DECEMBER 25

(1) Ang unang teorya hold na pagkatapos ng masusing pananaliksik, Julius (337-352), Bishop ng Roma, tinutukoy na Kristo ay ipinanganak noong Disyembre 25, o hindi bababa sa siya natukoy na Disyembre 25 ay ang pinakamahusay na napatunayang petsa sa tradisyon. John Chrystostom nagpapahayag ito sa isa sa kanyang mga kasulatan (John Chrysostom, Homil Diem Natal, 2;. Pl, 49, 552ff). Chrysostom claim na Julius, pagkatapos siya ay hiniling sa pamamagitan ng Cyril ng Jerusalem, ay ang opisyal na talaan ng Roman senso na sinusuri at natukoy na Disyembre 25 ay ang tamang petsa. Bilang Weiser POINTS ang, gayunpaman, may ay walang katibayan upang i-back up ito; sa katunayan, "hayagang ito ay nakasaad sa Roma na ang aktwal na petsa ng ang Tagapagligtas ng kapanganakan ay hindi kilala at na ang iba't ibang tradisyon prevailed sa iba't ibang bahagi ng mundo" (F . Weiser, Handbook ng Christian Feasts at Customs - New York: Harcourt, Brace, at Kumpanya, 1958, 61).. (2) Ang pangalawang teorya nagpapahayag na ang Iglesia ng Roma sadyang pinili Disyembre 25 bilang ang petsa ng kapanganakan ni Cristo upang i-on ang mga tao ang layo mula sa isang paganong kapistahan na na-obserbahan sa parehong oras. Dahil ang oras ng ang Roman Emperor Aurelian (270-275) empire ay bantog sa kapistahan ng sun diyos (Sol Invictus - ang Unconquered Sun) sa kung ano ang inisip nila ay ang taglamig kalayuan ng araw. Disyembre 25 ay sinusunod bilang "ang kaarawan ng araw." Dahil ang sun diyos ay identifed may Mithra, isang napaka-tanyag na diyos sa panahon, ang paganong pagdiriwang naganap sa buong imperyo (makita ang mga Milya ng Clement A., Pasko, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912, 23). Ang Iglesia sa Roma ay tila na napili ang petsang ito upang humadlang ito paganong kapistahan ng diyos ng araw at sa halip na i-on ang mga tao sa ang "Araw ng katuwiran sa paglunas sa Kanyang mga pakpak" (Malakias 4:02; Lucas 1:78). O maglagay ng isa pang paraan, Julius pinili Disyembre 25 upang ang ang Anak ng Diyos sa halip kaysa sa sun diyos ay sumamba. Kahit na walang direktang katibayan na nagpapatunay na ang Iglesia ng Roma sadyang pinili Disyembre 25 upang ang ng kapanganakan ni Cristo ay palitan ang "ang kaarawan ng sun," namin sermons mula sa mga ama ng simbahan na sa lalong madaling panahon pagkatapos ito ginagamit ito linya ng pangangatwiran. Halimbawa, Augustine (354-430) sa kanyang sermon 202 at Leo ang Great (440-461 - pl 54 Pinagmumulan ng chrtiennes 22) nagbibigay ito linya ng pagdadahilan. Samakatuwid, ang pangalawang teorya ay tila ang maaaring magkatotoo. Disyembre 25 ay pinili hindi dahil sa paanuman ito ay napatunayan mula sa mga dagdag na-bibliya na pinagmumulan na Kristo ay tiyak na ipinanganak noong Disyembre 25. Kaysa petsa ay pinili humadlang isang napaka-tanyag na paganong holiday na ay na-occuring sa petsang ito. May mababasa ba sa bible na exactong december 25 ang b day ni jesus christ. MY REPLY: Actually we can trace with sufficient degree of accuracy in the Bible that Jesus was born on December 25. Here it is: Start reading Leviticus 23:23-24 where it says that "the feast of the trumpets starts mid-September and the day of atonement follows nine days later" (Living Bible). Mid-September would naturally be September 25 and adding 9 days will lead you to September 24 which is the day of atonement. It is on this day that Zachary entered into the temple to make his offering (Luke 1:8ff) and on this day the angel Gabriel announced to him that his wife Elisabeth will bear a son whom he shall call John. After six months, the angel appeared to Mary to announce to her that she will bear the Son of God (Luke 1:26). If you count six months from September 24 this will lead you to March 24 of the following year which the Catholic Church fixes as the Day of Annunciation. Now Jesus was in the womb of Mary for nine months (Galatians 4:4) and if you count nine months from March 24 you will arrive at December 24. Since we believe that Jesus was born past midnight so we counted his birth on December 25. It is quite true that the practice of celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25 was not universally adopted in the early centuries but to say that it has no basis in Scripture and that no early christian church celebrated his birthday on this date is also simply false. Catholics, just like the people of God in the Old Testament, celebrate certain days which marked very important events in salvation history. Now the birth of Jesus is evidently one of the most important event in salvation history. Angels do not usually abound on earth on ordinary days but during the first Christmas the angels were singing