to see many believers in the Christian congregations whatever their name is very common to the celebration of Christmas, many congregations to decorate the room with things that allude to the party, and Not only this, most up a dinner in honor of it. Many argue that it is to: - Gather all the congregation - is for fellowship - is to celebrate the birth of the Messiah - is to dismiss the year etc etc etc. All these are the arguments and will be many more, but the extent to which a believer must hold a party like this, which is unscriptural and most unaware of their origin, that is what we try to teach well and make known the truth enclosing the same and that should really celebrate the believer in Messiah. ORIGIN Perhaps it would be interesting to note here the views of a sociologist, Axel Capriles M. Venezuelan descent, who in the Caracas newspaper known "El Universal" dated December 23, 1996 stated: "The celebration of Christmas in December is a shrewd sign of wisdom and virtuosity of the Catholic Church in the management skills and practices related to emotions pagan background of the human soul. The Gospels do not identify the day of the birth of Christ and the early Christians did not celebrate the Nativity. In the Julian calendar appears on 25 December as the winter solstice day ... time which was held in Rome the birth of the sun in Egypt was held ... It was symbolized by a virgin who gave birth to a baby in December and was linked to the popular festival of the birth of the god Horus and his mother Isis. Believers se encerraban en templos escondidos y a medianoche gritaban: "La virgen ha dado a luz". En Siria, las celebraciones eran bastante parecidas y se mostraba a un niño recién nacido a la multitud. La virgen madre era una forma de la diosa Astarté. Los cultos solares y de fertilidad del solsticio de invierno encontrados en el Mediterráneo y el Medio Oriente, aparecían también en la Europa central y nórdica. La penetración de las religiones solares en Roma se dio, principalmente, a través de la tremenda popularidad que obtuvo en todo el Imperio Romano una vieja deidad persa: el dios Mitra. Siendo Mitra una divinidad solar, identificada con el Sol Invencible, su natividad caía el 25 de diciembre. Algunos historiadores piensan que the extension of the solar worship was during the reign of Emperor Elagabalus (218-222), setting December 25 as the date for celebrating the birth of the unconquered star. The festivities will not only expressed the aspirations Mithraic moral purity and immortality, but included all the magic, sexuality, orgiastic ecstasy and the instinct of the rituals of the religion of Emesa. In any case, it is likely to have been rather during the reign of Emperor Aurelian (270-275) set the date of the pagan festival "Natalis Solis Invicti" which will later become the "NATALIS CRISTI. Religion Mithraic was for a long time, a major rival of early Christianity. The conflict of interest and the clash between these two religions insurgents remained for long in an equitable balance. But the Christian people used to attend lots of festivals and were moved emotionally by their rituals. With an extraordinary psychological insight and a practical sense admirable, the doctors of the Church realized the power of attraction that the symbolism, rituals and celebrations of the birth of the unconquered sun exerted over the human soul. In order to capture and channel the unconscious tendencies of the population and a formula to transfer the devotion of the heathen ... the Christian Church chose the end of the Saturnalia as the date of the birth of its founder. In the era we now call Christmas, the Romans celebrated the "Saturnalia" (17-24 December) and "Kalendae" (January 1). In this last event, the citizens of empire accustomed to distribute and exchange gifts called "strenae" as omen and sign of good fortune ... ritual practice originated in the ancient belief that during that time, the spirits and demons out to punish or reward humans ... Egyptian Christians had begun to consider the January 6 as the day of the Nativity. The Western Church and was never recognized in the early IV when the Church decided to adopt 25 December as the true date of Christ's birth. In the Eastern Church, the custom was adopted subsequently introduced at Antioch in 325 or so. The reason that led the Church fathers to transfer and set a date for the celebration of the Nativity was the need to counteract and compete with the famous and very popular pagan celebrations held on the same day. "So far the appointment. Here's another comment on that given by Rabbi Dan. On the other hand, not only the pagan religion of the Roman Empire was celebrating these festivals, but at the same time, the Romans inherited from the Persians. Archaeological discoveries show that in the Near and the Far East, both the Persians and Arabs, as the East, celebrated the birth of the god associated with the Moon MENI from which the saying "the man in the moon" or "Face moon. " Mithraism had two holy days: the first day of the week came to be known as "the venerable day of the sun" in December 1925 called "Dies Natalis Solis", ie "the birth of the sun." So in the Roman Empire celebrated three holidays: First Day of God MENI on 24 December. Second, the birthday of the sun god, on 25 December. Third, the first day of the week, the venerable day of the sun. We must remember something interesting here. I do not know if you will get angry with me, but I'll say it anyway. The god Mitra, whence comes the term "Mithraism", ie the religion of the Roman Empire to the days when Constantine took the throne, the god Mithra was worshiped as the "guardian of the arms." Mitra was seen as the protector of the army of Rome and the Roman soldier. Part of the worship of Mitra included the famous "handshake" gesture which showed Roman soldiers were not "armed" and consequently was an act of friendship, then can enter to worship the god of the army. Were the Roman soldiers who exported the "handshake" as sign of friendship and to conclude "contracts", representing that he has not had used "weapons" hidden, ie cheating. When confronted by these facts, we can not escape the conclusion that Christmas as it is known and celebrated today, has a pagan background that has been mixed with Christianity. It was because of this that the great reformers, Luther and Calvin, disavowed such practices. Also the New England Puritans rejected them. And the annals of the history of Boston showed that when the Puritans arrived there, was outlawed in Boston to celebrate Christmas. Let us take a moment Scripture: Isaiah 65: 1-11. Watch the Vr. 11: "prepare a table for Fortune." "Fortuna" is the translation of the Hebrew word "GAD" to refer to the god of good fortune that the Babylonians worshiped. From this comes the word "lucky", which is of pagan origin. "Fortuna" is also a reference to Gudea, whose word comes from an ancient Aramaic root which means "invading troops" or "attack", so that the army of the Roman Empire adopted it as their "guardian" under the guise of MITRA, personal God who came after Constantine became head of the Roman Church. Isaiah 65:11 Look again. This not only referred to "Fortune", but also "Destiny." The word "destination" is the translation made from the Hebrew MENI. "Meni" means "Destination" but is the name of a pagan deity of Babylonian origin. We have here two demons as gods, who are being condemned by the Word: Fortune and Fate, Gad and Meni. Fortune and Fate are not adjectives, are the personal names of two pagan deities worshiped by the Babylonians. By Joshua Ben Yaakov Used with permission from mesianicos.com