Christ had nothing to with Christmas and its a pagan holiday?!? Nimrod related.

[Rick Otto]

I'm curious how Mithras can have a birthday when he wasn't born. I don't just mean he wasn't born in real space-time, but I mean his mythology. According to the mythology, he wasn't born, instead he emerged, fully formed, from solid rock.

-CryptoLutheran

Same way Jesus can have a birthday party" when birthday parties are based on the astrological significance of the day & hour of birth, & the same way angels celebrating can be construed as a "party".

Ya just need some imagination & a "holy" purpose like hijacking a pagan feast day.

 

[Eph4:26]

The unintended consequences of merging Christian Holiday's with pagan archetypes 350 years and later after the birth of a historical Jesus, is that the old stain of paganism isn't going to wash out of the new and improved Theology of Christmas.

 

[Rick Otto]

The unintended consequences of merging Christian Holiday's with pagan archetypes 350 years and later after the birth of a historical Jesus, is that the old stain of paganism isn't going to wash out of the new and improved Theology of Christmas.

I totaly agree, accusations of "parallelomania" aside.

 

[Tzaousios]

You are running away from the truth.

No, I am right here. However, I do understand the need or desire to interpret truth in the way that meshes best with one's presuppositions, as well as to support others who do the same. Standing Up no doubt thanks you for your service.

Her whole post is an ad hom on Protestants, clumsy as an attempt it may be. Protestants are a mess interpreting scripture wrong because 'they refuse to admit that what they believe influences their interpretation'...

Here you are doing the exact same thing -- reconfiguring what was said so that it appears to be an "ad hom" rather than a valid critique of methodology. She is exactly right in that Protestants notoriously refuse to admit to interpretation, first of all, and secondly, to try separate interpretation from presuppositions, whether intentionally or not. It is a tactic that is not lost on those who have seen it in action and take note.

Obviously the RCC/EO split took a back seat once the common enemy of Reformation arrived. But that neither resolves or excuses the schism.

You know very well that there have been many historical attempts to heal the schism. That they have been unsuccessful does not mean that you should ignore them having taken place in order to score rhetorical points.

Attention is diverted from their own "mess" of different interpretations.

I understand, as well as others, I am sure, that you have chosen to accept which interpretations you would like to believe, and that they must by necessity appear as less of a mess than those that you reject.

 

[Tzaousios]

I totaly agree, accusations of "parallelomania" aside.

It is good that you have noticed Parallelomania in all of this, Rick. Now, does that mean that you have also noticed that Sandmel has a very good point, despite the fact that you must reject it out of necessity because you agree with the Christmas naysayers and their presuppositions concerning Roman Catholicism?

 

[MoreCoffee]

The vigil mass at Christmas 2012 (In Saint Peter's basilica, the Vatican).

Vatican Radio - Player

Choose English as your Language (top right button) and then click the "Video on demand" tab shown in the image area to play.

 

[Eph4:26]

The vigil mass at Christmas 2012 (In Saint Peter's basilica, the Vatican).

Vatican Radio - Player

Choose English as your Language (top right button) and then click the "Video on demand" tab shown in the image area to play.

--retracted--

I momentary got distracted from the off-topic post.

 

[Tzaousios]

tasty SPAM

I am surprised at you. You mean that you are not going to take it as the perfect opportunity to point out pointy Dagon hats, expensive vestments, and Asherah poles?

 

[MoreCoffee]

The vigil mass at Christmas 2012 (In Saint Peter's basilica, the Vatican).

Vatican Radio - Player

Choose English as your Language (top right button) and then click the "Video on demand" tab shown in the image area to play.

I am surprised at you. You mean that you are not going to take it as the perfect opportunity to point out pointy Dagon hats, expensive vestments, and Asherah poles?

It is a very lovely mass. The last Christmas celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI as reigning Pope. I miss him in many ways, he was such a good teacher of the faith.

Yet, God has given to us Francis, and long may he reign in God's grace and for the betterment of the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you read Pope Francis' encyclical? It is called LUMEN FIDEI - it may be read by clicking this ink.

