OVERFLOW STUDY - Christmas

[TsukikuroiMai]

OVERFLOW - 12 Days of Christmas  

[cristobela]

TsukikuroiMai

OVERFLOW - 12 Days of Christmas

The link doesn't work. However, if the video is talking about honoring Christ with the tradition of the 12-day observance, what they're doing is sin (transgressing the commands of God), because they're adopting the ways of the nations (which God prohibits us from doing). Both the Father and the Son prohibit blending in with the spiritual practices of the pagans because it fails to convey that he is holy (unlike what the nations worship). The practices themselves, if not dangerous, are useless to begin with and honor idolatrous myths. Ultimately, they lie about God's nature and how he intends for us to worship him and communicate with him.

• Jeremiah 10:2 (NIV)
  
  2 This is what the Lord says:
  “Do not learn the ways of the nations
  or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
  though the nations are terrified by them.
  
  
  
• Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)
  
  26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
  
  
  
• Deuteronomy 12:30-31 (NIV)
  
  30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
  
  
  
• Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)
  
  7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Either useless, dangerous, or both. And idolatrous in every case (because it originated to give honor to something/someone else, not to the Creator).

That the “12 days of Christmas” comes from the pagan winter solstice (thus sun-worshiping) celebrations:

• For all it's inputs and influences, Yule is still an important time of the year to pagans around the world. In the most direct terms it is still a festival that honors the cycle of nature and the Wheel of the Year. It is not just about the rebirth of the God figure in pagan lore.
   
  Yule is a 12 day holiday, it begins on "Mothers Night" (December 21st) and ends 12 days later on "Yule Night" (January 1st). It's the origin for the Christian "12 Days of Christmas".
  
  http://www.paganspath.com/magik/yule-history.htm
  
  
  
• In Germanic Neopagan sects, Yule is celebrated with gatherings that often involve a meal and gift giving. Groups such as the Asatru Folk Assembly in the US recognise the celebration as lasting 12 days, beginning on the date of the winter solstice.[14]
  
  In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great horned hunter god,[15] who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home,[16] while others do so with their covens.[17]
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule#Neopaganism
  
  
  
• Yule begins on Mother Night, (about Dec. 20) the night before the shortest day and the longest night (winter solstices). We honor the beginning of the Sun's return and the breaking of Winter, (which is most noticeable in five days) and is celebrated over a twelve day period. We know there will be no Fimbulwinter which proceeds Ragnarok.
  
         It is a time of the year when our deceased Ancestors are closest to us; this is when the dead (draugar) are more active than any other time. Yule is when Jólnir another name for Odinn leads the procession of the Wild Hunt through the sky's with sprits of humans, horses and dogs. This procession occurs during all twelve days of Yule. 
  
  http://www.asatru.org/yule.html

Christian sources agree that this—Christians adopting pagan practices (including the traditions of Yule)—is what happened:

• “Gradually a number of prevailing practices of the nations into which Christianity came were assimilated and were combined with the religious ceremonies surrounding Christmas. The assimilation of such practices generally represented efforts by Christians to transform or absorb otherwise pagan practices. The Feast of Saturnalia in early Rome, for example, was celebrated for 7 days from the 17th to the 24th of December and was marked by a spirit of merriment, gift giving to children and other forms of entertainment. Gradually, early Christians replaced the pagan feast with the celebration of Christmas; but many of the traditions of this observance were assimilated and remain to this day a part of the observance of Christmas. Other NATIONS, the Scandinavians, Germans, French, English and others, have left their mark . . . as well (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) (pp. 804, 805).
  
  
• Various symbolic elements of the pagan celebration, such as the lighting of candles, evergreen decorations, and the giving of gifts, were adapted to Christian signification. Later as Christianity spread into northern Europe, the Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavic winter festivals contributed holly mistletoe, the Christmas tree, bonfires, and similar items. (The Christian Encyclopedia)
  
  
• The giving of presents was a Roman custom; while the Yule tree and Yule log are remnants of old Teutonic nature worship. Gradually the festival sank into mere revelry . . . . The custom was forbidden by an act of parliament in 1555; And the reformation brought in a refinement in the celebration of Christmas by emphasizing it Christian elements. (Unger's Bible Dictionary)
  
  
• Many of the customs associated with Christmas also took their origins from the heathen observances. The exchanging of gifts, extravagant merriment, and lighting of candles all have previous counterparts in the Roman Saturnalia. The use of trees harkens back to the pagan Scandinavian festival of Yule. ~James Taylor, "Christmas," in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (J. D. Douglas, ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), p. 223.

Knowing that our God commands holiness (set-apart-ness) and thus not giving off the appearance that we're pagan, the Church should've never tried to mix Christ in with the festivity of Saturnalia, Yule, and the other nature worship festivities—even if we tried to make it about him; it is prohibited (Deut 12:30-31).

And even today, the pagans continue celebrating this. We're suppose to be holy (set-apart) from the way the world worships / does spirituality, and only reflect what the Father and Son told us to do. We're to be holy (set-apart) as He is holy (set-apart). We should not do anything that would remotely make people say: they stole pagan traditions / everyone is worshiping the same thing. What adopting the practices and traditions of Yule does is lead people to conclude: the legitimate spirituality is the oldest occurrence of the tradition. They will write off Christ as just another sun god because of what we adopt into the culture (despite the bible speaking against it); the world does not start off by reading the bible, they assess our cultural traditions. This intermingling between "bible truth" and the "traditions of the myths of the world" is ruining God's holy reputation.  

[TsukikuroiMai]

cristobela

Join me in reading 12 Days Of Christmas with The Overflow:
http://bible.com/r/758