This comment isn’t really about Hanukah vs Christmas. I just wanted to say I hear your heart to impart a living, meaningful faith onto your kids. I hear your journey in balancing being set apart and committed in your choices without losing sight of the bigger picture. Remember that God and the Holy Spirit will be faithful to complete a good work and fill in the gaps for your kids for where you’re unsure about those few parenting decisions in this area. I’ve been reading a TON this year on fostering purposeful family culture and historical church identity/practices. If you haven’t, you’ve GOT to read HOLD ONTO YOUR KIDS by Gabor Mate. It’s really good about the community and the peer orientation stuff.
Your videos are so encouraging! I grew up baptist, and a Christian nearly my whole life but the past couple years have learned about God's holy days and now not celebrating Christmas like we used to. I have teens and homeschool as well. Unfortunately in my small town there isn't any messianic congregations to take my kids. I pray one day we'll be near one. Are these not very common??
Don’t interpret this as me telling you what to do at all. I heard the perspective recently of a theologian I respect who does a good job at balancing the value of denominational and theological differences. She made an interesting point that a church with a rich culture of families is more important than having spot on theology you agree with (granted there’s not heresy against core doctrine). Her observations had been that the kids who walked away from the faith had associations of church that didn’t involve purposeful community. The bulk of the Bible study and teaching should be done in the home anyway. So she ventured to say that it’s possible and more profitable to prioritize the community over the exact doctrine. Plus, a core intention behind living as a Messianic Believer is to be a light towards others that they might be drawn to it. So your family could be the ones that impact someone else to think through their own approach to Christianity. Just something to think about seeing as you’re in a limited circumstance and still have the God given need for community.
We were in a fundamentalist Christian Church, and we never celebrated Christmas, because ut was deemed a pegan holiday. Even now as we have been out a long time, we don't celebrate most holidays.
Growing up my parents never did anything for Christmas. No lights, gifts, tree, etc. When I was in high school (private Christian school-nondenominational) we did a gift exchange at school a couple times and I was allowed to participate in those events because they were all the girls in my class giving gifts to each other. But we didn’t do Jammie’s or anything. Also, in high school, I joined drama club one year and we put on a Christmas play that I had a fairly decent sized part for. It was a lot of fun and my parents were ok with that and went to see it. I actually think it may have been, that new movie that is out called “the best Christmas pageant ever” the story line seems very much like what we did. My parents didn’t celebrate because my dad believed strongly that it all came from pagan origins and therefore we shouldn’t do it as Christians. I did feel a little left out from time to time, but not too much. The Hanukkah pj’s I thought would be fine in a Christmas pj celebration thing personally. My parents didn’t even do those things either. I think they just never thought on it and just assumed they are Jewish holidays and since not Jewish, not for us. In my family, I think the kids would have just asked what the candles on the pj’s were and would have just been fascinated and interested in it. In my mind it kind of goes hand in hand with Christmas (not meaning they are the same thing, but just that they are in the same time frame). But they would not have felt like the odd ones out. I have considered actually studying the different feasts and their purposes and all that. We are actually reading a book this year on the history of Christmas because I kind of wanted to know more about it. Also, as far as elves go, we never did elves on shelves because the idea of elves getting into mischief and waking up finding them in different areas of the house just seemed creepy to me. I actually have never heard anything about elves not being able to fly or whatever it was that freaked out the kids. That’s new to me. But honestly I think I was sheltered from a lot of that growing up. I had to figure out if I would allow something or not. I did allow Santa at first because I didn’t see the harm, but also because I later connected it to the story of st. Nick who went around at a very difficult time and gave gifts to kids. I think it was even in stockings but not sure. And now I know there is a debate as to whether that is true. In recent years, I have started to think it is kind of creepy that an older man wants little children to come sit on his lap, and the breaking into your house while you sleep to leave presents for your children. It sounds a lot like gr00m!n9. Also, has a bit of parallel to Jesus in that he said to let the little children come to him. And to have faith like a child. Measuring good and bad, instead of salvation through faith in Christ which produces a new Spirit that allows you to live differently. The only thing I knew growing up is that Santa spelled Satan. All these other realizations came after we had already stopped doing Santa because my kids knew he wasn’t real. But I was the one that told them that he wasn’t but at the time, I did say that historically at one time there was a man that did give gifts. But that he wasn’t just a man and like all men lived and died. So over time this person and the story has morphed into a type of fairy tale legend. Anyway, all that to say I loved this video. These things have become so interesting to me in my somewhat older years.
