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Let the Pagans Have the Holiday

First, let's take back Easter.

Rodney Clapp | posted 12/11/2007 07:47AM

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All of this is to say we have worried about Christmas too much. Christians in an indifferent and even hostile society need to learn cultural jujitsu—to sometimes let the culture push at points where it wants to, and there collapse of its own momentum. This is especially important in our cultural situation, where resistance is so easily itself turned into a marketable commodity. T-shirts and bumper stickers proclaiming "Jesus Is the Reason for the Season" make the message itself into a consumer item.

So let the pagans have Christmas as their most significant holiday. Easter is the central Christian holiday. And when we are known for our Easter, then we will have our Christmas back.

Rodney Clapp is an editor with Brazos Press, an imprint of Baker Book House. He was formerly an associate editor for Christianity Today.

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December (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51

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Ephrem Hagos

Posted: December 19, 2007 1:53 AM

WHAT AN UNHOLY CHOICE: CHRISTMAS OR EASTER FOR FIRST PLACE AS HOLIDAY! However much one searches the Scriptures, there is no promise whatsoever of the real and abiding presence of Jesus Christ in either of them. Guided by the teachings of Jesus (largely in short supply today) and the witness of the Apostles, the time of the observance of the resurrection among early Jewish Christians was necessarily determined by the date of the Passover festival, i.e., the Good Friday. According to the ISB Encyclopedia, Gentile (Pagan) Christians, however, came and moved the celebration of the Resurrection to Sunday irrespective of the mismatch with "being raised to life on the third day" --a red herring device used by our Lord to make more secure His order to His disciples not to tell anyone that His Messiahship will be publicly revealed on the the very day of the Passover. And so it was! If we only knew how much we, Christians, are missing! How much more can God help us?

John B

Posted: December 13, 2007 3:02 PM

It all comes down to Facts my friends...we can stomp our feet and claim all kinds of crazy stuff...bu the TRUTH will always be the TRUTH....and that is: On the 24th of December the world will still celebrate the birth of our LORD JESUS...who loves ALL not just the chosen ones...as we are told by other fake religions...that single out and discriminate....We are ALL children of GOD is what TRUE ROMAN CATHOLICS believe....and all can join...so take a chance this CHRISTMAS and go to a CATHOLIC church and join us....you will be pleasantly surprised.....with LOVE and JOY! TRUTH: although many around the world claim not to believe in CHRIST.....funny how our calendar runs on the BIRTH of CHRIST ---- 2008 years of his BIRTH ( BC - stands for Birth of Christ) OUR LORD and ONLY OUR LORD is the ruler......humble yourself to HIM - HE ADORES YOU!

Andreas

Posted: December 13, 2007 11:43 AM

What a pointless article. Thank you Thordasi for bringing up your points. My roommate is Pagan, and he's probably the most moral person I know--much more so than me lol! Furthermore, if you really want to get at the heart of it, paganism, broadly defined, is any community-ideology-system that does not have Abrahamic roots (non Christians, Jews, and Muslims). Therefore, India is the largest pagan society, and I'm not a scholar of India by any means, but I don't think many Indians celebrate Christmas!

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