Introduction
Jesus Christ was born in a manger many years ago, why are people still calling him a baby? This is an abomination and the greatest blasphemy any one can commit.
All over the world, when a grown up person lacks wisdom, or unable to do the right things, it’s said that he or she is acting like a baby. Calling Jesus Christ a baby in this 21st century is completely reducing Jesus Christ to a state of nothing and making him of having no reasoning faculties.
How can this be? Jesus who is the word in the beginning. John 1.1.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
Verse 14.
And the word made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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Jesus Christ is wisdom and he is God. By calling him a baby in this twenty first century is the worst blasphemy that any one can commit. Also making images of the baby Jesus Christ with plastic, molten images and woods are completely sinful and having no regard for Jesus Christ.
All these practices are gone out of God’s way and need to stop and ask for forgiveness by all who practice these abominable acts. How can one call the one and only living God a plastic image or wooden or stone or the molten images.?
According to the bible, everything from Genesis to Revelation is about the Jesus Christ who is the saviour of the whole word, the creator of all the things in the heaven and earth.
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Dear readers, I can only compare this topic to Ezekiel chapter 8.1-18.
1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
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6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.
7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
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12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
13 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
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Leviticus 23: 1-44
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest:
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11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
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16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
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22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
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28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
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35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day:
38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
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41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
Without the killing of animals or any rituals. These rituals are what Christ had nailed to the cross. But the feasts of God need to be celebrated to remember all the works of the salvation that Christ Jesus gave us.
We believers are to celebrate all these feasts with joy and appreciation to remember the sacrifices that Jesus Christ gave us which money or our efforts cannot buy.
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Salvation that Christ gave us is not of works of our hands neither was it for goodness but it is a free gift from Jesus Christ who died and shed His precious blood for the remission of our sins. These God’s feast are worth celebrating as means of thanksgiving to a God that gave us His life.
These images are nothing but a slap on the face for the sacrifices that Jesus Christ gave the churches. The worst of this is celebrating the world’s feast and making Jesus Christ into images, of plastic, wooden. molten images and calling Him a baby.
Showing the world’s and many churches of Christ all over the world displaying Jesus Christ as wooden images, calved woods, plastic images, are these abominations the representations of Jesus Christ? I tell you all those who display these in churches, or homes or offices, you mock yourselves and not Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
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STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP these evil practices. How can you churches all over the world join the heathens to mock yourselves.
These evil things do not in anyway represent Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the incarnation of the Almighty Lord, the creator of heavens of heaven and earth.
How can the churches called by the name of Jesus Christ joined multitudes to commit these atrocities, displaying your God as plastic babies, woods or calved stones? Will God be pleased with these? Capital NO.
ARTICLE MEDIA: Christmas Holiday.
WRITTEN BY: Hans J. Hillerbrand.
LAST UPDATED: Dec 20, 2019.
CHRISTMAS:
Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin.
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The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice. The corresponding terms in other languages—Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, Noël in French—all probably denote nativity.
The German word Weihnachten denotes “hallowed night.” Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts.
In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role.
How can the church of Jesus Christ accepts this type of pictures to represent our Lord Jesus of Nazareth. Our Lord Jesus Christ who suffered, died and shed His precious blood for the salvation of the world.
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This shows nothing but the mockery of the entire Christendom. Despite the fact that God emphatically commanded us believers not to make any images.
We have definitely ignored the commandments of the Almighty God. Who loved us so much that He came to the world in the person of Jesus Christ His son.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom—their true “birthdays,” from the church’s perspective.
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What is Christmas?
When is Christmas celebrated?
How is Christmas celebrated?
Does Christmas have pagan roots?
Did Christmas start in Germany?
Why is Christmas in December?
The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard.
December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221, and later became the universally accepted date.
One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer.
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Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son.
One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices.
A second view suggests that December 25 became the date of Jesus’ birth by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the date of the creation of the world and the fourth day of creation, when the light was created, as the day of Jesus’ conception (i.e., March 25).
December 25, nine months later, then became the date of Jesus’ birth. For a long time the celebration of Jesus’ birth was observed in conjunction with his baptism, celebrated January 6.