May God keep and bless you brother Tzaousios.
-----

The light of Faith: this is how the Church’s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus. In John’s Gospel, Christ says of himself: "I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (Jn 12:46). Saint Paul uses the same image: "God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts" (2 Cor 4:6). The pagan world, which hungered for light, had seen the growth of the cult of the sun god, Sol Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise. Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of casting its light on all of human existence. The sun does not illumine all reality; its rays cannot penetrate to the shadow of death, the place where men’s eyes are closed to its light. "No one — Saint Justin Martyr writes — has ever been ready to die for his faith in the sun".[1] Conscious of the immense horizon which their faith opened before them, Christians invoked Jesus as the true sun "whose rays bestow life".[2] To Martha, weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus said: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (Jn 11:40). Those who believe, see; they see with a light that illumines their entire journey, for it comes from the risen Christ, the morning star which never sets.
...​

 

[Eph4:26]

I am surprised at you. . .

I'm surprised at myself, too.


Now . . back to the topic.

 

[Rhamiel]

The unintended consequences of merging Christian Holiday's with pagan archetypes 350 years and later after the birth of a historical Jesus, is that the old stain of paganism isn't going to wash out of the new and improved Theology of Christmas.

what pagan theology is in Christmas?

 

[Eph4:26]

By definition, there is no such thing as a 'pagan theology'.

Theology (from Greek Θεός meaning "God" and λογία, -logy, meaning "study of") is the systematic and rational study of concepts of God and their influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.[1]


Theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I've come to define the theology of Christmas to be based on a combination of an oral tradition passed down from the previous generation; feelings of melancholy and euphoria; a faith in Christmas is right because an organized religious institute says so; and secular society accepts it.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Getting an early start. 108 days to go!
Christmas Countdown 2013 - Find out how many days until Christmas 2013

I always look forward to the battle on Christmas

http://www.christianforums.com/t7614249-16/
The War On Christmas. It's On!!!!



.

 

[Rev Randy]

I always look forward to the battle on Christmas

http://www.christianforums.com/t7614249-16/
The War On Christmas. It's On!!!!



.

I guess, tis the season for the war.I'd engage in this thread more but I'm too busy fashioning my Christmas pole.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I guess, tis the season for the war.I'd engage in this thread more but I'm too busy fashioning my Christmas pole.

I've been busy looking up recipes to bake a delicious Mithraic birthday cake. As is customary.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[MoreCoffee]

I've been busy looking up recipes to bake a delicious Mithraic birthday cake. As is customary.

-CryptoLutheran

chuckle

I think I'll leave the poll out and the cakes are good but easier to buy than to bake.

I reckon I'll stick with mass. some folk think that's pagan anyway

I wonder if they know that "mass" comes from a Latin word from which we get our English "Dismiss"?

 

[ViaCrucis]

I wonder if they know that "mass" comes from a Latin word from which we get our English "Dismiss"?

We all know that "mass" comes from the Egyptian-Babylonian word meaning "Nimrod is awesome", and something-or-other about sun disk wafers.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[MoreCoffee]

We all know that "mass" comes from the Egyptian-Babylonian word meaning "Nimrod is awesome", and something-or-other about sun disk wafers.

-CryptoLutheran

Many chuckles

Ite missa est. Is the concluding phrase for the mass, it is from "missa" that we get the English word "mass".

The phrase means "The mass is ended".

Mind you, I am sure somebody will think that something fishy is going on and that somehow there is a reference to something pagan in those words

 

[ViaCrucis]

Many chuckles

Ite missa est. Is the concluding phrase for the mass, it is from "missa" that we get the English word "mass".

The phrase means "The mass is ended".

Mind you, I am sure somebody will think that something fishy is going on and that somehow there is a reference to something pagan in those words

Careful about using the word "fishy", pretty soon there'll be talk about "Dagon fish hats".

Interestingly, Lutherans never seemed to shy away from using the word Mass, indeed the Augustana affirms explicitly that we have not done away with the Mass and that we, indeed, keep it. Though the use of the term "Divine Service" is also used.

I don't particularly understand the obsession of "Hislopian" sorts. The natural conclusion of Hislop's methodology seems to be Jesus Mythism. Though I doubt it ever becomes that for many, it always seems to stop short of questioning one's own sect's traditions.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[MoreCoffee]

Careful about using the word "fishy", pretty soon there'll be talk about "Dagon fish hats".

Interestingly, Lutherans never seemed to shy away from using the word Mass, indeed the Augustana affirms explicitly that we have not done away with the Mass and that we, indeed, keep it. Though the use of the term "Divine Service" is also used.

I don't particularly understand the obsession of "Hislopian" sorts. The natural conclusion of Hislop's methodology seems to be Jesus Mythism. Though I doubt it ever becomes that for many, it always seems to stop short of questioning one's own sect's traditions.

-CryptoLutheran

Of course, what fun is there in picking your own scabs ... unless one has some kind of emotional/behavioural condition.