When I took out all our Fall decorations in September, I did something a little different this year.  I took out my Nativity scene and decorated with a little sukkah-like structure!  By the way: 

 

Succah (sukkah) - A type of Jewish tent built during the festival of Succot. This tent does not have a proper roof and it is decorated with fruit and leaves.

 

Why  did I do this? 

 

WEEEEELLLL...   its not a short answer, but basically it boils down to the facts that point to the probability of Jesus being born during the Feast of Tabernacles (which is in the Fall...  sometimes in September and sometimes in October.  It differs because  the Jewish calendar is different than ours.)

 

You DID know that Jesus' birthday isn't REALLY December 25th, didn't you?  I had heard that all my life, but a few years ago I learned that that date was chosen because it was a traditional pagan date for the birth of all kinds of different false deities.  When Constantine assigned this date to the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ he did so to make Christianity more palatable to the pagans. 

 

Now, don't get upset.  At this point in time we do still celebrate Christmas (although we have modified it in many little ways at our house), but I want to acknowledge the TRUTHS that I have learned and also the very strong theories that support the Fall time frame. 

 

I think of it like this: 

 

Imagine an unfaithful spouse returning home only to insist that his or her beloved no longer celebrate their own birthday, but rather that they now will be pseudo honored on the birthdate of the person with whom they were cheating.  And you won't really be the center of your own celebration...  everyone will run around like maniacs making a big fuss about things that don't matter to YOU at all. 

 

That is kind of how I feel about celebrating the birth of our Savior in a way He has not asked us to and on a date that belongs to His would-be competitors.  Strange, isn't it? 

 

There are many articles out there that share theories about dates and times.  One of them is:  http://www.thetribulationforce.com/when_was_jesus_born.htm. It is not light reading, but it is interesting.

 

We will keep the Nativity set up probably.  We will add our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving, but we will seek to honor Jesus how we think He would WANT to be honored.  At least we are going to try.

 

 

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Comments

Posted by chickadee

what a great analogy! i never thought of it like that.

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Posted by AcceptanceWithJoy

Your nativity set looks wonderful in its little sukkah. I may do this next year. I have often wondered how to 'celebrate' the Feast of Tabernacles. We live in a small but growing town in the Midwest. The closest Messianic congregation is 2 1/2 hours away. Our church, our family and our friends celebrate the traditional American holidays. I have already told you that by October it is too cold to put up a booth outside. Marissa and I have already studied the evidence pointing to a fall birth for Jesus. So... your idea is wonderful. Besides, I love my nativity set and if I took it out in the fall it could stay up for simply months!

I am so glad you posted this despite being a little worried about how it would be received. I felt the same way when I talked about what my family was doing with respect to the fall holidays this year. But, long ago, I decided to use the Biblical holidays to teach my children that the promised Savior was born, died, rose again and is coming again. The annual holidays ensure that we make it through this cycle at least once a year. Since the fall holidays prophecy Jesus' second coming, I just didn't see how I could leave them out and still remember every year to remind my children of the promise that God will redeem his people.

We still do Christmas too, but not nearly as commercialized as we had done before. I simply have not been led nor is it my husband's preference to stop Christmas. We didn't want to send the kids the message that everyone else (family, church leadership and friends) was wrong and only Ron and I could discern spiritual truth, but we did want to focus on Christ's birth and not Santa Claus.

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Posted by mominpa

Thanks for posting...I'm still chewing....

I do thank you for posting this with the attached article.....

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Posted by Suzie

I like the way you think... :) And your absolutely right... I also teach my children the real meaning of it all... *****Suzie*********

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Posted by SunnyFlowers

Amen!! I've been criticized for years for not doing santa, a tree, or any of the other pagan symbolism, in the name of "feelgoodism". I like your comparison, it is very appropriate, and maybe will convict some others, if that be the Lord's will. Anyway, you are not alone in your thoughts. :-)

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Posted by http://www.julie-realitycheck.blogspot.com/

Excellent analogy! As long as we honor the Christ in Christmas, I believe it¡¦s pleasing to Him. I¡¦m sure He¡¦d be a lot more upset w/ the commercialism of it all rather than on the date that was chosen. But I know you know that already!! ƒº
I like the comment you posted on my blog about how when you flip on a light to someone who has been in the darkness for a long time, you shouldn't expect their eyes to focus right away. That's really good advise!
Also, I forgot to mention in my last comment that goes along w/ the book you read... I do remember that old Carman song. It's one I sometimes have a hard time grasping the reality of, but try to have faith that it's true! - Jibz

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Posted by MooseBerryMountain

We haven't ever done the Santa Clause thing although my family always has and even to this day keeps putting "from Santa" on some gifts for my children...we all just smile and talk about it on the way home. I have found some of our best conversations have been about things we believe differently than others and the reasons for that. I haven't done a lot of studying on why the date was set for the 25th... thanks for the link!
Tosha

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