What is wrong with our holidays?

"Is it ok to have pagan elements in our "Christian" celebrations?" Well being a Pagan woman myself I think a better question is 'Is it right for the Christians to have ripped off the Pagans in the first place and then turn around and try to condemn us for what was ours to begin with'

I often wondered this myself, whether or not I should be 'celebrating' these holidays. Obviously we enjoy them because we do celebrate them, I personally think it is okay for us to celebrate these holidays just because when we do we are not thinking of the pagan element. We are thinking of what Christ did for us, or the day he was born etc. I don't think that half the Christians out there even know that these holidays started from a pagan element.

I think the major problem with Christianity using pagan traditions as part of their celebrations is the lack of knowledge and respect for those traditions. From what I know of Christianity, I'd say that Jesus probably really doesn't care exactly how you celebrate, as long as you do it for the right reasons. While the Old Testament is full of specific laws about how to worship, Jesus himself focused a lot more on faith and love than on "rules", and he even said that a lot of the old rules didn't apply anymore. One good example of this is in the book of Mark, where Jesus declares that all foods are clean, and you can only be defiled by what is in the heart, not what you eat. This effectively cast aside a large portion of Jewish law... showing that Jesus care more about what's in your heart than about the specifics. So I can't imagine the pagan elements of Christian celebrations being a big deal in your personal faith, unless you feel it is. If it bothers you to do something, don't do it, but if you enjoy it and it is a part of how you look at the season, then by all means enjoy yourself. But don't bash the pagans the traditions are stolen from, like Ravenladyj said. It's horrible how so many Christians use bits and pieces of our religions in everyday life and then turn around and show us disrespect.

most of what i learned about Christian beliefs was taught to me when I was growing up and we did not have anything to say about our faith as long as we were living with our parents...even when i went to college i had to go to church as "while you are in OUR house you will do as we do." well, that was how we celebrated most holidays it was just done out of "tradition." Not one of my siblings stayed with our faith as we all went our separate ways. I married a Catholic women but that was unheard of in my father and mothers day..and in worse in my grandparents day..we were supposed to marry within our faith..blah blah blah..but I am still married to my Filipina wife and we have been married 22 years and we never argue about religion or politics as these subject bring more heat then light...we just calmly discuss things...as she don't go to her church and i don't go to mine as we both got kind of burned out on a lot of stuff..but we believe in God but we just worship Him in our own ways...I would rather help her brother in the Philippines as he has six children and a lot of grandchildren and we don't have any children but we have a lot of nephews and neices who we help out from time to time.. and of course i have to support the lottery as the lottery money does go to support the local schools..lol..but charity begins at home and so we do still "tithe" but to our own special charities and to help those we feel need a helping hand. If I would have been raised a Muslim, Jewish, or whatever I think as YOU believe you will receive...but growing up in my home free thinking was not an option..when i went to college it opened up my mind as my first rommate was Jewish and I was exposed to a lot of "Radical thinking" and when i came home and expressed some of my new found "wisdom" my folks just shook there heads and told me I had CHANGED!.wow..really? now it seems funny but at the time it was not very amusing...what I did learn in college was that college was to "stimulate thinking"...most of what we did was out of tradition...thanks for the good post

Real Christians have the Bible as their only standard of practice. Others have combined christianity and paganism in order to be accepted by society. As Alexander the great had done this during his time, so is continued today. Pardon me but observe the Catholics, they have a combination of christianity and pagan culture!