Posted By: Kevin H
Fairly Recent findings related to Christmas - 12/20/04 09:38 PM
I have found these interesting, and I hope you find these a blessing. Merry Christmas!—KH
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December 25 is probably not the actual birth of Jesus, but it is good to celebrate Jesus' birth, and since we don't have a time commanded, we celebrate when people's minds are drawn to this wonderful event.
On the other hand, we now know more details of church history and that, NO it is NOT a Pagan Holiday, despite what you heard in evangelistic meetings and have read in outdated church histories. It is a creation of the Christian Church based on Judaism.
The historians of the dark ages were doing their best with the knowledge they had come across in their study. Based on what they knew at the time they concluded that Christmas having come into the church during the fourth century (the 300s AD) after Constantine’s debatable conversion when the church did compromise with heathenism. However further study has shown that December 25 or January 6 (depending on which church) has been kept as the celebration of Jesus' birth since the third century (200s AD) and have roots in the second century (100s AD). That is 100 to 200 years before Constantine and when these historians first thought that Christmas was kept.
What happened was in the 130s AD (I don't remember if it was 135 AD or 138 AD) Judaism and Christianity split into two different religions. Now, according to an ancient Jewish Legend, Isaac was conceived on Passover and that Abraham went to sacrifice him on Passover. (No, I do not know if there is any Biblical basis for this legend, nor how far back in Jewish history it began-- My guess would be the intertestamental period, but it may be older, but this is where we should hang our blame for the events this time of year.)
The second century Christians latched on to this legend and said "It was also Passover that Gabriel announced to Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus, and it was Passover that he was crucified." With going from the Jewish to Western Calendars, most of the Church started keeping the feast of the Annunciation on March 25, although the Greek Church began keeping it on April 6. These dates were kept for about 100 years, then in the third century AD both churches added 9 months to the feast of the annunciation and began to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Granted this still does not make December 25 the birthday of Jesus, but it is a more accurate understanding of the history on how we got December 25 as Christmas than how we have come to traditionally viewed it.
For more study see Bible Review December 2002.
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No Room in the Kataluma...
For centuries Bible translators did not know just how to translate the Greek word "Kataluma" they knew that its literal translation was "guest chamber" but did not know how to have that make sense in the languages they translated the text into. Since it was a place to stay they guessed that it might have been an "Inn." Now Kataluma is not the usual word for in, for example the parable of the Good Samaritan uses the usual word for "Inn" but translators had no other guess and wondered if "Kataluma" might have been another word for "Inn" so the idea of no room in the "Inn" became a Christian tradition.
Well, they now know what Kataluma is, and the translators guessed wrongly. People lived in houses with often 20 to 40 some rooms, some of these were court yards some were for storage, often times an entire family would live in a single room, with several families (or at least the extended family) living in different parts of the house. (The parable of the fool that wanted to tear down his barns and make bigger ones meant that he wanted to kick out his neighbors and relatives and make his entire 20 to 40 some room house all storage except for his living area)
Well, each of these houses had a room for family members who lived out of town, where they could stay when they visited. This room was called-- you guessed it-- the Kataluma. It was not a local Inn that did not have room, but Joseph's family.
Now the answer to one mystery has opened doors for another... Why was there no room in the Kataluma? Was it because Mary and Joseph were not welcome? Is this a contrast between the welcoming of Elizabeth and Mary's family to the unwelcoming of Joseph's family and a beginning of a history of some welcoming Jesus and others not welcoming him?
Or was there no room in the Kataluma because there were so many relatives that there was no privacy. Was little Moshe asking for a drink of water and little Rebecca constantly asking "Has Aunt Mary had the baby yet?" and that they simply had to get to someplace more private to give birth?
Did Luke write this passage with a tear or a laugh? We don't know, but both are good to meditate on. But what we do know is that it was not some public Inn, but Joseph's family.
*********************************************
Loosing loved ones during the holiday season can be hard, and the pain of missing a loved one who died at other times of the year become fresh as we remember their empty place at the family gathering.
John 10:22-11:54 should have been one complete chapter to itself. John has a group of stories where the order of these elements may change, but you always find a temple holiday, Jesus saying something where he focuses on an aspect of the holiday, has an "I AM" statement also dealing with that aspect of the holiday, then a sign or miracle (John uses the word sign, not miracle) focusing on that aspect of the holiday. Not all holidays are included. Different Passovers over different years are included, and one year's feast of Tabernacles had a number of these stories. But John 10:22-11:54 is a Hanukkah story, a story for this season. And as you might expect from Jesus, it is a message to people feeling sad at this time of year, as if he foresaw the importance of this season and wanted us to have this thought every year at this time. So it is a Christmas card, or Christmas sermon from Jesus.
Hanukkah celebrates the restoring of the worship of Yahweh in the temple after the attempt to kill off the worship of Yahweh by Antiochus in the 160's B. C.
Jesus focuses on this with a discussion which includes the promise of vs. 27 and 28: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.
This leads to one of his followers, Lazarus dieing. Although his sisters knew that he would rise up in the last day, Jesus clarified to them that the Resurrection is NOT an event, but A PERSON as he says "I am the Resurrection and the life." The last day is when it would be a good time for the person who is the Resurrection and the Life to awaken our loved ones.
Our loved ones live in our memory, and in a fuller sense they live in the memory of God, and if you think about it, no matter how dead the body is and how unconscious the person may be, living in God's memory is being even more alive than our being awake is.
The raising of Lazarus and the reunion with his sisters and friends is a promise of the great Christmas present that Jesus will come and give us!