As an Episcopalian, we believe in a lot of things that other denominations don't believe in and don't believe in a lot of things that other denominations believe in; so what! 🤷♀️ I don't care, it's all about celebrating YOUR religion. If you do it differently then that's ok.
“We believe that Jesus is the only sacrifice that will save us and we always put that first. “Then you go on to say we put the high holy days as our main holidays and the holidays that are closely tied to Jesus, such as Easter and Christmas, we don’t celebrate. Those two things don’t seem like they are possible at the same time.
That is such a good question! So Christmas and Easter are actually Christian holidays that were created by the Christian church, The high holidays were created by God during the time of Moses. And all of the high holidays point to Jesus as Messiah as the only way to salvation. It is so incredibly beautiful. I want to so encourage you to look into what the high holidays are and what they mean. It’s absolutely beautiful. Also, as a sidenote, if you listen carefully, I do mention that we are not opposed to Christmas and Easter, because we believe in unity. I have a whole other video on that. But we just don’t make a big deal out of those like we make a big deal out of the high holidays.
It’s a difference of perspective on how to approach the High Holy days in light of recognizing that Jesus was the fulfillment of what they were pointing ahead to. And a matter of what kind of larger collective identity you want your own family to represent to the culture around you. Based on Galatians, it’s pretty clear that there’s not a rule that will earn or lose favor with God over whether that practical application means continuing to carry out the Jewish High Holy Days vs the Liturgical Church High Holy Days. Which is the whole point. Both pre Jesus and post Jesus, humans were always supposed to commemorate God out of voluntary committed worship from the heart and not just to check off the boxes.
Wow! I mean, we both believe in one God and the Trinity, and that Jesus was and is the Messiah. We put our faith in Him and have a relationship with him through scripture and prayer. To say you aren’t saved is just 🤯… I mean even straight up Christians can’t completely agree. You have Methodist, and Baptist, and nondenominational, etc.
Growing up my parents never did anything for Christmas. No lights, gifts, tree, etc. When I was in high school (private Christian school-nondenominational) we did a gift exchange at school a couple times and I was allowed to participate in those events because they were all the girls in my class giving gifts to each other. But we didn’t do Jammie’s or anything. Also, in high school, I joined drama club one year and we put on a Christmas play that I had a fairly decent sized part for. It was a lot of fun and my parents were ok with that and went to see it. I actually think it may have been, that new movie that is out called “the best Christmas pageant ever” the story line seems very much like what we did. My parents didn’t celebrate because my dad believed strongly that it all came from pagan origins and therefore we shouldn’t do it as Christians. I did feel a little left out from time to time, but not too much. The Hanukkah pj’s I thought would be fine in a Christmas pj celebration thing personally. My parents didn’t even do those things either. I think they just never thought on it and just assumed they are Jewish holidays and since not Jewish, not for us. In my family, I think the kids would have just asked what the candles on the pj’s were and would have just been fascinated and interested in it. In my mind it kind of goes hand in hand with Christmas (not meaning they are the same thing, but just that they are in the same time frame). But they would not have felt like the odd ones out. I have considered actually studying the different feasts and their purposes and all that. We are actually reading a book this year on the history of Christmas because I kind of wanted to know more about it. Also, as far as elves go, we never did elves on shelves because the idea of elves getting into mischief and waking up finding them in different areas of the house just seemed creepy to me. I actually have never heard anything about elves not being able to fly or whatever it was that freaked out the kids. That’s new to me. But honestly I think I was sheltered from a lot of that growing up. I had to figure out if I would allow something or not. I did allow Santa at first because I didn’t see the harm, but also because I later connected it to the story of st. Nick who went around at a very difficult time and gave gifts to kids. I think it was even in stockings but not sure. And now I know there is a debate as to whether that is true. In recent years, I have started to think it is kind of creepy that an older man wants little children to come sit on his lap, and the breaking into your house while you sleep to leave presents for your children. It sounds a lot like gr00m!n9. Also, has a bit of parallel to Jesus in that he said to let the little children come to him. And to have faith like a child. Measuring good and bad, instead of salvation through faith in Christ which produces a new Spirit that allows you to live differently. The only thing I knew growing up is that Santa spelled Satan. All these other realizations came after we had already stopped doing Santa because my kids knew he wasn’t real. But I was the one that told them that he wasn’t but at the time, I did say that historically at one time there was a man that did give gifts. But that he wasn’t just a man and like all men lived and died. So over time this person and the story has morphed into a type of fairy tale legend. Anyway, all that to say I loved this video. These things have become so interesting to me in my somewhat older years.
