Santa vs. God?

[evileye]

Originally Posted by Cusco

These are comparable, too

We have the German pagan God Ordin, whos nocturnal flights on his 8 legged horse would decide who would prosper

Then we have Santa Clause whos nocturnal flights with 8 reindeer would decide who has been naughty or nice

Then we have Mithra born on Dec 25th and is a sun God

Then we have jesus born on Dec 25th and is son of God

Jesus would have been born around Feb not Dec, the Dec celibration was started to take followers away from pagan gods while the christian church was spreading the word of "God" across the known world. By spreading the word of "God" I mean murder/rape/conquest driven by the concept of manifest destiny.

[Cusco]

Originally Posted by evileye

Jesus would have been born around Feb not Dec, the Dec celibration was started to take followers away from pagan gods while the christian church was spreading the word of "God" across the known world. By spreading the word of "God" I mean murder/rape/conquest driven by the concept of manifest destiny.

I am very much aware of that fact about Jesus not being born on Dec 25th, if any thing he would have been born in the spring hince the shepherds tending there flocks, (if he ever exisited at all) and my responce had nothing to do with pagan holiday saturnalia, in which christians took most of the celebration ideas and adapted them in to Christmas, Emily was comparing Jesus to Santa and I was poniting out as long as you are comparing lets not forget Ordin and Mithra as they are equaly comparible
Now if you want to start another thread about the origins of Christmas I will await your thread

[evileye]

Originally Posted by Cusco

I am very much aware of that fact about Jesus not being born on Dec 25th, if any thing he would have been born in the spring hince the shepherds tending there flocks, (if he ever exisited at all) and my responce had nothing to do with pagan holiday saturnalia, in which christians took most of the celebration ideas and adapted them in to Christmas, Emily was comparing Jesus to Santa and I was poniting out as long as you are comparing lets not forget Ordin and Mithra as they are equaly comparible
Now if you want to start another thread about the origins of Christmas I will await your thread

Our points are not at odds, I was just pointing out how the church at the time was incorperating pagan festivals and beliefs to absorb other people and religions, which is why there are so many correlations between Jesus and other saviors/messiahs/demigods....

[Morbidus]

Originally Posted by Richard81

Those kids have the right idea! The bad thing is that adult christians don't question things like that. And, if everything has to have a creator, who created god? Maybe he evolved...

Genesis 1:1-"In the begining God created the heavens and the earth."

So OK. What was He doing before that? Evidently He DID decide He wanted to EVOLVE!

[OneArm]

Originally Posted by Morbidus

Genesis 1:1-"In the begining God created the heavens and the earth."

So OK. What was He doing before that? Evidently He DID decide He wanted to EVOLVE!

Evolution isn't a option, you don't get to pick evolution, evolution, picks you.

So, he didn't decide anything, as far as evolution is concerned.

[Wallis]

Inasmuch as Genesis 1:1 is a carefully repacked--not to mention concise--version of previous creation myths, the Elohim (sometimes translated as gods, sometimes excused as a "royal" version of the one God) are given credit for establishing a home on this ball of ice and dirt while the "heavens" are merely those stars within our field of vision.

Earth has several meanings to the Jews. Among them was death, a temporal home, and the stage upon which this interesting play is played out.

The heavens are merely that canopy of stars visible from any point on the Earth.

Unfortunately, we have this misinformed and misguided "opinion-presented-as-absolute-fact," based on English translations, obviously, that the Jewish writer(s) was trying to profess the heavens as the entire universe and the Earth as the cente of that universe.

Any theologian worth his salt would first realize the recognized cosmos of the day in 700 b.c. and never try to equate words written then with the scientific understanding of now.

But then, we have preachers who are less interested in saving souls than in justifying their positions of damnation and gleeful joy of sending most of us to hell anyway.

[emilynghiem]

Originally Posted by evileye

Jesus would have been born around Feb not Dec, the Dec celibration was started to take followers away from pagan gods while the christian church was spreading the word of "God" across the known world. By spreading the word of "God" I mean murder/rape/conquest driven by the concept of manifest destiny.

Dear EE:
For what you are saying about
"spreading the 'word' of "God"
having two sides to it, may I suggest
delineating those two sides so it is more clear
and doesn't cause unnecessary conflict.

Even in Christian law, there is the concept of
"those who claim to come in the name of Christ
and yet be Antichrist"
I believe this is what you are referring to,
the ABUSE of either church or state law/authority
to commit injustice, in particular political/economic oppression
and genocide. That is clearly more ALIGNED with the
concept of ANTICHRIST, and what you describe fits EXACTLY
with the concept of people abusing Christianity to spread fear
and gross injustice claiming legal or divine authority to do so.

I would DEFINITELY distinguish this side of spreading the
word of God through "crusades" from the type of selfless
charity of those who TRULY lay down their lives to help others in need
for justice sake or Jesus sake, as the TRUE meaning and message.

EE if you can please make this distinction, there should not
be so much trouble hearing your msg and getting your points across.
It will make it a lot easier, by aligning the "good side" of what
God/Christianity mean "in spirit" and not mixing it up with the bad side of
what religious abuse and corruption also brings with it.

Thank you and I hope we can keep this straight
so we can address these things in full perspective.

I really see no sense in coloring all things in a negative light
which just incites arguments over the good things and which
is the exception and which is the rule, etc etc. so why not
distinguish the two to begin with and not run them all together.

Yours truly,
Emily

[evileye]

Originally Posted by emilynghiem

Dear EE:
For what you are saying about
"spreading the 'word' of "God"
having two sides to it, may I suggest
delineating those two sides so it is more clear
and doesn't cause unnecessary conflict.

Even in Christian law, there is the concept of
"those who claim to come in the name of Christ
and yet be Antichrist"
I believe this is what you are referring to,
the ABUSE of either church or state law/authority
to commit injustice, in particular political/economic oppression
and genocide. That is clearly more ALIGNED with the
concept of ANTICHRIST, and what you describe fits EXACTLY
with the concept of people abusing Christianity to spread fear
and gross injustice claiming legal or divine authority to do so.

I would DEFINITELY distinguish this side of spreading the
word of God through "crusades" from the type of selfless
charity of those who TRULY lay down their lives to help others in need
for justice sake or Jesus sake, as the TRUE meaning and message.

EE if you can please make this distinction, there should not
be so much trouble hearing your msg and getting your points across.
It will make it a lot easier, by aligning the "good side" of what
God/Christianity mean "in spirit" and not mixing it up with the bad side of
what religious abuse and corruption also brings with it.

Thank you and I hope we can keep this straight
so we can address these things in full perspective.

I really see no sense in coloring all things in a negative light
which just incites arguments over the good things and which
is the exception and which is the rule, etc etc. so why not
distinguish the two to begin with and not run them all together.

Yours truly,
Emily

I do not seperate the "good" from the "evil" they both are a part of the whole. Without the war and death in the name of "God" the message would not have been spread.