JOEL 2 GENERATION

Advent began on December 3rd and it lasts until Christmas Eve, December 24th. And millions of Christians have entirely lost sight of this beautiful and I believe NEEDED season.  For many, celebrating Christmas begins right after Thanksgiving, and by the time the actual Christmas holiday arrives, most are ready to start thinking about the New Year. That is NOT the way Christmas was celebrated for most of church history. Celebrating Christmas only began AFTER Advent ended. My father told me that when he was growing up the Christmas tree wasn't even decorated until Christmas Eve.  Admittedly, Christmas and Advent were traditions that developed later, namely after the Apostolic Age. The earliest evidence of Christians commemorating the Birth of Christ is from the early 2nd century. I blogged about that back in November in a post entitled, "Is Christmas a 'Pagan' Holiday?" - To read it:  LINK However, when one considers WHO Jesus was it was/is only right that Christm...

It is that time of year again. The "Christmas is a pagan holiday" crowd will be out in force claiming that celebrating Christmas on December 25th comes from paganism and should therefore be abandoned. And let's face it, no follower of Jesus wants to be participating in something pagan. And nor do I!! So, to not keep anyone in suspense as to the conclusion of this blog post, I will state the fact of the matter upfront: Celebrating Christmas on December 25th DID NOT originate in Roman paganism! I blogged about this last year and will probably continue to do so annually to counter the lie of the pagan origin of Christmas  -  LINK There is definitely an ongoing debate amongst Christians as to WHEN Jesus was actually born but to the surprise of many, the idea that His birth was in December (or January) is a very early belief amongst Christians. I had previously been persuaded that a September date was most likely, but after considering the evidence I will present below, I bel...