Christ is Risen!

[bigmrg74]

The date is tied very deeply into the natural cycle of decay, rebirth, and renewal. Easter always falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

Some people say the early Christian church tried to "co-opt" the earlier pagan religions by finding ways to use their holidays as its own, others see in it a reflection of Christ's teaching, in which the Ten Commmandments of the Old Testament were updated to the Two Commandments of the New Testament: they are not "co-opting" they are adding a new layer of sophistication over an existing layer of belief in the Divine.

Christmas -- December 25
St. Patricks Day -- March 17
Easter and it's associated holidays - random date based off of the moon with the idea that it will always be on a Sunday.

 

[NorthernLite]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Oh, and another revelation I had this morning.... You guys know when its the best time to fart in church?? When the Choir is singing. Unless its just some total rifle blast coming out, there's nobody that's going to hear it, and unless the choir is really bad or people start dropping from the gas, nobody is going to look around to figure out who dealt it.

Confucius say...."Man who fart in church, must sit in own pew ! "

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Christ is Risen!

A sincerely held belief is no protection from criticism, doubly so if you truly believe in this stuff. You should probably have a good reason or at least a decent understanding of it if you do. Apologetics and semantics games are about as low as you can get when defending a "sincere belief".

I believe what the Bible says because of this: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16).

Interestingly, yes Moses lived to 120, Abraham lived to 175, Isaac to 180 and Adam to 930.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Christ is Risen!

The date is tied very deeply into the natural cycle of decay, rebirth, and renewal. Easter always falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

I've always thought the dating of Easter was wonderful. If you are going to tie your Big Day to something, the heck with arbitrary things like calendars -- tie it to the sun and the moon.

BTW, the Orthodox Easter date is different.

 

[MUnRPI]

Re: Christ is Risen!

A sincerely held belief is no protection from criticism, doubly so if you truly believe in this stuff. You should probably have a good reason or at least a decent understanding of it if you do. Apologetics and semantics games are about as low as you can get when defending a "sincere belief".

How do you use anything but semantics to debate the existence of a higher power?

 

[Kepler]

Re: Christ is Risen!

How do you use anything but semantics to debate the existence of a higher power?

Artillery.

 

[Foxton]

Re: Christ is Risen!

The Jews at the time told stories to make a point, not to exactly state minute facts. They were not meant to be taken literally. We had an Intern Pastor who was a convert from Judiasm. He was the most fascinating guy- he explained a lot of the Bible from the Jewish standpoint. The Bible was written for the Jews at the time so much of the nuance is lost on modern day Christians. To the Jews of the time, and to this time too, alot of what was written made more sense to them. It is supposed to convey the underlying idea, not give minutia. The tree of Life/knowledge symbolized the knowledge of good and evil in more than a superficial way, the '40 days' phrase does not mean 40 days but the equivilent of a long time. The use of many of the numbers was based on tradition and prior stories, to tie things together, not to mean actually that number. This is equivilent to someone trying to translate coloquial English from a thousand years ago. If you lose the context the literal translation doesn't work well. If you know the background of the time it makes much more sense in the telling.

He did a great thing on why Genesis has 3 different versions of the creation story and what the point of each was. My favorite was when he did the one about Jesus driving the demons out of the herd of swine. He started with-"does anyone wonder why Jews were wandering around with a herd of swine? Jews don't do pig."

That's nice, except up until very recently chronologically it was purely literal. Plenty of it is figurative or referential, but there's just as much where they go into great detail on minutia.

Since I used the example earlier, Moses said he was going to the mountain for 40 days, he then went again for exactly 40 days. Specifically 40 days. You might as well be arguing that someone who says they are going to be gone for 2 weeks is really saying they might be gone for 2 days. Or you might just be an annoying english teacher. That doesn't stop it from having a symbolic meaning, but symbolic doesn't mean non-literal. On top of that, which came first? It's not like religious texts have a good track record for not taking over symbols or filling in prophecies after the fact.

I've never heard you provide a credible explanation for why people should behave well toward others.

Simple, humans and many many many other species are social animals need to get along just to survive. Unfortunately all species have also evolved in a time of scarce resources so there are also elements of human psyche that are geared towards warfare, taking what they can, and an us vs. them mentality.

I believe what the Bible says because of this: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16).

Interestingly, yes Moses lived to 120, Abraham lived to 175, Isaac to 180 and Adam to 930.

At least you abide by what your book says. Hopefully you don't work on the sabbath, I hear that carries the punishment of death. Although I'm sure that's one of those inconvenient retconned parts that Jesus got rid of in his offtime.

How do you use anything but semantics to debate the existence of a higher power?

If you must ask such a question, then it's more than likely that such a debate would be lost upon you.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Christ is Risen!

That's nice, except up until very recently chronologically it was purely literal. Plenty of it is figurative or referential, but there's just as much where they go into great detail on minutia.

Wow, I had no idea you were such an accomplished linguist! You've read the texts in their original Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, etc. so that you are sure what you are saying is based on the actual texts and not some considerations with the translations! I am really impressed.

If you must ask such a question, then it's more than likely that such a debate would be lost upon you.

I thank the Lord we are so lucky to have you around to explain things to us. We would be so bereft without your wisdom.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Know why Jesus ruled?

