Should Religious Holidays Only Be Celebrated By Religious People?

[DeletedUser6029]

Where in the world are you getting your facts about pagan to Christian?? Christians started Easter to remember Jesus's resurrection and Christmas to celebrate his birth, although Christmas is used to celebrate his birth it's not when he was born and was only celebrate then so it would be disguised from the Romans, who celebrate the solstice on that day. Perhaps those holidays could have been used to smooth transition from paganism to Christianity but wasn't their main purpose.

Just a thought but you should also try reading the bible once and awhile. You don't have to agree with it, but you can go through and decide what's plausible or not. Although I doubt any one here has or will read the whole bible.

You should try reading history...Actually Christmas IS based on a pagan holiday when Rome tried to give the pagans who became catholic the opportunity to celebrate. Look at it like the modern "Harvest Festival" Christians wanted to participate in the fun of Halloween, and so the church came up with Harvest Time to allow them to do so. While Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ, the actual date was chose specifically to coincide with a pagan holiday.

 

[DeletedUser]

I just want to say again that while Easter is a genuine Christian religious tradition it should be noted that it incorporates many old pagan traditions depending on the region. Based on the weight of evidence I have come across I'm of the opinion that spring was celebrated universally in probably all old pre abrahamic religions. It's not outside of the realm of possibility that to this day pre christian traditions have become ingrained in Easter. After all... easter bunny

I forgot what the debate was about... are religious holidays bad? No. Have they become castrated? Probably.

 

[DeletedUser6029]

I just want to say again that while Easter is a genuine Christian religious tradition it should be noted that it incorporates many old pagan traditions depending on the region. Based on the weight of evidence I have come across I'm of the opinion that spring was celebrated universally in probably all old pre abrahamic religions. It's not outside of the realm of possibility that to this day pre christian traditions have become ingrained in Easter. After all... easter bunny

I forgot what the debate was about... are religious holidays bad? No. Have they become castrated? Probably.

you are correct....Easter coincides with the passover, which has deep history in many cultures....so there you have it.

 

[DeletedUser]

You should try reading history...Actually Christmas IS based on a pagan holiday when Rome tried to give the pagans who became catholic the opportunity to celebrate. Look at it like the modern "Harvest Festival" Christians wanted to participate in the fun of Halloween, and so the church came up with Harvest Time to allow them to do so. While Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ, the actual date was chose specifically to coincide with a pagan holiday.

I suppose but Christmas was invented by Christians, not pagans. Could it be based on a pagan holiday? Possibly. Made by pagans? Obviously not. Pagans weren't worshippers of God obviously so why would they invent a holiday to celebrate his sons birth? I believe the key word is coincide.

Simplified: Christians invented Christmas but it could have been based on a pagan holiday.

And when you say read up on history, that can be a bit hard. Seeing as its far back and there was no technology to store that history, many different versions and theories have come up. One source might say one thing and a different source, another thing.

 

[DeletedUser6029]

Are you saying they could write the bible, but not keep track on historical elements? Seriously?
Correct me if I am wrong....but doesn't grepolis show our Administrator with a pad of paper? I'd say they had plenty of technology to keep records....

 

[DeletedUser]

Are you saying every single piece of document survived? Cause clearly not. Sure they could write down historical events but many things are probably missing. Plus nowadays there aren't as many invading countries that burn and destroy documents like sometimes back then. Also have you read the bible? I'm sure it'll disagree with some of your opinions, meaning right there that there are more than one views, not only on events and origins of religion but many others as well. (I'm assuming you knew that though )

Not only may our admin have a piece of paper, but he also has a computer..

 

[DeletedUser6029]

Of course I have read the bible. I am a Christian.
And the bible says nothing about the origins of Christmas. However, if you'd bother to look, there is ample evidence to suggest that the date was chosen to coincide with important PAGAN dates. Ergo, while it is special to Christians, it is equally special to other religions. Furthermore, thanks to Coke, it is even less about Christs birth and more so about Santa Clause, making it no longer solely a "christian" holiday, but rather a tradition of good will.

 

[DeletedUser]

Where did I ever say it couldn't coincide with a pagan holiday? All I'm saying is Christians invented the idea of Christmas not pagans. Pagans didn't slap a sign up saying we've just invented christmas. Christians set up Christmas to be on the same day as a pagan holiday, I never denied that, I'm just saying they invented/caused the invention of the idea/name Christmas. Im not saying that a pagan holiday and Christmas didn't coincide.

I grew up in a Christian family, went to church every day, and still grew to question it. I agree with most of it. Don't try and trump the 'I'm a Christian' card. Many people say they are Christian but only take the parts of Christianity and ignore the rest.

 

[DeletedUser6029]

Where did I ever say it couldn't coincide with a pagan holiday? All I'm saying is Christians invented the idea of Christmas not pagans. Pagans didn't slap a sign up saying we've just invented christmas. Christians set up many of their holidays to be on the same day as pagan holidays, I never denied that, I'm just saying they invented/caused the invention of the idea/name Christmas.

I grew up in a Christian family, went to church every day, and still grew to question it. I agree with most of it. Don't try and trump the 'I'm a Christian' card. Many people say they are Christian but only take the parts of Christianity and ignore the rest.

Well then I apologize. You see I took your comments in the context of the OP...

Is it important to remember the roots of these holidays? Is it important that they are celebrated in the way they were initially intended? Has it got to the point where they have crossed over from religion into tradition and culture?

I didn't realize you had turned this debate into something totally different. My bad...I will cease to reply until it gets back on topic.

 

[DeletedUser]

Based on what I thought I saw on the Edutainment Channel I was under the impression the xmas tree was introduced to America during the WW1 xmas truce that I'm sure we've all read about. Apparently, it was some sort of German thing way back when. Again, nothing to do with Christ's birth just to rehash what we have been talking about.

In the spirit of what Domino said though, hows about this for the season of "be kind rewind?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce#Legacy

 

[DeletedUser]

I apologize as well dom. As I'm sure you've noticed, I tend to make my opinions/points unclear. I will try to express them more clearly in the future.