Why do you participate in Christmas if you don't believe in God

Great Debates
1

Why do you participate in Christmas if you don’t believe in God? Since the birth of Jesus who is God’s son is the main theme at Christmas, I would think if you didn’t believe in God therefore you would not believe in his Son, so why do you buy and or receive presents at Christmas, if were something I didn’t believe in I wouldn’t participate in the activity.

Do you participate because everyone else is doing the same thing?

Do you participate because the family would talk about you and add to much pressure to your life?

Or do you not participate at all?

2

Maybe they believe in Santa Claus.

Tris

3

cite?

Besides, the true meaning of The time of the season commonly called Christmas these daysfor me is to celebrate Mithrae Invicto, or “The unconquered sun”. AFAIAC, anyway. So there.

4

Is this supposed to rile me? Since I participate in Christmas, while not being a Christian?

  1. Here in Sweden it’s called Jul as in Yule. It’s equal part Christianty and celebration of the Winter Solstice. It’s also a period when most people get time off work, have a few weeks off (especially good for employees this year) and have time to spend with friends and distant relatives. So why wouldn’t I have a good time?
  2. I don not celebrate the birth of Christ. My Christmas has no religious overtones whatsoever.
  3. The gifts should be given on 12th night, not Christmas. It’s still done that way in Spain, though it’s changing to fit with the rest of Europe/US. So I might equally claim that X-mas gifts are given to celebrate the Solstice.
    YMMV
5

Because there are two different Christmas holidays: the religious one, and the secular one. I celebrate the secular one, but not the religious one.

6

Pish tosh, my dear boy!
A. Christ is not the “reason for the season.” The winter clelbration goes back at least as far as Ancient Rome, when devotees of the god Mithras celebrated December 25 as the Dies Sol Invictus, the Day of the Unconquered Sun, which also coincided with the pagan Saturnalia holiday, when Romans exchanged presents and decorated their homes with evergreens. The Christians didn’t adopt December 25 as the date for Jesus’s birth unti 336 A.D. in an attempt to coopt the preexisting pagan festivals.

B. Jesus was most likely born in spring, bot winter. The gospels refer to shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks. This suggests that Jesus was born in spring, during the time when ewes usually give birth to their lambs.

C. Here’s Cecil’s view.

Moroever, much of the trappings of the Christmas holiday, such as Christmas trees, are of pre-Christian origin. The question should be framed, Why do you celebrate Saturnalia if you’re not a pagan?

7

jjrt,

Why don’t you go check some of the older thread first? We have just gone through this.

8

I believe in God, I was raised Christian, and I don’t observe Christmas in the least. Never have, never will. Nor did my parents, nor do any of my siblings.

What does that make us jjrt? Is Jesus going to send me to hell for not dragging a messy 'ol tree into my home just to celebrate his birthday which probably didn’t happen anywhere near December 25th?

9

Halloween must suck for you, no?

As ultrafilter stated, some of us (including you, I assume) celebrate the secular version.

Wheeee! Days off from work, a gift exchange, and lots of great food. It’s a birthday++.

10

As others have said, and this is the simple answer - We want to make sure the sun comes back one more year.

Besides, we’ve got to keep consuming or the economy falls flat on its ass - tax cut or no tax cut.

11

When they make it so you have to go to Church before I can exchange presents then I won’t celebrate it. Until then I’m happy with the secular celebration that the religious aspect seems happy to ride the coat-tails of.

12

You do realize that, since you’re using the postfix ++ operator, the value of the expression “birthday++” will be the value of birthday before the ++ operator was applied, right?

13

so now I have to believe in god to partake in consumerism? Tiz a sad day, indeed.

14

This reminds me of a scene in Brazil, where are a group is running around in a mall protesting something. Their logo? A ‘$’ on a cross, under the name “Consumers for Christ”.

15

To celebrate the winter solace, of course.

I hate to point this out, but Jews believe in God and don’t celebrate Christmas. Same for Muslims and many other religions, including the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.

16

I celebrate Christmas because I think it is a good thing to express love for your fellow man, share moments of celebration with friends and family, and exchange cool stuff with people you care about. It doesn’t bother me that some of my family add additional religious overtones ot the occassions. As far as I know, it does not bother them that I do not (though my Aunt the minister is troubled that I remain apart from what she feels as a beutifull fellowship).

That okay by you?

17 


birthday++
cout << birthday

Better? :smiley:

18

ultrafilter: heheh good call, i forgot about that completely. I love that movie :slight_smile:

19

Whoa, whoa, whoa. The Mormons certainly celebrate Christmas. I was in the Christmas Pageant every year. (One year I was actually Mary!)

Why do I celebrate Christmas? Because if I don’t, nobody will buy me my Cardboard Spike, or my Spike calendar, or my CD-Rs, or…well, you get the point.

20

Well, jjrt, I hope you’re happy when the Supreme Court declares that it’s unconstitutional for Christmas to be a Federal Holiday, and it’s your fault.