Christianity, at its root, is fundamentally about deep questions of who we are and who God is, and how we relate to God and other people.
Outer symbolism about mangers and stars and Christmas trees and presents and santas are just superficial gloss laid over that root. Christianity shouldn't ever be about one culture, so any culture can overlay any symbolism that it wants to the basic Christian story. It's only when the symbolism distorts or ignores the story (like when selfless gift-giving to others turns into a worship of materialism) that it becomes a problem.
i dont like when people think catholics are like christians.
theres a difference btwn the two.
You honestly believe the Christian faith started in 1517? I ain't Catholic, but Catholics are obviously Christian, they've been holding up the Christian Church for far longer than Protestants have, and they're recognized as such by most other Christians. Which
Protestant denomination do you belong to, if you want to start using words correctly?
christianity gets its stories and themes from "pagan" religions, so it is only fitting that they carry on tradition and find new ways to incorporate other people's stuff into it.
Not even close. All the basic stories of Biblical Christianity are rooted in Jewish stories, with a surprising twist added by the life of Jesus. The fundamentals of pagan stories are so different from the fundamentals of Judeo-Christian stories that you have to be ignorant of both to make the connection.
At different times different cultures of all sorts have overlaid their own superficial themes on top of the basic story. But if they change the Judeo-Christian root and make the fundamental story about something else (like, say, the Gnostics did), then it's not biblical Christianity anymore.
Better question is why so many Christians choose to honor their anti materialistic gospel in an incredibly materialistic way.
That indeed would be the better question.
The answer is obvious (because people are greedy and America is leading the world in making greed/wealth/power the modern god), but it's still a question every Christian needs to confront themselves with.
