It is a gross over simplification to say that christmas just replaced the pagan winter festivals. You are talking about hundreds of years of moving history and cross-cultural intergration. It wasn't as if the christians suddenly appeared and imposed themselves on the pagans, many of those christians WERE the pagans, converted not through force but through religious conversion.
The pagans of today bear as much resemblance to the ancient pagans as modern christians to the gnostics. As much as the pagans claim to follow ancient rites and practices most of them were georgian/victorian fabirications based on a simplistic and naieve appreciation of history. It amuses me greatly to see modern pagans get into a fuss about; christians stealing this-and-that. It wasn't stolen, it simply changed.
As for the symbol and image controversy. A symbol is not the same as an image. A symbol is a sign that has many other facets rather than the obvious. Symbols in Catholicism can be seen as 'the cross', 'water', 'candles', 'white garments' among others. They are different as they are not objects of worship but tools by which a christian can worship and understand facets of their faith.
As for the veneration of icons and statues, it is not the statue or the icon that is venerated, the statue or icon is merely another tool, an object of focus during meditiation.
As with regard to taking the bible literally. Again I feel many people make the simple mistake, they do not understand that Christanity is a religion that focuses on a person rather than a book. It is not Biblicalism (as Judaism can be seen) but Christianity. Focus on the Christ, the salvation brought to us from God Incarnate, focus on the meta-narritive of the stories of Jesus rather than the historical literalism. This has long been the position of the Catholic church. Although they say the bible is authoritivie it is not meant to be taken literally as it is, like many others a product of its own culture and time.
The pagans of today bear as much resemblance to the ancient pagans as modern christians to the gnostics. As much as the pagans claim to follow ancient rites and practices most of them were georgian/victorian fabirications based on a simplistic and naieve appreciation of history. It amuses me greatly to see modern pagans get into a fuss about; christians stealing this-and-that. It wasn't stolen, it simply changed.
As for the symbol and image controversy. A symbol is not the same as an image. A symbol is a sign that has many other facets rather than the obvious. Symbols in Catholicism can be seen as 'the cross', 'water', 'candles', 'white garments' among others. They are different as they are not objects of worship but tools by which a christian can worship and understand facets of their faith.
As for the veneration of icons and statues, it is not the statue or the icon that is venerated, the statue or icon is merely another tool, an object of focus during meditiation.
As with regard to taking the bible literally. Again I feel many people make the simple mistake, they do not understand that Christanity is a religion that focuses on a person rather than a book. It is not Biblicalism (as Judaism can be seen) but Christianity. Focus on the Christ, the salvation brought to us from God Incarnate, focus on the meta-narritive of the stories of Jesus rather than the historical literalism. This has long been the position of the Catholic church. Although they say the bible is authoritivie it is not meant to be taken literally as it is, like many others a product of its own culture and time.