Ask a Question - or - Return to the Faith and Spirituality Forum Index

Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Holidays	Jack	Monday, August 13, 2007
Question: Why do you christians get all bent out of shape at the secularizeing of x-mass and easter? After all you stole these holidays and more from the pagan religeions and restructured them for your own purposes sound hypocritical to me.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Jack: We did not "steal" these holidays, sir. We invented them. Christmas is the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Easter is the Feast of the Resurrection. These two events belong only to Christians. What you are referring to is the DATE of Christian holidays. The date for Easter has nothing to do with pagan religions. It is determined by reference to the date of the Jewish Passover. The date for Christmas, on the other hand, is not the date of the actual birth of Jesus, but was determined to counter and evangelize pagans. It was placed on a pagan day of celebration to offer an alternative to their celebration. This is an evangelistic tool and is not hypocritical, but totally consistent with the message of Jesus to evangelize the world. Regardless of the date, the reason we are upset at the secularizing and commercialization of Christian holidays (holy days) is because such approach is sacrilegious and even blasphemous. It is taking a holy day and bastardizing it. Regardless of the origin of the Christian holiday and its date, to bastardize a holy day into a secularized mess is genuinely offensive to the meaning of the holiday for Christians. This is consistent with the Faith, not hypocritical to the Faith. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Holidays

Jack

Monday, August 13, 2007

Question:

Why do you christians get all bent out of shape at the secularizeing of x-mass and easter? After all you stole these holidays and more from the pagan religeions and restructured them for your own purposes sound hypocritical to me.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Jack:

We did not "steal" these holidays, sir. We invented them. Christmas is the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Easter is the Feast of the Resurrection. These two events belong only to Christians.

What you are referring to is the DATE of Christian holidays. The date for Easter has nothing to do with pagan religions. It is determined by reference to the date of the Jewish Passover.

The date for Christmas, on the other hand, is not the date of the actual birth of Jesus, but was determined to counter and evangelize pagans. It was placed on a pagan day of celebration to offer an alternative to their celebration. This is an evangelistic tool and is not hypocritical, but totally consistent with the message of Jesus to evangelize the world.

Regardless of the date, the reason we are upset at the secularizing and commercialization of Christian holidays (holy days) is because such approach is sacrilegious and even blasphemous. It is taking a holy day and bastardizing it. Regardless of the origin of the Christian holiday and its date, to bastardize a holy day into a secularized mess is genuinely offensive to the meaning of the holiday for Christians. This is consistent with the Faith, not hypocritical to the Faith.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum