Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [RELIGION] Good christians celebrating pagan holidays...

["Christian M. Cepel" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I've always just considered it common knowledge and frankly a little 
worthless to dwell on.  I have however wished we that we would some day 
see the wisdom of trying to alter the dates of these celebrations to try 
to approximate their true dates.  Even so, it would just be 
approximations.  We know of certain 'hints' towards dates based on 
things like growing seasons of palm fronds, gestation & breeding seasons 
of donkeys, (fortunately, passover is a bit more pinned down), whether 
or not at X time of year there would be shepherds in the hills keeping 
watch on their flocks by night, etc.  We know I believe fairly vaguely 
that the wisemen never saw Jesus in the manger, but well after, etc. 
The gospels aren't always clear and sometimes conflict, and there's not 
as much overlap as one would like on details like shepherds, angles, 
stars, wisemen, Herod, little drummer boys (kidding), etc.  Each gospel 
reflects the 'view' of men with vastly different world views, and 
priorities, and their accounts reflect those views.

As far as things being on pagan holidays specifically.... if one were to 
try to apologize for all the rubbish the Catholic church has pulled over 
the last two millennial, one would be apologizing pretty much non-stop.

In one sense, it was a very good PR/Propaganda/Manipulation strategy. 
In another sense, people aren't the ignorant sheep they were back then 
and are quick to see the dichotomy.

The fact remains that Atheists/Agnostics gleefully trot out little 
'factoids' like this over and over and think that it will disrupt our 
world/worldview and undermine our foundation.  That's simply because 
they don't understand that we don't, or should not have a worldview, but 
a heaven view, and things like this aren't all that important.  We are 
supposed to be in this world, but not of it.

Clive Staples Lewis...

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can 
satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another 
world."

--Mere Christianity
Rick Buford wrote:
> This one's been bugging me since I first heard it, so I did a (very) 
> little digging...
>
> Many of today's widely celebrated Christian holidays, over which much 
> debate has raged regarding nativity scenes and "Christian" decorations, 
> were at one time pagan holidays that were adapted to Christian use to 
> make the conversion of pagan to Christian more palatable.
>
> Christmas:
> http://de.essortment.com/christmaspagan_rece.htm
> http://www.origin-of-christmas.com/
>
> Easter:
> http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm
>
> So, my question/discussion point is: how do Christians feel about the 
> fact that many of the traditions widely accepted as "Christian" ones 
> appear to have been adopted from pagan religions?
>
>
> On a side note, I ran across this little pebble that I was previously 
> unaware of:
> http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr.htm
>
> Rick


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