The
version or image that won the day was a creation of Thomas Nast, a
cartoonist for Harpers Weekly. He came up with an image of this
character back in 1863. Santa was drawn up to look like a robber baron
that, instead of an evil nature, had a jolly one. Instead of being a
taker he was a giver. He didn’t steal from the less fortunate, he helped
them. It was a great PR move for America’s retailers: a toy industry
with a heart of gold. Both children and parents could now pretend that
presents weren’t in the realm of the commercial market place.
The
first generations of Christians didn’t celebrate Jesus’ birth. The
first Christians focused on his resurrection. It wasn’t until the 5th
century (400 AD) that Rome and its introduction of the Nativity that
December 25th became a holiday in association to the birth of Jesus.
Many of the Church leaders throughout history, especially in England and
America tried to outlaw this holiday because of its connection with
pagan worship among many other things. Christmas Day acceptance into the
Protestant Church of America hadn’t happened until the 1800s, a
strategy to stop Protestant Christians from worshiping at Catholic
churches on Dec. 25th.
The implementation was
forced by Roman law through the power of the Catholic church and
rejected throughout history by most of the early Christian leaders. The
absence of the celebration of Jesus’ birth concerning Christmas is good
in every aspect because Jesus never belonged in this pagan system that
started out pagan and became secularized and commercialized in America.
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