AnimeSuki Forums

Meow · 2004-11-05, 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by MwyC

lots of figurative language, tower of babel was the actual concept of being equal to God, psalms were pretty much poems written by kings, etc, etc

The stars would fall to earth ?

The Great Tribulation & Rapture ?

Judgment Day for all mankind ?

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ ?

“Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died.” (Matthew 24:34 TEV)

“For the Son of Man [i.e. Jesus] is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. I assure you [i.e. swear to you] that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man [Jesus] come as King.” (Matthew 16: 27, 28 TEV)

TheLaughingMan · 2004-11-05, 17:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briareos

If you do some research, you will find that most Muslims and Jews in the middle east do believe that they worship the same God. They just disagree as to whose side God is on, which goes back to the sons of Isaac (Jacob and Esau). The old testament and the qur'an are very similar until that point.

Very good point.

This thread just seems like an attempt to flame christianity. Most people don't care WHAT origin a holiday is based on, christian or pagan. We live in modern times, holidays have different meanings to us. It's your loss if you don't want to make merry on these days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by loveofanime

We celebrate the holiday as the birth of Jesus and we give gifts as the wise men gave to the baby.

Not to burst your bubble, but the wise men didn't show up until a couple of years after the birth of jesus.

MwyC · 2004-11-06, 01:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meow

The stars would fall to earth ?

The Great Tribulation & Rapture ?

Judgment Day for all mankind ?

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ ?

“Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died.” (Matthew 24:34 TEV)

“For the Son of Man [i.e. Jesus] is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds. I assure you [i.e. swear to you] that there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Son of Man [Jesus] come as King.” (Matthew 16: 27, 28 TEV)

what is TEV?
btw
in the hebrew, it says that
this generation/race will not pass away until all that has happened

as for the 'some here' i think also that he was referring to the human race

TrueKnight · 2004-11-08, 00:18

*off topic*

-to clear things up-

Christians and Muslims technically worshipped the same God. But to Muslims, they refer Jesus as a prophet, not as the Son of God or God himself. The Muslims called Jesus by the name of Isa Al-masih if I'm not wrong, and for them he's a prophet who managed to came back to live because of God.

*topic*

well, Christians holidays were already commersialized in the past few years, so it;s not a holiday just for Christians anymore, even India, China and Japan celebrates it without even knowing Jesus. I love Christmas because it's the time to spend the time with my family, lover and friends. and well... I'm not a very religous person my self though but I believe it's the birth of Jesus, and I also loved Easter and Thanksgiving. They're da shit. Eggs and Easter Bunnies rules you all.

Peace

Umbrae · 2004-11-08, 03:13

First as was pointed out, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Mormons all worship the same god. They all have differing views on how that worship should be carried out.

The jews were the first, then the christians, then the muslims, finaly the Mormons. Jews reject the Jesus as the son of god, and hold strict adherance to older traditions. The christians think that Jeasus is the son of god, and the conduit between thier physical world and gods spiritual word. Muslims belive Jesus is a profit, but not the last profit, Muhamed beeing more imporant than Jesus, Also they belive that the jews and christans have warped the older works, partialy by translating them to new languages. The Mormons belive jesus is a space alien, that tells us how we all get our own planet when we die. . . well at least that was my interpritation after reading the book of mormon, read it your self if you want. I have not read the Qur'an. . . Mainly because I cannot read Hebrew, although I have read most of the unrecignized english translation.

As far as the hollidays go, I do not think any of the religions has an origional Holliday. If you think X-mas is the day jesus was born your sadly mistaken.

Spoiler:

Which is fitting with the Traditions of Easter

Spoiler:

While the feast of Easter was first celebrated in the second century, it wasn't until Constantine called The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. that a date was officially pronounced. One debate of that Council was whether the observance of Easter should follow the Jewish custom of holding Passover on a weekday or should be on a Sunday. During this Council, it was decided to hold it on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Later the date of March 21 was selected as the vernal equinox. Like so many early Christian holidays, the actual day selected for celebration was as much a political decision as it was a symbolic one.

The word Easter is believed to have originated either after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, Eostre or the rising of the sun in the east.

Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis ([the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection." 3

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation."

Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Ancient Christians had an alternate explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. 4 Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

Basicly all christan hollidays are borrowed from other religions. . . which is not to supprising considering thier religion is just an off shoot of another religion (jewish).

