Non-Catholics, Thank the Catholic Church.

[ironmonk]

You can thank the Catholic Church for celebration of Christmas.

The word Christmas comes from the old English "Cristes Maesse", because it is because of the Mass celebrated for Christ. The reason why this is a world wide holiday is because Christ's Church is the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church was around to start the holiday back about 200 AD, long before Constantine joined the Catholic Church. The Church has the authority given to it by Christ.

The very fact that non-Catholics use the word Christmas speaks volumes.

If the Catholic Church wasn't first it would be something like...

Christvice - Christ's Service
Christday - Christ's Day
Christirth - Christ's Birth
etc...

See, the Mass is not a Service. It's Worship, the way God intended... that is why so many non-Catholics try to copy parts of the Mass.



Merry Christ Mass!
ironmonk

[ironmonk]

If you want to learn about Christmas, here is a link that will give you great detail on it...

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm[/url]



God Bless & Merry Christ Mass!
ironmonk

[MC Just]

MERRY CHRIST MASS IRONMONK, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARDWORK AND DEDICATION, YOU ARE TRULY AN INSPIRATION TO ME. GOD IS TRULY WORKING THROUGH YOU. I SEE YOU AS A SAINT ONE DAY..

[Budge]

Not all Non-Catholics celebate Christmas. I am in a church that celebrates it but know it has pagan elements with in it. I forgo Santa Claus and the Christmas Tree in my household.

[url="http://p201.ezboard.com/fcatholicreformationfrm22.showMessage?topicID=658.topic"]http://p201.ezboard.com/fcatholicreformati...picID=658.topic[/url]

After I read this I said NO more Christmas Trees!

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. THEY DECK IT WITH SILVER AND WITH GOLD; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

[Benedict]

Santa Claus is a Protestant invention, Budge.

Same pattern. Take something Catholic, strip it of its meaning, and see what perversions you get.

[conservativecatholic]

[quote name='Benedict' date='Dec 20 2004, 10:03 PM'] Santa Claus is a Protestant invention, Budge.

Same pattern. Take something Catholic, strip it of its meaning, and see what perversions you get. [/quote]
You are exactly right. American Protestants created Santa Claus because of their fear of the Catholic names of "Saint" and "Bishop." I like St. Nicholas! It's my middle name.

[melporcristo]

Another interesting aspect ...
Bethlehem means "house of bread" and manger means "to eat". Our Lord was born in a manger and in Bethlehem which links to the EUCHARIST. This is totally all about celebrating Christs' birthday in the true form of worship: The Mass.

[Socrates]

The Puritans and similar british Protestants in early America did not, for the most part, celebrate Christmas. (It was a "Popish" holiday!)

They later got Christmas traditions from the Catholic and Lutheran German Americans. "Santa Claus" was their misunderstanding of "Sinter Klaus" (German for St. Nicholas.) (don't know how to spell that, sorry)

[InHisHands381]

I love the Catholic Church!

[FiZzGiG]

I concur!

[Phatmasser777]

Dec 25th isnt Christ's Birthday. What you'd be thanking the CC for is actually a false dated birthday, but a free 7 day holiday

Merry Secular Xmas

[Guest Aluigi]

first off- that isn't proven. we do not have the roman records from Christ's time anymore (thank you barbarian invaders!) but when they calculated the date of Christmas the records were available to the Bishop of Rome. It is possible that they searched through them and found the date of that Mary and Joseph enrolled in the census at bethlehem. Likely? God only knows; there is no evidence either for it or to the contrary (though there exists another likely theory as well)

if it was just SOLELY replacing a pagan holiday, that could be too. It's possible that the date found in the census corresponded with that pagan holiday they wanted to abolish, that if it had been a different date they would have used Christ's birth to abolish a different pagan holiday.

God only knows when Christ was born. Historians admit that barbarians often invaded rome and destroyed doctrines, but somehow they use the lack of Roman Census data (which would have resided at Rome) proves there wasn't even a census that made Mary and Joseph go to bethlehem. The fact is that there is no evidence for or against a census.

Modern Historical Method: Look for evidence of a popular ancient tradition or text. If it cannot be found, especially if it's something from the Bible, formulate another plausible way to explain it. Even if that cannot be substantiated either, declare that one to be what actually happened.



by the way, when you say Xmas, you are saying the abreviated greek form of Christ and then mass, still a Catholic Title. that's where that abreviation came from. your precious secular abreviation is religious in nature anyway! LOL!

XPIΣTOΣ

Edited December 21, 2004 by Aluigi

[ironmonk]

[quote name='Budge' date='Dec 20 2004, 11:15 PM'] Not all Non-Catholics celebate Christmas. I am in a church that celebrates it but know it has pagan elements with in it. I forgo Santa Claus and the Christmas Tree in my household.

[url="http://p201.ezboard.com/fcatholicreformationfrm22.showMessage?topicID=658.topic"]http://p201.ezboard.com/fcatholicreformati...picID=658.topic[/url]

After I read this I said NO more Christmas Trees!

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. THEY DECK IT WITH SILVER AND WITH GOLD; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." [/quote]
Budge,

Thank you for your post.

What the Catholic Church does when trying to win souls for Christ, is what it has been doing since it started with the Apostles.

When entering a new culture and finding a false religion, the Church looks for what is good in the teaching - that is has some truth in it - shows the people of the false religion how the Church teachings which are similar and then shows the people of the false religion the salvation that comes with Christ. To win souls for Christ bro.

There are some things, like the Christmas Tree, that are neutral and can be used for good... the Church took the Christmas Tree and gave it a new meaning, so that those who did not know Christ could relate better to the True Faith of Christ.

As we see St. Paul preaches...

[b]1 Corin. 9:19 [/b]
Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible.
[b]20 [/b]To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law--though I myself am not under the law--to win over those under the law.
[b]21 [/b]To those outside the law I became like one outside the law--though I am not outside God's law but within the law of Christ--to win over those outside the law.
[b]22 [/b]To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
[b]23 [/b]All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.


I'm not asking you to agree... I'm not trying to argue.... I'm trying to explain what the Church has done and why.

If they didn't do what they did, they might not have won as many souls for Christ as they did.


God Bless & Merry Christ Mass!
ironmonk

[MC Just]

I LOVE WHEN 'MR KNOW IT ALLS" COME AROUND, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ACTUALLY KNOW NOTHING...ROTFL

[mulls]

if i thank the catholic church for all the blessings of christmas, then i'm also going to blame it for what it has allowed the world to make it....a secular heap of garbage.