Home » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints » Sunday Preparation - Talks & Lessons » Lesson on Christmas (The notes I collected in preparing for a Sunday School lesson on Christmas)
| Lesson on Christmas [message #352] |
Fri, 16 December 2011 21:18  |
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Dragon
Messages: 499
Registered: June 2010
Location: Earth
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Senior Member |
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Santa Claus:
Saint Nicholaos 5 Dec 270 6 Dec 343, Feast on Dec 5th to honor him. Well known for giving anonymously to others, finding different ways to give without being seen.
Miracles: Brought 3 children back to life after they were chopped up as ham; Bought wheat for the hungry from merchants passing through. If they did not deliver the right amount they would be punished. When they did deliver the wheat, the weight had not diminished.;
He helped an elderly man who had no dowry for his three daughters. He tossed three bags of gold through the window. Each bag was tossed in the night before the daughters came of age. The man laid in wait to catch his benefactor and confronted him. In some stories he dropped the gold down the chimney, in others a bag landed inside a stocking hanging over the fire.
Dutch: Sinterklaas, Also confused with Odin, the God of the Norse, who flies on an eight legged reindeer and delivers presents to the good Vikings on the Winter Solstice.
First mention of 8 reindeer and sleigh is in the poem "T'was the Night Before Christmas" written in 1822
wikipedia.org
Why December 25th?
Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival. cira 273
Pagan celebrations of the Sun or Sun God already used the 25th or nearby dates. christianitytoday.com Elesha Coffman
Christmas Tree
The forefather to the Christmas pyramid was the "Lichtergestelle" (literally: thing on which lights are set). They were constructions made of four poles, decorated with evergreen boughs, tied together at the top and lit with candles.
The modern Christmas tree . . . originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a fir tree hung with apples (paradise tree) representing the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up a paradise tree in their homes on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung wafers on it (symbolizing the host, the Christian sign of redemption); in a later tradition, the wafers were replaced by cookies of various shapes. Candles, too, were often added as the symbol of Christ. In the same room, during the Christmas season, was the Christmas pyramid, a triangular construction of wood, with shelves to hold Christmas figurines, decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star. By the 16th century, the Christmas pyramid and paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree.[18]
wikipedia.org
The 3 Kings or Magi (sometimes the 12 Kings)
Magi is a term, used since at least the 4th century BC, to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which was in the main the ability to read the stars, and manipulate the fate that the stars foretold. The meaning prior to Hellenistic period is uncertain. - wikipedia.org
It is about 500 miles from Babylon to Jerusalem. A caravan of camels covers 10 to 25 miles on each day the weather permits them to travel. Thus the journey took between one month and 4 months.
The Star
Helaman 14:5 And behold, there shall a new a star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.
Matt 2:2 Saying, a Where is he that is born b King of the Jews? for we have seen his c star in the east, and are come to d worship him.
3 Nephi 1:21 And it came to pass also that a new a star did appear, according to the word.
Early in the evening of June 17, 2 B.C., the brightest planets in the sky, Jupiter and Venus, merged into a dazzling "star" near the western horizon, according to calculations of modern astronomers. In countries to the east of what was then the kingdom of Judea, observers could have seen the fused planets as a beacon in the direction of Jerusalem.
Astrologers associated Jupiter with the birth of kings and Venus with fertility. The meeting of Jupiter and Venus took place in the constellation Leo the Lion, which the Old Testament of the Bible specifically associated with the Jewish people. And it happened near the brightest star in Leo, Regulus, most closely identified with kingship.
There has not been a brighter, closer conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in Leo so near to Regulus in the 2,000 years before or since. - http://newsinfo.iu.edu/OCM/packages/bethstar.html
Venus passes Jupiter at about 2' arc per hour. The eye has a resolution of 1' arc so the two will appear as one only for a little more than 1 hour. http://www.bogan.ca/astro/occultations/2bcocclt.htm
It is exactly 42 weeks between June 17, 2 B.C. and April 6th, 1 B.C.
- Dragon
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| Re: Lesson on Christmas [message #1763 is a reply to message #1760] |
Sat, 29 December 2012 11:07  |
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Kingdom of ZION
Messages: 46
Registered: November 2012
Location: Colorado
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I think the total lying to the innocent little children about the none existent Santa, sometimes referred to as Saint Nick is right up there in a Pagan act. So are all Saints really just a fable we tell little children?
