.