yes to all

Yes, the Church set 12-25 as the birth of Christ. There is little evidence at what time of the year Jesus was born, but 12-25 is unlikely. Christmas was designed to replace the Pagan holiday of Yule. Some traditions of Yule are still kept at Christmas - including trees, lights, and mistletoe. A lot of Christian Holidays were timed to replace pagan holidays. Easter replaced spring fertility (the easter bunny is a reminder of the fertility days), and Halloween (All Hallows Eve) replaced fall festivals. Halloween has pretty much reverted back to its Pagan roots, as I don't know anyone who celebrates "All Hallows Eve" anymore. :) Now, what Christmas celebrates depends pretty on how you celebrate it. If you focus on the birth of Christ, then it's a Christian holiday. If you focus on Pagan Gods, it's a Pagan holiday. If you buy lots of gifts and tell the kids about Santa Claus, then it's just a fun time of the year without a lot of religious meaning. So Christmas is whatever you make it.

Jesus was actually born sometime in spring. The reason the recgonize it as christmas is because Christians wanted to convert pagans to christians so they stole the Holiday in which pagans used to celebrate the (winter solstice, I believe) Dec 25 is when there festival started. So Christians changed it to Christmas Borrowed some of there ideas to make it more welcoming and Bam suddenly instead of being about festivities its about jesus being born .. who wasnt even born anywhere around Christmas. Posting Comment...

Exrty,Extry, Read all About it! Here's a Good Article. Enjoy! John < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas >

Look into it! There are countless different religions that celebrate their messiahs birthday on December 25th. freeaky..

No body is sure of the actual birthdate of Jesus Christ, and it is unlikely that he was actually born on December 25th. Why December 25th? Likely because many pagan religions celebrate the winter solstice at this time. When the fledgling church found that converting the Jewish people to Christianity wasn't working so well, they widened their scope to convert the pagans. The church had to make Christianity more attractive to the pagans (after all, who would want to trade many gods for just one?) so they allowed the pagans to keep many of their holidays but made them "Christian themed". Christmas coincides with the winter solstice, and even Easter coincides with the fertility celebrations of Springtime (hence the rabbits, we all know what they're good at). If you research other Christian holy days you will see that many have pagan roots.

No. It's not really important whether Jesus was actually born on December 25 or not. What's important is simply that we celebrate his coming, and what it means for us.

I worship friends, family, and presents.

What a metaphysical jest! ;-)

Jesus. Who you worship must be holy to deserve your worship. What is more, you worship Someone who is more than just a friend, but a Savior, and there is but One that has ever died for you.

Dec. 25 is the pagan god Mithra's birthday and the 21 is the winter solstice . 4th century AD Pope Julius I set 25th December as the date for Christmas. This was a compromise with several pagan winter celebrations . It was an ATTEMPT to Christianize the druids and Celts.

The Catholic Church needed to get rid of the pagan holidays in order to Christianize the Empire. So, they just made up themes for Christian holidays (Jesus' B-Day) and afixed them to already existing dates for pagan holidays. I don't think Christians are worshipping a pagan god just because of this however. Ultimately, they're both not real, so it doesn't matter what date you worship on.

Doesn't matter. Just like it doesn't matter what day you go to church, and doesn't matter if you work on Sunday. The Lord wants us to worship, that's all. I don't think He's on a strict schedule.

We do not know the exact day on which Jesus was born but the Church has been celebrating His birth on December 25 for over 1,500 years. The billions of Catholic and other Christians who have never heard of Mithra cannot subconsciously worship something they have never heard of. Mithraism is a pagan religion consisting mainly of the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-god Mithra. The similarity between Mithra and Christ struck even early observers, such as Justin, Tertullian, and other Church Fathers spoke of in their writings. In recent times, some have suggested Christianity is but an adaptation of Mithraism. Against these erroneous and unscientific speculations, consider the following: • Christ was (and is): . • A real historical person . • Recently born in a well known town of Judea . • Crucified under a known Roman governor • Mithra was . • An abstraction . • A personification not even of the sun but of the diffused daylight . • supposed to have happened before the creation of the human race Our knowledge regarding Mithraism is imperfect and is mostly guesswork. Our only sources are: • About 600 brief inscriptions • About 300 often fragmentary, almost identical monuments • A few casual references in the Fathers or Acts of the Martyrs • A brief document against Mithraism, which the Armenian Eznig about 450 probably copied from Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428) who lived when Mithraism was almost a thing of the past Some apparent similarities exist. However, in a number of details it is quite probable that Mithraism was the borrower from Christianity. Tertullian about 200 could say: "we are but of yesterday, yet your whole world is full of us.” It is natural to suppose that Mithraism, which filled the whole world, should have been copied at least in some details by another religion, which was quite popular during the third century. Moreover, the resemblances pointed out are superficial and external. Similarity in words and names is nothing; it is the sense that matters. During these centuries, Christianity was coining its own technical terms, and naturally took names, terms, and expressions current in that day; and so did Mithraism. Nevertheless, under identical terms each system thought its own thoughts. • Mediatory . • Mithra is called a mediator only in a cosmogonic sense . • Christ, being God and man, is by nature the Mediator between God and man. • Eucharist . • The idea of a sacred banquet is as old as the human race and existed at all ages and amongst all peoples • Salvation . • Mithra saved the world by sacrificing a bull . • Christ by sacrificing Himself. Differences: • How born: . • Christ was born of a Virgin . • Mithra was born from the rock. • Where born: . • Christ was born in a cave . • Mithra was born under a tree near a river Much as been made of the presence of adoring shepherds; but their existence on Mithraic sculptures has not been proven, and considering that man had not yet appeared, it is an anachronism to suppose their presence. The small Mithraic congregations were like Masonic lodges for a few and for men only and even those mostly of one class, the military; a religion that excludes the half of the human race bears no comparison to the religion of Christ. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm With love in Christ.