Forgotten the meaning of Christmass?

Dark Illumination

Dark Illumination

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I am not a Christian, nor have I ever been. But I have studied on the beliefes of Christians and I have something to say.

I have noticed many people, including Christians, celebrate Christmass as a time of sharing, cherity, and giving gifts. If I am not mistake, Christmass was the day that the son of god was born, Jesus, and was origonally celebrated to recognize "our savior."

So I have a question. Why and how has Christmass evolved into such a holiday from the origonal belief? And also, where did the idea of Santa Claus and all his reindeer come from? That includes the location of the North Pole and all the Elves.
 
I beleive the meaning of Santa Claus and his Raindeer are just a little spec that adults later on made up for the children. And the idea of little elves, and Santa's Workshop was an add-on bonus. However, I do think the true meaning of christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus/Our Savior at first, but I do think as the years went by, it became more and more about how we are just suppose to share moment with those we care about.

In old times, I do beleive the meaning of Christmas was more of a religious holiday. As it is pointed out in the name "Christmas". This is leading me to believe, that at a time, the meaning of this holiday was to be religious, and only that. But, as i look more into it, and even more into what the true meaning of it is. I have came up to the assumption that Christmas was originally a holiday where one spends quality time with his/her family and/or friends, and celebrate every moment that they have/had together.

Well at least that is what I believe.
 
Nominally it is to celebrate the birth of the baby Hey-Zeus. However the wee Arab was almost certainly born in January. And the 25th of December was originally the date of a pagan festival. Not to mention Hannukah occurs at the same time.

However the whole idea of sharing and giving ie buyign presents sounds like a marketing toy. The original Santa was probably Saint Nicholas or someone like that, who I think gave presents to Children. The image we have of Santa was actually created by coke to help sell coke.
 
Xenu said:
Nominally it is to celebrate the birth of the baby Hey-Zeus. However the wee Arab was almost certainly born in January. And the 25th of December was originally the date of a pagan festival. Not to mention Hannukah occurs at the same time.

However the whole idea of sharing and giving ie buyign presents sounds like a marketing toy. The original Santa was probably Saint Nicholas or someone like that, who I think gave presents to Children. The image we have of Santa was actually created by coke to help sell coke.
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Actually the origonal Saint Nicholas was the Saint of prostitutes if my research is correct. I am finding that hard to believe actually but I am simply nforming you of what my search has lead me to.

Again I am quite doubtfull this is the truth, and I cannot say I believe it at all. In fact I do not, and my research very well could be wrong, since I am no Christian.
 
I think Christmas, for the large majority of people, has become more of a commecial holiday than anything else. Its just an end-of-year celebration that gives people a great excuse to spend money...and businesses to reap it in, of course.

I'm an apatheist, I have no interest whatsoever in the original Christian meaning of Christmas. There are obviously people out there who still celebrate the original meaning of Christmas, and I don't think the original meaning of Christmas is going to be forgotten anytime soon, but in the eyes of the general populace that meaning is just going to diminish more and more as time goes by.
 
Dark Illumination said:
Actually the origonal Saint Nicholas was the Saint of prostitutes if my research is correct.
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He's the patron saint of thieves. My main take on the north pole is that they picked a place where people couldn't really survive or travel. This making it so Santa was hidden away. I believe the Santa we know today first started developing sometime in the late 1800s.
 
Santa Claus is derived from St. Nicholas, who would go around and give toys to the little children in his village. Christmas was originally meant to celebrate the birth of Christ, as well as spread good will and charity toward our fellow men. I don't believe either of those have been forgotten, but Christ has certainly been taken out of the picture quite a bit. The nativity scene, the three wise men, the star at the top of the tree...these are the only things that pertain to Christ, unless you count St. Nicholas. You don't have to be a Christian to celebrate Christmas, and I urge everyone to spread good will and charity, but a Christian will most likely get more out of Christmas due to its significance in the Christian faith.
 
Dark Illumination said:
I am not a Christian, nor have I ever been. But I have studied on the beliefes of Christians and I have something to say.

I have noticed many people, including Christians, celebrate Christmass as a time of sharing, cherity, and giving gifts. If I am not mistake, Christmass was the day that the son of god was born, Jesus, and was origonally celebrated to recognize "our savior."

So I have a question. Why and how has Christmass evolved into such a holiday from the origonal belief? And also, where did the idea of Santa Claus and all his reindeer come from? That includes the location of the North Pole and all the Elves.
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They exchange gifts to represent the gifts from the wise men and more importantly the gift Jesus gave us I believe. I'm not Christian either, but I believe they only way to celebrate in Jesus is through love,sharing, and kindness and that's what he preached. The whole Santa thing is just to make it fun for kids. LIONHEARTCS is right but Santa Claus .
Christ has been taken out of the picture because less people are Christian. Many people who aren't Christian celebrate Christmas anyway. According to the most recent survey I read 76% of American claim to be Christian, but of that 76% do you really think they all actually believe? I personally believe a large porton of them are agnostic and were just raised Christian. The only time they acknowledge their belief system is on its holidays. That makes it seem more like an excuse to celebrate.
 
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Hal nailed it about being a marketing ploy.

Christmas on the whole has just been commercialised, which is why you see hundreds of adverts selling their products and why there's always games and such like being released before Xmas solely because they're going to sell better than say, sometime during the spring. I have no idea where Santa came from but now it's just used as a tradition and again, to a certain degree - for commercialisation and the whole giving presents thing. I don't think the meaning of Christmas has been forgotten by a lot of people, I just think they had never had same meaning to begin with.
 
