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WHEN WAS JESUS BORN?: M. M. NINAN<br />
Malachi. 4: 2" But for you who fear my name, the sun of<br />
righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings".<br />
Does it matter if December 25 <strong>was</strong>/is the Festival of a Pagan<br />
God?<br />
I am yet to find one thing in Christian life which cannot have a<br />
reflection in some pagan religion or in a pagan god. There are an<br />
infinite number of gods and their festivals in all the world<br />
religions that it will be impossible for anyone or even God to find<br />
a day without any connection to them to send his Son into this<br />
world.<br />
In the very beginning of Judaism, God established sacrifices of animals<br />
and circumcision – something which <strong>was</strong> common in some primitive<br />
religions. God himself have instituted regular seasons of festivals as a<br />
standard activity as is found in any culture. They all fell in the festival<br />
times of the Egyptian and Canaanite festivals of seasons and harvests.<br />
The idea is to use these cultural symbols as a means of communicating<br />
eternal gospel. Unless we see the semiotic value of the cultural<br />
symbols and celebrations we will be left with no communication media<br />
and little to ground generations on the gospel. Symbols get their<br />
meaning from the existing cultures in any community. We will be<br />
making out new symbols which we are doing all the time and which<br />
eventually will be misread.<br />
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