Am I out of my mind for finding this offensive?

[graceanne]

Christmas trees symbolize everlasting life (evergreens). St. Nicholas is in the bible...the original santa clause i do believe.

Ok, I'm pretty sure, almost positive that St. Nick isn't in the bible. He was catholic, though. He was a catholic priest of some sort, who gave away his own money to girls for their dowrys, so that they wouldn't have to go into prostitution.

 

[Kajira Callista]

yep you are right...just a saint not in the bible. http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/adx/adnick.html

 

[lorddragonwolf]

That's such bull. I'm a christian, and I've read the bible, and you know who jesus hung out with? It sure wasn't the saved. He hung out with prostitutes, and tax collectors. The scum of their society.

I said most not all. Living in the bible bet i find that most people here have set views and find any talk against the church as being wronge. One reason i am finding it hard to return to church is because of how my pastor in florida acted. He is a good man and helped me when i needed it but he was also under the belief that if it did not invole prayer or bringing people into the church for services than it did not belong.

 

[graceanne]

I said most not all. Living in the bible bet i find that most people here have set views and find any talk against the church as being wronge. One reason i am finding it hard to return to church is because of how my pastor in florida acted. He is a good man and helped me when i needed it but he was also under the belief that if it did not invole prayer or bringing people into the church for services than it did not belong.

See, Christians like that really really get on my nerves. They give all Christians a bad name, and it's not biblical. Did you point out the bible verse where jesus said that we are all part of the body of christ? What it means is that everyone has a different look, and function. Some bring in non-believers, but still others do things like the churches books, and other take care of kids, etc. You get the idea, it's not for everyone to spend all their time preaching to strangers. *sigh*

 

[shy slave]

I said most not all. Living in the bible bet i find that most people here have set views and find any talk against the church as being wronge. One reason i am finding it hard to return to church is because of how my pastor in florida acted. He is a good man and helped me when i needed it but he was also under the belief that if it did not invole prayer or bringing people into the church for services than it did not belong.

LDW That is sad but sadly not uncommon.

When I married for the first time I was 19 and pregnant, married in a Catholic church and priest was lovely. He baptised my first son and a new priest baptised m second son. When i went to the priest a year later and said my marriage was over, the priest said 'Thank God', he had been worried my husband would hit me once too often (I had never confessed my situation, but he was ONLY person to ever spot that i was battered wife). I moved to east anglia and went to church there. The priest in my new parish would not let me take holy communion because I had sinned through divorce.
I ocassionaly went to church after that but felt uncomfortable.
I used to go with a very obviously gay and much older male friend. we would sit in front pew and hold hands it sure confused the hell out of the priest

Anyway I have always been interested in Spirituatlism even before i knew there was a word for it. Used to 'see' people and children when i was only 2 1/2 yrs which freaked my mother out.

Spritualists come in two main factions Christian and non-Christian.
I attended a church (for over ten years) that allows both sets of people in without comment. Their opinion is Jesus is a powerful symbol so whether you believe in the actual man and the Bible is not the issue.
The issue is: do you live your life with the good of others in mind?
If so you are welcome through the doors.

I really felt I belonged to this community, including marrying my second husband there. When i discovered he hasd been seeing the neighbour for longer than we had been married i turned to them for support, sadly they sided with him. Or at least the Revs wife did.
This hurt me so very much that even 1 1/2 yrs on can not feel comfortable in the church and spend time practising Spirtualism/meduimship outside the church as oppose to in it.

For those who confuse Spritualism with Wiccan please do not do this with me in mind. I have strong beliefs that no spell is a good spell due to 'knock-on effects' nor do I believe that we should try to change destiny thriough spells.
My beliefs are focused on understanding our life options through mediumship and prayer and of the giving of 'proof of survival' after death to those who wish it

*gets off soapbox*

Makes me realise people will always be people no matter what religion they use during their life.

 

[Xelebes]

Hmm, my take on the Egypt/England Easter controversy....

As a group, pagan religions tend toward worship and ritual based upon natural cycles and what is observed as properties of the natural world. This is why so many different groups from so many places that had never met each other all seemed to celebrate the solstices and the equinoxes.
Also when looking at pantheistic/polytheistic cultures (those that had more than one god), you see many similarities in what the gods control. It is not that these societies all came from a race of aliens and split off into different groups and decided to keep the gods but change the names; it is because most of those things that are controlled by a deity are central to human life and therefore are considered more important. Most of these things are rather universal to human notice (i.e. the sun, the moon, fertility, war, wisdom, craft, etc) and are shared as values by societies that would never have had a chance to influence each other.
Knowing all of this, I do not find it unbelievable that two thriving cultures like Ancient Egypt and Celtic Britain could not have both had ritual beliefs centered around the hare and the egg. Both are obvious natural symbols of new life and fertility and therefore signs of spring.
As to the origins, I really don't know much about the Easter symbols, though I do know that the word itself is remarkably similar to the word for a sring holiday in another "heathen" belief system. Go figure. As has been stated before, the early Christians took on many symbols and dates from other religions in the name of simpler conversion. It was easy for most pagan cultures to accept the Christian god as one more of many and to accept the fact that other people believed in other gods beyond that. This is one of the many reasons why the Christian missionaries would use the symbols/ritual dates of that culture to bring the Christian life closer to that of the new group of converts-to-be. Once the new god was accepted it was easier to convince the people that that god was the only true god.

As a side note, another tactic was to go to the leader (king) of an area and convince him that Christianity would help keep better control of his kingdom. This was mainly true because the thought of an afterlife where the weak and obedient were rewarded would keep the peasants from revolting against tyrants. Besides it's not like the illiterate populace really knew what the Bible said, they only knew what the leaders and holy men told them. If the king agreed then he could bring his people to convert easier than the missionaries could. This was a particularly good tactic in Germany and Scandinavia.

Yeah, I'm getting long winded.....just one of those days I guess. Thanks for putting up with me.

Disclaimer: No, I do not hate Christians or Christianity. I have many many good friends that are Christians. I do get rather peeved with people that call themselves Christians and then do things that are completely against every tenant in the Bible and think that going to church for an hour or two on Sunday is going to fix it. Hypocrites annoy me. I am not aiming anything I say at the people on this board unless it is specified that way. You are all wonderfully open-minded people and I truly appreciate you for it.

Ok, that is all.

From legends I have heard (mote: legends), there was something about Egyptians arriving in the British Isles. Now, this is very possible as the Greeks have done it (Greek literature has made references to erected stone circles beyond the Pillar of Hercules) and the Romans after them. The legends (again, legends) suppose that the greater areas of the Isles were in fact named after Egyptian nobility that settled there (places with names like Cymru (Wales), Gael (Scotland), Pict (Northern England) and Eire (Ireland). Rough translations have to be made, just like making the connection between Allah and El, here folks.

Not to insinuate that the Celtic languages were greatly influenced greatly by the Egyptian empire (Welsh (Cymraig) is noted to have a lot more Greek roots than German or Roman roots, oddly enough, some examples being hippo -> herffyl)

Granted, your argument still holds a lot of weight here.