Opus 2011-287, Discernment Watch: Bait and Switch

It is the middle of October and already we are hearing the pagan bells of Christmas ring in the marketplace.  I am aware of the pagan roots of the date selected for the celebration.  I know about Saturnalia and the Winter Solstice.  I observe the contemporary commercial nature of the holiday.

I still love Christmas.  The celebration of the incarnation transforms the world.  The event is Biblical, don’t get distracted by the date.  The Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on January 6 which is the date the Catholics observe the coming of the Wise Men and most Protestants ignore.  The important fact is that God took the first step toward the cross and redemption.

(Galatians 4:4 KJV)  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

What does this have to do with discernment?  There are certain non-Christian groups that take this common error and try to make the gospel a lie. 

It works like this.  The Bible does not tell us that Jesus was born on December 25.  That means that the church has lied to us.  That means we should not celebrate Christmas.  Since the church has shown that it lies about things like this, the church probably lied about Easter also.  Notice the use of another pagan word.  Notice that they can’t even decide the date.  It keeps changing.  Therefore you should not cling to the fantasy of the resurrection and thus must discard the divinity of Christ, the atonement, salvation by grace, the trinity......  Do you see where this goes?

So lets look at truth, not attempts to use logic to deceive.  The church does not say that Jesus was born on December 25 in the year 0.  The early church in its attempt to teach doctrine, broke down the teachings of the Bible and focused on different truths at different times.  In order to leave nothing out they assigned certain days to cover each point.  Thus each year became a course in basic theology.  If you look at the name “Christmas” is clearly means “Christ’s mass.”  It was the day that the church chose to cover the Biblical teaching about the birth of Christ.  Since the Bible does not give a date, they picked what made sense to them.

To connect this with Easter is another deception of Satan.  Easter is a pagan term.  So is January, named after the pagan god, Janus.  The date changes because the resurrection occurred right after Jesus celebrated the Passover (The Last Supper) and was arrested.  The Passover is a Jewish holiday based on the Jewish calendar.  The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, not solar.  Dates are based on when the moon is full after a solstice.  I have never wanted to spend the energy to totally figure it out.  But it varies because of the uneven relationship between the time it takes the moon to go around the earth and the earth around the sun.  The date we celebrate Easter is rooted in history and the Bible. 

So when people build these sand castles and claim that the church has lied, understand that they are the ones who are stretching things.  You don’t need to celebrate Christmas.  You don’t need to celebrate Easter.  What you are commanded to do is celebrate the sacrifice represented at the Last Supper and it would seem to me it is just natural to follow that up with rejoicing at the resurrection.

Straw men do not armies make.

homo unius libri