This comment isn’t really about Hanukah vs Christmas. I just wanted to say I hear your heart to impart a living, meaningful faith onto your kids. I hear your journey in balancing being set apart and committed in your choices without losing sight of the bigger picture. Remember that God and the Holy Spirit will be faithful to complete a good work and fill in the gaps for your kids for where you’re unsure about those few parenting decisions in this area.
I’ve been reading a TON this year on fostering purposeful family culture and historical church identity/practices. If you haven’t, you’ve GOT to read HOLD ONTO YOUR KIDS by Gabor Mate. It’s really good about the community and the peer orientation stuff.
Your videos are so encouraging! I grew up baptist, and a Christian nearly my whole life but the past couple years have learned about God's holy days and now not celebrating Christmas like we used to. I have teens and homeschool as well. Unfortunately in my small town there isn't any messianic congregations to take my kids. I pray one day we'll be near one. Are these not very common??
Don’t interpret this as me telling you what to do at all. I heard the perspective recently of a theologian I respect who does a good job at balancing the value of denominational and theological differences. She made an interesting point that a church with a rich culture of families is more important than having spot on theology you agree with (granted there’s not heresy against core doctrine). Her observations had been that the kids who walked away from the faith had associations of church that didn’t involve purposeful community. The bulk of the Bible study and teaching should be done in the home anyway. So she ventured to say that it’s possible and more profitable to prioritize the community over the exact doctrine. Plus, a core intention behind living as a Messianic Believer is to be a light towards others that they might be drawn to it. So your family could be the ones that impact someone else to think through their own approach to Christianity. Just something to think about seeing as you’re in a limited circumstance and still have the God given need for community.
We were in a fundamentalist Christian Church, and we never celebrated Christmas, because ut was deemed a pegan holiday. Even now as we have been out a long time, we don't celebrate most holidays.
Growing up my parents never did anything for Christmas. No lights, gifts, tree, etc. When I was in high school (private Christian school-nondenominational) we did a gift exchange at school a couple times and I was allowed to participate in those events because they were all the girls in my class giving gifts to each other. But we didn’t do Jammie’s or anything. Also, in high school, I joined drama club one year and we put on a Christmas play that I had a fairly decent sized part for. It was a lot of fun and my parents were ok with that and went to see it. I actually think it may have been, that new movie that is out called “the best Christmas pageant ever” the story line seems very much like what we did. My parents didn’t celebrate because my dad believed strongly that it all came from pagan origins and therefore we shouldn’t do it as Christians. I did feel a little left out from time to time, but not too much.
The Hanukkah pj’s I thought would be fine in a Christmas pj celebration thing personally. My parents didn’t even do those things either. I think they just never thought on it and just assumed they are Jewish holidays and since not Jewish, not for us. In my family, I think the kids would have just asked what the candles on the pj’s were and would have just been fascinated and interested in it. In my mind it kind of goes hand in hand with Christmas (not meaning they are the same thing, but just that they are in the same time frame). But they would not have felt like the odd ones out. I have considered actually studying the different feasts and their purposes and all that. We are actually reading a book this year on the history of Christmas because I kind of wanted to know more about it.
Also, as far as elves go, we never did elves on shelves because the idea of elves getting into mischief and waking up finding them in different areas of the house just seemed creepy to me. I actually have never heard anything about elves not being able to fly or whatever it was that freaked out the kids. That’s new to me. But honestly I think I was sheltered from a lot of that growing up. I had to figure out if I would allow something or not. I did allow Santa at first because I didn’t see the harm, but also because I later connected it to the story of st. Nick who went around at a very difficult time and gave gifts to kids. I think it was even in stockings but not sure. And now I know there is a debate as to whether that is true. In recent years, I have started to think it is kind of creepy that an older man wants little children to come sit on his lap, and the breaking into your house while you sleep to leave presents for your children. It sounds a lot like gr00m!n9. Also, has a bit of parallel to Jesus in that he said to let the little children come to him. And to have faith like a child. Measuring good and bad, instead of salvation through faith in Christ which produces a new Spirit that allows you to live differently. The only thing I knew growing up is that Santa spelled Satan. All these other realizations came after we had already stopped doing Santa because my kids knew he wasn’t real. But I was the one that told them that he wasn’t but at the time, I did say that historically at one time there was a man that did give gifts. But that he wasn’t just a man and like all men lived and died. So over time this person and the story has morphed into a type of fairy tale legend.
Anyway, all that to say I loved this video. These things have become so interesting to me in my somewhat older years.
