What is Christmas really about?

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CHARLIE BROWN: I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is all about.
SHOUTS
Isn’t there anybody who knows what Christmas is all about?
LINUS: Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.
WALKS TO CENTER STAGE
Lights please.
LIGHTS GO DOWN, SPOTLIGHT ON LINUS AS HE RECITES LUKE 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
LIGHTS COME BACK UP AS LINUS WALKS BACK
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

I just couldn’t resist.
 
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Hi Seamus,

I am glad you quoted the scene between Linus and Charlie Brown
and Linus reading the Bible from Luke 2:8-14, the story of Jesus’ birth.

I am 50 years old and I still watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

I agree with web page…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas

on the theme of the show…
The story touches on the over-commercialization of Christmas, and the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ
Click to expand...
.

RoseLiu Quote is right on line when she said:
Christmas is love for me! When a new babe come this earth, his (babies) first gift is parents love,
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Most of us as babies, experience the first gift of love by our parents and continue to experience that love for a lifetime.

There is nothing that we can do which will cause our parents to love us any more than the do. And when we disobey them, they discipline us not because they love us any less but because of the love and care they have for us. And then they show us the correct way.

One day when we become parents, our first gift we give our children is love. We keep giving our love to our children for a lifetime.

Just like the love we felt from our parents, there is nothing that our kids can do which will cause us to love our kids more. And when they disobey, we discipline them not because we love them any less but because of the love and care we have for them. And then we show them the correct way.

Each time I look at the Christ child in the manger, I feel the gift of love my parents gave me.

I believe Christmas is about the miraculous virgin birth of baby Jesus and the reason He came to us. This baby who …

was to become a carpenter, a teacher, and healer of the sick
was to live a sinless life
as an adult, was to be tortured and beaten for doing nothing wrong
was to be crucified on the cross and after death would be buried and then rise from the dead.
on the third day after death, His body would ascend into heaven

Baby Jesus is
the Saviour of all mankind.
Our heavenly Father God, the word, in the flesh

It wasn’t until my adult years at the ripe age of 42 that I realized that fact.

And the gift our Heavenly Father gave all of us is an expression of love that is greater than any earthly parent can possibly give.

quite simply expressed in my favorite bible verse…

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John3:16

God gift to all of us…His word which says He sacrificed his Son to take the punisment for all the sins of the human race so we can be free and live for eternity in heaven with Him.

Such as simple promise, all Gods asks us to do is by faith believe in that promise and believe in Jesus that He is the Messiah, the King of Kings, our Lord and Saviour.

Today we live in a confused world in that to say to anyone…
“Baby Jesus is God in the flesh and Jesus is the Savior of the world who died on the cross, was buried, rose and will come again”
would result in 2 maybe 3 out of every 10 people who would agree with you.

It is the reason I Iike “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

I wonder how many people know that
network executives were not at all keen on several aspects of the show. The executives did not want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ.
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and that Charles Schulz was adamant about keeping this scene in, remarking that “If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?”
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quoted from the site above

To repeat Charles Schulz, If we don’t tell our friends, neighbors and even strangers the true meaning of Christmas, who will?

No wonder Jesus said “go and make desciples” before his resurrection.

the greatest treasure of love is being offered by God in abundance,

So many people do not see the value of His gift of love and reject Him.

Let us work together in His name so that all may come to the knowledge and truth of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God bless,

Fish
 
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HI all,

I believe this little girl in the video below lets all know what the meaning of Christmas is all about as we are to believe today.

celebration of the birth of Jesus.

on youtube.com.

youtube.com/watch?v=OFNiHVedwAs

However, Christmas is not mentioned in the bible.
I recently came across something…

Let me ask, does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?

truth
 
whatisthetruth said:
bump

Let me ask, does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?
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Because God promised a savior, and incredulously, He gave Him to us in the form of a MAN!

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis!
 
whatisthetruth said:
Let me ask, does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?
Click to expand...
Yes - it was when the Virgin, whose name was Mary, said to the Angel, Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. (“I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done unto me even as thou hast said.”) When nine months had passed, she gave birth to Him who is God, in her own flesh. 🙂
 
jmcrae said:
Yes - it was when the Virgin, whose name was Mary, said to the Angel, Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. (“I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done unto me even as thou hast said.”) When nine months had passed, she gave birth to Him who is God, in her own flesh. 🙂
Click to expand...
👍 👍
 
Great answers all,

I also believe Christmas started with the virgin Mary was informed by an angel “you will be with child”

That is what we as Christians beleive is the true meaning of Christmas.

Ok, let me say this.

There was a point in time Christmas was not even on the calendar and Christmas was not even celebrated as a holiday,

So I ask again,
does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?

.
 
According to all the Christmas specials I am seein’ on TV it is about “Giving” :rolleyes:
WP
 
How Christmas ‘came to be’?

Well, there is the ‘truth’ of Christmas. . .the Virgin Mary assenting to God, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy Word.”

The Birth of the Babe who became our Savior, dying on the Cross.

The spreading of the good news of our redemption, by word of mouth and through the scriptures, letters, and written inspiration which became the Bible, and that combination of written teaching and oral teaching which most people ‘heard’ for about 1500 years.

In certain cultures, that good news of the birth of the Savior was given special touches of that culture. Certain pious traditions were ‘added’ which did not contradict Scripture. . .trees to represent the tree of life and the tree on which He was crucified. . . gifts which the Magi brought were adapted so that we too could give ‘in honor of the Christ Child’, the word “Christmas” itself coming from the “Christ Mass” celebrated on a day which COULD be the ‘real birth’ or not but is at the least, even now, a date on which people everywhere at least have His Holy Name MENTIONED even if they don’t fully understand or even believe.