“Jesus waited three days to come back to life. It was perfect! If he had only waited one day, a lot of people wouldn't have even heard he died. They'd be all, "Hey Jesus, what up?" and Jesus would probably be like, "What up? I died yesterday!" and they'd be all, "Uh, you look pretty alive to me, dude..." and then Jesus would have to explain how he was resurrected, and how it was a miracle, and the dude'd be like "Uhh okay, whatever you say, bro..." And he's not gonna come back on a Saturday. Everybody's busy, doing chores, workin' the loom, trimmin' the beard, NO. He waited the perfect number of days, three. Plus it's Sunday, so everyone's in church already, and they're all in there like "Oh no, Jesus is dead", and then BAM! He bursts in the back door, runnin' up the aisle, everyone's totally psyched, and FYI, that's when he invented the high five. That's why we wait three days to call a woman, because that's how long Jesus wants us to wait.... True story.”

--Barney Stinson

 

[Foxton]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Wow, I had no idea you were such an accomplished linguist! You've read the texts in their original Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, etc. so that you are sure what you are saying is based on the actual texts and not some considerations with the translations! I am really impressed.

Impressive how you don't apply this same limp noodle criticism to those who agree with you. But how trivial of you to assume everyone is as ignorant as you or so easily assuaged by childish apologetics.

I thank the Lord we are so lucky to have you around to explain things to us. We would be so bereft without your wisdom.

You are an ugly sinning being who only wants to rebel, so I forgive you.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Impressive how you don't apply this same limp noodle criticism to those who agree with you. But how trivial of you to assume everyone is as ignorant as you or so easily assuaged by childish apologetics.


You are an ugly sinning being who only wants to rebel, so I forgive you.

Every year you pop up in this thread and make a fool of yourself. If you don't believe, good for you. For those who believe, good for them. I don't know who pizzed in your wheaties or made you so obsessed with telling everyone how brilliant and superior you are about the subject of faith (or lack of it) but I do know you lack the ability to express yourself in a way that can be respected. That much bitterness about anything is not healthy.

 

[Scarlet]

Re: Christ is Risen!

I've always thought the dating of Easter was wonderful. If you are going to tie your Big Day to something, the heck with arbitrary things like calendars -- tie it to the sun and the moon.

BTW, the Orthodox Easter date is different.

Yes, I know.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Yes, I know.

Aha! Enjoy your Easter!!!

 

[Kepler]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Impressive how you don't apply this same limp noodle criticism to those who agree with you. But how trivial of you to assume everyone is as ignorant as you or so easily assuaged by childish apologetics.

You are an ugly sinning being who only wants to rebel, so I forgive you.

Every year you pop up in this thread and make a fool of yourself. If you don't believe, good for you. For those who believe, good for them. I don't know who pizzed in your wheaties or made you so obsessed with telling everyone how brilliant and superior you are about the subject of faith (or lack of it) but I do know you lack the ability to express yourself in a way that can be respected. That much bitterness about anything is not healthy.

Hey, it aint Easter without a Judas. Dude's just playing his part in Life's Rich Pageant.

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Impressive how you don't apply this same limp noodle criticism to those who agree with you. But how trivial of you to assume everyone is as ignorant as you or so easily assuaged by childish apologetics.

When I was young, we had a saying about certain people, "They can dish it out but they can't take it."

Typical bully. "No soup for you!"

 

[Kepler]

Re: Christ is Risen!

When I was young, we had a saying about certain people, "They can dish it out but they can't take it."

They were already talking about Sarah Palin when you were young?!

 

[MUnRPI]

Re: Christ is Risen!

If you must ask such a question, then it's more than likely that such a debate would be lost upon you.

*Reads a Christopher Hitchens book* becomes an expert in theology

 

[geezer]

Re: Christ is Risen!

*Reads a Christopher Hitchens book* becomes an expert in theology

lol. that's pretty accurate.

(but Hitchens is (was?) apparently worshipped as a replacement God to these guys, so they really don't see a problem with it.)

It makes me wonder if they think Hitchens really died or not. It could cause them some cognitive dissonance problems if he's actually truly dead.

 

[Foxton]

Re: Christ is Risen!

Every year you pop up in this thread and make a fool of yourself. If you don't believe, good for you. For those who believe, good for them. I don't know who pizzed in your wheaties or made you so obsessed with telling everyone how brilliant and superior you are about the subject of faith (or lack of it) but I do know you lack the ability to express yourself in a way that can be respected. That much bitterness about anything is not healthy.

I don't respect your favorite imaginary friend and as yet no one really wants to talk about anything I say, just how terrible I am for saying it. Ad hominems are fun.

Perhaps you could help me with deciding what is and what isn't literal. Would a good definition to decide be whatever sounds good is literal but bad equals allegory. Maybe even... out of context?
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PK7P7uZFf5o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When I was young, we had a saying about certain people, "They can dish it out but they can't take it."

Typical bully. "No soup for you!"

You sound more like an "I'm rubber and you're glue" kind of kid, mostly because you lack the wit to make any sort of comeback.

*Reads a Christopher Hitchens book* becomes an expert in theology

Having never actually read a Hitchens book that would be rather difficult. I do enjoy his verbal *****slaps though.

lol. that's pretty accurate.

Nope, see above, I don't read Hitchens. What little I have I've found him to be rather dry compared to his public appearances.

(but Hitchens is (was?) apparently worshipped as a replacement God to these guys, so they really don't see a problem with it.)

It makes me wonder if they think Hitchens really died or not. It could cause them some cognitive dissonance problems if he's actually truly dead.

Elvis never did no drugs!

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Christ is Risen!