God Makes Sense

For years I have heard cynics and skeptics talk about the traditions of Christmas being nothing more than borrowed or stolen customs of pagan religions.   People will claim that most traditions surrounding Christmas come from ancient pagan feasts. This is a popular myth that has been put forth for the last 20 years or so in an effort to discount Christmas. Many traditions of Christmas may have components similar to pagan feasts and even a few are adaptions from pagan events, the specific application to Christmas is Christian in origin.

A popular argument is the date Christmas is celebrated. Some cynics will point to this simply as Christianity choosing a date to appease the pagan’s celebration of the winter solstice. Even worse some will connect it to the Egyption god Horus (when actually it should be Osiris, the father of Horus - but more on that in a minute) in an effort to cast dispersion on the person of Christ by pointing out supposed parallels between the life of Christ and the “life” of Horus.

Certainly people were celebrating the winter solstice prior to Christmas and the Christian Christmas does take place at the time of the winter solstice. Christmas is not a celebration of the winter solstice. Again, reference the name which means the Mass of Christ, which could be translated as the worship of Christ. The winter solstice is not a celebration. It is the day of the year when the night is the longest and the daytime is the shortest. It occurs on or about Dec. 21st. It is neither pagan or Christian either one. It is simply a measurement. People’s of all cultures and religions have long celebrated natural events in various ways. The pagans do not own a monopoly on this. The earlier church certainly recognized and possibly even celebrated the winter solstice as well. Additionally, the idea that the selection of Dec. 25th was some strategic decision by the church to get members is both ludicrous and not backed up by any facts.

Was Jesus actually born on Dec. 25? No one knows the date of Jesus birth. It was not celebrated by the early church as the celebration of one’s birth was a particularly pagan custom in that day that the church wanted to avoid. The date is not significant. The celebration of the birth of Christ at one time or another occurred on various days by various groups and through the typical development of traditions over time became most popularly celebrated on Dec. 25th.

Those who try and connect it to the story of the Egyptian god Horus, claim he too (at least by the story) was born on the 25th of Dec…..5000 years ago. There are some historical problems with this at the very least. Horus was not born on Dec. 25th 5000 years ago. There was no Dec. 25th 5000 years ago. Actually they should be referring to Osiris, the father of Horus, who is claimed to have been born on Dec. 25th. Similar to how Christianity selected the date to celebrate the birth of Christ, the Romans, thousands of years later, assigned this date to the birth of the Egyption god Osiris.

When talking of this with one individual they told me that Horus was born on the 10th day of Mechir on the ancient Egyptian calendar of 5000 years ago, which is the same as Dec. 25th on our calendar. This is laugahable as we do not have the ability to compare dates from the ancient Egyptian ‘calendar’ to the Roman calendar and to our Gregorian calendar accurately.

Isn’t it odd that no one worships Horus, yet hundreds of millions worship Jesus some 2000 years after His arrival? I’ve always been told you can judge the value of something in part by how it stands the test of time.

How about our beloved Christmas tree? Did they really have a decorated pine tree (or any kind of evergreen) in that manger in Bethlehem? For that matter, do pine trees grow in that part of the world?

Yes, they grow in that part of the world.
Most traditions for holidays and celebrations are developed over time and are meant to be symbolic. Did they really light off firecrackers and over eat grilled hamburgers and hot dogs after they signed the declaration of independence? The Christmas tree, like many other Christmas traditions is symbolic. Yes, it is probably incorporated from other cultures’ celebrations. The modern popularity of the Christmas tree started with Martin Luther (one of those religious scholars) who brought it back to his home and chose to let it symbolize the everlasting life given by Christ.

What about Santa Clause? Some will point the finger and say this is basically an idol (false god) that we teach our children to love and adore (worship)?

Santa is an english derivitive of Saint. He is also known as Saint Nicholas and has a long and storied tradition that certainly has morphed over the years but definitely has its origins in Christianity. We hear so mush abot Christianity borrowing from other beliefs in its traditions, but ironically enough, this is a great example of the unbelievers borrowing a Christian tradition for their own use.

An idol or false god? I don’t know of anyone in the church who believes Santa Claus is a god. Maybe those who are of the world rather than of the church believe this, but the church does not. Certainly you can love and adore someone without worshipping them. I love and adore my wife but I do not believe she is God and do not worship her as such.

