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Re: The "Who is God?" Tirade



[No Who content, instead again religious discussion.  I'm sorry that I felt
provoked by Mark to touch this sensitive subject again.  Shame on me :-(.]

Mark, Re:

> One thing that really gets my goat is someone who looks into only one set o
> beliefs and then decides they have the one and only truth. I'd say that is
> strong evidence that they're wrong. For instance, did you know that the two
> major Xtian holidays have nothing to do with what they are supposed to be
> about?

Somehow your arguing really seems to me like a tirade here because you lump
everything about religion together...

So let's try to put things right.  Religion consists essentially of three
elements:  the rite (which is necessary because people want to feel and touch
their religion), the teachings, and the spiritual value (which I think we are
mainly concerned with in this thread).

The celebration of the major Christian holidays is only part of the rite.  For
the teachings and the spiritual value of a religion, it doesn't matter how the
rite exactly looks like - as long as no humans are hurt or sacrificed, every
religious rite is tolerable, and of course it will always look strange or even
ridiculous to followers of other confessions/religions.

The Christian teachings behind Christmas and Easter (the `truth' as you put it
- - not a very good word here) are that Jesus of Nazareth was by the same time a
human and divine being.  That is theologically interesting, and it invites to
controverse discussions, but for the spiritual value of Christianity, it
matters as little as the rite does.

This spiritual value consists IMHO (feel free to disagree) of two parts:

   (1)  The old Jewish tradition:  Only if you try to be virtuous will you be
   able to live in dignity and peace with yourself.

   (2)  The Apocryphal and Christian supplement:  Even if you have to suffer
   from inevitable injustice, illness, or pain, accepting these hardships
   without superfluous complaint will preserve your dignity and peace of heart.

It is answers like these we are looking for when caring about religion.
Different religions offer slightly different answers, so everybody has to look
out which spiritual answers to the burning questions of life he/she needs or
likes best.

> That's right; Xmas just happens to be during the Druid festival
> called Yule (heard of that one, right?) and incorportates many pagen
> elements (the tree, the presents, Santa Claus). All the while there is
> strong evidense that JC was born in October...

As far as I know, the exact birth date of Jesus of Nazareth still is very
uncertain.  Most likely it was some time between 7 BC and 4 BC.

As for the pagan elements of Christmas:  The early Christianity, based on the
Roman Empire (Southern Europe, Near East, Northern Africa), considered
Christianizing the pagan tribes on the British Isles and in Central Europe as
their greatest task.  In order to achieve that goal (which in fact took several
centuries), they were willing to accept compromises with respect to the rite.
Christmas replaced the pagan Yule celebration by choosing the same date and
preserving the rite, yet giving the cult another meaning.

> Also, Easter is based on the cycle of the moon, which just happens to be
> coincide with the Druid Spring fertility rites. Then there's the eggs and
> rabbits and so on.

Originally, Easter was always celebrated on April 25 (four months after
Christmas) which seemed to be roughly the date when Jesus of Nazareth had been
crucified.  (Today's historians believe that in fact the date of crucification
had been April 9, 33 AD, so Easter should have been celebrated on April 11.)
Like Christmas, Easter absorbed rites of pagan festivities which used to be
celebrated at about the same time.

As it became evident that the Julian calendar didn't work correctly, the date
for Easter was determined every year according to spring moon phases just to
make sure that Easter would forever remain a holiday in spring.  This rule
wasn't changed anymore even though later on the exact Gregorian calendar had
been introduced.
 
> History tells us that the early Xtian cult brought the Druids in, to
> strengthen their small group. And obviously allowed some of the Druid
> culture to dilute and change their beliefs. So Xtianity was corrupted almost
> from the beginning...

Mark, again:  The pagan influence changed the rite, but it had no effect on the
teaching or the spiritual values.  So I don't see any corruption here.

> But if one ONLY studies this one religion, they wouldn't know things like
> this. I'd also advise a detailed study of history AROUND the religions,
> especially written by non-members.

I fully agree with you here.  Learning about different religions opens one's
eyes for what religion is all about and may either help you to appreciate your
own religion or to find another one that better fits your spiritual needs.

Cheers,

Bernd