Slight correction: While the date of Christmas was decided in Rome in 330, December 25 was celebrated as the "Birthday of the Sun" under Emperor Aurelian in 275. So, it depends upon what one defines as Christmas versus worshiping on that day versus deciding it's the day to honor for Christians.

De 12:30-31 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

Yule

Yule Day is also another name for Christmas. Yule means "infant" or "little child" in Chaldee. December 25 was called the "Child's day" and the night before, the "Mother Night". Isn't that so sweet? Mother and child. Except for the fact that it was called that long before Christianity came into existence.

The Yule log came from the heathen Celtic worship practices in Britain. The evergreen branches were stripped of a log and used for decorations. The remaining log was considered sacred, the end being round like the sun and the length symbolizing the the sun's path through the sky. When it was burned, it gave out heat, just like the sun god.

I shared you sentiments about Christmas until I made a study of what Ellen G White had to say about this subject. It seems to me like you feel ill at ease following what she has to say. Should we disregard all of that now?

Yes, every Christmas (not on the 25th necessarily) we have a musical choir presentation. For several years I had the privilege of leading the choir. It was singing beautiful songs to emphasis the first coming of Christ with the Bible story read in between songs.

And yes, every year the church was PACKED. Many people who don't go to church that much show up for the Christmas Contata. Many non-members. It is one of the biggest witnessing programs!

In the last church (which was considerably larger community than we are in now) every Christmas we would make up Christmas hampers for people in need.

And, ADRA gets a nice gift each year. It used to be a major pre-Christmas activity to go caroling and collecting for ADRA several nights a week, each year, but people don't seem to do that as much anymore. But we still remember to give.

We also used to have the tree in church each year where people decorated it with pretty envelopes filled with money for a specific mission project.

Sadly that's no longer done much -- for two reasons.
1. Offering Money is now kept in safe places as trust seems to have lessened.
2. A few people got vocal claiming the tree was an "idol" and an abomination. (Even though EGW recommended this very activity.)

For me the season is Christ centered.

If you study paganism enough you will find that just about everything pertaining to Christianity has a counterfeit in paganism. And paganism had the ideas FIRST.

You will find athiests accusing Christians of simply absorbing and refining paganism for all our beliefs.

It's true the whole "mother and child" scene can be found in all the pagan religions. The big difference is -- paganism calls the mother "the mother of God", while in the Biblical reality Jesus was God, and the human mother gave Him a human body and He became the Son of man.

We don't have yule logs or any of that stuff, or get into Mary worship.

But we do not throw out the virgin birth and the Bethelem story of our Creator coming to earth in human flesh, "made of a woman" just because satan devised counterfeits in the hopes that we would lose sight of the real.

You may be right, and then not quite. We agree that truth came first, the truth about creation and redemption. The truth about the flood, the tower of Babel, etc.

Then Paganism can be a thousand different versions or counterfeit stories of what really happened and what God requires of man. All paganism is a counterfeit rendition of the real truth with all kinds of fiction mixed into the religious exercises, teachings, and practices.

So in reality truth came first. Out of truth emerged fictitious paganisms. When TRUTH appeared in Jesus Christ the enemy saw to it that the TRUTH got mixed again with fiction. We see this happening already in the days of the Apostles and Paul.

The question that underlies such discusisons is: Should we celebrate in a Christian manner, on a day that can be demonstrated to have pagan symbolism.

E.G. Christmas. No one knows the day that Christ really was born. December 25 has a pagan association. Therefore, should we celebrate the birth of Christ, which we do not know the date, on a date with a pagan background.

I would challenge you to find any date in the year that does not have a pagan association.

If you have studied Hinduism in depth, you know that every day in the year is celebrated as the birth day of multiple Hindu gods and goddesses. There is no day in the year on which Hindus do not believe multiple gods and goddesses were born. The followers of those gods and goddesses celebrate their birthday on that day in the year. IOW, every day in the year is associated with a Hindu religious day of celebration.

You can add to the above all of the other gods and godesses that exist in other religions.

If you're referring to your agreement with dedication, I addressed that. Did you disagree?

I know a church which had a gaudy silver tree with silk ornaments on it complete with fake wrapped box presents under it. On the platform. I know another church which had a simple undecorated tree out in the foyer.

Or are you referring to the celestial cross, formed by the equator and the elliptic of the sun, one of Mithra's signs?