As an Episcopalian, we believe in a lot of things that other denominations don't believe in and don't believe in a lot of things that other denominations believe in; so what! 🤷♀️ I don't care, it's all about celebrating YOUR religion. If you do it differently then that's ok.
“We believe that Jesus is the only sacrifice that will save us and we always put that first. “Then you go on to say we put the high holy days as our main holidays and the holidays that are closely tied to Jesus, such as Easter and Christmas, we don’t celebrate. Those two things don’t seem like they are possible at the same time.
That is such a good question! So Christmas and Easter are actually Christian holidays that were created by the Christian church, The high holidays were created by God during the time of Moses. And all of the high holidays point to Jesus as Messiah as the only way to salvation. It is so incredibly beautiful. I want to so encourage you to look into what the high holidays are and what they mean. It’s absolutely beautiful. Also, as a sidenote, if you listen carefully, I do mention that we are not opposed to Christmas and Easter, because we believe in unity. I have a whole other video on that. But we just don’t make a big deal out of those like we make a big deal out of the high holidays.
It’s a difference of perspective on how to approach the High Holy days in light of recognizing that Jesus was the fulfillment of what they were pointing ahead to. And a matter of what kind of larger collective identity you want your own family to represent to the culture around you. Based on Galatians, it’s pretty clear that there’s not a rule that will earn or lose favor with God over whether that practical application means continuing to carry out the Jewish High Holy Days vs the Liturgical Church High Holy Days. Which is the whole point. Both pre Jesus and post Jesus, humans were always supposed to commemorate God out of voluntary committed worship from the heart and not just to check off the boxes.
Wow! I mean, we both believe in one God and the Trinity, and that Jesus was and is the Messiah. We put our faith in Him and have a relationship with him through scripture and prayer. To say you aren’t saved is just 🤯… I mean even straight up Christians can’t completely agree. You have Methodist, and Baptist, and nondenominational, etc.
Growing up my parents never did anything for Christmas. No lights, gifts, tree, etc. When I was in high school (private Christian school-nondenominational) we did a gift exchange at school a couple times and I was allowed to participate in those events because they were all the girls in my class giving gifts to each other. But we didn’t do Jammie’s or anything. Also, in high school, I joined drama club one year and we put on a Christmas play that I had a fairly decent sized part for. It was a lot of fun and my parents were ok with that and went to see it. I actually think it may have been, that new movie that is out called “the best Christmas pageant ever” the story line seems very much like what we did. My parents didn’t celebrate because my dad believed strongly that it all came from pagan origins and therefore we shouldn’t do it as Christians. I did feel a little left out from time to time, but not too much.
The Hanukkah pj’s I thought would be fine in a Christmas pj celebration thing personally. My parents didn’t even do those things either. I think they just never thought on it and just assumed they are Jewish holidays and since not Jewish, not for us. In my family, I think the kids would have just asked what the candles on the pj’s were and would have just been fascinated and interested in it. In my mind it kind of goes hand in hand with Christmas (not meaning they are the same thing, but just that they are in the same time frame). But they would not have felt like the odd ones out. I have considered actually studying the different feasts and their purposes and all that. We are actually reading a book this year on the history of Christmas because I kind of wanted to know more about it.
Also, as far as elves go, we never did elves on shelves because the idea of elves getting into mischief and waking up finding them in different areas of the house just seemed creepy to me. I actually have never heard anything about elves not being able to fly or whatever it was that freaked out the kids. That’s new to me. But honestly I think I was sheltered from a lot of that growing up. I had to figure out if I would allow something or not. I did allow Santa at first because I didn’t see the harm, but also because I later connected it to the story of st. Nick who went around at a very difficult time and gave gifts to kids. I think it was even in stockings but not sure. And now I know there is a debate as to whether that is true. In recent years, I have started to think it is kind of creepy that an older man wants little children to come sit on his lap, and the breaking into your house while you sleep to leave presents for your children. It sounds a lot like gr00m!n9. Also, has a bit of parallel to Jesus in that he said to let the little children come to him. And to have faith like a child. Measuring good and bad, instead of salvation through faith in Christ which produces a new Spirit that allows you to live differently. The only thing I knew growing up is that Santa spelled Satan. All these other realizations came after we had already stopped doing Santa because my kids knew he wasn’t real. But I was the one that told them that he wasn’t but at the time, I did say that historically at one time there was a man that did give gifts. But that he wasn’t just a man and like all men lived and died. So over time this person and the story has morphed into a type of fairy tale legend.
Anyway, all that to say I loved this video. These things have become so interesting to me in my somewhat older years.