Bah humbug for Christians: The elements and symbols commonly associated with Christmas have pagan roots and idolatrous significance: Haven’t you ever been curious about what Santa...

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Bah humbug for Christians: The elements and symbols commonly associated with Christmas have pagan roots and idolatrous significance

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Dec 24, 2021 11:00:54 #

rumitoid

[If you truly care about truth, this article should be a delight just from the point of idle curious, though not of any real import. If not, darn those Fundamentalist who gave you this coal in your stocking.]

Haven’t you ever been curious about what Santa Claus, exchanging gifts, trees, ornaments, lights, holly, etc., has to do with the birth of Christ? Actually, they have nothing at all to do with His birth, and nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity! But they do have a lot to do with the idolatrous pagan feast of the Saturnalia. For instance:

The Christmas tree, holly, ivy, and mistletoe greenery were widely considered as symbols of immortality and fertility among the ancient pagan nations since these evergreens never lost their leaves or turned brown (symbolizing death) through the winter season as did the other trees. Therefore, a certain reverence was attached to them by the superstitious pagans.

Says one author, “Our primitive forefathers brought in green branches at the winter solstice, and used them in magical rites to ensure the return of vegetation. Roman houses were decorated with laurel and bay. And for many centuries now, Christian homes and churches have burst into greenery at Christmas time. It is true that the early church forbade the custom, as savoring of paganism, but it was too deeply rooted for such prohibitions to have a permanent effect. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe are the favorite decorations now, as they were in earlier times. To our ancestors, they were strong life symbols, not only because they are evergreens, but also because, unlike most plants, they bear fruit in winter. By tradition, holly is masculine and ivy feminine, thus both are needed if all in the house are to share in the blessings they imply (i.e., fertility). Mistletoe, the Golden Bough of classical legend, was held sacred by the Celtic Druids and by the Norsemen. It was once called the plant of peace, under which enemies were reconciled in ancient Scandinavia. It brought good luck and fertility. It protected the house that contained it from witchcraft and was an antidote to poison. Yet, unlike holly and ivy, it never quite lost its heathen character . . .” 16
Another one states why kissing is associated with mistletoe is somewhat obscure. But because of mistletoe’s role as a fertility symbol, it stands to reason that the kissing associated with it carries sexual rather than merely platonic implications. The practice is believed to have originated with the Celtic Midsummer Eve ceremony when the mistletoe was gathered. During that festival, the men would kiss each other as a display of their homosexuality. The custom was later broadened to include both men and women. Some historians believe that kissing under the mistletoe is reminiscent of the temple prostitution and sexual license that was most prolific during the Roman Saturnalia.” 17 Thus we can see that the use of this greenery at Christmas perpetuates the ancient religious rites and superstitions that God so vehemently condemns.

Make no mistake, the current custom of cutting down a perfectly good, healthy tree, propping it up in our homes, and decorating it with tinsel and globes certainly does not spring from any Christian tradition! It was an idolatrous practice of the ancient pagans, that has been passed down through the centuries. Why should the church of the Lord Jesus Christ perpetuate a custom that is anti-Christ in nature?

One writer stated, “millions of young trees are annually sacrificed to satisfy America’s Christmas god, Tammuz, son of Nimrod (who became Baal) and his wife Semiramis (Ishtar or Easter).

During the weeks of Christmas festivities, one is met everywhere with these dead evergreen trees arrayed in their glitter and tinsel, reminding us of the lifeless pagan gods of old. But behold! As the fervor of festivity dies down, out goes the stripped and bedraggled remains of the Christmas god into the junk pile! Yet thousands of untaught people will gladly go hungry and willingly deprive their families of necessary things in order to buy and decorate this same Christmas tree. The first decorating of an evergreen tree was done by pagans in honor of their god Adonis (Tammuz), who, after being slain, was brought to life by the serpent Aesculapius.

The representation of this slain god was a dead stump of a tree. Around this stump coiled the snake Aesculapius, a symbol of restoring life. And lo, from the roots of the fallen tree, comes forth another different tree – an evergreen tree symbolic to pagans of a god who cannot die! In Egypt, this god was worshiped in a palm tree as Baal-Tamar. The fir tree was worshiped in Rome as the same newborn god as Baal-Berith, who was restored to life by the same serpent, and a feast was held in honor of him on December 25th called the ‘Birthday of the unconquered Sun’.” 18

In numerous Bible passages, the “green” tree is associated with false worship and idolatry.19 Since most trees are green at one time or another, these passages most certainly refer to a tree that is especially noted for being green – the evergreen. With that in mind, consider what God says in Jeremiah 10:1-5, and compare it to the present custom of decorating a tree at Christmas time:

“Hear ye the word which Yahuah speaks unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith Yahuah, learn not the way of the heathen . . . For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammers, that it moves not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must be borne because they cannot go.”

Although some commentaries have suggested that the trees mentioned in this passage were carved into the shapes of varying pagan deities, we must acknowledge that in fact, the verses say nothing about the tree being shaped or carved at all–only that it was cut down out of the forest by a workman with an ax, and then decorated with silver and gold, just like the modem Christmas tree. In commenting on this passage, one writer well noted: “Now, of course, the people in the days of Jeremiah, as the context goes on to show, we’re actually making an idol out of the tree. Though you may insist that you do not worship the Christmas tree, you cannot deny that the whole concept is pagan!

Then too, we must mention the “dark presence” many have felt when in a dimly lit room with a Christmas tree. Not merely the overactive imaginations of “spooky” individuals, bringing these forbidden objects into your home does indeed invite in another presence also–the spirits associated with the rites and rituals of the ancient pagan fertility groves, in which the evergreens played an integral part. Commenting on this very thing, one researcher said, “The phenomenon of evergreen inside a house has a presence far beyond its festive meaning. Innocent enough in a modem room, or in any room fully lit for the occasions, it may have quite another effect in a house not brightly lit; holly in clumps at picture level–above you, in fact–can frown darkly, gather shadows, appear to contain some sort of suspended life.

Similarly, the presence of even a medium-sized Christmas tree, unlit, stands like a personage. Such impressions are not consciously welcomed, but they are part of the same thing, and of a strangeness to the house with all its new reflections of tinseled glitter, its mirrors freshly alive. Nowadays, few people may notice this in the crowded time before Christmas, but it can still be felt in the quieter evenings that follow. It is a powerful time, full of ancient apprehensions. Alongside the brightness, there rides a darkness of old instincts.” 21

Discerning Christians have long realized that many objects, especially those associated with occultism or idolatry, actually attract demon spirits like magnets attract iron. Be forewarned, Christmas presents may not be the only presence around your tree! When will Christians obey God’s command to, “Learn not the way of the heathen … for the customs of the people are vain.”

https://www.thecreatorscalendar.com/the-shocking-truth-about-christmas/

Dec 24, 2021 11:07:46 #

Liberty Tree

rumitoid wrote: