Blaming God, who you say doesn't exist

Almeyda, why do they call it Easter? Have you ever wondered that?What about Jesus's Resurrection suggests the name "Easter"? Nothing that I can think of.Why don't you Google it and find out about the holiday, and come back and tell us what you find?

People decided to have a holidy for Jesus' birth, but nobody has any idea on what day He was born (although it's pretty certain He was not born in midwinter; shepherds don't herd flocks in fields in midwinter). So they decided to hold it on the same day as the Romans celebrated the birth of Mithra, the Jesus-equivalent of Mithraism, which happened during the Saturnalia, which in turn was a time for drinking and celebration and many pagan festivities.So, whether or not Jesus existed and whatever his impact on people, Christmas is celebrated because traditionally December 25th is Mithras' birthday (interestingly, some elements of the Jesus stories appear to be modeled on the earlier Mithras stories) and to "take over" the pagan Saturnalia.See The Real Story of Christmas: Saturnalia, which includes:

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By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion. On Christmas, believers attended church, then celebrated raucously in a drunken, carnival-like atmosphere similar to today's Mardi Gras. Each year, a beggar or student would be crowned the "lord of misrule" and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects.

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What about "man". Do you know where that is derived from. "Manu", "Noe", "Noah". All countries have a similar so called flood "myth". Now ofcourse, I don't want to argue the flood and whether it happened.Fact is that most people believe the Jesus account as true because of his words and actions. Nobody has quite impressed me in the least, and I doubt that man could have "thought up" a Christ character when he is so incapable of such a thing. We can make many characters, but take a look at Jesus and you just know he's a unique and genuine article. The things he did are literally unfathomable, like God is described as. Many people will continue to believe because they just know that out of all the bullony in the world, this guy is the real deal. That's what we believe anyway. And the historical/faithful Jesus are the same guy.

Okay. I think I finally see the light.Congratulations Almeyda. You did great. You really had me going and for quite a while too. I was really convinced that you meant some of the stuff you've been posting instead of just pulling our collective legs.You went too far though with this one. I finally caught you. Nobody could post that quote seriously as evidence of anything.You were doing good until this one but you went too far.On the off chance though that I'm wrong (but I really doubt it) I'll answer those questions as though they were asked seriouosly.Christmas and Easter were both fairly resent additions to the Christian calendar. They were adaptations of pagan holidays revolving around winter and spring. Both were just added to help attract converts to the growing faith.And as to the calendar. First, many peoples even today use secondary (or even primary) claendar {edited-for claendar read calendar} based on other systems. The Jewish calendar is moon based instead of solar and dates from the beginning of Jewish mythology. That's why I always thought Bishop Usher was such a dork. He didn't have to calculate when he thought the world began. All he had to do was ask any Jew. They would have told him. The general use of AD and BC was adopted by the Europeans and it has been continued because a common calendar is good for business. Without a common calendar, commerce would be nearly impossible. Since Christians were promoting most of the commerce that lead to what we call Western Culture, the calendar they used was the one adopted. But it is not something the whole world agrees on. There are still many rival calendars out there.This message has been edited by jar, 06-17-2004 11:02 AM

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

In addition to jar's comments, keep in mind that many have abandoned 'AD' in favor of 'CE' for 'Christian Era' - thus acknowledging the calendar is based on Christian belief without acknowledging the existence of Christ as historical figure or messiah.Also, think about the countless religious texts out there that describe religous figures and deities. Did all of those figures/deities exist because the religious documentation says so? Absolutely not - and I'm guessing you don't think that every god ever written about existed in the flesh or otherwise... It appears to be a selected belief (faith) in the religious history you ascribe to.