Topic : 11/01 Is This Normal?

I beg to agree only partially to what you say.  She is not ashamed of what her religion states and not afraid to not be "politically correct" What she said is true is the sense that the holidays she mentioned are indeed of pagan origin and its easy for all to research it.

I commend her for her stand because it is not easy to do what she just did.  She is sure of her convictions and should not be condemned for that.

What she is emphasizing on is not the actual DOB of Christ but she is emphasizing on the pagan origin.  Let me give you an illustration: if you bake bread and want only half the batch to have leaven in it, you wont put it in the whole batch because a little leaven makes the whole thing rise.  You will separate it because you can't mix both and have what you are looking for.  That what she is saying. She is making a choice and should not be condemned for it.

It is obvious to me that the woman who does not want to celebrate holidays, has had some contact with Jehovah's Witnesses. She should have her right to not celebrate these holidays, even if the majority celebrate these. It is her right to worship in the manner that she believes. Everything she brought up about the holidays is totally true. It truly is her sister attempting to impose her beliefs on her sister, when it is obvious that she is attempting to worship her God in her own way. It is not her attempting to deprive her children of fun, it is her way of attempting to worship, and raise her children in her beliefs.

I now volunteer at a GED center in my community. If I am teaching the part of the GED that has to do with Essays, around the time of Christmas, I kind of set up the students before I give them an assignment. I ask them how many think it is good to lie to your children? I then ask how many believe it is right to mislead their children in setting up a chance for your children to mistrust your word, just for fun? There are other questions I ask, but to make this long story short, I then give them their assignment, "Should you tell your children there is a Santa Claus? When giving topics I try to make at least one a month a subject to make them think about a topic that actually will make them think about a moral or current event issue going on. Something that will make them think outside their everyday life. They don't always agree with each other on the side of the issues, but they enjoy that part of the Essays.

 I am a believer of the Christian faith, and I chose to not tell my children there was a Santa Claus, before I ever knew about any Christian faith that didn't celebrate that holiday. I was so worried that if I told them there was a Santa Claus, and later found out I was lying to them about it, they may question if there really is a Jesus Christ that was truly the son of God. I don't regret that As a matter of fact, I had a woman call me up because she was upset that my son told her son there was not a Santa Claus. My response to her, was I was upset that her son told my son there was a Santa Claus. Who was wrong?

I've had similar probelms (as Shelita) with my family. I have been verbally bashed for not celebrating holidays and birthdays as well.

My mom views it this way: It depends on how you celebrate it. People don't look at it that way. I don't celebrate in a pagan way. It's for fellowship, fun, sharing, giving....

I try to explain to her my perspective: It's not how people view it, it's how God views it. Just because something is "acceptable" to society doesn't mean it is to God.

I am very tolerant of others' views and lifestyles. Just because I "tolerate" it doesn't mean I agree with it. I dont'  judge anyone else since that is not my place. I have some knowledge of what the Bible says and what does and does not  please God. I enjoy sharing what I know, but this doesn't mean I am judging them. I really think this is what Shelita was trying to do. I don't believe she was judging anyone -just stating what SHE believes. I try to avoid this misunderstanding by stating "the Bible says" so that people realize this is from the written Word of God, not my own opinion.

As for people thinking that if you don't celebrate holidays you have no fun, that's simply not true. Gift giving is from the heart, not because some say it's that time of year. I give gifts to people whenever the feeling comes. To me, it is more meaningful and sincere. I have had to tell people not to buy me "Christmas" presents, birthday presents, etc. and it is really hard for them to understand. Some call me a scrooge. That's their opinion, they are entitled to it, but my interest is in pleasing God, not "going along" with the crowd just to "keep the peace".

I commend Shelita for speaking out. It is really hard to put yourself out there and be that vulnerable. I hope she continues to learn, apply what she learns, and share what she learns. At the very least it opens the door for discussion.

Pagans may have had a celebration in winter where they danced around a pine tree, but it sure wasn't Christ-mas.  LOL

I think it's such a lovely thing for the people who follow Christ to have a big celebration each year in honor of the fact that he was born!  It doesn't matter which day we hold the celebration and it sure doesn't matter whether we have a pine tree in our house or not.,  So pagans liked trees  -- they don't own all trees for all time.  Next you'll be saying we can't have candles in our churches just because Satanists use candles.

What matters is that Jesus was born and we are filled with love and goodwill toward each other when we think of it.  Anytime we show love for one another Jesus is happy.

As for Santa -- my husband likes to say that he  (Saint Nicholas) was Jesus's chosen representative for the children.  Lighten up girlfriend, think of all the people who go to Christmas Eve service with the family and come home to Jesus.

You're right, I don't celebrate Jesus as a God.  I think he was a good person with good intentions, and great knowledge, but no, I do not view him as a God.  And I am fine with Christ being in Christmas, after all, it is Christmas, what I don't understand is, how can someone not accept that there holiday came from Pagan traditions?  And what is so bad about it?  December 25th is not a holiday for us, our Holy day is the Winter Solstice, which just so happens to be around the 25th.  Coincidence?  No.  But people can celebrate what they want, how they want, I just wished that sometimes they knew the truth about it.

I don't put witches in my window as well, Jetta. LOL  I think that would offend them. LOL  To me, a witch is a magical person, not an evil person, and I respect them, I would not make a mockery of them as so many do on Halloween.  The church made the witch evil, not Pagans.

I'm starting to think that you do not fully understand what I do or why I do it.  I keep with the Old ways, I want to make sure they stay around for a few thousand years more.  That's all. =)

Have a great day, Jetta.  Thank you for reading this.

Elffie

The fact remains that many people who call themselves "devil worshipers" celebrate Halloween as a time to practice very evil things, such as human sacrifices. Furthermore anyone who reads their Bible will see that these practices go against what the Bible teaches even down to the jack o laterns, witches, ghosts.....If you are a God-fearing Christian you read your Bible you do what it says regardless of what others may say. I believe it is our responsibility to tell those who are not saved(accepted Jesus into your heart, asked Him to forgive you of your sins, believe that He is the Son of God and that He died on a cross for your sins, and was raised from the dead) what we believe and why we believe it. After that it is on them as to what they do with the truth. I am not here to cast judgement, only God can judge.

My family and I celebrate Christmas, we know that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December. Do we participate in any pagan practices? No. We do exchange gifts, just like the Wise Men brought gifts to the newborn King, and just as God gave His son Jesus to us) We do not teach our children about Santa Clause because he is not real, God is and He is the one who enables us to give gifts to our loved ones. Now I know other Christians that choose not to celebrate Christmas and we don't think they are wrong, they just choose not to participate.  Like I said we are not here to judge only to spread the truth of God's Word.