In certain cultures, the fact that “Christmas” was never supposedly ‘mentioned in the Bible’ led those cultures to not only 'not 'celebrate but to outright BAN it. (Think Puritan New England, the Roundheads of the 17th century, current Jehovah Witnesses, etc.)

In some cultures, elements have been so ‘changed’ (the real St. Nicholas, Bishop of Smyrna, would not recognize Father Christmas of England let alone the U.S. Nash-ified “Santa Claus” or the huge emphasis on GIFTS and the ‘meaning of Christmas’ that seems to IGNORE the “Christ”. . .but that doesn’t mean that the elements as originally used were wrong, but only that some people have gone’ overboard or misunderstood’.

So when you are asking “How did Christmas come to be”, your answer is going to depend on exactly what you think Christmas IS, whatisthetruth.

If you are thinking “the commercial Christmas came to be BECAUSE of the practices of trees, and Santa Claus, and THOSE things came about because people (naming no religion here) got all caught up with ‘adding things’ and making a holiday out of PAGAN CUSTOMS and THAT started because of that EMPEROR who bolloxed up the entire Christian message by putting in all these extras”. . .then you are only looking at ‘the commercial Christmas’ as expressed by the MSN or perhaps experienced by you in 2007 or even what you THINK all of us are ‘experiencing’.

But that is just ‘one’ Christmas.

What about the non commercial Christmas that millions of Christians experience. . .A Christmas that STARTS with the Mass, that is all about the Baby. It may have a tree full of tinsel–or an ‘outdoor tree’ covered with seed and pinecones to feed tiny animals. It may have presents --in fact, it usually has lots of presents, often for the poor and lonely. It may have songs. . .Christmas carols and also ‘Christmas chestnuts’, sung by families and friends. It may have a holiday meal and specials. . .but all these are SECONDARY to the "reason for the season’.

So, which Christmas are you wondering about? The ‘bad’ Christmas where people are just materialistic pagans. . .or the ‘good’ Christmas where people are thinking of our Lord and Savior?

Because BOTH of them, and countless others ‘along the continuum’ came from the same thing. . .God’s gift to us of the Savior. HOW we celebrate Christmas does not change WHY we ‘have’ Christmas. WHAT ‘extras’ we use in our personal celebration do not matter if we use and see them as aids to our love for our Savior.
 
whatisthetruth said:
There was a point in time Christmas was not even on the calendar and Christmas was not even celebrated as a holiday,

So I ask again,
does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?
Click to expand...
As I understand it, it was in response to Gnostic heretics who were teaching that Jesus never actually became flesh and dwelt among us. The Christmas celebration was created, exactly nine months after the celebration of the Annunciation (which had already been celebrated on March 25th, from really early in Church history) as an aid to teaching illiterate persons about the fact that Jesus is God Incarnate. The majority of traditional Christmas carols actually follow a classic catechetical pattern that opens up the life of Christ in a simple-to-understand way - each Christmas carol that we sing in Church is actually a little mini-Catechism. 🙂
 
In Europe most cultures had in common the celebration of the death and rebirth of the sun every year toward the end of December. This was a celebration of the return of the sun, of the days getting longer and more light being gradually seen.

This fell on or around the winter solstice.

At some point, we don’t really know when for sure, evangelists began substituting the Nativity of Jesus for these pagan festivals. The rebirth of the sun was exchanged for the birth of the Son of God and the coming of light and life to all men.

There is a biblical precedent for this:

In Acts 17, Paul preaches to the men of Athens using a pagan worship practice (the Unknown God) to preach them Christ, the true God and the One they have not yet known but Who has now, in his Gospel come to them and made Himself known (see Acts 17:22ff)
 
whatisthetruth said:
So I ask again,
does anyone really know how Christmas came to be?.
Click to expand...
newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm

This article from the Catholic Encyclopedia of the early 1900s covers it in fairly minute detail.

Oh, and btw, as a related note, the abbreviation Xmas is noted from 1551, in case anyone was wondering.
etymonline.com/index.php?search=christmas&searchmode=none
Xmas
“Christmas,” 1551, X’temmas, wherein the X is an abbreviation for Christ in Christmas, from first letter of Gk. Christos “Christ” (see Christ). The earlier way to abbreviate it was Xp- or Xr-, corresponding to “Chr-,” and the form Xres mæsse for “Christmas” appears in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” (c.1100).
 
Seamus_L said:
CHARLIE BROWN: I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is all about.
SHOUTS
Isn’t there anybody who knows what Christmas is all about?
LINUS: Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.
WALKS TO CENTER STAGE
Lights please.
LIGHTS GO DOWN, SPOTLIGHT ON LINUS AS HE RECITES LUKE 2:8-14
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
LIGHTS COME BACK UP AS LINUS WALKS BACK
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

I just couldn’t resist.
Click to expand...
I love that video! I randomly found it in our basement just the other night. Wouldn’t it be nice if all Christmas shows had that message?
 
Hi all and thank you for your replies,

I want to say I am sorry, I should of labeled the thread "How did Christmas come to be?

For there was a time when the Christmas holiday as we celebrate today, was not even on the calender. Some of you cited past history.

Yes I agree today it is all about baby Jesus, our Saviour. and I love Linus telling the story in A Charlie Brown Christmas. It is my prayer and hope that we as Christians can carry the Christmas spirit, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit as our guide right into and througout the new year.

God bless you all

truth

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy New Year

Before the year is up please enjoy these gentle reminders which are adorable… I am sure you will agree

media.euniverse.com/funpages/cms_content/728/end_is_near.swf

if video does not load hit refresh
 
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