Christmas: The Untold Story (Part 1) (Part 2)

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Christmas: The untold story (part 1)

“Christmas is one of the world’s most popular holidays, celebrated by people of many faiths. Yet the holiday has a strange and convoluted past, one hinted at in such puzzling symbols as decorated trees, holly wreaths and mistletoe.

William Walsh (1854-1919) summarizes the holiday's origins and practices in his book The Story of Santa Klaus: "We remember that the Christmas festival ... is a gradual evolution from times that long antedated the Christian period ... It was overlaid upon heathen festivals, and many of its observances are only adaptations of pagan to Christian ceremonial" (1970, p. 58). 

During the second century B.C. the Greeks practiced rites to honor their god Dionysus (also called Bacchus). The Latin name for this celebration was Bacchanalia, which spread from Greece to Rome. "It was on or about December 21st that the ancient Greeks celebrated what are known to us as the Bacchanalia or festivities in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine. In these festivities the people gave themselves up to songs, dances and other revels which frequently passed the limits of decency and order" (Walsh, p. 65).

In addition to the Bacchanalia, the Romans celebrated the Saturnalia, held "in honor of Saturn, the god of time, [which] began on December 17th and continued for seven days. This also often ended in riot and disorder. Hence the words Bacchanalia and Saturnalia acquired an evil reputation in later times" (p. 65).

Notice the customs surrounding the Saturnalia: "All businesses were closed except those that provided food or revelry. Slaves were made equal to masters or even set over them. Gambling, drinking, and feasting were encouraged. People exchanged gifts, called strenae, from the vegetation goddess Strenia, whom it was important to honor at midwinter ... Men dressed as women or in the hides of animals and caroused in the streets. Candles and lamps were used to frighten the spirits of darkness, which were [considered] powerful at this time of year. At its most decadent and barbaric, Saturnalia may have been the excuse among Roman soldiers in the East for the human sacrifice of the king of the revels" (Gerard and Patricia Del Re, The Christmas Almanac, 1979, p. 16).

"From the Romans also came another Christmas fundamental: the date, December 25. When the Julian calendar was proclaimed in 46 [B.C.], it set into law a practice that was already common: dating the winter solstice as December 25. Later reforms of the calendar would cause the astronomical solstice to migrate to December 21, but the older date's irresistible resonance would remain" (Tom Flynn, The Trouble With Christmas, 1993, p. 42). On the heels of the Saturnalia, the Romans marked December 25 with a celebration called the Brumalia. Bruma is thought to have been contracted from the Latin brevum or brevis, meaning brief or short, denoting the shortest day of the year.

"The time of the winter solstice has always been an important season in the mythology of all peoples. The sun, the giver of life, is at its lowest ebb….It is the time when the forces of chaos that stand against the return of light and life must once again be defeated by the gods. At the low point of the solstice, the people must help the gods through imitative magic and religious ceremonies. The sun begins to return in triumph. The days lengthen and, though winter remains, spring is once again conceivable. For all people, it is a time of great festivity" (The Christmas Almanac, 1979, p. 15).”   From: https://www.ucg.org/learn/bible-study-tools/bible-study-aids/holidays-or-holy-days-does-it-matter-which-days-we-observe/christmas-untold-story

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Christmas: The untold story (part 2)

“During the days of Jesus' Apostles, in the first century, the early Christians had no knowledge of Christmas as we know it. But, as a part of the Roman Empire, they may have noted the Roman observance of the Saturnalia while they themselves persisted in celebrating the customary "feasts of the Lord" (listed in Leviticus 23).

The image is a painting titled "A Roman Feast" (also known as "Saturnalia") by Italian artist Roberto Bompiani, depicting a lively banquet scene during the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us "the first Christians ... continued to observe the Jewish festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed" (11th edition, Vol. 8, p. 828, "Easter"). But over the following centuries, new, nonbiblical observances such as Christmas and Easter were gradually introduced into traditional Christianity.

These new days came to be forcibly promoted while the biblical feast days of Apostolic times were systematically rejected. "Christmas, the [purported] festival of the birth of Jesus Christ, was established in connection with a fading of the expectation of Christ's imminent return" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. 4, p. 499, "Christianity"). The Christmas celebration shifted Christianity's focus away from Christ's promised return to His birth, something the Bible does not direct Christians to do.

Gerard and Patricia Del Re explain the further evolution of December 25 as an official Roman celebration: " … the tradition of celebrating December 25 as Christ's birthday came to the Romans from Persia. Mithra, the Persian god of light and sacred contracts, was born out of a rock on December 25…. and in the third century [274] the unchristian emperor Aurelian established the festival of Dies Invicti Solis, the Day of the Invincible Sun, on December 25.