the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" (Luke 2:13-14). The birth of Jesus is called "pasko" since for us Catholics it is a feast, a day of rejoicing, a day to celebrate for on this day God entered into human history and therefore fulfilled what He has foretold through the prophets regarding the work of redemption that He is going to accomplish. Rochelle here objects to December 25 as the day of Christ birth so the question may be asked: If Jesus was not born on this date, then can she give us the correct date based from the Bible and Church history so that that would be the day which we will celebrate? Granting that Jesus did not give any explicit command that Christians should celebrate the day of his birth but what's wrong with assigning a specific day to commemorate the birth of our Lord? Jose Rizal did not give us any explicit command either to dedicate a day in his honor but because of what he has done for our country and for the example of patriotism which he has bequeath on all the generations of Filipinos we declare and acknowledge him to be our national hero and assign a specific day for him and we erect statues and monuments, we name streets, places, schools, buildings in his honor. Why should we do less when it comes to our Lord since He has done even more marvelous deeds? Without the declaration of the Catholic Church for all Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ then we would have missed a lot of songs and poems composed by the generations of Christians to honor Jesus such as O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, O Holy Night and the more recent Christmas in Our Hearts and countless others. Does not these songs inspired by the Christmas season warm our hearts and thoughts and move us to recall, reflect, and contemplate on that wondrous moment when Jesus was born? PAGTOTOL: Kung gusto ninyong mag celebrate ng Dec 25 wala kaming pakialam po. Gusto ko lang ibahagi na ang celebration ng Dec 25 as Christmas ay galing sa pagano. Kumo galing sa kaugaliang pagano, e bakit naman ako mag celebrate pa, lalo na isasali ko pa ang pangalan ng Panginoong Jesus. Huwag na. Ito ang basahin ninyo. REPLY: commits here is simply a fallacy of non sequitor. Similarity does not imply descent. If that were true then let me ask this question: Who among the pagans celebrate the birth of Jesus as Son of God and Messiah to all the world? If the pagans happen to celebrate their feast in honor of the sun god on December 25 and Catholics celebrate their feast to honor Jesus who is the true sun of justice on December 25 this does not make the Catholic celebration pagan. Let me illustrate by another example. The pagans use water in their religious rituals and Christians also use water in their religious rituals. Does this make us pagans? Also, the name of the day called Saturday which SDA's observed to be their day of rest is taken from pagan origin since Saturday literally means day of Saturn which is a pagan god. Does this make the SDA's pagan? Of course not! The main difference is that while pagans observe their feasts to honor false gods, Christians celebrate their feasts to honor Jesus who is Son of God and true God. There is a whole world of difference to this so that those who fail to see this is either blind or pretending to be blind. PAGTOTOL:Sa totoo lang po ay walang mababasa na nag celebrate ng birthday ang mga unang kristiano REPLY: One does not have to be taught to celebrate a love one's birthday. I suspect that SDA's also exchange rings during their weddings and they also celebrate their wedding anniversaries. Where in the Bible is this taught? None. But is this wrong simply because it is not found in the Bible? Not by any means. It is simply naturally for us to give gifts to persons we love, whether you are a pagan or a Christian. However, giving gifts is not the only way to show our love for others. We can also do this by celebrating anniversaries of special events in our lives. For Catholics, Jesus is very special for He is our savior and no amount of ranting from anti-Catholics will prevent us from commemorating his birth. In his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the people hailed him "Hosanna" and the pharisees in hypocritical indignation told Jesus to tell the crowd to be silent and Jesus answered them that if they will be silent the stones themselves will shout (Luke 19:40). Did Jesus command the people to acclaim him and give him praise? No. They acted on their convictions that Jesus is the promised Messiah although their notion of it was wrong. The truth is that you don't always have to be explicitly told in order for you to do what is right. The fact that it is not explicitly written in the Bible that the Christians during apostolic times celebrate the birth of Christ does not mean that they didn't. Not everything which the early church practiced is explicitly recorded in the Bible as St Paul himself admonished them to be "steadfast with the traditions which we have handed down to you by our oral preachings or in our epistles" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The above question rest of a false premise that everything that the apostles did and taught are recorded in the Bible. There is no biblical proof to this assumption. If Marion thinks there is I will be glad to hear it.  