But the origins of hollidays is quite interesting if you care to look them up I would highly encurage it.

??? · 2004-11-08, 03:17

As Atheism cures tithing, you’ll get an instant 10% raise in take-home pay.

You’re inoculated against Christian suicide cults like People’s Temple or Heaven’s Gate.

Those "voices in your head" claiming to be God can now be cured with a pill.

Hell becomes as phony as the boogie man.

The celestial “Peeping Tom” who watched as you wiped your ass ceases to exist.

You realize there are no ghosts or goblins- really!

There are not, nor ever have been, any “evil spirits” hiding under your bed at night.

Masturbation now cures more anxiety than causes.

Premarital sex no longer causes “guilt hangovers” the next morning.

You can be honest and really hate those you hate- no more pretend Christian “love”.

You can now sleep in on Sunday mornings.

If born gay, you no longer have to lie to yourself.

Money & hope are not wasted on faith healers.

Families are no longer divided over petty religious squabbles.

You no longer have to stay married to people you’ve grown to hate.

Women don’t have to become “brood mares for Jesus” pumping out those kids.

If Catholic, you can now use condoms to prevent infection & death if your spouse has aids.

Girls can now abort pregnancies caused by drunken fathers or football teams.

If Catholic, you can now intelligently plan your family size via birth control.

If Mormon, you can now drink tea, coffee, and coke.

If Mormon, you can now give & receive oral sex, and trash the goofy magic underwear.

If you were a Fundy, you can now drink a toast with friends at weddings.

If you were a Fundy, you’re now allowed to dance and see movies.

If you were a Liberal, you can now be honest about your Atheism.

When you hit your thumb with a hammer, you can now swear like a sailor.

As science advances, you don't have to “circle the wagons” to defend Biblical cosmology.

If mugged, rather than turn the other cheek, you’re now allowed to fight back.

You can lust as nature intended you to without apologies or self-induced guilt.

You can now be rightfully proud of your accomplishments- no more false humility.

If you were a Fundy woman, you can use makeup & clothing to look stylish & sexy.

You’ll never miss another NFL game due to long winded preachers.

If you’re a Catholic priest, you can now have sex with people other than choir boys.

If you’re a “nun” you can now get “some”.

And you’re now free to think & question without fear of pissing off some insecure deity

genmac · 2004-11-10, 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

Now those are typical things the churches disagree about.

Only thing I know is, for catholic church, what you wrote is just wrong.

According to Catholic doctrine, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three persons in the same God, all equally God, with Jesus being the only one with a human form.

Quote:

And you’re now free to think & question without fear of pissing off some insecure deity

Questions are encouraged in the Catholic tradition. Trust me, try asking hard questions of any athiest "free thinker", and you'll find huge, unexplained gaps in their beliefs.

Briareos · 2004-11-10, 08:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

Questions are encouraged in the Catholic tradition.

Oh, but if you disagree with their answers they deny you communion or excommunicate you. There's encouragement for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

Trust me, try asking hard questions of any athiest "free thinker", and you'll find huge, unexplained gaps in their beliefs.

For instance?

100demons · 2004-11-17, 00:29

Do I celebrate Christmas? Hell yes. It's just another opportunity for me to get stuff without having to strong arm.

genmac · 2004-11-17, 04:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briareos

Oh, but if you disagree with their answers they deny you communion or excommunicate you. There's encouragement for you.

No they don't, and there are plenty of differing viewpoints within the Church. Excommunication and denying communion are severe punishments that are rarely used. Of course, if you don't believe Catholic doctrine, why would you call yourself a Catholic?

Quote:

For instance?

"If a particle of anti-matter collided with a particle of matter to start the big bang, where did the two particles come from?"

Briareos · 2004-11-17, 06:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

No they don't, and there are plenty of differing viewpoints within the Church. Excommunication and denying communion are severe punishments that are rarely used. Of course, if you don't believe Catholic doctrine, why would you call yourself a Catholic?

I don't. Personally I can't imagine who would want to, but that's just me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

"If a particle of anti-matter collided with a particle of matter to start the big bang, where did the two particles come from?"

To you, the answer is obviously "God did". An atheist would probably look to science for his/her answers. Either way, the question proves nothing.

I do hope you haven't deluded yourself into thinking that you're somehow a "free thinker". Trust me, the church doesn't encourage the hard questions. They just want a chance to indoctrinate you further.

