It's Christmas

Every year I ask myself, "So what does Christmas mean? What exactly am I celebrating?" I was raised a mainstream Christian was was raised to believe it was Jesus's birthday and that God sent his son, Jesus, into the world to save us from sin; that his mother, Mary, was a virgin and that he was born in a stable in Bethlehim, since there was "no room at the inn".

Almost seven years ago, my faith in literalistic Christianity was destroyed. Poof. Vanished overnight. Ever since then, I've struggled to find the answer to what Christmas means to me. I've done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and I am open to the idea that Jesus was actually the heir to King David's throne; that he was a member of the Royal Family and that he was an earthly king. Apparently it's the Christians that screwed up the translation of the word "Messiah". The Jews knew very well that the word meant earthly king and not heavenly. They were right in expecting someone to come and save them from Roman oppression. I'm cool with celebrating the birthday of a Jewish king. Apparently the word "virgin" can also be translated as "maiden". It certainly makes one wonder, doesn't it?

The evidence suggests that there were several myths about ancient gods born in or around December 25th to human mothers and divine fathers. Here's a partial list: Dionysus, Attis, Adonis, Mithra. When I first read that, my world collapsed. After all, if these are myths, why did I believe that the Jesus story was literally and historically true. It begs the question that his story may be just another one of those myths. I mentioned to DH recently, "Why is it that we are eventually told that Santa Claus isn't real, but we are raised to belive that the literal Christmas story is? Does anyone else see this as ironic?"

DH has said that as time goes on, he foresees the day that we may no longer celebrate Christmas. I suspect he may be right, but I'd be sorry to see that happen. After all, it is fun to get presents and celebrate with family and friends with parites and a good meal. I asked a Moslem friend a couple of years ago if he celebrated Christmas and he said, "yes" since he celebrated anything that tried to make the world a nicer place. After all, isnt' that what the message is all about?

Merry Christmas