"Mithra was an embodiment of the sun, so this period of its rebirth was a major day in Mithraism, which had become Rome's latest official religion with the patronage of Aurelian. It is believed that the emperor Constantine adhered to Mithraism up to the time of his conversion to Christianity. He was probably instrumental in seeing that the major feast of his old religion was carried over to his new faith" (The Christmas Almanac, 1979, p. 17).

Although Christmas had been officially established in Rome by the fourth century, later another pagan celebration greatly influenced the many Christmas customs practiced today. That festival was the Teutonic feast of Yule (from the Norse word for "wheel," signifying the cycle of the year). "During this time log-fires were burnt to assist the revival of the sun. Shrines and other sacred places were decorated with such greenery as holly, ivy, and bay, and it was an occasion for feasting and drinking.

"Equally old was the practice of the Druids… to decorate their temples with mistletoe, the fruit of the oak-tree which they considered sacred. Among the German tribes the oak-tree was sacred to Odin, their god of war, and they sacrificed to it until St Boniface, in the eighth century, persuaded them to exchange it for the Christmas tree, a young fir-tree adorned in honour of the Christ child ..." (L.W. Cowie and John Selwyn Gummer, The Christian Calendar, 1974, p.22).

It wasn't long before such non-Christian rites and practices were assimilated into a new church religious holiday supposedly celebrating Christ's birth. William Walsh describes the rationalization behind it: " In order to reconcile fresh converts to the new faith, and to make the breaking of old ties as painless as possible, these relics of paganism were retained under modified forms ...Thus we find that when Pope Gregory [540-604] sent Saint Augustine as a missionary to convert Anglo-Saxon England he directed that so far as possible the saint should accommodate the new and strange Christian rites to the heathen ones with which the natives had been familiar from their birth.... On the very Christmas after his arrival in England Saint Augustine baptized many thousands of converts and permitted their usual December celebration under the new name and with the new meaning" (p. 61).

Even colonial America considered Christmas more of a raucous revelry than a religious occasion: "So tarnished, in fact, was its reputation in colonial America that celebrating Christmas was banned in Puritan New England, where the noted minister Cotton Mather described yuletide merrymaking as ‘an affront unto the grace of God'" (Jeffery Sheler, "In Search of Christmas," U.S. News and World Report, Dec. 23, 1996, p. 56).”  From: https://www.ucg.org/learn/bible-study-tools/bible-study-aids/holidays-or-holy-days-does-it-matter-which-days-we-observe/christmas-untold-story

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How the Bible Came Together.

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How The Bible Came Together

“Many professing Christians find the Bible a mysterious book filled with ancient writings that can seem of little relevance in our digital age, but our Creator is a God for every age and his purpose and goal for mankind has never changed.

The modern western world is often referred to as a “post-Christian” society, with few being taught the Bible is the Word of God, and that we should be living by the instructions found within its pages (Matthew 4:4). As the Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow minister Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

It is important to have a general knowledge of how the books of the Holy Bible came together and to be assured that the canon–the group or list of books that are considered to be inspired by God–are inspired by God and contain the books that it should.

The books of the Bible (originally on scrolls) were written by various historians, priests, prophets and kings over a period of at least 1600 years. Their writings cover events such as the Creation and Flood; the histories of Israel, Judah and their respective kings; God’s rules and regulations for living healthy and fulfilling lives, instructions on how to strengthen our relationships with God and our fellow man; and prophecies concerning the future salvation of the vast majority of human beings through Jesus Christ.

Chapter breaks were only added in the thirteenth century and verses in the sixteenth century. These additions sometimes do marginal damage to the text, for example a chapter break can occur in the middle of an account, but have the great advantage of making it easier to find various passages quickly.

The books of the Old and New Testaments were written and canonized beginning in the 15th century BC with the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) and finishing near the end of the first century after Christ with the book of Revelation. No historian has left an account of the steps taken in this long process. However, we do have titbits of information here and there that give us some knowledge regarding what took place.

The Old Testament or Hebrew Bible

Over the thousand years during which it was written, the Old Testament underwent at least five periods of canonization. Ezra, a priest and scribe, apparently was the one responsible for the final collection and arrangement of the books of the Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament) around 450 B.C. With this canonization the Old Testament was essentially complete.

Jesus Christ affirmed His acceptance of the three divisions of the Old Testament – Law, Prophets and Writings (or Psalms after its first and largest book) – as canonical. Notice His statement in Luke 24:44: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

The New Testament

No one is certain how the New Testament canon came together. In A.D. 397 the Synod of Carthage confirmed as canonical the 27 books of our New Testament, but it really only recognized that these books had been in use and read in the churches for some three centuries.

One theory maintains that the Apostles Paul, Peter and John were the final canonizers of the New Testament and that John, with the help of other believers, was able to finalize and distribute copies of the entire 27 books to the churches in Asia Minor and the Holy Land.

This view is supported by several New Testament passages. Peter, writing to the early Church, commented that he considered the letters of Paul part of the “Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15-16), putting the writings of the Apostle Paul on an equal footing with the Old Testament Scriptures. This indicates that the Apostles already considered some of their writings to be divinely inspired and deserving of inclusion in the canon of Holy Scripture.

Paul appears to have helped in selecting which books and letters, particularly of his writings, were to be preserved for us. In 2 Timothy 4:13 he asks Timothy to “Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come – and the books, especially the parchments.”  This is a puzzling request, unless Paul was asking Timothy to bring books and letters from which he would select those that would be part of the canon.

Some of his letters, such as the one to the church in Laodicea mentioned in Colossians 4:16, were not preserved. Presumably those Paul chose were then passed on to other Apostles. It seems most likely that the Apostle John, who outlived all the other apostles, under God’s inspiration made the final selections of the writings that would be included as Scripture in what we know as the New Testament.

In the final chapter of the final book of the Bible, John gives a warning that appears to indicate that the Bible was then complete with nothing more to be added or taken away. “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

Which Bible translation is best?

More than 60 English-language versions of the Bible are available. Scholars divide them into three broad types: word-for-word, meaning-to-meaning (also called thought-for-thought) and paraphrased. Usually a particular Bible version will explain, on its introductory pages, which approach was used in preparing it. Word-for-word versions most accurately follow the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts.

Generally speaking, the King James Version and its modern counterpart, the New King James Version, are word-for-word translations. Meaning-to-meaning versions, such as the New International Version (NIV) can be valuable in putting the Scriptures into more understandable wording. The Revised English Bible, Good News Bible and New Living Translation are other popular meaning-to-meaning translations.

Paraphrased Bibles, such as The Living Bible or The Message, can also be useful. Their goal is to make the Bible even easier to read in modern language. However, caution is needed when working with these, because the authors exercised considerable “poetic license” in interpreting biblical terms and passages according to their own personal religious ideas. Paraphrased versions can be consulted to better grasp the story flow, but should not be relied upon exclusively to establish doctrine or for accurately determining the meaning of any text.

Many Bible versions are now also available as part of Bible software packages or for free viewing on various Internet sites, enabling the reader to compare different versions nearly instantaneously. With the Word of God so freely available, the most important factor is that we actually read it and learn to live by it.”  From: https://ucg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Supplement-MayJune-2019.pdf

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What Can We Learn From The Biblical Villains? What’s The Problem With Plastic? The Kindest Diet Is Also The Healthiest.

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Biblical villains: What can we learn from them?

'The Death of Jezebel' by Gustave Doré

“Eight of the Ten Commandments define God’s law by listing wrong actions and thinking we are to avoid. Lessons from the Bible’s villains can help us to learn how to apply God’s law. We can extract good lessons from bad examples.”

Rehoboam

“Rehoboam was the son of Solomon who initially ruled over the united kingdom of Israel in the north and Judah in the south (1 Kings 12). But when he came to power the northern 10 tribes of Israel were already restless and on the verge of seceding.

Rehoboam unwisely took the advice of his peers instead of listening to more experienced older advisors. He raised taxes, and the northern kingdom of Israel split away from the southern kingdom of Judah, resulting in the king losing far more income than all his taxes could have ever gained him. He chose poorly, and everyone suffered because of it.

The lesson to be learned from Rehoboam’s experience is to seek a multitude of counsel (Proverbs 11:14) when making important decisions, and to ask God for discernment.

Queen Jezebel

Queen Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. She was the daughter of the king of the Phoenician city-state of Sidon and a priestess of the false god Baal (1 Kings 16:29-33), which gave her a great deal of power. She influenced Ahab to worship Baal, which often required human sacrifice, and fought against the true worship of God whenever she could, even calling for the assassination of the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:13; 19:2). She also schemed to have a wealthy vineyard owner murdered so that her husband could steal his land (1 Kings 21). Eventually Jezebel was thrown from a window and eaten by dogs after years of corrupting Israel and the king.

As a priestess of Baal, and trying over and over again to destroy the worship of the true God, she was attempting to hold on to and increase what she saw as her source of power. The lesson we can learn from this is not to trust in some other perceived source of power (false gods of our own making)—wealth, authority, weapons, position, etc.—in place of God. If we look to anything other than God for strength, it will ultimately fail.

Saul of Tarsus

There is also a biblical example of a man who was a villain, who then became a biblical hero teaching the truth of God for the rest of his life. His name was Saul of Tarsus, also known as the Apostle Paul. He was initially a fanatical pharisee who saw the teachings of Jesus as blasphemy and Christians as heretics. He had the authority to punish anyone he believed to be a heretic within the Jewish community, and would track them down and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law—resulting in their imprisonment and sometimes death. He even took part in the death of Stephen “And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58), while they threw rocks at Stephen until he was bludgeoned to death.

Saul continued to harass the Church and was on his way to the Jewish community in Damascus to arrest members of the faith and send them back to Jerusalem when God intervened and struck him down. Blind and helpless, Saul finally realized he was wrong and that it was futile to fight God. After his spiritual conversion, he went on to preach the truth with the same vigour with which he had previously fought against it (Acts 9). Saul the persecutor became Paul the faithful.

The lesson we can learn from the life of the Apostle Paul is that when God reveals to us we are wrong, we need to humbly respond and make the 180 degree turnaround to do what’s right.”

Beyond Today Bible Commentary (See I Kings chapters 12, 16 and 21 for more information about Rehoboam and Jezebel)

From: https://www.ucg.org/vertical-thought/bible-villains-learning-from-scriptures-bad-examples

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What is the problem with plastic?

“Globally, we produce a massive amount of plastic – over 380 million tons every year. It’s everywhere in our daily lives and we’ve become dependent on it. Half of all plastic produced is single-use – meaning it’s thrown away after just one use. Think bottles, bags, straws, cups, and lids. Used for just a few moments, but forever on the planet.

Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form (with the exception of the small amount that has been incinerated). We thought recycling was the answer but it’s not. Less than 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled!

What’s plastics impact?

When plastic enters the ocean, it impacts us all. It’s in the food and water we consume, it’s harming our animals and marine life, and of course, polluting our beautiful planet.

Once at sea, sunlight, wind, and wave action break down plastic waste into small particles, called microplastics. Microplastics have been found in every corner of the globe, from Mount Everest, the highest peak, to the Mariana Trench, the deepest trough. Plastic never fully biodegrades, it just breaks down into these small, toxic, pieces.

Because plastic is so prevalent, there are countless (overwhelming) statistics on its impact. Below are some key facts we feel are important to share – we encourage you to further research the plastic issue as the more aware we are of the problem, the more likely we are to become part of the solution!

Plastic By the Numbers

Millions of marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone.

Plastic pollutes at every step of its journey and it never disappears – breaking up into tiny pieces called microplastics.

Plastic is literally everywhere. It’s in our bloodstreams, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.

Today, more than 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels.

Less than 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled.

What can you do?

Your individual actions, however small, make a difference.

Here are simple ways you can have an impact, starting today!

Say ‘No’ to Single-Use: By refusing to purchase single-use plastic you are showing the big corporations producing the plastic that you want change. Every purchase you make is a vote with your dollar.

Start Conversations: Talk with your friends, families, neighbors, and local businesses, about the plastic issue and how we all can be part of the solution.

Shop Sustainably: One of the biggest impacts you can have is to reduce the amount of plastic you use in your daily life. For almost every plastic product you use, there’s a plastic-free alternative. To help you get started, check out our sustainable products.

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The Kindest Diet Is Also The Healthiest.

“THE TRUTH IS THAT THE FLESH, MILK & EGGS OF ANY SPECIES IS NOT THE NATURAL FOOD FOR HUMANS, & HARMS THE ANIMALS WE TAKE IT FROM

...and it harms those that still consume animal products, so many have proven this

...an analysis of 79,468 North American Seventh-day Adventists in the Adventist Health Study-2 found that vegetarians had a 12% lower risk of all cancers combined

...and vegans had a 24% lower risk compared to flesh and dairy eaters, showing that dairy is also harmful to our health...the study tracked participants for almost eight years, matching cancer cases to state and provincial registries.

...it found that reduced risk was strongest for colorectal, stomach and lymphoproliferative cancers, with vegan diets showing notable protection against breast cancer in younger women.

...and dairy is also harmful to the mothers we steal it from, as the female cows that are constantly forcibly impregnated die 14 years early because of the abuse of their reproductive powers...and they cry for their babies taken from them so their milk can be stolen, leaving them heart broken.

...those babies are put alone in crates and force fed GMOed replacement and if they are male they are killed within weeks for vile veal.

...while the females are forced to become dairy slaves within months, and abused like their mothers were.

...THERE IS NO REASON TO BE CRUEL & STEAL THE FLESH, EGGS & MILK OF OTHER BEINGS, A PLANT BASED DIET IS THE ONE THAT IS NATURAL FOR US -- Animal Freedom Fighter

The China Study puts the vegan numbers way higher. Check it out!”

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