Christmas is getting so commercial these days that it is hard to even want to take part.

It is losing whatever meaning it had.

I always thought of it not only being the day of Jesus's birth, but as a time to have a family reunion and give each other gifts.

Now you hear about parents taking out ridiculous loans because their kids want ridiculously expensive gifts.

It shouldn't be like that. It should be about, 'The thought that counts'.

It's just getting too greedy and commercialised.
 
Christmas actually wasn't originally meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It makes no sense anyways because Jesus wasn't even born in December. Even the bible betrays this fact. Christmas was simply a pagan holiday, among several other winter festivities such as Saturnalia that the Christians hijacked and took for their own--there's absolutely nothing religious about it; a man can celebrate it however he wishes.
I once had a friend who insisted that Christmas originated from Christianity (because of the name and Jesus' birth, both of which are poor arguments), and she also believes that only Christians should celebrate it. A man need not concern himself over what other people celebrate. Particularly if one's reasons are based on lies.
 
J said:
I once had a friend who insisted that Christmas originated from Christianity (because of the name and Jesus' birth, both of which are poor arguments), and she also believes that only Christians should celebrate it. A man need not concern himself over what other people celebrate. Particularly if one's reasons are based on lies.
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Does it matter whether or not the 25th was his actual birthday or not? Probably not. No one knows the exact date in which Jesus was born; however, we do know that he was born. It doesn't matter at all whether the 25th is his actual birthday. It may have been altered as a means to garner support for Christianity; however, it doesn't vitiate the purpose of why this day is celebrated. Sure a man can celebrate anything however he wishes, but there is nothing wrong with Christians celebrating this day for the birth of Christ.

I like how your two sentences in the end is a means to display some type of wisdom or erudition on your part (obvious sarcasm). But I disagree with both if they are meant to be absolutes.
 
lreal said:
Does it matter whether or not the 25th was his actual birthday or not? Probably not. No one knows the exact date in which Jesus was born; however, we do know that he was born. It doesn't matter at all whether the 25th is his actual birthday. It may have been altered as a means to garner support for Christianity; however, it doesn't vitiate the purpose of why this day is celebrated. Sure a man can celebrate anything however he wishes, but there is nothing wrong with Christians celebrating this day for the birth of Christ.
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No, but then you are celebrating Christmas as a Christian, being well aware that Christmas is a pagan holiday, and that you don't actually know when Jesus was born--which means if someone else wanted to celebrate Christmas as a pagan holiday, and not a religious one, you wouldn't try to stop them from doing so on the grounds that Christmas is Christian.

I like how your two sentences in the end is a means to display some type of wisdom or erudition on your part (obvious sarcasm). But I disagree with both if they are meant to be absolutes.
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Oh no, I was just trying to do the J thing. (He's an android from Heat Guy J who typically says "a man must/should...".)
 
Christmas was a day to take the paganist winter solstice holiday and make it into a christian holiday, it doesn't really have anythign to do with jesus's birth. bastardizing it with sanata clause is just further bastardizing an already bastardized holiday anyway
 
RedJeepXJ said:
Christmas was a day to take the paganist winter solstice holiday and make it into a christian holiday, it doesn't really have anythign to do with jesus's birth.
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I agree. Jesus wasn't even born during winter. In fact, there are indications in the Bible that he was born sometime in the fall.

If any holiday is jacked, its Easter. It's supposed to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, but instead it's about a bunny who drops candy in baskets. Has no relevance whatsoever.
 
I love Christmas for what it is...a chance to get together with family that I haven't seen in a long while. I love Thanksgiving for the same reason.

I don't care what the truth about them was because I have my traditions to do with them. I hope that made sense.
 
Sum1sgruj said:
If any holiday is jacked, its Easter. It's supposed to celebrate Jesus' resurrection, but instead it's about a bunny who drops candy in baskets. Has no relevance whatsoever.
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This could not be truer, and with Christmas it's a very similar deal. This is something that has always irritated me, holidays getting whored out and warped until they mean the opposite of what they were intended for. It's happened with pretty much every single one of them except maybe New Year's, since that's simply marking a numerical date on the calendar. Really, I have no problem with non-Christians or pseudo-Christians celebrating "Christmas" just for the partying, family, and presents, but they really should call it something else. To keep the name when there's no meaning left in it is rather insulting. Especially since rampant commercialism festers hatred and suffering in the world and I don't believe that's the original meaning of the religion, despite any specific details in the Bible or church sermons that seem to contradict this, or the mistakes of all the people who have used it as an excuse to do wrong.
 
Christmas still has a religious meaning for me. It's the time when I get to see my entire family and I do love the general feeling of the season.

I will agree that it has gotten too comercial. I have no problem with anyone celebrating the holiday. However, things have gotten out of control. The amount that parents spend on their kids is just ridiculous. And the lengths that people will go to get the perfect toy. Seriously, $1000 for a Tickle Me Elmo? I think the child will survive without it.

I don't have a problem with Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and other pagan symbols being incorporated into the holiday because they are just for fun. And I do kind of like the mixing of religions.
 
The problem with complaining about Christmas being too jacked-out is the assumption that it has a meaning in the first place. The assumption that it has a meaning is probably religiously-related, yet most religious people who subscribe to this just accept that it has religious value through some sort of symbolism, since they generally don't agree with the real religious value.

Those are just my thoughts... as for my stance on the subject, I can go either way with it.
 
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