Jeremiah 10 also point to the Tree being pagan and makes it clear. These traditions are very old, but they are in the moment (present) before G_d however, they are not forgotten just because of time. When can false traditions replace true commanded forms of worship? When can Holidays replace Holy Days? Are we of Yesrael? She was commanded to keep the three High Feast throughout there generations... Forever! If we're say we are of Israel and yet we keep pagan worship rites, rather than keeping G_ds commanded worship rites, where do we get off thinking we are righteous before His eyes? The Children of Yesrael of old had many tradition of a celebration that included a calf, is not the symbol for Israel an Oxen? They though it okay to continue keeping that false tradition, even though they had been asked to keep new traditions. As I remember, it did not go so well for them. Have we been asked to keep our Holy Days, and partake of Sacraments on those days? At least the Catholic have a Christmas Mass, they are doing better at trying to keep it as a Holy Day, then we! We close the Temples (houses of Prayer), we do not partake of the Lord's Supper in our meeting houses as commanded. Where does that leave us?
Even the total lie that it is the Birthday of the Messiah, must rank in there as a despicable act. To intentionally lie about the remembrance of the Messiah life... that is one for the record books, as the most foolish act of all time.
I attached a small book written years ago by a friend of mine, Anne Wilde. I also attached her little book on Easter, the Second great lie we tell little children, about the magic Easter Bunny. Fairytales... is that what we want our children to think about the Messiah on the true Holy Days? (Sorry only one text per post, if anyone is interested in it, PM me.)
Shalom
Coming of Eliyah is yet future, the Restoration of Yesrael and the Kingdom or Gospel and the other 2/3's of the Book of Mormon will follow. If Eliyah does not come, then with the coming of the Messiah, the earth shall be cursed and utterly wasted!
[Updated on: Sat, 29 December 2012 11:12] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Lesson on Christmas [message #1783 is a reply to message #1763] |
Sun, 30 December 2012 09:36 |
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Dragon
Messages: 499
Registered: June 2010
Location: Earth
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Senior Member |
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As stated above, the origins of the Christmas Tree today symbolize the Garden of Eden (the tree), the Fall (the fruit or shiny balls), and the Light of Christ (candles or lights). Any resemblance to ancient traditions is coincidental.
As for 'Santa', that is the name of Saint Nicholas, who was a real person who actually did give toys to little children and money to poor families. He is a symbol pointing to Christ in how selfless he was and the proof of his charity for his fellow men. For his many years of kind service I believe he deserves to be remembered.
As for Dec 25 being the birth of the Savior, that is actually linked to pagan tradition. As I stated before, it is the one symbol of Christmas for which I can find credible evidence it is tied directly to pagan traditions rather than through similarity.
Easter is a whole other matter. I am perfectly aware of the origins of the bunny and the dual explanations of the egg. The rest is commercialism, other than the Easter Pageant.
The reason we do not attend temple or church on the Holiest of Days is because there is one thing more holy than church and more holy than the temple. Family. In the LDS Church, Family trumps church duties and worship every time. Thus the church chooses to allow everyone to be with their families rather than conducting meetings, cleaning hallways, or all the other duties of a lay church member.
- Dragon
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| Re: Lesson on Christmas [message #2168 is a reply to message #1783] |
Sun, 03 February 2013 01:53 |
Ashleyd
Messages: 100
Registered: May 2012
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Senior Member |
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I believe the intent of the heart matters most. The truth is, you can take most traditions and trace any of them back to "pagan origins". The Pagans defiled Holy things by worshiping the symbols instead of what the symbols pointed to. They worshiped the Celestial bodies in the sky instead of what those bodies represented. All things that are created by God glorify and point to our Maker. There are eternal truths to be found in all things if we have eyes to see but it does require the spirit. Symbols are meant to teach us and lead us closer to Christ. Can any "thing" be good or evil on it's own? I don't think so. It has to do more with the intent of our hearts and where our focus is. This year I changed our Christmas tree. I decorated it all in white, glass and silver with white lights. It was beautiful. I told my children that it represented the tree of life and that the white bulbs and flowers represented the fruit that is white above all that is white and sweet above all that is sweet. I told them it represented the Love of God which shedeth itself abroad among the hearts of the children of men. The silver on the tree represented the spirit. There is personal significance to that, that some close to me will understand.  And the glass represented a few different things including Celestial worlds. At the top was placed a white star which I told them was made to represent the star that appeared as a sign of the Saviors birth to the world. I felt it added a nice spirit to our home. And it gave me opportunities to teach my children more about Christ through symbols and visuals.
[Updated on: Sun, 03 February 2013 01:57] Report message to a moderator |
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