??? · 2004-11-17, 06:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

"If a particle of anti-matter collided with a particle of matter to start the big bang, where did the two particles come from?"

Here's my asnwer: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/...csu/powersof10/

(use IE to see the java animation)

You say that because you live in a small world, that's why

Reaver4k · 2004-11-17, 11:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by HopelessLover

Does any one even celebrate them any more?

The only one I "Celebrate" is X-Mas, and then I dont realy care much for it, All I care about is the two weeks I get off of school. X-mas Pisses me off at times, when they put all the X-Max Specials on TV.... I just.... Hate it.

Umbrae · 2004-11-18, 02:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

"If a particle of anti-matter collided with a particle of matter to start the big bang, where did the two particles come from?"

I guess I will be the honest one. I don't know. Belive it or not, thier are things in this universe that humans will never understand. Weather you belive in god or not, this is the truth. Only if you belive in god, you do not have to ask the question, because the answer is "god did it" although how or why, you will never know, but that is a functional enugh answer. How people accept that as an answer I will never know, as it did not honestly answer the question.

Dhomochevsky · 2004-11-18, 10:44

argh... come on people, you`re getting this all wrong.
Religion (the christian at least) is not about who triggered the big bang, denying science or following some (more or less) stupid habbits.

Its about "what happens to me after I die?".

Thats the central question and still its not to be answered by science (or the answer would be: "braincells dead - youre gone", which is not satisfying for most people).
People fear death, so they prefer to rely on religion to show them an alternative.

All those other things youre arguing about all the time here are only minor topics and are handled differently from place to place. At least I didnt ever meet someone who would try to follow ANY of those points ??? likes to post in every thread whenever this topic comes up again.
Anyway, I wonder where you get your impressions of church from, this all sounds like you read to many books about medieval times... at least where I live, churches (both catholic and protestants) are very liberal.

Mr_Paper · 2004-11-18, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by genmac

"If a particle of anti-matter collided with a particle of matter to start the big bang, where did the two particles come from?"

There are many theories pretaining to the big bang and none of the credible ones I know of involve two particles colliding as its source.

The thing you're glossing over is that as "free thinkers" we're free to question, doubt and support the theories we deem credible, reasonable or absurd. The multitude of theories and the gaps between them just go to show the extent to which "free thinkers" ponder these problems. We, those of us that claim to be "free thinkers," must find justifications that require more than a simple three word phrases along the lines of "because he's God" or "we'll never know." These would never be excepted as credible answers by any inquiring mind as they aren't really answers, they're just avoiding the answer and the possibility that such things may actually exist beyond the existance of a God.

By fairplay and turn-about, I must now ask: "How did God create the universe?"

[Note] I'm not sure if you mean "free thinker" as aethist, but I assume you meant it as 'those that choose to question their own beliefs.'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky

Anyway, I wonder where you get your impressions of church from, this all sounds like you read to many books about medieval times... at least where I live, churches (both catholic and protestants) are very liberal.

I have nothing against the Church, I've been to some really good ones (not only architectually, but very open minded too

). However, for religion taken to the extreme, word for word - the bible is the absolute truth, having a rather vocal zealot aunt won't help your impression of it. >.>

[On Topic]

Personally, I'm getting rather disgusted by the modern celebration of holidays. They have largely turned into nothing more than over commercialized excuses to buy stuff at absurd prices. No one ever recognizes the origin of halloween, Christmas has become a holiday where people can briefly acknowledge those less fortunate for a day or two then forget about them for another year. On top of that, still Christmas, many stores start their seasonal marketing for the holiday in August with an ad company that almost blatantly reads "They won't love you if you don't get them the really expensive gift" which degenerates further the closer to the holiday you get.

St. Patricks Day... now nothing more than an excuse to get wasted on green novelty beer. Valentines day is now a holiday where instead of feasting in honor of Valentine or spending time with one's significant other, one must prove their love by buying exhorbrantly overpriced chocolate, flowers and/or jewelery then going to an expensive restaurant. Easter... I'd be curious to know the common conception of Easter switched from the rebirth of Chirst to the worship of overpriced chocolate rabbit droppings.

And while it's not a religious holiday, even things like Rememberance day are becoming commercialized. I wonder how long it'll be until we worship Hallmark, Walmart or Sears as our hollidays...

