Did the Early Christians Sellout?

Mikael · #1 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 07:05 AM

Many Christian holidays are similar to Pagan holidays. Christmas is celebrated near or at the winter equinox for example.
My question is: Did Chritianity adopt Pagan holidays in order to expand their religion?

Craig, Priest of the Temples of Syrinx · #2 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 08:40 AM

Sure. I've watched some shows on Discovery discussing this very topic.

Julie · #3 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 11:04 AM

Oooh, I can't wait 'til junkernaut sees this... I'm hoping to hear his two cents.

junkernaut · #4 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 11:16 AM

it wasnt the early christians who sold out, it was the church. which was started by the romans, not jesus

The Good Reverend, MATCHEW · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 11:30 AM

good points.

Just_Lee · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2007, 02:24 PM

I bet Wal-Mart had something to do with it....lol

Mikael · #7 (**permalink**) 01-05-2007, 06:01 PM

Well, for anyone interested, I've been reading about Messianic Judaism on www.wikipedia.org . I found it very interesting that they believe in Jesus (they call him Yeshua, his Hebrew name), but celebrate Jewish holidays as Jesus and his disciples did. It looks to me that Jesus never intended for there to be a 'break' from Jewish tradition.
And Spert is right on when he talks about how the early church absorbed Pagan traditions at the Council of Nicaea.

#8 (**permalink**) 01-05-2007, 11:47 PM

December 25th is recognized as the celebration of the navtivity - a celebration of Jesus's birth, yes, but not named (by the church) as his actual birthday.
And yes, Mike, every Xian holiday does overlay an earlier pagan tradition of some sort and absorbed it to some degree to convert pagans or at least keep them from converting the Xians to paganism.

Mikael · #9 (**permalink**) 01-06-2007, 12:56 AM

I'm not sure if we're dealing with semantics or not; but, the Nativity and birthday are the same to me. And if they didn't actually occur on the winter solstice (which I suspect they didn't)-then I would reason that we've been tricked into celebrating a Pagan holiday.

#10 (**permalink**) 01-06-2007, 04:08 PM

To some degree it is a matter of semantics. The church does not say anywhere what his actual birthday is because they do not know. They did choose December 25th to celebrate the nativity because of the winter solstice celebrations. However, you can mostly thank commercialism for Christmas as we know it today.
Maybe I should have taped that show and mailed it to you with your Xmas card, lol.