Christmas' Orgin?

[iWish]

I was informed by a range of sources that Christmas' origin is a pagan holiday and the Church subsequently changed it into a Christian holiday. I haven't investigated it, although the thought fascinates me. What do you know about this? If it is true, would that form changes on your opinion that retailers should use "Merry Christmas" in their ads? I'm quite curious to hear your views.

Thank you.

[Jaltus]

Typically I do not answer questions in here, but I had just read on this subject this past summer.

The dating of Jesus' birth can be anywhere from Late October/early November until mid-March, based upon various clues given in the NT (I will not lay all of that out, it comes from a rather lengthy article). The church decided that it wanted to celebrate Jesus' birth since they already celebrated the deaths of great Christians, and they wanted to make Christ special. Thus, they needed a day.

The festival of the Sun (and other gods, depending on the culture) was on December 25th. The Christians chose that day in order to combate the pagan myth and also to pick a day that was decently far enough away from Easter.

So, is Jesus' birthday December 25th? Nobody really knows, but it could be. The reason that this date was chosen was to combat pagan influences.

[Shadow Phoenix]

Hi iwsh. I'd say Jaltus has given you a great answer.

I'd add in that the origin of what was going on with the holiday in the past is absolutely useless to me. I look at three points to decide about our celebrating it.

Is celebrating itself wrong?
Why is it celebrated?
What is the intent?

Remember, Christians won out on paganism in the long run. We have no need to go back to fearing them.