Is it Wrong to celebrate Christmas?

A couple of hours and its Christmas! I didn't intend to do another blog for the remainder of the year however; I received a very interesting/disturbing mail about Christmas from a friend so I felt I needed to say a few things.

In summary her mail reads “our pastor told the Church that Christmas is idolatry and it’s a sin to celebrate it so now I’m confused as to whether to go with my pastor’s view or with what I know in my heart is true.”

Well, there are a lot of different religious views on Christmas which didn't start today and obviously won’t stop this year. That been said, I want to expressly say I’m not a theologian so whatever I say here is what I know in my heart is truth. Truth for me may not necessarily be truth for another.

Is it sin to celebrate Christmas from a Christian's point of view? My straight answer for this question is NO… Christmas is not mentioned in the Bible.  There is NO single verse or book commanding Christians to celebrate Jesus' birthday, or to observe ANY holiday for a fact however, celebration of Christmas or any other religious holiday is a matter of an individual’s personal choice.

It breaks my heart when I see the church divided over petty issues such as celebration of Christmas. That to a great degree misleads new believers. The central theme of the Bible is Jesus so if I decide to celebrate Jesus’ birth, what’s the fuss in that?

It is said that Christmas was once a pagan holiday from the Roman Empire which was celebrated in December 25^th in honor of Mithras-the god of light. Around AD 200 Christians started to talk about Jesus’ birthday. December 25th had become the accepted date but how the church arrived at December 25th is not clear.

Emperor Constantine, after having the vision of a cross in the sky around 312AD, decided to officially recognize 25^th as the celebration of Jesus’ birth and that helped Christmas gain prominence as an official holiday. I urge you to do a further study on December 25^th.

That said, Jesus was not born on December 25^th so for those who don’t know please note that no one honestly knows when Jesus was born. But this lack of knowledge does not diminish the value of celebrating His birth. We may not be sure about the date of Jesus’ birth but we are sure about his love for us.

There are many things that originated from pagans and pagan worships. A simple example is the days of the week.

The First Day: Sunday was named after the Sun god.
The second Day: Monday was named after the moon goddess.
The Third Day: Tuesday was named after the god Tyr.
The Fourth Day: Wednesday was named after the god Odin.
The Fifth Day: Thursday was named after the god Thor.
The Sixth Day: Friday was named after the goddess Frigga.
The Seventh Day: Saturday was named after the god Saturn.

Unless we are to conclude that celebrating Christ's arrival as God in the flesh is a bad thing, its celebration on what was once a pagan holiday is irrelevant. Christians who celebrate Christmas are not pagans. They honor Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

According to Hebrews 4:12-13, God judges us by the motives of our heart because that is where sin begins. He knows whether we’re focused on expressing our gratitude for the gift of His Son or indulging in pagan festivities. So as long as our hearts are right we’re not sinning if we celebrate Christmas.

Christmas like every other holiday can be celebrated in two ways… in honor to God or in the way of the world.  A true Christian observance of Christmas does not include drunkenness, fornication, carousing or any other conduct unworthy of saints.

Christ entrance into the world was a cause of great rejoicing and celebration, because it made possible human reconciliation to God. At his birth people who loved God rejoiced in praise, and even the angels sang for joy (Luke 1:46-2:38).

It is appropriate to celebrate the Lord's birthday for those who choose to do so. I personally celebrate Christmas because it is a very significant event in my salvation. If Christ wasn't born, lived and died, He wouldn't have reconciled us back to God.

Whether you choose to celebrate or choose not to celebrate Christmas, that’s fine. Just make sure in all you do, you’re seeking to honor Jesus Christ (Romans 14:5-6).

In conclusion,

"Who can add to Christmas?

The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. 
The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son.

The only requirement is to believe in Him. 
The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life."- Corrie Ten Boom

It is a wonderful thing to celebrate the birth of the Savior, God's gift to mankind. 

Just Sharing My Thought

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Also see:

http://sureboy.blogspot.com/2012/12/if-christmas-means-anything-then-it.html

http://sureboy.blogspot.com/2013/12/its-just-around-corner.html

Grace and Peace ♥

Picture Craze

We live in an era of cheap imitation where someone starts something (even if it’s something silly) and everyone jumps on it and social media has become a tool that is misleading a lot of people unknowing to them.

