Re: Of Reason and Faith
Brad, first off I wasn't calling anyone uneducated... I said Pagan meant uneducated, but what I perhaps should've said that the word Pagan denoted one as being uneducated.. because the word paganus means country people, or if taken into context more like a country bumkin. So it's not an insult, but it has similar conotations to the word hillbilly... and in Biblical times, the word Pagan, again was simply used to describe non-believers or people who were not well versed in Jewish law. I was not insulting anyone... so I see no reason for you to be mad about that. Unless you're just mad about the word itself...
As for Christmas being the only holiday celebrated in the West, that would be because it is a Western holiday... you think if you went to an Islamic nation they would celebrate Christmas? No way... and it is for the same reason we don't practice holidays from Muslim and Indian traditions... because those are not Western holidays. Heck the o nly reason people here in Vancouver celebrate Chinese New year is because there are so many of us the festivities always happen... and they're almost impossible to ignore! As for Atheists celebrating Christmas, they are not celebrating Christmas as the birth of Christ... they are celebrating it as another holiday to get together with friends an family, share gifts and sing songs. So again... I don't see what the problem is. Ignorance of the significance, intentional or not, doesn't mean they're defiling the holiday. In Japan and Korea, for instance, unless you are a Christian family christmas is a day for couples to go out and spend time together, much like Valentine's day is here. I don't agree with it... but such is life.
Bashue, I'm not quite sure what the intent of those three links were... there was a lot to read and I'm still wrapping my head around it. lol but I can say for sure that history is not repeating itself if you th ink that Jesus and Mary are any way related to Isis and Horus... or that Braman, Brama, Vishnu and Shiva are all different incarnations of the same Godhead. this is simply not true... because the characteristics between the various beliefs are too different. Jesus is truly divine and also truly human, fully... and Mary is not venirated as a Goddess given the same status as God unless you are in certain parts of the Roman catholic world. And the bible's objective is not to proove the existence of God... but as a faximily of words that were God-inspired, whether borrowed from other influences or originally penned. Your last article about various near eastern influences can only be applied to the old testament or Hebrew Bible, not the new as the language then changes. I actually took a course on this in college last semester, and it was very interesting to me to learn the inspiration for much of the bible... but I don't see why that hinders the bible itself, not the writings that came before it, from being the inspired word of God.
As for getting along... as I have said before, the intent of this discussion is not to bash anyone's beliefs or to criticize, merely to state what those of us who are Christ followers know to be true. There is no disrespect or offense directed towards anyone, as many of us have already stated. Do I agree with the beliefs you hold? No. But I respect and them for what they are... and find them fascinating to read about and discuss.
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