The intellectuals, the rationalists and the logicians would scoff at them all. It is all there recorded in the pages of history: Dec 25 was a Roman tribute to Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun)!
Case closed. Christmas is pagan. Sorry kids!
Actually, not so fast...Ho! Ho! Ho!
Roots of the Historical Christmas
The birth and life of Jesus is now dubbed the "Greatest Story Ever Told." It sounds like a fantastical bedtime story, ideal for kids but little more.
Adults though have a problem unlike children. In their quest for meaning, they still want to believe in something. This story is an archetype that echoes through their consciousness, in movies, in books, and in deeds. Anyone who has ever stopped to help a stricken neighbor, or who had embraced those deemed unworthy, hopeless or condemned relives that story.
It goes back to Eden.
According to ancient accounts, a Divine plan was activated to salvage man from his own folly, rebellion, and inability to take dominion of the earth in a state of harmony.
Thus, a part of the Divine Himself would be born in human form, to sow the seeds of truth and salvation. This was leadership by living example and ultimately, through sacrificial death. Christians believe Jesus was the One.
To man then, as it is today, life meant warfare. He had to either cut down or undercut his neighbor to maintain an existential equilibrium. Call it the Global Trinity where there must be a victor, a subject, and a collateral damage. It was, and remains, a dog eat dog world, even when the crumbs get fewer.
Old plots are rehashed perennially in new guises.
If the year 2009 promises uncertainty, be advised: The same failed success stories -- no oxymoron here -- are still around, regrouping in another guise to build another towering eyrie out of the rubble of their latest failed enterprise.
There is nothing new under the sun, as the wise King Solomon would say.
The starkest ancient account of this enterprise was the Tower of Babel project, where, the most intelligent of men saw the need for order, with One Religion, One Language, One Financial Standard, and One Code of Laws to govern, and exert dominion over mankind.
Sounds familiar?
If you like surrendering your life -- even your thought life -- to an elite few, this idea might appeal to you. Think of it! No more ethno-religious wars, no more terrorism, no more "Us vs Them" as everything is adjudicated by the ones "Above."
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