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WHAT JEHOVAH”S WITNESSES AND EX-JWs NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHRISTMAS There
is a historical basis for the December 25 date. Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote Marcus Aurelius that
Jesus was born at Bethlehem ''as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing." (Apologia I, 34).
Tertullian (160-250) noted "the census of Augustus-that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept
in the archives of Rome" (Against Marcion, Bk. 4, 7). Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to
assign Christ's birthdate "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome," after which Julius assigned December
25th. ANOTHER
USEFUL SOURCE RE CHRIST'S DATE OF BIRTH
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WHO SENT THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM  Jehovah’s
Witnesses are told by the Watchtower Society that the star of Bethlehem was not from Jehovah God Almighty the Father but from
Satan the Devil; that it was sent in order to have Christ slain. (Watchtower magazine of July 1, 1985: 16, 17
So, who aroused the wise-men to go to Israel with valuable gifts to keep Jesus and
his family safe? Do you really think it was Satan the Devil as the Watchtower Society tells Jehovah’s Witnesses
to teach themselves and others, or was it God Almighty the Father who loves Jesus Christ?
So, who aroused the wise-men to go to Israel with valuable gifts to keep Jesus and
his family safe? Do you really think it was Satan the Devil as the Watchtower Society tells Jehovah’s Witnesses
to teach themselves and others, or was it God Almighty the Father who loves Jesus Christ? |
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HOW MIGHT SCIENCE BE APPROACHING This
article presents scientific information which indicates a possible melding of science and religion insofar as regards the
account of the Jewish virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. A year or two ago this would
have been thought wholly impossible among scientists, but science marches on. As published March 10, 2009, Kathrin P. Lampert of the University of Bochum in Germany has noted that:
“isolated cases of parthenogenetic development have been reported in all vertebrate groups. Facultative parthenogenesis in vertebrates has only been found in captive animals but might simply have been overlooked in natural populations. Even though its evolutionary impact is hard to determine and very likely varies depending on the ploidy restoration mechanisms and sex-determining mechanisms involved, facultative parthenogenesis is already discussed in conservation biology and medical research."
Human eggs spontaneously activate on their own all the time and no doubt some have entered the uterus, but there has never been a single case of a virginal human birth confirmed by any modern scientists or officials. Even in religion and myths, it has been spoken of as an extremely unusual or miraculous occurrence.
Finally, it is interesting to note that the Dickey Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 added parthenogenesis in with the rest of embryo research, thus putting it on ban. However Scientists in the U.S. hope to get it deleted from the amendment listing because they believe it is an effective way to obtain embryonic stem cells for research to help possibly 100 million Americans. So no doubt Christians and others will keep watching this closely.
Some have argued that the New Testament speaking of Mary being a virgin
is a mistranslation, that the word given as “virgin” should actually read “young woman” or “maiden.”
However, Isaiah 7:14, which is in the Old Testament, also says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” REFERENCES
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/04-alternative.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/01/09/the-science-of-virgin-birth/
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/22/1091904.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/22/1091904.htm
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Although Christmas may have come from the non-Christian Saturnalia as many encyclopedias suggest, others say it may also have come from the Jewish celebration of Hannukah. The date of the first Jewish festival of Hannukah was December 25 but the date varies yearly now because based on the moon.
In fact John 10:22 says in the winter Christ, himself a Jewish rabbi, was at the Feast of Dedication, another term for Hannukah. It's also called the Festival of Lights because it has Menorah lights, also special foods, gifts etc.
Luke 2 says angels and shepherds celebrated Christ's birthday. Christmas has always been used to honor Christ, not some ancient sun god such as for the Saturnalia etc. So for most Christians it is definitely Christian not pagan.
However, even if some aspects of it come from or remind some of the pagan Saturnalia festival, it is also a fact that God made unclean foods clean for Christians. Too, there are many things of pagan origin that even those few who oppose Christ's birthday celebration also use.
For example there are the names of days and those came from ancient gods' names such as Thursday which is from name of the Scandinavian god name Thor, so that Thursday means Thor's Day, and June which is from the name of the god Juno. For that matter wedding rings and money came from pagans but are used.
As the church overseer or bishop in Myra, Nicholas wore red and carried a miter cane. He quietly dropped small bags of gold through open windows at night where they fell near the chimney hearth at homes with poor girls. The next morning the girls went to get the dried clothing and also found the bags of gold which they used as dowries to avoid being sold into slavery or worse.
Somebody reading this may think, well, that sounds like a made-up story; but it is confirmed by early historical documents. Also, if you think about it, when some say don't celebrate the birth of God's Son Christ, and also claim Santa came from some ancient god, chimney goddess or wizards of northern Russia, those sound as much or even more like stories, which they are.
