procyon,
I really do understand your concern about Christmas. We of course do not want to be falling into line with paganism or participating with it in any way.
However, the Bible is silent on when Jesus was born. God never told us to celebrate His birth, God never told us not to celebrate His birth, God never told us when to celebrate His birth.
So it really doesnt matter one way or the other.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus is not inherantly an "evil" thing.
For instance, let's take the idea of putting up a Christmas Tree. Is a Tree evil? NO. Is a certain kind of tree evil? The only one we know of is the one in the Garden of Eeden that God commanded Adam and Eve NOT to eat from, right?
Is a bunch of flowers out in the field of nature evil, any more than a tree is evil? NO. Can we take a bunch of flowers and bring them into your house and set them in a vase on the coffee table and by doing so make the flowers evil? NO. Well what if at one time pagans had decided to commemorate the death of the "god of maui wowie" or what if they decided to start doing that tommorrow... would it from then on make you yourself bringing a bunch of flowers in the house and setting them onto your coffee table an "evil" act? I dont think so.
It is the same with taking a Christmas Tree and sticking it in your living room and putting presents under it for the purpose of giving the presents to your family members.
Now then look at the 7th day Sabbath by contrast. The Bible clearly says God commanded us to keep the 7th day Sabbath holy. The Catholic Church, borrowing from paganism declared they have the power to change the Ten Commandments and decide that the Sabbath day is now Sunday, the first day of the week. Thus, they book the "birthday" of the Creation of the world that GOD COMMANDED US to keep holy as a commemorative celebration and changed it,
2Thes:2:4: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
NOW you have something to complain about and NOW you had better decide to do as Peter did "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts:5:29
NOW its a very big deal.
WHAT GOD SAYS:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. " Exodus 20:8-1 1.
WHAT MAN SAYS AND COMMANDS:
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws. " Daniel 7.25.
"The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret, even divine laws....The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth with most ample power of binding and loosing the sheep."-From the Prompta Bibliotheca published in 1900 in Rome by the press of the propaganda.
"The pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ."-Decretal de Translat, Episcop. Cap.
The pope's will stands for reason. He can dispense above the law, and of wrong make right by correcting and changing laws."-Pope Nicholas, Dis. 96.
"The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday."-Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893.
You will notice in this information that the Church declares that it was not God Who changed the day from Saturday to Sunday but that they, the papists, were the ones who made this change. The Sabbath was officially changed by the Papacy at the Council of Laodicea on March 7, 364 A.D. That was 43 years after Constantine declared Sunday the day for Christians to honor as a rest day.
"Question.-Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?"
"Answer.-Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,-she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority."-Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, p. 174.
"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to any one who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' The Catholic Church says, 'No; by my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' and lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church. 'Priest Enright, C.S.S.R., Kansas City, Missouri.
"In reply to a letter of October 28, 1895, to Cardinal Gibbons, asking if the church claimed the change of the Sabbath as her mark, the following was received: 'Of course the Catholic church claims that the change was her act .... And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.'-C.F. Thomas, Chancellor."
procyon, I hope you could see the difference now between celebrating the birth of Christ on any day of the year and how there really isnt anything wrong with that.
...but the Sabbath is another story entirely.
Claudia
