If Jesus hated Christmas, would you still celebrate it?

[Olas]

Ya I'd stop. I know Christmas today is very far removed from its roots but it is still technically in celebration of Jesus' birthday and continuing to celebrate it in spite of his wishes just seems like a dick move to me.

And really, would want to piss off the son of God?

If decorating a tree, overeating with family, and embracing consumerism are that important to you, just invent some new holiday to do it on.

 

[Living Contradiction]

Heh. For some reason, I always pictured Mr. J. as being just a little miffed at humanity to begin with. Especially after Easter happened. "Aw, Dad. C'mon! I already died for those guys. Why do I have to go baaaack?"

That being said, if angry Jesus were to come out and say, "Okay, no more Christmas for you!", I'd probably do what most of the world would do and laugh at him. Then I'd watch as the other religions stepped out and laid claim to the advertising riches focused on the end of December while Catholicism turned to its Saviour and said the equivalent of "We're glad to have you back and all, but dude, we had a good thing goin' there!"

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!

 

[darklilac]

I don't celebrate it for religion.

I just really love the smell of pine trees and I love fruit cake. It's also the only time I see any of my family.

The commercialization of the holiday is sickening, but I'm mostly tired of hearing this "war on christmas" crap. I'd hope Jesus would shut people up about that first.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Oh Jesus Christ! Now I HAVE to celebrate Christmas!

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Jesus has nothing to do with Christmas anyway?

How dare you! It's not like Christmas is just the renamed celebration of the summer* solstice the Pagans held. To say so is blasphemy. Shame on you...

OT: Agnostic, celebrating it either way. It's just a tradition at this point.

*Edit: Sorry I meant winter solstice, not summer.

 

[zehydra]

Jesus never told people celebrate his birth in the first place.

And that's not why the holiday is celebrated. It's celebrated because we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves without it. There must be something innately emotionally helpful in having a end-of-year celebration before full-fledged winter sets in.

 

[GraveeKing]

Agnostic so blah celebrate it anyway. Although I think if Jesus specifically came down and said to the world that he disapproves he much REALLY hate it to return just to say it! I think I could work with not celebrating it in that case maybe. Although if some looney old guy who says Jesus talked to him or sent him a message said not to, I think the vast majority of people will ignore them as much as I would.

 

[Voxgizer]

Nope. I don't celebrate it now. Not really a fan of the whole thing.

Then again, when everyone seems to be nicer (at least people I run into in real life) during the season, I can dig it.

 

[Strazdas]

Jesus was a man. nothing more. so he cant come back. if he hated Christmas i would high-five him.

 

[Kekkonen1]

Lets just say that what some guy called Jesus allegedly liked or didn't like has not even once in my life been a factor in any decision I have ever made, and is very unlikely to ever become one.

 

[Filiecs]

Why would Jesus care about people commercializing HIS birthday? It's not like people are crafting idols of Santa Claws and worshiping them in front of their fireplaces.
Sure, he'd probably be disappointed, but I think that he'd be much more concerned over constant wars being fought.

Also, yes I would.

 

[Klumpfot]

I'd be rather staggered by the theological implications of a man rising from the dead after two millennia to think of celebrating Annual-Gift-Giving Eve. And after absorbing the shock, I'd be pissed that this is what caused him such concern as to tell us to stop, as opposed to killing each other and letting each other starve.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

If Jesus existed somewhere and looked at Christmas, he would probably hate it. Using a ritual that is pagan in it's origin (ancient Roman religion and myth) to celebrate his birthday must be the worst offense to his teachings. All Christians would probably go to hell for that.

The specific connection with the Roman festivals (either the Saturnalia or the solar festival) is widely quoted, but historically, there's not much evidence for it aside from it falling on the same time of the year (especially the solar festival, since the earliest historical sources for that come from a time when the celebration of Christmas was already in place) and most early Christians living within the Roman Empire.

And the entire "pagan holiday which the Christians repurposed" narrative is also kinda iffy, seeing as Christmas was already celebrated before the Church became a political institution (and therefore had no power to impose it on anyone). I would rather lean towards pagan converts bringing their perceptions in. The Winter Solstice (and the days around it) was a major festivity in most, if not all, European cultures. Slaughter festivals and religious holidays associated with the Sun were the most common. So I'd say the early Christians took a date which was already symbolic to them and set the celebration of Christmas on it. Especially since it's not the actual anniversary of Jesus's birthday and I don't think there has ever been a time when it was considered to be anything else than symbolic.

Of course, once it was institutionalized, the Church went about adopting pagan practices and incorporating them into the celebrations (like the Christmas tree from Yule), so there's that. But for the origins, I would refrain from throwing around the "repurposed Roman holiday" narrative so freely.

ANYWAY.

OT: Well, if Jesus came back, then we wouldn't have that much time to change our ways anyway. Second Coming and all that.

EDIT:

I'd ask jesus what his REAL birthday was so christians could celebrate then, rather than the fake birthday on the celebration of winter solstice that was nicked from the pagans and co-opted into christian dogma, so people could go on selling chintzy crap without guilt

It has never been dogma.

 

[DanielBrown]

Well, yes. I've never celebrated it as a religious holiday, neither does anyone I've ever known.

In Sweden the cause for celebration is Donald Ducks Christmas special, that they show every year.
... and alcohol.

 

[Naeras]

Jesus? What does he have to do with anything? I thought Santa Claus invented Christmas to sell more Coca Cola?

/conspiracy

 

[Hoplon]

I don't celebrate Christmas, I morn it.