War on Christmas

Yuletide greetings to one and all from a tricky Brit who had not heard the term "Happy Holidays" until now.I thought what we call holidays you call vacations so now I am really confused.Anyway - Transatlantic confusion apart - May your Christmas be happy, merry or even both as you see fit.We get the same stories about the war on Christmas over here too and they usually turn out to be either blown out of all proportion or just untrue as well.
Frankly Christmas has little to dowith Christianity these days anyway so there isn't much to go to war over even if anyone wanted to.

And there was me thinking Easter was about Bunny Rabbits and eating huge quantities of chocolate eggs

Most of the Christmas traditions - Christmas trees, candles, gift giving, carols, December 25th, 12 days of christmas etc. etc. all have Pagan origins.
The whole Santa Claus, chimney diving, reindeer riding stocking filler tradition also has nothing to do with Christianity.In fact you could easily omit all the Christian based elements and most people would barely notice the difference.So I am not sure what there is to have a war, real or imagined, over??

So do you celebrate any holy days at all?Or does "real" Christianity not have any holy days of it's own?

I assume that you mean Sundays. So what do you do on Sundays to celebrate Christ?Where does it say that Sunday is to be celebrated as Christ's day? Is this in the bible somewhere?

That doesn't seem like much fun. Do you guys ever celebrate in the sense of letting your hair down and partying in any way?

It is not so much care as in telling him he is wrong I am just interested. I have never met a seperatist puritan before.I am intrigued to know more and the topic is celebrations of a religious nature so I just thought I would ask......Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

So you would celebrate your own birthday just like anyone else then?And how do you celebrate? Music, food, booze.......?What is off limits and what is on limits and what is the rationale for anything that is off/on which might be deemed unusually so by an outsider?

Wow! I thought every culture celebrated birthdays.How about weddings? Oh well....... I have never got to grips with the cold, watery fizzy stuff you guys tend to call beer. More of an "ale" snob personally. Do you eat shellfish? Do you eat pork? If we are not judged on what we do then, if one believes in judgement of any sort, on what are we judged? Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

I thought those things were frowned upon as a result of strict biblical interpretation? Oh. If one does not seek salvation is one not adjudged on that basis?Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

Another member here (Grany Magda) has a signature which I think has alot of truth to it:"The Bible is like a person, and if you torture it long enough, you can get it to say almost anything you'd like it to say." -- Rev. Dr. Francis H. WadeHow do you react to that line of thinking? Do you think that there is any truth in that quote? That is depressing! I might as well have that orgie I was planning after all.....If God knows our future do we have any free-will in life? Or not? In your opinion.

I know I could look this stuff up but:A) I am lazy despite being interested.
B) Having someone who actually believes this stuff willing to answer questions is so much more relevant and "fun".So could you choose to suddenly stop following Christ of your own free-will?I am intrigued by this dividing line between that which is able to be chosen and that which is immutably foretold to all practical intents and purposes.I have never followed Christ. In your opinion is it beyond the scope of my free-will to do so?Are those (some here) that have declared that they wish to "save me" by convincing me of God wasting their time? Is it just a case of "If you will you will. If you won't you won't". God has already decided so just get on with your life and don't worry about it.Is that what you are saying? Yours is not an evangelistic religion?Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

So if it will happen it will happen and if it won't it won't.No need to worry about it then. Either let it happen or not as the case may be. So if it will happen it will happen and if it won't it won't.No need to worry about it then. Either let it happen or not as the case may be. That seems a little contradictory.Those who will follow Christ will do so with or without your preaching. Those who will not follow Christ will just not follow Christ with or without your preaching.So why preach?Why not just spend the wasted time preaching drinking ale and smoking cigars instead?

Well I am glad that you enjoyed the question. And that you have asked it yourself.But the answer "It is a tool for Christ's quickening in his elect" is completely incomprehensible to me.What does that actually mean?Why preach? Because Jesus says so despite it being pontless? Because it is a test of faith? But your faith is not of your own choosing anyway.......I am bewildred as to the point of you preaching. Can you explain further?

This all seems to suggest that preaching is worthwhile because it causes people to seek and find Christ.No?But that contradicts everything you have said previously about it being immutably known who will and will not be saved regardless of free-will.No?