Merry Christmas

[BeBMan]

Merry Christmas, or whatever you want to celebrate.

[dannubis]

I don't care how it is called. You have all my heartfelt best whishes for the new year. May all of you and your families find the much needed happiness this holiday season and of course ni the coming years.

[SlowwHand]

Thanks, and ditto.

[Robert]

Christmas has been the church's best marketing trick ever.
What did I say? It was the best marketing trick ever for everything.
It's not a christian feast though.

Happy holidays* anyway!

[molly bloom]

Have a great Yuletide.

And don't forget, decking the tree is a pagan ritual meant to bring wisdom.

And the holly and the ivy ? Pagan too.

And the fairy lights... ? Yep, them too.

The mistletoe as well.


Anyway- happy sun return, and peace and goodwill to all, regardless of faith, creed or philosophy. I always say I'm an ecumenical atheist- I'll celebrate any holy day with food involved.

[giblets]

So when did the birth of Jesus actually happen? Matthew seems to imply that King Herod was still alive (so 4 B.C. or earlier) but Luke says it was during the Census of Quirinius which was in 6 A.D. I'm guessing one of the gospels must be historically unreliable?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Modern scholarship says that Luke was likely incorrect.

From wiki:

Modern scholars tend to explain the disparity as an error on the part of the author of the Gospel, concluding that he was more concerned with creating a symbolic narrative than a historical account,[20] and was either unaware of, or indifferent to,[21] the chronological difficulty.

Luke was concerned with connecting Jesus to the prophecies in the Old Testament, and so likely didn't fully care about exact historicity. The Gospels knew far more about Jesus's life when he began his ministry, when Jesus turned 30, rather than the circumstances surrounding His birth (Mark and John don't even discuss Jesus's birth, but start with John the Baptist - well, John starts with saying Jesus was the Word who existed in the beginning of time, but the narrative of Jesus starts with John the Baptist).

[DaShi]

Yes, it's highly likely that the story of his birth is completely fictional in order to propagate the mythology.

[Uncle Sparky]

I adhere to the true meaning of Christmas. That is, of course, Saturnalia...the pre-Christianity festival. Eat, drink and be merry in this dark and depressing months...

Today I'm having lunch with friends and dinner with other friends. Tomorrow I'm driving to my sister's for a family weekend. There will be about 20 of us ages 2 to 87. There will be a lot of food and drink.

[DaShi]

I'm spending Christmas in Las Vegas like I do every year I'm in the States.

[SlowwHand]

Today I'm having lunch with friends and dinner with other friends. Tomorrow I'm driving to my sister's for a family weekend. There will be about 20 of us ages 2 to 87. There will be a lot of food and drink.

87? You probably don't get a chair at the grownups table yet, do you?

[OzzyKP]

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[OzzyKP]

Christmas--America's best secular holiday.

[MrFun]

So when did the birth of Jesus actually happen? Matthew seems to imply that King Herod was still alive (so 4 B.C. or earlier) but Luke says it was during the Census of Quirinius which was in 6 A.D. I'm guessing one of the gospels must be historically unreliable?

Historians generally think that Jesus may have actually been born in the spring. I seriously doubt that he was born anytime in December.

[MrFun]

And since we don't know when Jesus was really born, the next best thing, is to choose a day for symbolically celebrating Jesus Christ. Even with the pagan elements that we've incorporated in our celebration.