SadistDave
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Joined: 3/11/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: siamsa24
I put this in the same catagory as those Darwin fishes (you know, they took the Jesus fish and put little feet on it and put "Darwin" inside). It's ok if other organizations want to do something to promote their beliefs, but it is wrong to attack christianity. Find your own symbols and things, but don't take other religions.
Some Christians are very hard-core about it and will get in your face, but often, the ones that are most offended won't say very much. There are those of us that believe that everyone has a right to believe what they like without being attacked, including Christains.
Perhaps you should read a little history. The Christian Church, in an effort to spread the message of Gods peace and love, has killed more people than smallpox. Read up on the Crusades, the Inquisition, the 200+ years of witchhunting (and even werewolf hunting) in Europe. Read up on the subjegation of the American indians.
Even in modern times, the Church attemts to sway the homeless and disenfranchised by turning shelters into church functions. Many Christian homeless shelters will only feed the homeless if they listen to a sermon, and most Christian missions in foreign lands only help those who convert to Christ. Faced with starvation or conversion, most people, especially impressionable children, convert to the cult.
Much of the symbolism of Christianity is ripped off from other religions. In fact, a lot of the trappings of the Catholic Church, the grand-daddy of all the Christian faiths, come directly from Roman pagan traditions. This is largely due to the fact that if it were not for Rome, there would be no Christian faith today.
In the 100 or so years after Christ was crucified, Christians were reviled everywhere. They were not welcome in Israel, nor in any other country. Rome even went so far as to throw them to wild animals in public spectacles. During one such event, so many were killed that the public sympathy that resulted kept them from being killed in such a way as entertainment for the games. Many Romans converted, and eventually Christianity became the state religion of Rome. When this happened, Rome became the first Christian state. Many of the trappings of the old religion were adopted for use in the new religion, and have remained in use to this day.
Since it is the Christmas season, you should probably read up on the history of Christmas symbolism. By rights, Christians have a manger scene and a Christmas Mass. Virtually every other symbol of Christmas was ripped off from one pagan culture or another.
Santa Claus -Pagan
Christmas tree -Pagan
Christmas presents -Pagan
Ginger bread houses -Pagan
12 days of Christmas -Pagan
Even the idea that Christmas should be in December is a result of Christians ripping off pagan traditions. According to Biblical accounts, Christ was born in either the fall or the spring. One only has to look at the farming traditions of the "Holy Land" to find that out. Winter was chosen as the Christian celebration of Christs birth because the Norse festival of Yule falls in the dead of winter. The time for Christs Mass was changed to the Yuletide in an effort to attract pagans to Christianity.
This occured around 1000-1100 A.D. when Denmark and Norway were converting to Christianity. Christianity was adopted as the official religion but private pagan practices were allowed and encouraged by the governments of both countries. Yule was one of the largest celebrations. The two were merged by the Christian missionaries who could find no other way to end the tradition. Within 50 years, Christs birth was celebrated in mid-winter as a matter of Church policy everywhere.
So if you don't like the idea of ripping off other religious beliefs, maybe this year you should put the manger scene in a box of sand, go to church on Christmas morning, and forget the rest of it. Since the Christian idea of Christmas is to give gifts to Jesus, you should make a huge donation to your church. The idea of gift giving to everyone else, even children, comes from a Finnish pagan tradition, so you should be able to make a substantual offering due to the savings you'll make from not giving gifts to anyone else.
-SD-
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