Ok Sooo this of course has nothing to do with each other but the reasoning is beneficial for critical thinkers. Christmas is one of the most popular holidays that has spread throughout the world. What one can think is that this holiday must have its significance, yes greatly influenced but in order for something to be so influenced it has to have ground of truth and honesty behind it. Over the years one can expect the celebration in each person’s culture to be made into their own but the very root of the celebration is what is most important. Now let’s in turn look at 1914 where did it originate, not many know it dates back further then the Jehovah’s Witness claim. This date and its significance to them marks the time of the coming of the Christ in heaven as king. The comparison is that 1914 is believe and held the most important date of our time. This is proof or a sign to the Jehovah Witnesses that we are closer to the end and that this was a start of God’s righteous rule to the earth! It gave Jehovah Witnesses ground for their very existence, what millions truly believe and mark in their time in history. More times than anything they mention this date over and over as a sign. Still don’t see the comparison well let save that for the end and get into the history of each that I am comparing for this will show some vital information in the end.
Christmas I found had more, farther roots then the 3rd and 4th Century. Its origin dates back to 202 C. E! That is farther back then when paganism came into the picture dating 275 C. E. So the original beliefs and intentions were of good celebration and purely for Jesus Christ! The claims that this is a pagan holiday can be dismissed and now shows proof this is a Christian holiday that has pagan attachments in attempt to paganize the holiday.
Evidence: “The earliest mention of such a feast comes from St. Hippolytus of Rome’s Commentary on Daniel, written in about 202 CE”
Evidence: “In the early fourth century, Constantine the Great became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. As a result of his conversion, a number of innovations derived from paganism were introduced into Christian practice and belief, Christmas amongst them.”
Evidence: “Yet, in the first few centuries C.E., the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 C.E.”
How they figured the date, December 25, makes perfect sense if you lay it all out and take a look at what was all in play, what was inherited in their culture like the Jewish influences and that of the Roman influences, and the calendars used in each region.
-Jewish calendar
-Julian calendar – started by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE (before Christ era)
-Revised Julian calendar
-Western roman Empire
-and East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor)
Evidence: “According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesn’t mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: “There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar]... And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].”
There are different calendars that were in picture when figuring out the dates and scholars had limited information from the bible as to what the exact birth of Christ was.
Evidence: “However, as the early Church was forcibly separated from Judaism, it entered into a world with different calendars, and had to devise its own time to celebrate the Lord’s Passion, not least so as to be independent of the rabbinic calculations of the date of Passover. Also, since the Jewish calendar was a lunar calendar consisting of twelve months of thirty days each, every few years a thirteenth month had to be added by a decree of the Sanhedrin to keep the calendar in synchronization with the equinoxes and solstices, as well as to prevent the seasons from “straying” into inappropriate months.
Apart from the difficulty Christians would have had in following—or perhaps even being accurately informed about—the dating of Passover in any given year, to follow a lunar calendar of their own devising would have set them at odds with both Jews and pagans, and very likely embroiled them in endless disputes among themselves. (The second century saw severe disputes about whether Pascha had always to fall on a Sunday or on whatever weekday followed two days after 14 Artemision/Nisan, but to have followed a lunar calendar would have made such problems much worse.)”
Read more: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-10-012-v#ixzz1fkflqMob
Side Note: This calendars used by Christians ALL around have roots of what is considered pagan today, if anyone actually looked up the term pagan and look at what brought on this festivals, it will give further evidence as to how overly exaggerated the term is used.
Keep in mind though; their motive for celebrating Jesus Christ birth was in fact to honor his life and the ransom sacrifice he made in his death!
They know of all the scriptures or scrolls that mentioned certain dates: claiming his age when he was baptized, people he grew up with, and foretelling of the Christ himself.
Evidence: “Jesus began to be about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23)
They also had inspiration from the scripture for their methods of calculating the date.
What brought on the Claims that this was a pagan holiday Christianized is very important to know. Two particular individuals to blame as well as others:
Evidence: “In 1743, a German Protestant named Paul Ernst Jablonski, in an effort to discredit the Roman Catholic Church, claimed that the celebration of Christmas was one of the numerous “paganizations” of Christianity which had occurred in the fourth century.8 His grand thesis was that paganizations like the adoption of Christmas had degenerated Christianity from its original purity and led to the creation of the Roman Catholic Church.”
“In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Dom Jean Hardouin, himself a Roman Catholic monk, in an attempt to counter the claims of Protestants that the Roman Catholic Church was the result of paganization of Christianity, unintentionally contributed to the myths about Christmas.9 He attempted, in his writings on the subject, to demonstrate that the Roman Church had adopted pagan festivals and Christianized them without corrupting the Christian gospel.”
Evidence: “It’s not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.”
Evidence: A famous proponent of this practice was Pope Gregory the Great, who, in a letter written in 601 C.E. to a Christian missionary in Britain, recommended that local pagan temples not be destroyed but be converted into churches, and that pagan festivals be celebrated as feasts of Christian martyrs. At this late point, Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we don’t have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. Thus, it seems unlikely that the date was simply selected to correspond with pagan solar festivals.
Side Note: And don’t be as naive as to the Governing Body using this against them even though they also have proof of errors in their history.
http://orthocath.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/christmas-and-pagan-origins/
http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp
Ok now look at the Watchtower or Governing Body (claim their own scholarly title) and how they reason or claim the date 1914 as the coming of Jesus Christ. Their evidence is based on calculations from the scripture. Wrong, the calculations dates back further then that! It comes from astrologist who calculated the dates using pyramids and stars. The founder of Jehovah Witness used this and transformed it into saying it came from the scriptures. (Pagan influences) One way we can say this is true is that the actual scriptural calculation bringing to the date 1914 is not entirely calculated accurately. The formula they use is not at all a true formula. 1914 when using the formula backwards as to test and see if it came to the right date, comes to 586 B. C. not what it’s supposed to come to which is 607 B. C. (Refer to http://carm.org/1914-ad-607-bc-586-bc-and-jehovahs-witnesses , )
Now look at the comparison people believe what they want to believe. When digging up the past and looking at the influence and history, the beginning starts out so differently and thus can change ones thinking, ones very belief! It makes one wonder does the actual event matter? What we held so important and so true, does it change who we are and what we will become? What was actually important is what was there in front of our face all along: Family, Friends, Togetherness, Joy, Peace of mind, Hope, Happiness…Love!
Side Note: They are tons more evidence when one does research. But from when I read the information and decide to write this I didn’t save the sources along the way so I have to quickly go back and find the evidence which isn’t very many. If you would like to add to further proof that would be great!
Another Side Note: Jehovah’s Witnesses use to believe and celebrate Christmas at one point in time.
