24 December 2008
Is Christmas Important?
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: General .
Be of Good Cheer
The public celebration of Christmas has been under serious attack in the last few years. Christmas day is not the real birth date of Christ and many pagan traditions have been borrowed and blended into the Christian traditions. So why worry about a decline in yuletide cheer? It is our opinion that a serious disruption in the public celebration of Christmas would have negative consequences. This is the time of year when the pagans, ancient and modern, celebrate the Winter Solstice. Does this make the solstice evil? Since the winter solstice celebration was instigated at the foundation of the world, the pagans did not create it. The winter solstice is a celebration of the birth of all life, which was brought about by the Savior Himself. We are not saying anyone need celebrate the solstice. We do propose that a celebration at this time of year is a good idea. As wickedness grows on the earth, Christmas becomes more important than ever.
There are many examples of ancient cultures celebrating the Winter Solstice. Here is just one:
The following quotes are taken from NATURAL LAW and NAVAJO RELIGION/WAY OF LIFE, April 21, 1995:
When the sun is at its northeastern horizon (summer solstice) and southeastern horizon (winter solstice), it appears to slow both top and bottom like a pendulum. [It needs our faith and ordered energy for its return trip.] All tribe members greet father sun on the solstice with gifts. [Sacrifice seems to be the key to creating energy. Gifts, dancing and chanting around the fire was how the Native Americans attempted to bring order to the universe.]
Thus, since pagans believed this to be an important time of year, does that mean the original source for this celebration was evil? Is it not possible that the pagans took these beliefs from even more ancient truth? Did not Adam have the truth? Did not Noah? The pieces taken from the original truth are not inherently evil. When they leave out Christ, they lose their central core and power, but the threads left are beautiful when placed back into the tapestry of truth.
Our actions bring about consequences and the consequence of being of good cheer at this time of year is our yule log, lighting the way into a new year. We can assist our Savior in his work by putting our candles on candlesticks, and through unity, being a city set on a hill to reflect his light to the world.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
To begin to understand the need for Christmas, we have to start with the fact that things break down and need to be reordered. The second law of thermodynamics says that everything is in a constant state of breaking down or entropy. There is a balance in nature upon which the stability of the earth depends. When that balance is upset, upheaval results, both in nature and socially. There is something that works against entropy as Dr. Hugh Nibley points out:
“There is a force that tends toward symmetry and coherence by bringing like and like together. That is a very interesting point. We say that light cleaves unto light, etc. What is that force? Nobody knows. They say it is there because you see it working. Buckminster Fuller calls it syntropy. The second law of thermodynamics is all right, but it doesn’t work. Something works against it, something stronger.”
“[There is] an organizing force in the universe that is very active and runs counter to all we know of the laws of science. [There is an] awareness of great gaps in our knowledge that may account for our failure to discover the source of that force. (Nibley, Temple and Cosmos p. 2)”
Dr. Nibley wrote that the early Christians and ancient Jewish scholars did not believe in creation out of nothing. They understood that creation was accomplished by an organizing force. The matter used already existed. (Ibid p. 9)
Nibley says the atonement is the principle working against chaos and bringing things into one, which maintains order in the cosmos. Then he tells us what represents the Atonement. The force that comes from God and is working against this law of entropy is being threatened by imbalance from negative polarity as wickedness gains strength. Whenever this imbalance occurs, there are consequences in both nature and social structure. This degrative process began with the fall of Adam and if not for the Atonement, it would continue until chaos overcame order.
The Darkest Day
Why is this time of year so important? Because Christ is the foundation stone and we believe the birth of creation and time itself was put into motion in the stillness of the beginning of what would have been the first solstice, the stirring and winding up of creation. The foundation of the creation was, as Job was told, when the Sons of God shouted for joy and the Morning Stars sang together (Job 38:7).
The solstice is slowly brought forth, the sun appearing to stand still in its elliptical movement for about five days. Many ancient civilizations believed it needed help from us to get it moving again. Dr. Nibley wrote that “the towing of the Sokar-bark took place at the time of the winter solstice, the true turn of the year, the moment at which the sun is lowest and all is darkest. They represent the completion of a life cycle, at the end of the king’s years..this is the moment when everything seems deadest, and hope and vitality are at their lowest ebb. Towing is emphasized because the ship can no longer proceed on its way otherwise in a snake-filled desert. The ship represents the ever-forward motion of creation and of the world itself.”(Ibid pp. 416-417) The unity of celebration at this time of year, or at least positive actions given and received at Christmas time tow the boat.
We desperately need to continue the public celebration of Christmas and the principles that are common to the season. Sacrifice, singing and dancing, goodwill toward men, concentration on Christ as a people, and then the new day is brought forth through the worship and praise of our Eternal King.
The celebration of Christmas at the time of the winter solstice brings about four major results. The final point shows the superiority of Christmas over the solstice holiday:
1) It is a time of coming together in public unity. Peace and goodwill abound.
2) It is a time of music and dancing, and feasting that puts good cheer and positive thoughts into motion. It reminds us of Israel marching around the walls of Jericho and their Hosanna shout tumbling the walls of the city and thus the claims of the enemy to possess the land. Then God puts up His own gates for entrance (Psalms 24:7), and we know that Christ is that gate, the good shepherd, the door to the sheep cote, the water of life in the desert to give life to those who have meandered but now have found the strait course in the desert.
3) Christmas is a season of sacrifice. The giving of gifts strains most pocket books but hearts are turned to those we love and the unselfish desire is there to lift others and give them joy.
4) Most importantly of all, our thoughts are turned to our Creator. Reverence for life and an acknowledgment of our dependence upon Him who gave life to all brings positive results. By far the strongest results come from specifically thinking of Christ. So, Christmas as a pagan holiday? The winter solstice was understood anciently to be the time when all things were put into motion to begin the birth of creation. Jesus, as the pre-existent Jehovah was the one who brought about that birth in a way that amazingly parallels His own birth. The more we learn, the more beautiful the Christmas season should become to us.
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3 Comments so far...
E.E. Says:
25 December 2008 at 11:00 am.
The question I have is then do we celebrate the solstice and if so, what is the difference between how we would think of the winter solstice from what the pagans think of it?
Oh yah, and a big Merry Christmas to everyone.
Joy Bischoff Says:
25 December 2008 at 11:19 am.
Merry Christmas.
Good question and the answer is a simple one. The Winter Solstice is not only a type and shadow of the original creation, but a continuation of the order that the Lord brings out of chaos. Where the pagans go wrong is that instead of worshiping the Creator of that order, they worship the creation and that is wrong. All things in nature bear witness of their creator. Anciently, many aspects of nature were used to illustrate the reality and power of God. With time, the witnesses from nature became the object of worship and the Creator was forgotten, or at least who He really was in reality was forgotten. I want to give my witness that the Creator is in very fact, Jesus Christ.
E.E. Says:
26 December 2008 at 12:23 am.
Thanks, that makes sense. Like John the Baptist and his disciples made his paths straight, we get to assist in God’s work to bring light to the world. Then the winter solstice is the birth of the sun starting north again after a few days looking like it needs help to move and then the days start to get longer to bring light to the world for another year. Pretty great stuff.
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