Every once in a while I stumble across new information that I wish I could have bypassed altogether. I prefer to know what's already in my head and not have it all messed up by a truth that somehow escaped me previously.
What tripped me up this time?
Christmas.
It all started when I was having a conversation with a friend about Jesus. She was throwing questions at me left and right, which was fine with me because I could answer most of them. But then she asked me one that started this whole mental fiasco.
Jesus was born on December 25th, right?
Well, no, not necessarily, I replied. No one really knows for sure when He was born. We just adopted that date as His birthday to celebrate.
This is the God Christians worship, and they don't even know when He was born???
My friend was borderline-outraged at this thought. You see, she grew up in a place where Hindu is the prominant religion. She knows much more than I do about some of the world religions, and she was quick to point out that, while other faiths may not be true, they at least know their gods' date of birth.
How can the one true religion not even know when Jesus was born??
It was a thought that's never bugged me, so I simply brushed aside her indignation and asked her why it really mattered at all. But after I thought about it some, her argument kind of made sense to me. While a single birthdate seemed like such an insignificant detail to me, it's also a basic piece of information into anyone's identity. Christians try to proclaim Jesus - how can we not know such an easy detail?
I digress.
As she and I were having our conversation via instant messenger, I was googling information about Christmas traditions that we practice.
And that is where I tripped up.
You see, I thought I already knew the importance behind the main traditions - the manger scene, the star, the wise men, angels, presents, the date. I figured the Christmas holiday descended from ancient Christian celebration.
I was dismayed to learn that many of the things we do each Christmas season evolved from pagan rituals, of all things. I also quickly learned that there were many other traditions that I know nothing about. Why do we have Christmas trees? Why exactly do we give gifts? Who decided Santa enters homes through the chimney?
I finally came to terms with this new realm of knowledge and decided that if I'm going to participate in holiday traditions and at the same time try to post Jesus' Name all over them, I should probably understand what it is I'm doing.
So...here we go. I'm going to post what I learn over the course of several days, as this would otherwise become an exceedingly and unnecessarily long post. I hope you stick with me through this - otherwise things may seem random and confusing.
Ultimately, exploring these things has led me to really question why I am celebrating this season in the ways that I do. I don't like the thought of having a Christmas season in which Christ is largely left out. But I'm also coming to terms with participating in a common and cultural practice simply for the sake of participation. Somewhere in between is a balance of fun human traditions and a celebration that revolves around the One I worship.
Next post: Why Christians Claim December 25th as Jesus' Birth.
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Sources:
http://www.history.com/content/christmas/the-real-story-of-christmas
2 comments:
I wonder if there are any ancient Roman texts that would give a date of when Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world which sent Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Although we already seem to have that rough estimate that Jesus was likely born in 4-6 BC.
I would think the fact that we don't know when Jesus was born would give some credibility that it's not made up. Because if someone were going to make up a religion, then they would very easily make up a birthdate like that.
But while the first birth was miraculous though it would have seemed ordinary to anyone who didn't realize Mary was still a virgin, the rebirth was unlike anything that had ever happened before and so far, since.
God didn't seem to find it necessary to give us the exact date of Christ's birth, but then God doesn't seem to be in the business of giving us exact dates. We also don't know the exact date of the creation of the world. But He also has not told us the exact date in which He will return. God speaks in terms of signs to indicate when events will happen, you have to understand the signs to understand the times.
But perhaps another reason God has not bothered to give us specific dates about things is that God lives outside of time and time was not created until the fall of man and when all of Revelation has come to past, there will be no more time. When He does give us time frames, it's for our benefit and He does use time as we see that there are significant times mentioned in the Bible. 7 days the world was created, 40 years the Israelites wandered in the desert, 40 days Jesus fasted in the desert, 21 days Daniel avoided choice foods to seek God. But those numbers are also symbolic, 7 is the number of completion, 40 is the number of testing, 6 is the number of man (for 6 days we shall work).
I feel like I'm rambling now. Does give food for thought.
I like your train of thought, Ginger. Good observations about God and time. You are so right that He doesn't operate on dates. Makes us depend on Him more when we can't see the unknown. And the fact that God is not existing within the confines of time is a mind-boggling thing to be sure.
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