If you had told me five years ago that I would be in a relationship with a man and that I would be exchanging crimmus (Christmas) presents with his family I would have tossed my cookies, cried, and then gone running to Kingdom Hall (church for Jehovah's Witnesses). But alas, here I am in New Jersey (how interesting given the recent turn of events in this state) and I'm thinking about how caught up I am in the spirit of a holiday that I still believe has no real historic relevance.
And while I like the gift-swapping and the kindness, however forced and temporary, of the season, this does not in any way make me a believer in Christmas. I don't think there's anything especially spiritual about this holiday because it's a disguised pagan holiday. Don't take the JWs word for it if that bothers you, just click here.
The link above states the following: Most biblical scholars and preachers readily admit that they know Christ was not born on December 25th. However, they claim that this day is as good as any other to celebrate the birth of Jesus, despite the fact that it was originally a pagan celebration called Saturnalia which commemorated the birth of the sun god. [...] Jesus was born on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles! In the year 5 B.C.E., this fell in the month of September.
Here's what this means to me: Christianity can't even get its own Patriarch's birthday right. Second, from what I studied in the Bible, the stories about Jesus don't focus on celebrating his birth but rather on understanding the enormity of his sacrifice for our sins. Granted, I'm not going to give up my life to pursue an evangelical career, but that's what Jesus did and that's what he asked of his followers -- that they love everyone and that they preach the good news of the kingdom (Matthew 24:14).
But if we're going to go on about Jesus' birth and on celebrating the "concept" of the nativity, let's make a special effort in '07 to embrace the "concept" of real Christianity: to spread love, tolerance and peace.
Merry Crimmus!
The "official" day is irrelevant. The British "celebrate" the Queen's birthday in the summer because of nicer weather.
ReplyDeleteYou're correct, the teachings of Jesus are more important than the actual date of his birth, which is probably unprovable in any regard.
I would think most sentient Christians feel the same way; it really is historically less important than it is metaphorically important...but then the whole business is metaphorical.
Jesus would be appalled by 21st century Christianity.
GCL:
ReplyDeleteHERE, HERE!
P.S.: Gene's avatar is adorable!