PAGTOTOL: Yang mga birthday na yan ay turo ng mga nagnenegosyo ng relihion. Kasi ang mga fanatics sa kaugaliang itinuro ng mga negosyante ng relihion, tuwing mag birthday ay magpapamisa o ang tawag nila ay mag pa bless. Siyempre may bayad yon at medyo malaki ang bigay ng mag birthday kasi nga ang aral ay magpasalamat dahil birthday.   REPLY: This is nothing but a distortion of the Catholic teaching and practice. It is true that there are abuses committed by some Catholics in the name of the Catholic religion. But such are abuses and the Catholic Church condemns any deliberate and unreasonable profit and taking advantage of others in the guise of religion. Is Marion here aware of what Catholics call as the sin of simony and usury? But there is a saying that "an abuse is no valid argument against the proper use." If one policeman uses his gun for revenge it does not justify that we will disarm all the policemen. There is no law in the Catholic Church whereby a Catholic is obliged to pay for the services rendered to him by a minister of the Church. On the contrary, we Catholic give our priests a certain amount of money in exchange for his services as a matter of justice since according to St Paul himself those who serve at the altar will live from the offerings (1 Corinthians 9:13-14). Our priests have left everything (inheritance, the comfort of family, wife and children) in order to dedicate themselves entirely for the sake of God's kingdom in answer to the call of Jesus (Matthew 19:11-12) and the injunction of St Paul (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). It is a matter of justice that the people whom they serve will also support them in their financial and material needs as St Paul acknowledged (2 Corinthians 8:7). And we Catholics understand this that is why we give happily and voluntarily as an act of justice and an act of love. Is Marion here jealous that we give our money to our priests and not to him or to his pastors? Are we not entitled to give our money to whom we will? Are not our priest entitled to receive material benefits from us who receive from them spiritual blessings? PAGTOTOL:  Yang celebration ng mga kung anu-ano na yan ay mga turo ng katoliko na minana na rin ng mga ibat-ibang relihion na hindi nag research. Bakit hindi nag research?? E kung nag research sila di sana ay hindi nila ginaya yang mga turong mali. Pakibasa na lang ang website sa baba para makita ninyo kung paano ba nagsimula yang celebration ng Christmas na yan, na hindi itinuro ni Cristo at ng mga apostol.  REPLY: Modesty aside, I think I have studied very well my Catholic religion. I have studied many arguments raised against her from science, from the Bible, and from history. And I also studied her answers to these objections and I have seen that each time the Catholic Church's position seems impregnable than ever. The accusations hurled against her by her enemies only serve to demonstrate the solidity of her fortress. If Marion thinks he has done enough research I suspect that he still misses a lot. My suspicion is that he is informed about the Catholic Church only from those sources which are hostile to her and therefore just like any other haters of the Catholic Church he hates the Catholic Church not for what it is but for what he thinks it is. But Marion here has not excuse for if he really wanted to know about the Catholic religion then he should read her Catechism, study her history not only as portrayed by her enemies but also by her faithful children who were reknowned for their holiness and for offering their lives to the truth to which they testify. He should study Church history not only from books written solely by protestants but also from standard references such as the Encyclopedias and the Almanacs. I will offer Marion a deal: I will read every book against the Catholic Church which he wants me to read provided he also reads a Catholic Apologetics book which I will ask him to read. And of course, each of us shall check if the other is doing his homework. Fair enough.