The history channel recently promoted the idea that most religious scholars agree that Christianity took parts of pagan beliefs and rituals and incorporated them in to Christmas in order to make it easier for the pagans to join the Christian faith and abandon their false gods.

That is a bold and inaccurate statement. Certainly there are religious scholars who believe this but the statement, “Most religious sholars…” is not accurate. None of my colleagues teach this. As I have stated, Christianity certainly did adapt certain customs and teachings into its traditions, but they did not do so in any secretive or seductive manner. They did so openly and adapted them to symbolize things that were meaningful in the Christian belief.

The on-going effort to belittle Christianity and to minimize its significance by casting it as just one more religion that has borrowed and pilfered from other cultures, specifically paganism rings hollow. Christmas trees, Santa Clauss, the date of Dec. 25th - these things are all traditions, not theologies. They do not define Christianity, but rather help us reflect on that which does define us.

I know its a little late with a Thanksgiving message but wanted to post this anyway.  It is easy to be thankful when all is going well, but what about when times are tough or life doesn’t seem to be treating you fair?

In Acts 16:16-34 Paul and Silas are in Phillipi, a Roman colony in the district of Macedonia on the first of Paul’s missionary journeys.  They are on their way to the place of prayer and are met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.  The girl, directed by the spirit harassed Paul and Silas until finally Paul rebuked the spirit and it left the girl.

Once the owners realized the girl was no longer useful to them they had Paul and Silas thrown in prison for being trouble makers; a bogus charge.  In prison they were stripped and beaten, severely flogged.

So what was their response?  While in prison, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God.  During their time of praise an earthquake came that shook the foundations of the prison so much that the prison doors fell open and the prisoners’ chains fell off.   When the jailer awoke and realized what had happened he was set to kill himself, fearing his punishment.  Paul shouted out to him not to harm himself because they were all still there. The jailer was so moved and impressed by it all that he asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”  They witnessed to him the way of salvation and he and his entire house with him came to believe in God.

Paul and Silas are arrested for doing something good.  Have you ever been punished, persecuted, or at least suffered for doing something good?  It is so easy in those times to pout and complain to God, asking Him, “why did You let this happen?  I was only trying to do Your work.”  It certainly doesn’t seem fair when something like this happens and probably the last thought on our minds is to praise God.  It is quite possible that Paul and Silas didn’t feel like praising God either.  Yet they did praise Him.  As Paul and Silas praised the Lord in a spirit of thanksgiving a miracle takes place.  I’m not just speaking about the miracle of the earthquake.  No, a much greater miracle takes place.  The earthquake was merely the tool used to provide freedom to someone, real freedom.  Not just freedom from earthly chains and bars, but freedom from sin and bondage.  I’m not sure why Paul and Silas didn’t just get up and leave, but somehow the Spirit kept them there and as a result the real miracle takes place.

The jailer was ready to kill himself.  This tells us a little about the man.  First he was selfish; you see he had a family at home, but to avoid the punishment, which I am certain would have been awful, he is ready to kill himself.  Secondly he is a man without hope.  What a contrast between his response to adversity and Paul and Silas’ response.   Which camp do we fit in?   Obviously the fact that all the prisoners were still in place impacted the man but I have to believe Paul and Silas’ praise earlier sent a message to him as well.  He was so deeply moved by it all that he accepted Christ in faith and became a man with hope.

Often we get upset and lose faith and become depressed when things happen to us that are not fair; especially when we feel like we are “serving the Lord”.   We act as if while we are serving the Lord nothing bad will come our way and then when it does we either doubt our faith, and\or we get mad at God.  If Paul and Silas do not get put in jail they probably do not get to witness to the jailer and his family.   Consider Romans 8:28 here - “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

Paul and Silas probably did not enjoy being thrown in prison and felt like it wasn’t fair.  They praised God anyway.  They had a spirit of thanksgiving anyway.  The result was a miracle, ultimately the salvation, ‘setting free’ of a man and his family.   What might happen to us if we praise and give thanks even when we don’t feel like it?

In a recent post I wrote about acting happy before you felt happy and it will often result in making you happy.  Well come to find out that can work on others too.

In Proverbs 15:30 It says “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.”  Don’t underestimate the power of a cheerful look.  In this scripture we see that a cheerful look can bring joy to someone’s heart.  Want to spread some joy today, it may be as simple as giving someone a cheerful look.  You never know, it may bring some joy to your own heart as well.