Recently, a random girl took a nude picture of her whole body and sent it to me. I was so upset I felt like punching her in the face. Why would she do such? Anyway, I decided I will speak to the ladies about this issue of picture craze that is fast becoming a trend on social media.

I felt in my heart to address this issue because until you know something is wrong, you most likely will continue in it.

I see ladies upload many different pictures on Facebook, instagram, twitter and other social media platforms. They take pictures of different angles of their face, they take pictures of themselves in the bathroom, they take pictures of themselves in the bedroom, and they even take nude pictures of themselves.

I take pictures too and I absolutely love pictures so I am not against taking pictures but I am concerned about the kind of picture people (especially ladies) take and put out there. If I can see your whole body in a picture you put online, you are doing too much.

 

Impression is very important and you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. When you put out a picture that shows your whole goodies, I’m going to form an opinion about you based on what I have seen.

One of the things I learned as I grew is, I have learned to respect women and I believe all of us men must respect women (and those who don’t respect women should learn).

That been said, I think since men must respect women, it is only fair that women give us something to respect. It is hard to respect someone who doesn’t respect themselves.

There is a saying “don’t leave your dirty leaning outside.” The statement is still true.

Nobody is interested in seeing all your goodies (maybe some people want to but certainly not me). Don’t jump on anything and everything you see going on social media space. 

If you want to be popular, putting up nude pictures is not the way to go. If you want to be popular, start a blog, write a book and just do something positive. I have a decent presence online today but I didn’t get there doing anything stupid.

My mentor once told me “you will always attract your kind” and that is so true. If you put out pictures showing all your goods online in search of a man, you surely will attract some men but you will attract a dog not a real man... A real man doesn’t want to see all your goods.

I don’t know who needed to read this, but I felt in my heart to address this anomaly so if you are involved in this madness, stop it. If you know someone who is losing her mind on social media, be kind enough and call her to order.

This is not about modesty or religion (notice I didn’t quote even one scripture all through?). This is simply common sense and nothing more. The bitter truth is common sense is not common.

Ladies love yourself, respect yourself, know your worth, keep your clothes on and portray yourself as a woman of class and you will be perceived as such and will command respect. Don’t follow the crowd.

In conclusion, I want to say ladies, I am sorry if I went too far with this but it was heavy in my heart and someone has got to tell you the truth and I am that someone that will tell you the truth and point you towards what is right. 

I want you to know I love you all and I am praying for you. Keep being the best person you can afford to be at all times and remain God’s pride!

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Honesty Moment

 

In my last note “None of Us Is Perfect”, I talk extensively on the need for us to be sincere with our imperfections. In this note, I’m sharing with you my personal struggles not for you to crucify me with them but for you to pray for me (prayers is free) and learn from me.

When it comes to accepting our human imperfections, many of us try to resist it. And this is evident in the fact that people think of imperfectness as something that destroys ones self-worth but does it?

What is that one thing in your life that no one knows about? What are those areas in your life that you use all your energy to hide? What weakness are you covering up?

When I ask myself these same questions, what comes to mind is plenty… I really try to hide those days when I really don’t feel like following Jesus because I keep telling everyone to follow Him.

I have a tendency to over-analyze and over-think. My mind is always set on something to the point where I have difficult time sleeping. I move from one assignment to the next assignment and as my responsibility grows I have noticed that my nights have gotten shorter and my days, longer.

I give myself excuses as to why I must work so much and so hard but I know most of it is just foolishness. There's a time to work, and there's a time to rest. 

I love to inform people so I blog but most of you have no idea how hard it is to put one’s words and thoughts online for anyone who cares to look to see. Sometimes it difficult, not because of what people will say, but because of what it shows about my character.

I have said, I am sorry a million times yet it has not stopped from hurting people I love (unintentionally)… lol but seriously,

The number one struggle I had for a long time was my fear of failure. I stay up most night terrified that I was not going to be a failure until the day I made a bold decision to give all of my fears to God and have Him mold me into all He wants for me to become. 

Often we try so hard to be strong that we don't give God the opportunity to be strong in our lives. And that is wrong. At some point, you have to give all your mess to God and stop trying to figure out everything. 

It's ok to feel weak, because God is our strength. It’s ok to feel lonely; God is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He even cares about the situations you put yourself in... So let go of your pride, take a moment to surrender all that you are to Him. 

