Hanukkah and Christmas are 2 Branches of the Same Saturnalia Tree

It is sad to see so many X-Christians jump out of the pan of Christian Tradition to just land right in the pot of Jewish Tradition and vice versa.

QUESTION: What festival is known as the feast of lights, also known as the feast of dedication, lasts 8 days, time of gift giving, time of gambling, time for eating pancakes and sometimes a goose, a man-made tradition, happens in December, sometimes uses a bush, and has a tradition of putting candles just outside the home?

ANSWER: This festival was originally called Saturnalia, but now we call it Hanukkah.

Brothers and sisters please hear me and wake from deception. Study to show yourselves approved.
Read the following articles for more information:

Hanukkah and Christmas http://www.nccg.org/mlt/sermons/3_234.html

The Legend of Hanukkah

http://www.seekgod.ca/legend.htm

Channukah: Festival of Dedication or Pagan Fire Festival?

http://www.karaitejudaism.org/talks/Channukah.pdf

Heathen Roots of the Hanukkah Bush
http://www.christianmediaresearch.com/Hanukkah.html

Chanukah and Its Pagan Tradtions

http://www.sightedmoon.com/?page_id=324

Hanukkah and Yeshua http://www.hebrew-streams.org/works/judaism/hanukkah.html

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Comment by James Trimm on December 13, 2011 at 11:07am: OK I will resond to these one at a time. First there is this piece:

http://www.nccg.org/mlt/sermons/3_234.html

Brought to you by the same polygamous cult which brought you "echad mataige" in which bi-sexual sister wives are married to one another thru their husband.( http://nccg.org/hem/echad_polygamy.html )

This article (anti-Channukah) seeks to make two points about Channukah:

1. Hanukkah was created by the Jews of the second century B.C. to meet what they preceived to be the religious needs of the time; and

2. The story of the miraculous cruise of oil that lasted eight days is pure fiction.

As to the first I say "so what"?

To the second I say:

This article is non responsive the arguments I have made that I have made regarding the fact that the miracle of the oil did in fact occur:

http://nazarenespace.com/profiles/blogs/channukah-the-miracle-of-th...

Although the article you cited does seek to make use of the logic error that absence of evidence is evidence of absense. (in reality absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absense.)

The article then jumps from saying "There are many who believe that Hanukkah was created as a Jewish response to pagan festivals held at the same time." (so what, there are many who believe that the moon landing was a hoax) then admits "...it is not possible to know if ... these theories [are] correct concerning the origin of Hanukkah..." and then jumps to the conclusion that "one inference is at least reasonable, ...the original Hanukkah was in considerable degree a Jewish response to a potent non-Jewish festival present in the general culture."

So just because "there are many who believe" and despite the fact that "it is impossible to know" it is somehow "reasonable to infer"? Give me a break, that is a bunch of mealy mouthed nonsence with no substance.

Comment by James Trimm on December 13, 2011 at 11:16am: http://www.seekgod.ca/legend.htm

I think the "scholarship" of this article is well represented by the statement "We know that Hanukkah itself was added to Jewish celebrations by Pharisees..." of course this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on the subject, there were no "Pharisees" at the time!

Comment by James Trimm on December 13, 2011 at 11:56am: Well looking over the rest I will just make a few points:

1. There is good evidence to support the miracle of the oil (as I have done elsewhere) but this miracle does not make or break Channukah.

2. Most make the argument of absence of evidence being evidence of absence in regards to this miracle.

3. Some claim that the miracle is not mentioned before the Talmud, which is false (it is in the Roll of Antiochus - first century).

4. Many jump to the wild conclusion that Channukah derives from Saturnalia based on nothing but conjecture (which they often admit in the article).

5. Many assume (wrongly) that the Apocrypha should not be regarded as canon.

Comment by John on December 14, 2011 at 2:48am: Hi Brother James,

Thank you for reading some of the articles. I provided these articles simply to help people get more information.

I certainly don't agree with 100% of any article, but people need to get more facts before making any decision.

As far as Hanukkah and Saturnalia, "when I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."

Shalom my brother,

John V.