If some still wish to not celebrate the birth of Christ, you have that right but at least now you know why most Christians do. christianwitnesses.com
ABOUT CHRISTMAS
First, it repeats some of the same points as above but then gives you even more information showing why mainstream Christians believe as they do. Often people believe in celebrating Christ's birth simply because he was God's Son and the angels also did so, not knowing and being able to discuss all the other things about Christmas. Enjoy the accompanying music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia-uGOHl8-g
Nicholas was concerned that poor girls at Myra did not have enough money to pay as a dowry to marry, so were often sold into slavery or prostitution. Since his wealthy family sometimes sent gold to him, he began to quietly at night go to their homes. He dropped bags of gold through windows to by the chimneys where the girls dried clothing so in the mornings they found it for their dowries.
People did not know who the gift-giver was until Nicholas was dying. Then somebody told people they had seen him. More Christians in France and elsewhere in Europe felt inspired to give gifts. "St. Nicholas" became Sinter Klass in Dutch and that became Santa Claus in English. One reason Christmas is in December may be that Nicholas was born then, plus some believe Christ was actually born about October 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously about or on December 25.
So when someone, such as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, claims Santa came from legends of wizards, goblins or an Oriental god who came down chimneys, either tell them the real Truth of the matter or you can give to them a copy of this leaflet (tract). christianwitnesses.com
Since Luke 2:8 says shepherds were in fields at Christ's birth
some assume Christ wasn't born in December not knowing the Jewish Mishnah Seqal. 7:4 confirms flocks were kept in fields
near Bethlehem even in winter. Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in winter not unlikely via the Jordan
Valley as its roads were less rugged and at 689 to 1,306 feet below sea level protected them from colder December weather,
though even then Israel is not terribly cold and snow unlikely due to the warm Mediterranean current. The tax census
was also likely in winter because then people's work had slowed, being largely agricultural with a winter lull.
Sheep wear natural wool keeping them so warm
they can walk about even in Israel's rare snowfalls. Most sheep were also likely not taken indoors in winter as there
were no large barns then due to no hay-making machines to make and store hay. In winter shepherds brought flocks from
cold mountains down to where snow had not killed as much grass closer to fields by homes where they could give better care.
Jacob had complained to Laban of suffering from cold frost as a shepherd at night (Gen. 31:40), proving there was shepherding
at night as noted in the Bible for when Christ was born. Some poor homeless shepherds stay outdoors even in the cold.
Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote Marcus
Aurelius that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ''as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing" (Apologia
I, 34). Tertullian (160-250) noted "the census of Augustus-that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept
in the archives of Rome" (Against Marcion, Bk. 4, 7). Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign Christ's
birthdate "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome," after which Julius assigned December 25th. John
Chrysostom (c. 347-407) wrote that Christ's December 25 date of birth was supported by the tax or census records still
existing even in his day but not now known to exist which showed their registration at Bethlehem. christianwitnesses.com
Freely copy and distribute all these items. More like them are in the HOLIDAYS section at the top of christianwitnesses.com.
POSTCARDS TO MAIL ACTIVE JW'S .....
CHRISTMAS DINING BACK WHEN CHRIST'S BIRTH WAS STILL CELEBRATED AT BROOKLYN BETHEL
CHRISTMAS
Although measurable snow is not common in Jerusalem, it does happen at times. The proof for this can be readily seen in weather records and photos.
In January 1950 twenty inches of snow fell in Jerusalem, which is not
far from Bethlehem. In February 1920 twenty-nine inches fell at Jerusalem.
In 1910-11 a great amount
of snow hit Syria. It rested upon the ground for weeks so that sheep could not eat, thus causing hundreds of thousands
of them to die.
Snow is mentioned twenty-three times in the Bible. An especially heavy snowfall is mentioned
at 1 Maccabbees 13:22. It fell at Adora which is near Hebron, and it prevented the movement of troops.
In
many places in and around Israel, flocks have foraged in the fields during both summer and winter. The mountains of
Lebanon are covered with snow most of the year. Mount Hermon is 9,200 ft. high and often has snow in its valleys all
summer.
Stephen A. Haboush, who later became famous as a lecturer, was an actual shepherd in Palestine while a boy. He has noted:
"I kept our flock through the fall of the year and up to the first of January out among the low hills and valleys
around the Sea of Galilee.
"But during the rainy season in January and
February, I would keep the sheep in the fold back of our home in Tiberias.
"In Judea, however, where there is only half
as much annual rainfall, the shepherds keep their flocks grazing out in the valleys for most of the months of the winter season,
as I know from members of my tribe."
When tourists go to Bethlehem today, do they see shepherds in the fields tending to their
flocks even during December? Yes, they do.