Sora_Midori · 2004-11-20, 15:08

I get mad when people talk about religion in such a disgusting manner. Religion was basically put on this earth (which is now one piece of disgusting crap) to bring order and spiritual relief to the human soul. No matter what you believe in there is only one God. I personally do not worship any specific religion, I like to explore each one. So far, each religion has one message LOVE and PEACE.

Of course I will get negative responses because as humans we only wish to bring negativity to any subject. We thrive on putting blame on everything else but OURSELVES, we thrive on bringing down and breaking down anything that has some form of message of peace. All we want is to be right and superior. But, I believe that our end is near and we will destroy this earth, and it is in progress.

Anyways, on the holiday subject, we take anything and try to make money off it. I just hope people start to realize the real message and stop looking at it from other people's point of view.

Don't hate any religion, basically don't hate, you'll just bring more hostility to this already torn world.

Edgewalker · 2004-11-20, 15:16

christmas isnt entirely a christian holiday . While most of the stuff is christian its really one of those religious melting pot holidays . For instance - decorating trees is a pagan tradition , not a christian one .

Shay · 2004-11-20, 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by HopelessLover

Does any one even celebrate them any more?

Crimbo, and that’s about it.

I'm expecting the usual endless supply of socks and boxer shorts again this year.

Briareos · 2004-11-20, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sora_Midori

...Religion was basically put on this earth (which is now one piece of disgusting crap) to bring order and spiritual relief to the human soul...

Do you mean the Earth is now a piece of crap, or religion is now a piece of crap?

2004-11-08, 03:13	Link #65
Umbrae Generic Human Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: here	First as was pointed out, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Mormons all worship the same god. They all have differing views on how that worship should be carried out. The jews were the first, then the christians, then the muslims, finaly the Mormons. Jews reject the Jesus as the son of god, and hold strict adherance to older traditions. The christians think that Jeasus is the son of god, and the conduit between thier physical world and gods spiritual word. Muslims belive Jesus is a profit, but not the last profit, Muhamed beeing more imporant than Jesus, Also they belive that the jews and christans have warped the older works, partialy by translating them to new languages. The Mormons belive jesus is a space alien, that tells us how we all get our own planet when we die. . . well at least that was my interpritation after reading the book of mormon, read it your self if you want. I have not read the Qur'an. . . Mainly because I cannot read Hebrew, although I have read most of the unrecignized english translation. As far as the hollidays go, I do not think any of the religions has an origional Holliday. If you think X-mas is the day jesus was born your sadly mistaken. Spoiler: The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians. Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days. The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side. To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king. The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey. Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun. In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return. The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans. The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places. "Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia. But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God. Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas. The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas. Which is fitting with the Traditions of Easter Spoiler: While the feast of Easter was first celebrated in the second century, it wasn't until Constantine called The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. that a date was officially pronounced. One debate of that Council was whether the observance of Easter should follow the Jewish custom of holding Passover on a weekday or should be on a Sunday. During this Council, it was decided to hold it on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Later the date of March 21 was selected as the vernal equinox. Like so many early Christian holidays, the actual day selected for celebration was as much a political decision as it was a symbolic one. The word Easter is believed to have originated either after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, Eostre or the rising of the sun in the east. Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis ([the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection." 3 Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation." Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Ancient Christians had an alternate explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. 4 Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition. Basicly all christan hollidays are borrowed from other religions. . . which is not to supprising considering thier religion is just an off shoot of another religion (jewish). But the origins of hollidays is quite interesting if you care to look them up I would highly encurage it.

2004-11-20, 15:08	Link #77
Sora_Midori Whach You Lookin at?! Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: In a box under your bed Age: 38	Off Topic (kinda) I get mad when people talk about religion in such a disgusting manner. Religion was basically put on this earth (which is now one piece of disgusting crap) to bring order and spiritual relief to the human soul. No matter what you believe in there is only one God. I personally do not worship any specific religion, I like to explore each one. So far, each religion has one message LOVE and PEACE. Of course I will get negative responses because as humans we only wish to bring negativity to any subject. We thrive on putting blame on everything else but OURSELVES, we thrive on bringing down and breaking down anything that has some form of message of peace. All we want is to be right and superior. But, I believe that our end is near and we will destroy this earth, and it is in progress. Anyways, on the holiday subject, we take anything and try to make money off it. I just hope people start to realize the real message and stop looking at it from other people's point of view. Don't hate any religion, basically don't hate, you'll just bring more hostility to this already torn world.