The reality is this: We all go through tests and trails. We all have good and bad days. We all have struggles and although we all can choose to be positive in the mist of negativity, it is far better if we surrender all that we are to Him.

Grace is the fact that God knows every stupid mistake we will make, He knows all of our faults and struggles yet He still chose love us regardless.

Cover your sins, cover your weaknesses and God will expose them but expose your sins, expose your struggles and God will cover them.

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Love and it’s opposite

Valentine is a season of love and love as we know means different things to different people.

For the records, I am not a fan of valentine neither do I believe in what it stands for. I very much believe in love and I believe we have to live in love, show love and reach out in love every other day not just on a particular day

Valentine somehow has become a season where our world celebrates lust in disguise of love hence the rationale behind this note - Love and it’s opposite. It is important for us to establish what love is and what love is not.

Love as we know is a very sensitive topic so I will try and stay within the confines of what we all can easily relate to so here we go.

A while back, I wrote a note “HATE- The worst disease the world”. I talk about how hate was the opposite of love and the cure for hate being love. I however quite recently read a devotional that talked about love’s real opposite.

The devotional said we might think that hatred is the opposite of love, but, love’s real opposite is lust.  Hmm lust! That got me thinking… so I decided to compare both so let see what love is and what lust is.

Everything in life stems from love! Either loving God or loving our neighbors but somehow in our imaginations, we often confuse love for lust and vice versa.

There are over a million definition of love but the best of them all comes from the Scriptures. According to 1 Corinthians 13, Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and Love never fails!

So then, since love is all of the above, LUST will most certainly be the opposite of all of the above. So this is LUST:

Lust is impatient, lust doesn’t want to wait for anything, lust is jealous and envious, lust is boastful and arrogant, lust acts rudely, lust is self-seeking and self-serving, lust is easily provoked and offended, lust keeps a record of wrongs and brings them up later, lust rejoices in falsehood and unrighteousness and sin. 

Lust doesn’t bear with anything, it believes the worst about other people and situations, lust is not hopeful and it doesn’t endure.  And above all else, lust always fails- And it fails every single time.

Love can always wait to give, but lust can hardly wait to get.  Love is never self-seeking, but lust always places its selfish desires first.  Love is patient and kind, but lust burns with impatience.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  On the other hand, lust twists the truth and delights in whitewashing evil to make it look acceptable. And At the core of lust is selfishness, disrespect and a lack of self control.

The Bible says a lot about lust! The book of Proverbs particularly is full with so much wisdom for us young people and I want to urge us all to take time and study the book of Proverbs. There is so much wisdom in Proverbs that it almost impossible to lose your way after studying the book of proverbs.

The difference between love and lust is very clear and must not be misconstrued. Lust NEVER ends well, and that’s because it stems from a sinful heart.

True love is driven by a godly desire and it comes from a heart that has been totally surrendered to Jesus. God is love and love is God. Therefore we cannot know love, understand love, show love, or even fully receive love without God. True Love doesn't exist outside of God- HE is love!

An individual who doesn’t know God will always confuse lust for love whereas they are two opposite phenomena- never confuse both.

In conclusion, I want us to have a heart check. Are you in love? Do you genuinely love? If you find yourself wondering whether or not you genuinely love, ponder on these questions!

Do I know Jesus and have I been redeemed by His blood?

Am I patient?  Am I willing to wait for a certain thing?

Am I jealous or envious?  Or am I content and rejoice with others?

Am I boastful and pride filled?

Am I rude, harsh or gentle?

Am I always seeking my own desires or am I serving Christ and putting the good of others before myself?

Am I easily offended or do I become upset and angry over little things?

Do I keep a mental record of wrongs and bring them up later to use them to hurt someone? 

Do I falsely accuse someone of wrongdoing without any sincere cause? 

Am I willing to bear with something difficult or do I bail when something doesn’t go my way?

Do I believe the worst in other people, or do I trust and believe the best in them?

These are just some things we can be asking ourselves to make sure our hearts are filled with love as we  demonstrate it on a daily basis (not on a particular day) to honor God and humanity as a whole.

Love it is not always easy to live out, but it is worth the effort because it brings glory to God, who is love Himself so live love, show love and reach out in love.

Just Sharing My Thought

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