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Christmas began to be widely celebrated with a specific liturgy in the 9th century but did not attain the liturgical importance of either Good Friday or Easter, the other two major Christian holidays.
Roman Catholic churches celebrate the first Christmas mass at midnight, and Protestant churches have increasingly held Christmas candlelight services late on the evening of December 24. A special service of “lessons and carols” intertwines Christmas carols with Scripture readings narrating salvation history from the Fall in the Garden of Eden to the coming of Christ.
The service, inaugurated by E.W. Benson and adopted at the University of Cambridge, has become widely popular.
Contemporary Customs In The West.
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Christmas Tree
History of the Christmas tree. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz.
None of the contemporary Christmas customs have their origin in theological or liturgical affirmations, and most are of fairly recent date. The Renaissance humanist Sebastian Brant recorded, in Das Narrenschiff (1494; The Ship of Fools), the custom of placing branches of fir trees in houses.
Even though there is some uncertainty about the precise date and origin of the tradition of the Christmas tree, it appears that fir trees decorated with apples were first known in Strasbourg in 1605. The first use of candles on such trees is recorded by a Silesian duchess in 1611.
The Advent wreath—made of fir branches, with four candles denoting the four Sundays of the Advent season—is of even more recent origin, especially in North America.
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The custom, which began in the 19th century but had roots in the 16th, originally involved a fir wreath with 24 candles (the 24 days before Christmas, starting December 1), but the awkwardness of having so many candles on the wreath reduced the number to four.
An analogous custom is the Advent calendar, which provides 24 openings, one to be opened each day beginning December 1. According to tradition, the calendar was created in the 19th century by a Munich housewife who tired of having to answer endlessly when Christmas would come.
The first commercial calendars were printed in Germany in 1851. The intense preparation for Christmas that is part of the commercialisation of the holiday has blurred the traditional liturgical distinction between Advent and the Christmas season, as can be seen by the placement of Christmas trees in sanctuaries well before December 25.
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Lighting of the U.S. National Christmas Tree, Washington, D.C., 2008.Donna Spiewak/NPS
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Given the importance of Christmas as one of the major Christian feast days, most European countries observe, under Christian influence, December 26 as a second Christmas holiday.
This practice recalls the ancient Christian liturgical notion that the celebration of Christmas, as well as that of Easter and of Pentecost, should last the entire week. The weeklong observance, however, was successively reduced to Christmas day and a single additional holiday on December 26.
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Contemporary Customs In Eastern And Oriental Orthodoxy
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In some parts of India, the evergreen Christmas tree is replaced by the mango tree or the bamboo tree, and houses are decorated with mango leaves and paper stars. Christmas largely remains a Christian holiday and is otherwise not widely observed.
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Japan serves as illustration of a different sort. In that predominantly Shintō and Buddhist country, the secular aspects of the holiday—Christmas trees and decorations, even the singing of Christmas songs such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or “White Christmas”—are widely observed instead of the religious aspects.
Sweden: Daily life and social customs Christmas is celebrated on December 24 with the traditional Julskinka ham. Glogg, a mulled, spiced wine,…
Finland: In northern Finland, the spruce Christmas tree is a relative newcomer to the country, having made its…
Cuba: The government removed Christmas from its list of national holidays in 1969. The constitution of 1976…
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By divine commandment the Israelites were explicitly forbidden to make graven images (Exod 20:4; Deut 5:8). This commandment also pertained to the making of molten images, the words “graven” and “molten” referring to the manner in which the forbidden image was constructed.
The word פֶּ֫סֶל, H7181, refers, qua terminology, first of all to an image of a god cut from stone, shaped from clay, or carved from wood, but it also includes images cast from metal (Lev 19:4; Deut 27:15). Such an image was made by pouring molten metal, gold, silver, iron, or bronze, over a prepared form or into a mold (Isa 40:18-20).
The golden calf made by Aaron is called an ’egel massekā (Exod 32:4). The same word, but in the pl., is used for the two calves set up at Bethel and Dan by Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:9).
The making of such idols, in keeping with the decalogue, was strictly forbidden by the entire Mosaic law (Exod 34:17; Lev 19:4). The prophets also unreservedly condemned it (Isa 30:22; Hos 13:2; Hab 2:18; cf. also Ps 106:19).
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