Merry Christmas

Yes, happy birthday, Jesus.  Though you weren't born in December, and you gave no instructions to celebrate your birthday, happy birthday.

Christmas is an adaptation of pagan Winter Solstice festivities into a more Christian form, put together by the Catholics who are notoriously extra-Biblical.  Now that we're not an unwashed mass of pagans, the religion has no purpose.

My tolerance of Christmas stems from little more than the fact that I like the colors red and white, enjoy the taste of eggnog and candy canes, and really can't complain too much about free stuff.  Everything else about it is nonsense.

Let's see what the Bible says about it.  Hello, Jeremiah chapter 10:

2 This is what the LORD says:
"Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

4 They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.

This custom is worthless, according to the Bible.  I would understand Christians disagreeing if it were just my opinion, but you should really show some more reverence for your own holy book.

Oh, but there's so much more fun stuff about Christmas.  Like how God impregnated a woman with his son.  Who, apparently, already existed.  Or how the Biblical narratives of Christ's birth are incompatible with each other.

And Santa Claus?  Come on, too easy.  But what makes Santa so unbelievable compared to Jesus?  The idea that this man is still around, magically delivering presents after all these years?  But no one could live that long and have such fantastical powers and - oh.  Hm.

Don't forget, Christians, that Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas of Myra, a late third century bishop.  That he has been embellished to be the true meaning of Christmas and to have immortality and magical powers should be an affront to the very core of your religion, let alone that anyone who's not a Catholic should probably be wary of the idea of sainthood.

I can't help but imagine "I guess, but it's not a big deal, I'm secure in my own Christianity" is a common reaction people have to this stuff.  And hey, I think that's great.  Let's all base our beliefs on what we feel is right, and not what the Bible says.

Like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:4, "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me."

So, if you feel good about what you do, you must be on the right track.  Oh, wait, Paul is saying the opposite.  You could be doing wrong in God's eyes but are too comfortable and unwilling to evaluate your own actions.  This complacency, and the resultant indulgence in the traditions of men clearly contradicts God's word.

In Mark 7, Jesus said:
6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

But like I said, don't worry about it too much.  I'm perfectly happy with us ignoring the words of the Bible and doing what we ourselves feel is right.  Maybe sooner or later we can start ignoring the Bible completely?  After all, it's full of horrible, stupid, hypocritical and outright false things.

Happy Holidays.