There is a herdsmen's village called Beit Sahur just below Bethlehem.
The shepherds mentioned by Luke may have been with their flocks at night on a area just east of Bethlehem.
It is called the Shepherds' Fields.
In Biblical Greek the word "magoi" means wise men. Depending
upon the translator's bend, the term can also be translated less positively as astrologer or magician. The
magi came from "anatolon" meaning the East, a term identified with nations spanning from Arabia to Persia (Iran).
The Persians and in particular the Medes established the priestly caste of the magoi. The magoi
or Magi specialized in astronomy, medicine and religion although other such magi were also much involved with astrology and
magic.
Words such as Magi, magician, magistrate, magnificient share a common root denoting for example that
which is wondrous, of or from powerful knowledge.
As said, the Magi were given especially set into power by
the Medes who worked with the Persians. The Magi were from the ethnic group that we now called the Kurds, a people
who today reside largely in Mesopotami (Iraq) but also in Persia (Iran), and Turkey.
In general, the Magi
of Persia were greatly admired for their intellect and religious attainments. Those from Babylon (Mesopotamia/Iraq)
were regarded in a negative manner, sometimes equated for example to astrologers and charlatans.
The
term magi itself comes from the Medo-Persians (early Iranians). Early traditions for Syria give the Magi names that
are Persian. Second century Christian art in Roman catacombs shows them in Persian garments. Most of the
early church writers interpreted them as having been Persian (Iranian).
For such reasons, experts believe
the three wise-men or Magi came from Persia, although some believe that they were from different lands. Some speculations
for other lands have been what are now Yemen, India or even China.
At the time of Christ's birth, those
Magi who were in what is now Iran still held great religious influence as part of the empire of Parthia, the old empire of
the Medes and Persians having long before turned over. They knew that among Jews scattered in their region too, it
was being said that the Messiah was to be born.
Spotting the movement of a heavenly object confirmed what they
were hearing. The word usually translated as star from Koine or Biblical Greek can also refer, for example, to a comet.
Given earth's rotation they "followed it" east to satisfy their curiosity about the foretold new King.
One reason
why they are said to have been three in number is that they bore three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, there are many other reasons why "three"
is said to be the number.
Christians in Syria to this day call the Magi by the three names Larvandad, Gushnasaph,
and Hormisdas. Unlike names given for them in the West and Ethiopia, these names do resemble actual names in the language
of the Persians.
However, from what may be a sixth-century Syrian source, cited by the Zoroastrian scholar Dariush Jahanian, come the Persian names of: “Hormizdah king of Persia, Yazdegerd King of Saba, and Perozadh King of Sheba."
The explorer Marco Polo reported that he was shown the three tombs
of the Magi during the 1270s. This was at what is now called Saveh, which he transcribed as Saba, located south of Tehran,
the capital of modern Iran.
Polo said that at the time there were three “very
large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, beautifully kept. The bodies are still
entire, with hair and beard remaining.”
Germany has the Shrine of the Three
Kings at Cologne Cathedral. Saint Helena lived from about 248 to 330 A.D. She was the mother of Constantine I,
and she is said to have had the remains of the three Magi transported from Persia to Constantinople, from which they later
went to Milan, Italy, before finally going to Germany.
As can be seen, all the sources from over
the many centuries have agreed upon the number of the Magi or Wise Men. They all say there were three.
This has nothing to do with the "three" of the trinity doctrine, a wildly off-the-mark speculation by the Watchtower
Society over Jehovah's Witnesses.
As can be seen, all the sources from over the many centuries
have agreed upon the number of the Magi or Wise Men. They all say there were three. This has nothing to
do with the "three" number of the trinity doctrine, a wildly off-the-mark speculation by the Watchtower Society
over Jehovah's Witnesses.
King Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill the babies there. This is sometimes called the massacre of the innocents. If Bethlehem had a population of about 2,000, the soldiers probably slew about twenty infants.
Some skeptics have doubted he did such a horrendous deed, but history tells that he actually was a very evil, jealous man. For example he twice ordered that his favorite wife Mariamme was to be slain if he did not come back safe from trips; then later he did kill her anyway as well as her mother, grandfather, three sons, a brother-in-law and many others.
Herold also had Israel's High Priest drowned during a swimming party in Jericho. The priest had been one of his own brothers-in-law. So ordering the massacre of innocent infants was not out of line with his character.
http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/S/SNOW/
In The Fullness of Time. A Historian Looks At Christmas, Easter, And The Early Church. Paul
L. Maier. Copyright 1991. Kregel Publications.
http://ldolphin.org/magi.html
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Text/concerning_the_magi_and_their_na.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi