Just a few dry facts, and yes, there is more where it came from. Not intended to ignite an argument - if it interferes with your beliefs, take it easy 1. Christmas trees are banned Jeremiah 10 2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Christmas comes from ancient celebration of Winter Solstice. December 25th was the shortest day under Julian calendar. After Gregorian calendar was introduced, it's no longer shortest day, but traditionally it's still celebrated on the 25th. 2. May crowning is banned Jeremiah 7 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. From Wikipedia: * Queen of Heaven is a natural title for goddesses central to many religions of antiquity. In Sumer Inanna was hailed as "Queen of Heaven" in the 3rd millennium BC. In Akkad to the north, she was worshipped later as Ishtar. In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, when Inanna is challenged at the outermost gates of the underworld, she replies I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On my way to the East. Her cult was deeply embedded in Mesopotamia and among the Canaanites to the west. * Queen of Heaven (Latin Regina Caeli) is one of a number of titles used particularly in the Roman Catholic Church for Mary, the mother of Jesus. * The Coronation of the Virgin is a subject in art going back to the Middle Ages, and is enacted in May crownings, traditional Roman Catholic rituals that occur in the month of May of every year. * May crowning is a traditional Roman Catholic ritual that occurs in the month of May of every year. In some countries, it takes place on or about May 1, however, in many United States Catholic parishes, it takes place on Mother's Day. 3. prayer in the name of Amen is banned Worshipping pagan Gods is banned throughout Jeremiah. I wondered if there was a reason Amen sounds like an Egyptian name and I was right - S: (n) Amen, Amon, Amun (a primeval Egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at Thebes) 4. Easter is banned Easter comes from ancient pagan holiday, Vernal Equinox, when darkness and light are equally divided. The date of Easter is calculated as 1st Sunday after 1st full moon after March 21, the Vernal Equinox. (according to some atheist book I came across, I haven't verified this one with other sources)
I am a bit curious why this thread and thread like http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=624834
Your confused Christmas is banned but not Christianity. What you have written is correct but it's about Christmas not Christianity. As for Easter your wrong. Easter is the same time that passover is for the Jews. Read your bible again and don't just start threads that make you look foolish.
I am not sure how he read, he seemed to be picking paragraph by paragraph as long as it suits his thinking.
Exactly...he needs to look at what the Christian calendar actually represents....maybe he can explain in his terms why Easter changes dates and sometimes months every year.
I'm not backing him up, but your question already appears to of been answered. If it's accurate though is another thing.
I was asking for him to present biblical proof about Easter being pagan...as the OP has tried to do with everything else...
If it was just a thing or two, you could just dismiss it as coincidence, but at some point it becomes a tendency. Isn't it strange that the two branches of Christianity originate from Rome and Greece, where they practiced paganism in ancient times? If it was based on Bible, you'd expect it to originate from one of the countries where 13 tribes settled Looks very much like the Democrat/Republican socialist scam. I guess they want you to have a choice between Democrat socialists vs. Republican socialists, and Catolic pagans vs. Orthodox pagans. Could 2 scams implemented in a similar way have the same author? As long as you don't read Bible or vote Ron Paul you are fine. Their backing of Mother's Day and Christmas doesn't really support the theory that state and church are separate
Christianity originated from Jerusalem...not Rome and Greece. Some of the first churches were there, but there were plenty of other churches around that Paul started. Paul was originally a Jew, and was from what is now Israel.
I don't think Paul would be considered a Christian. Depending on how you define "Christian". Did he celebrate May Crowning and Christmas? Or was he circumcised? Also, the 12 tribes were exiled from their land for Christmas trees, May Crowning, and worshipping Baal (see Jeremiah). So, even if something originated from Jerusalem doesn't authomatically mean that it's not paganism
Actually, outside of the "amen" comment, the OP is correct regarding the rites commonly associated with Christianity. A former pagan speaks: Christmas is Yule, the low point of the year, where in the western pagan calendar, the child is born to the earth goddess. As such, it is a promise of new life in the depths of winter, the nadir of deepest death in the cycle of the seasons. Gifts were commonly exchanged in gratitude for the expectation of fertility with this new birth. Easter has its roots in the spring festivals, particularly Beltane. All were fertility festivals. The vernal equinox festival was the midpoint festival, with the more important Beltane taking place in early May. The maypole represents, well, you know. The easter eggs are symbolic of the fertility embedded in the original rite - May boughs were often hung in villages, and these were decorated with colorful things - among other things, colored eggs. Today, in many European countries, some form of the fertility festival is still practiced. With young folk going into the woods and.... The cross has its precedent in the sacred rood and sacred king. In celtic societies, and many other cultures worldwide (see the Mayans, Aztecs and Inca, for instance), the king and his blood are considered sacred, and quite necessary for the security and salvation of a people. In ancient celt culture, the aging king was literally sacrificed on a field. His blood "fertilized" the land, to give new life to the people. I think the OP is confusing the Egyptian gods with the hebrew and arabic word, amen, or amin, "so be it" or "so might it be." The egyptian usages - i.e., King Tut, Tutankhamun is derived from the notion of a living king who is the incarnation of a deity. Tutankh, "living image," -amun, the deity Amun's name. Much like Akhenaten, "spirit of Aten."
Oh, that's what I forgot! Once again, silly me, I forgot the ancient tradition of carving the tree into an idol and THEN decorating it and worshipping it. Here I am just making something nice to look at. I didn't worship the tree either. Ooops. It's too bad I just wasted a bunch of money on an uncarvable fake tree that was 75% off. The ancient tree gods of Christmas probably don't do well in plastic and metal. It's interesting that circumcision is brought up because, had you read a little further you may have noticed that we are expressly told it doesn't matter anymore. The old covenant that required it is fullfilled. We are now under a new covenant. We should also do away with all forms of communication as well while we're at it because pagans use it.
plz dont believe all this we one that we are human beings...nor christians nor islam nor hindu we r one on the god angle....
Next time you make a valid point it's a good idea to skip the sarcasm part, because it's often a sign that the person doesn't have much to contribute and people tend to ignore it. At least I do, I almost missed it
You can still miss it. The Yule tree - a decorated tree symbolizing the festival - predates Christianity. It was from this Germanic pagan festival that Christmas derives, at least if "the Venerable Bede" recorded things correctly.
In the NT there was a debate about circumcision and I believe Paul told them to stop judging based on it. I'm sure you could do five minutes of research on Google to find the exact passages. You could also read the OT where the practice was instituted and see what it was for. And it would become clear why it doesn't matter anymore.