Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: conan@skippy.berkeley.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Christmas Message-ID: Date: 4 Sep 89 09:56:15 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Math Dept., UC Berkeley Lines: 26 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article crowe@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Daniel Crowe) writes: > >Your efforts might be better spent if you try to convince others >that Christmas is not a Christian holiday, thereby letting it revert >to a completely pagan event. > I am disturbed by this attitude that Christmas cannot be a Christian holiday because it has roots (which are in fact unclear and subject to scholarly debate) in a pagan holiday. Isn't the incarnation of Christ an event worth celebrating? The event itself is scriptural, but the exact date is not given. Is it not therefore in the power of the church to select a date (albeit arbitrarily or for pragmatic reasons) on which to commemorate this event? I think that underlying this is a dispute which dates back to the Reformation: if something is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, can it still be a church practice? Obviously, I think the answer is yes. Our goal should be to celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, and allow the silly, consumeristic hullaballoo to blow past us. Your brother in Christ, David Cruz-Uribe, SFO