2004-11-08, 00:18	Link #64
TrueKnight Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004	off topic -to clear things up- Christians and Muslims technically worshipped the same God. But to Muslims, they refer Jesus as a prophet, not as the Son of God or God himself. The Muslims called Jesus by the name of Isa Al-masih if I'm not wrong, and for them he's a prophet who managed to came back to live because of God. topic well, Christians holidays were already commersialized in the past few years, so it;s not a holiday just for Christians anymore, even India, China and Japan celebrates it without even knowing Jesus. I love Christmas because it's the time to spend the time with my family, lover and friends. and well... I'm not a very religous person my self though but I believe it's the birth of Jesus, and I also loved Easter and Thanksgiving. They're da shit. Eggs and Easter Bunnies rules you all. Peace

2004-11-08, 03:17	Link #66
??? Unknown Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Unknown Land Age: 21	As Atheism cures tithing, you’ll get an instant 10% raise in take-home pay. You’re inoculated against Christian suicide cults like People’s Temple or Heaven’s Gate. Those "voices in your head" claiming to be God can now be cured with a pill. Hell becomes as phony as the boogie man. The celestial “Peeping Tom” who watched as you wiped your ass ceases to exist. You realize there are no ghosts or goblins- really! There are not, nor ever have been, any “evil spirits” hiding under your bed at night. Masturbation now cures more anxiety than causes. Premarital sex no longer causes “guilt hangovers” the next morning. You can be honest and really hate those you hate- no more pretend Christian “love”. You can now sleep in on Sunday mornings. If born gay, you no longer have to lie to yourself. Money & hope are not wasted on faith healers. Families are no longer divided over petty religious squabbles. You no longer have to stay married to people you’ve grown to hate. Women don’t have to become “brood mares for Jesus” pumping out those kids. If Catholic, you can now use condoms to prevent infection & death if your spouse has aids. Girls can now abort pregnancies caused by drunken fathers or football teams. If Catholic, you can now intelligently plan your family size via birth control. If Mormon, you can now drink tea, coffee, and coke. If Mormon, you can now give & receive oral sex, and trash the goofy magic underwear. If you were a Fundy, you can now drink a toast with friends at weddings. If you were a Fundy, you’re now allowed to dance and see movies. If you were a Liberal, you can now be honest about your Atheism. When you hit your thumb with a hammer, you can now swear like a sailor. As science advances, you don't have to “circle the wagons” to defend Biblical cosmology. If mugged, rather than turn the other cheek, you’re now allowed to fight back. You can lust as nature intended you to without apologies or self-induced guilt. You can now be rightfully proud of your accomplishments- no more false humility. If you were a Fundy woman, you can use makeup & clothing to look stylish & sexy. You’ll never miss another NFL game due to long winded preachers. If you’re a Catholic priest, you can now have sex with people other than choir boys. If you’re a “nun” you can now get “some”. And you’re now free to think & question without fear of pissing off some insecure deity

2004-11-17, 00:29	Link #69
100demons F-Bomb Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: 6 Feet Under Ground	Do I celebrate Christmas? Hell yes. It's just another opportunity for me to get stuff without having to strong arm.

2004-11-18, 10:44	Link #75
Dhomochevsky temporary safeguard Join Date: May 2004 Location: Germany	argh... come on people, you`re getting this all wrong. Religion (the christian at least) is not about who triggered the big bang, denying science or following some (more or less) stupid habbits. Its about "what happens to me after I die?". Thats the central question and still its not to be answered by science (or the answer would be: "braincells dead - youre gone", which is not satisfying for most people). People fear death, so they prefer to rely on religion to show them an alternative. All those other things youre arguing about all the time here are only minor topics and are handled differently from place to place. At least I didnt ever meet someone who would try to follow ANY of those points ??? likes to post in every thread whenever this topic comes up again. Anyway, I wonder where you get your impressions of church from, this all sounds like you read to many books about medieval times... at least where I live, churches (both catholic and protestants) are very liberal.

2004-11-20, 15:16	Link #78
Edgewalker Nani ? Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Emerald Forest ( yes its a real place. )	christmas isnt entirely a christian holiday . While most of the stuff is christian its really one of those religious melting pot holidays . For instance - decorating trees is a pagan tradition , not a christian one .