======== Spelling correction in the topic name only. - Daryl
[ December 08, 2005, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]
**********************************************************************
December 25 is probably not the actual birth of Jesus, but it is good to celebrate Jesus' birth, and since we don't have a time commanded, we celebrate when people's minds are drawn to this wonderful event.
On the other hand, we now know more details of church history and that, NO it is NOT a Pagan Holiday, despite what you heard in evangelistic meetings and have read in outdated church histories. It is a creation of the Christian Church based on Judaism.
The historians of the dark ages were doing their best with the knowledge they had come across in their study. Based on what they knew at the time they concluded that Christmas having come into the church during the fourth century (the 300s AD) after Constantine’s debatable conversion when the church did compromise with heathenism. However further study has shown that December 25 or January 6 (depending on which church) has been kept as the celebration of Jesus' birth since the third century (200s AD) and have roots in the second century (100s AD). That is 100 to 200 years before Constantine and when these historians first thought that Christmas was kept.
What happened was in the 130s AD (I don't remember if it was 135 AD or 138 AD) Judaism and Christianity split into two different religions. Now, according to an ancient Jewish Legend, Isaac was conceived on Passover and that Abraham went to sacrifice him on Passover. (No, I do not know if there is any Biblical basis for this legend, nor how far back in Jewish history it began-- My guess would be the intertestamental period, but it may be older, but this is where we should hang our blame for the events this time of year.)
The second century Christians latched on to this legend and said "It was also Passover that Gabriel announced to Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus, and it was Passover that he was crucified." With going from the Jewish to Western Calendars, most of the Church started keeping the feast of the Annunciation on March 25, although the Greek Church began keeping it on April 6. These dates were kept for about 100 years, then in the third century AD both churches added 9 months to the feast of the annunciation and began to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Granted this still does not make December 25 the birthday of Jesus, but it is a more accurate understanding of the history on how we got December 25 as Christmas than how we have come to traditionally viewed it.
For more study see Bible Review December 2002.
*****************************************
No Room in the Kataluma...
For centuries Bible translators did not know just how to translate the Greek word "Kataluma" they knew that its literal translation was "guest chamber" but did not know how to have that make sense in the languages they translated the text into. Since it was a place to stay they guessed that it might have been an "Inn." Now Kataluma is not the usual word for in, for example the parable of the Good Samaritan uses the usual word for "Inn" but translators had no other guess and wondered if "Kataluma" might have been another word for "Inn" so the idea of no room in the "Inn" became a Christian tradition.
Well, they now know what Kataluma is, and the translators guessed wrongly. People lived in houses with often 20 to 40 some rooms, some of these were court yards some were for storage, often times an entire family would live in a single room, with several families (or at least the extended family) living in different parts of the house. (The parable of the fool that wanted to tear down his barns and make bigger ones meant that he wanted to kick out his neighbors and relatives and make his entire 20 to 40 some room house all storage except for his living area)
Well, each of these houses had a room for family members who lived out of town, where they could stay when they visited. This room was called-- you guessed it-- the Kataluma. It was not a local Inn that did not have room, but Joseph's family.
Now the answer to one mystery has opened doors for another... Why was there no room in the Kataluma? Was it because Mary and Joseph were not welcome? Is this a contrast between the welcoming of Elizabeth and Mary's family to the unwelcoming of Joseph's family and a beginning of a history of some welcoming Jesus and others not welcoming him?
Or was there no room in the Kataluma because there were so many relatives that there was no privacy. Was little Moshe asking for a drink of water and little Rebecca constantly asking "Has Aunt Mary had the baby yet?" and that they simply had to get to someplace more private to give birth?
Did Luke write this passage with a tear or a laugh? We don't know, but both are good to meditate on. But what we do know is that it was not some public Inn, but Joseph's family.
*********************************************
Loosing loved ones during the holiday season can be hard, and the pain of missing a loved one who died at other times of the year become fresh as we remember their empty place at the family gathering.
John 10:22-11:54 should have been one complete chapter to itself. John has a group of stories where the order of these elements may change, but you always find a temple holiday, Jesus saying something where he focuses on an aspect of the holiday, has an "I AM" statement also dealing with that aspect of the holiday, then a sign or miracle (John uses the word sign, not miracle) focusing on that aspect of the holiday. Not all holidays are included. Different Passovers over different years are included, and one year's feast of Tabernacles had a number of these stories. But John 10:22-11:54 is a Hanukkah story, a story for this season. And as you might expect from Jesus, it is a message to people feeling sad at this time of year, as if he foresaw the importance of this season and wanted us to have this thought every year at this time. So it is a Christmas card, or Christmas sermon from Jesus.
Hanukkah celebrates the restoring of the worship of Yahweh in the temple after the attempt to kill off the worship of Yahweh by Antiochus in the 160's B. C.
Jesus focuses on this with a discussion which includes the promise of vs. 27 and 28: "My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.
This leads to one of his followers, Lazarus dieing. Although his sisters knew that he would rise up in the last day, Jesus clarified to them that the Resurrection is NOT an event, but A PERSON as he says "I am the Resurrection and the life." The last day is when it would be a good time for the person who is the Resurrection and the Life to awaken our loved ones.
Our loved ones live in our memory, and in a fuller sense they live in the memory of God, and if you think about it, no matter how dead the body is and how unconscious the person may be, living in God's memory is being even more alive than our being awake is.
The raising of Lazarus and the reunion with his sisters and friends is a promise of the great Christmas present that Jesus will come and give us!
======== Spelling correction in the topic name only. - Daryl
[ December 08, 2005, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: Daryl Fawcett ]