"...contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."- Jude 1:3

Thursday, December 19, 2019

May Christians Celebrate Christmas?


The objection that Christians ought not to celebrate or observe Christmas is usually based on four reasons. 1. It has pagan origins and therefore Christians ought not to observe it. 2. it is a Roman Catholic tradition that involves the Catholic Mass and therefore Protestants shouldn't be involved in it; 3. it violates the Reformed doctrine of the Regulative Principle of Worship; 4. it involves images and statues of Christ as a baby. Which is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments against images of God. Since most professing Christians are, in principle, Trinitarians, Christmas involves images and statues of Christ who is God in the flesh.

I'll answer objections 2-4 quickly, because the main purpose of this blogpost is to address objection 1. Since this issue is:
a.) being used by cultists to lure people away from Christianity, and
b.) by non-Christians (e.g. some atheists) as a case of hypocrisy on the part of Christians.

While I'm a Calvinistic and Continuationist Baptist, and therefore loosely "Reformed", I don't currently hold to the Reformed doctrine of the Regulative Principle of Worship. The reasons for that are beyond the scope of this blogpost. Regarding the claim that Christmas or Christmass is Roman Catholic, I would simply say that when Protestants observe Christmas they usually don't do so in conjunction with the Catholic Mass or other Catholic approaches to worship. So, Protestants can stripe the holiday of Catholic worship. Similar to how most Christians who use the names of the days of the week aren't worshipping Thor on Thursday, or Woden/Odin on Wednesday, or Saturn on Saturday [etc.]. When it comes to the objection that it involves images of Christ, I don't believe it is inherently sinful to have images of Jesus since He was a historical person with flesh, bone and blood. To deny that Jesus can be portrayed in art is to tacitly (usually unintentionally) deny the incarnation. That the Son of God really and truly entered space and time. I don't see a problem in celebrating Christmas so long as it's understood [or at least not denied] that no one really knows how Jesus looked like in the flesh and therefore the images of Christ are artistic suppositions/speculations. And so long as the images aren't being used as aids in worship. While I'm often uncomfortable with images and statues of Christ, I think they are permissible for the stated reason that the incarnation teaches Jesus was not only truly God, but also truly man. A true historical man can be portrayed in art. To deny that Jesus can be portrayed in art is to deny His true humanity.

With that said, here are videos that address the claim that Christmas is pagan.

Christmas is Not Pagan PARTS 1 & 2 by InspiringPhilosophy [Michael Jones]
1. Christmas is Not Pagan (Scripture)
https://youtu.be/ca_Yx3aMCiE




2. Christmas is not Pagan (History)
https://youtu.be/DfcvJWPTY64


Is Christmas PAGAN? In defense of Christmas by Mike Winger
https://youtu.be/ugxJBb0lPXQ


Is Christmas Pagan? by Marie Wood
https://youtu.be/IvW7A8-CqnY




InspiringPhilosophy has also DEBATED the issue:

Does Christmas have Pagan Roots? - Michael (of InspiringPhilosophy) vs Ocean Keltoi
https://youtu.be/dlgGHZBFH38



Christmas Trees Are Pagan - Debate!
https://youtu.be/YnTmOOgpYF8


Debate: Is Christmas A Pagan Holiday?
https://youtu.be/8Bg8A3Sa_og




InspiringPhilosophy has also been interviewed on the topic:


Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? at David Wood's channel:
https://youtu.be/lvXP-6Shq_4



IS CHRISTMAS PAGAN? | "Inspiring Philosophy" Interview at Vocab Malone's channel:
https://youtu.be/uRsSDcUlJfU






Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Did Jesus Die on a Cross or a Stake? Here's the Evidence




The historical evidence leans towards the cross of Jesus not being an upright stake contrary to what the Jehovah's Witnesses claim.





Saturday, May 11, 2019

Do All Men Know that God Exists? by Paul Manata


The following are links to Paul Manata unofficial and withdrawn article:

Do All Men Know that God Exists? by Paul Manata


 I say "withdrawn" because he had previous removed the article from his blog because it was a speculative paper. Though, sometime after he withdrew it, I personally asked him [around 2013] whether I could post the archived version of the paper on my blogposts He said it was alright to do so.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110411061646/http://aporeticchristianity.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/do-all-men-know-that-god-exists/

or here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20110408190900/http://aporeticchristianity.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/do-all-men-know-that-god-exists/


See also my blogposts:

"Unveiling" The Hiddenness of God


Detecting and Finding God  


Is Atheism a Delusion? 


Scientists Discover that Atheists Might Not Exist 

 










Monday, April 29, 2019

Christians React to 20 Atheist Arguments Against God



Three YouTube Christian apologists collaborate to answer atheist Hemant Mehta's video: 20 SHORT Arguments Against God's Existence.


The three Christian apologists are Cameron Bertuzzi, Mike Winger, and John McCray.


Below is the link to the YouTube playlist.



See also Braxton Hunter's response to Hemant Mehta:

20 Terrible Non-Arguments Against God's Existence (Response to Hemant Mehta)
https://youtu.be/51Xn5QC9lDw











Friday, April 19, 2019

Miscellaneous Additional Links in Favor of Jesus' Messiahship


This blog is an extension of my blogpost: What Do You Think About The Messiah?
As time goes by I'll be posting additional and miscellaneous links relevant to Jesus' Messiahship and Identity on this blogpost.

In Psalm 2:12, is Kiss the Son a mistranslation by the Christians?

The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman: Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Genesis 3:15 by James Hamilton

Christian Responses to Christ Myth Theories

Preaching Christ From The Old Testament

The Disputation at Barcelona




Is Atheism a Delusion?



This is an expansion of my blog: Scientists Discover that Atheists Might Not Exist


 InspiringPhilosophy has two YouTube videos on whether "Is Atheism a Delusion?" with additional links in their descriptions. In my earlier blog I didn't include the additional links. I'll include most of them here along with the original videos.

Is Atheism a Delusion?



Is Atheism a Delusion? (Follow up)


 Here are some of the additional links:
[If any of the links end up dead, try using the "WayBackMachine" feature at Internet Archive to view the link]

Why God Won't Go Away - Andrew Newberg and Eugene D'Aquili

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048721X09001201

https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(12)00266-5

Born Believers - Justin L. Barrett

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/InstituteofCognitionCulture/FileUploadPage/Filetoupload,90244,en.pdf

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/religion-and-morality-an-anthropological-comment/F18EFA420571D2DE98AC51E06867EF1A

https://www.nature.com/articles/http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.125.9479&rep=rep1&type=pdf4551038a

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508619.2013.771991?journalCode=hjpr20

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.125.9479&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(12)00267-7

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027714001358

https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/images/staff/justin_barrett/Barrett%20&%20Richert%202003.pdf

https://cogdevlab.yale.edu/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048721X09001201


 
 See also this lecture by Dr. Clark:


 Dr Kelly Clark - Is Atheism 'Normal'? Reflections from the Cognitive Science of Religion