Christ never asked us to have Christmas in remembrance of him.

He asked us to have communion.

... it's a good bet that the reich wingers would kill Him for being a "subversive" and a threat to their social order.

The world really is no different than it was then, except that those who profess to believe in him would probably be some of the executioners as they have built a version of the Christ that is not what the person of Jesus was like according to the Gospels.

read about the Pharasiee's in the gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Remind you of someone don't they? *sigh*

It is my opinion that the fundies either do not read very well, or chose to ignore the New Testament.

:wtf:

This year, that fell on October 18th.

Why do they hate Jesus so much that they forget his birthday?

We celebrated Fitzmas around that time didn't we?

And I have communion

I also celebrate Christmas.

It is my right, just as it may be your right to not celebrate Christmas.

Peace

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

I'm just saying that just because Christ never said to have Christmas doesn't mean that it is somehow wrong to celebrate it.

That's what I keep saying. The host Lionel is talking about this now. And yes, if he wanted us to remember his birth (us as in Christians like myself) he would've said so but he only said his death and resserrection which is the purpose of Communion. Of course I have had some other Christians tell me I remember my family members birthday so why not Jesus? Doy. I remember Jesus throughout my life since I am a believer and everytime I worship.

"Do this in remberance of me" has to do with the symbolic act of joining with him in communion, becoming one with him. he never said 'Go crazy in a retailing frenzy, spending yourself into debt for worhthless crap."

It has also unfortunately become the cornerstone of the retail sector of our economy.

I like the idea of celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, but I also like giving and receiving gifts.

So what does that make me?

Even though most of the Passover customs are themselves taken from Pagan traditions, it's at least something Jesus actually did.

If it wasn't for my kids I'd blow the whole damn thing off.

that we should all vote for Bush.

Remember?

Oh, yeah. That's right. You didn't know, because Jesus doesn't talk to God-hating liberals like you.



:evilgrin:

Back in the latter days of the Roman Empire, when Christians were moving from being a persecuted cult to a mainstream religion, one of the obstacles to their gaining more converts--and keeping the converted from backsliding--were the traditional pagan holidays.

In December, Romans celebrated the birth of Saturn. It was a great mix of gift giving, rowdiness, religion and fun that lasted for about a week.

The Christians had nothing to compete with it and the church fathers must have been irked at seeing their converts going through the streets shouting "Io Saturnalia"

Total serious devotion does not a mass religion make--and going with the idea that if you can't beat them join them--they basicly grabbed most of the Saturnalia customs and adapted the celebration to the birth of Jesus--I mean who the hell knew when he was born anyway.

Jesus seems to have been a pretty tolerant guy for his historical period but I'm not sure how, as a religious Jew, he'd like seeing his birth being linked to these pagan customs.

If so, I find that totally disgusting.

Christ died for all of us. He made the sacrifice. So of course we should honor his birthday.

I don't know how Christmas started out as being about Christ's birth, to all this material stuff.

I find it very disturbing.

But nice job igniting a straw man

....He said, " Eat me!"