I am not going to continue to respond to SST about issues not related to Christmas. I think most Christians see the folly in his views.

For those who may be a bit bothered by the facts that surround the choosing of Dec 25th as the day to remember Christ's birth, let me give you something to think about.

It is well know, that in many areas and of most religions, temples are built on the ruins of old temples belonging to other religions.
Why might this be so? Was there a shortage of real-estate? Nope that's not it.
When Islam sees the dome of the rock setting on the temple mount - do you suppose they see and attempt for Allah worshippers to hide there desire to worship YHWH?
Or do you suppose they see VICTORY? I suggest that it is victory that they see.
And I also believe this is the reason why you find temple on top of temple in the ancient world.
It was a way of showing that the god of the temple on top was the only true god.

December 25 was used to celebrate the "Invincible Sun God", as well as others. When that day was taken and turned into a holiday to worship the birth of the one true God - Do you really suppose the intent was to hide the worship of the old pagan gods under the cloak of Christianity? Or rather a sign of Victory over pagans?

True in the beginning most commoners probably still worshiped the pagan gods on that day. But the wisdom of the decision to pick that day is seen now, when all that remains in the minds of most people, is that Christmas is a day to celebrate Jesus.

So much does it represent Him, that people who are not Christians can't even stand to hear or read the words "Merry Christmas" and their eyes burn at the sight of a nativity or a cross. If it was viewed as just another pagan holiday, I am sure it would not spark as big a debate as it currently does in the media.

Just a little food for thought.


cook

Yeah but the thing with the dome is an issue of geography, not worship style.

The dome is an issue of territorial dominance. Plain and simple.
And I suggest that the issue of Christmas is also one of territorial dominance.
One territory is a place on the map, the other is a place on the calendar. Where the territory may be is not of issue - just that the territory be conquered. Christianity conquered the old pagan day. Christ remains victorious in thought on that day, as well as most of this month.
Christians should be honored to flaunt it!

cook

I will now share the reason why I came to hate christmas.  

To me, christmas used to be a time always something exciting to look forward to.  It meant sharing, caring, loving, giving...basically more of doing and acting a certian way at a certian time of the year.  Oh, sure, there was the recognizing of the birth of Jesus, but this is what really frustrated me.  I hated the fact that people were more generous at this particular time of the year and the reasons did not make sense to me.  I eventually related this to hypocrisy of the heart.  I began to hate that this could not be done every day of the year.

Then there was the concentation area of the event itself.  It mainly had to do with family relations.  We seem to have no problem spending big bucks on this event concerning our family, friends, relations and remain silent the rest of the year for others who do not belong to us.  That really ticked me off.  And to me this futher insulted the meaning of this event when we can dig further into our pockets during this time of year and yet not dig much into our pockets, or not dig at all, for the others who are not of us.

Another reason is that this event always caused me financial problems.  It was as if we were forced to follow the line to fit in.  To be honest, all the money I spent on my own family and relations and friends, I would have rather have given to those who had no food or had need...real needs.  I hated the realness of being that hypocrite.

Another reason is my rememberance.  I remember growing up....and my parents were never rich...in fact we were very poor..in fact they were consant drunkards.  So my rememberance of the christmas event was full of memories that were not pleasant.  So I began to relate christmas with pain and sorrow.  Others were happy, or more happy, at this time of the year...and I wasn't.

Then when finally becoming christianized, I eventually learned that the christmas event was someething that the religious front took for themselves.  This bothered me in some ways, but I was never really concerned about it.  It just added fuel to my already existing negative feelings to this Holiday.

There is more, but I think this is enough to give you the jist of my emotions and feelings about christmas.

Even though I feel this way, I try (and hard I must) to make this event as nice as possible for my family.  My wife and child already know how I feel.  But they love christmas anyways!!

But I have been trying to combat these feelings and ideas for some time now.....I at this time do hate christmas...but Cook said some things that shined some light into my dark world of christmas.  Now I have a new challenge for myself.  I will now decide to make Christmas the most meaningful time for me, my family, my relations, my friends, my neighbours and all those strangers out there.  But the challenge is that I want this to be every day, year round.

Funny thing....I came home for a quick break from work today and my wife quickly related to me what she saw on our local news.  She said that a group of people want the Christmas theme removed altogether.  This is nothing new really, but they did not want Christmas associated with the word "Merry" or "Christ".  Sounds like how I was feeling...LOL.  Time to change it...and I will start it with me.  I will now celebrate this with day with another attitude.  But more, I will do my best to make this the same for everyday throughout the year.

Thanks Cook.  Your words inspired me.

I let my wife read this whole thread.  She got mad about some of the things said here, but we agree on certian things.  She realized that I had a plan for many years, and she did also.  Our plan was the same..  I will get into that later.  But now I see that the real meaning of Christmas will become a reality for the both of us every day, each day, of the year.  We now plan to work on this.  I will need your support and advice as we carry out our plan...but more on that later.   We plan to take ground...and we will do so.

I answered yes. For one, it has no religious significance to me, and I am the only atheist in my family. My family all buy gifts for me, so I feel obligated to buy gifts for them. I find the whole process a huge pain in the ass. I think it would be better if we all kept our money, and just got stuff for ourselves since we know what we want better than anyone else.