NakedOnMyChain
Posts: 2431
Joined: 11/29/2004
From: Indiana
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Arpig
you mean like subverting the pagan Yule for christmas and easter, a direct theft from the pagans, the name itself is a bastardisation of the name of a saxon earth godess (if you don't believe me read the Venerable Bede, he said so). The list goes on and on...the early christians subverted the great pagan festivals in order to facilitate the absorption of the illiterate paesantry, to whom the festival and its traditional trappings meant more than to which faceless deity it honoured
I am sorry, but modern Christianity has next to zero resemblance to what Jesus himself preached, even in the 4 very carefully edited gospels that were declared canonical. He was a revolutionary and a cumunalist who taught that there is an individual connection between each person and the godhead, and that there was no such thing as a "Church"...to whit...
"wherever two or more of you are gathered together in my name, that is the house
of the lord"
I am afraid that you and I will never agree on these details, since I happen to try to follow the teachings of the Christ (which are amazingly similar to those of Zoroaster, and to the Bahai) rather than those same teachings as filtered through the Greco-Roman political structure. Christaianity as it is practiced today, while a very worthwhile religion, has almost zero to do with what its purported founder preached and practiced.
I recommend the following book as a basic starting point for your exploration of the truth of the growth and development of the Christian church
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156001411/102-5227799-3052167?v=glance&n=283155
I also recommend King Jesus, by Robert Graves.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374516642/qid=1144383762/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/102-5227799-3052167?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
A somewhat hard to read but very clear exposition how the gospel stories very clearly mirror and suborn the various near eastern myths (including the resurection...Adonis. whose name is hebrew for Lord, was resurected every spring)
The accepted canonical gospels were written by greek theosophs several hundred years after the fact, and each was written so as to promote the religio-political aims of the local community. As divinly revealed inspirational literature they may have some doubtful value, as history they are nearly useless, however as an early example of political propoganda they are invaluable.
I would appologise to those who hold them to be the "gospel" truth, but the truth is those four books were decided on because they presented the least problems for the powers that were in their aim to put an end to the very real threat that Jesus' communalist, millenarian teachings posed to the power structure of the day.
Perhaps you ought to click on my profile. I think somewhere my having an opinion on the subject and my being Christian were confused. It clearly states that I'm a pagan. True, I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I had my differences and I left. I've been a publicly practicing Wiccan for six years now.
Furthermore, I know what the council of Nicaea was all about, and it wasn't just Arianism. These were the lessons that were drilled into my head during years of Catholic schooling and further private research because I find the topic interesting.
To you and Prince Sitri both, I was merely commenting that I found that passage from the article to use an odd and slightly inappropriate turn of phrase. My facts may not have been completely solid, but I do know that "mainstream" Christianity was not the popular idea then that many think it was. If we're going by the "one true" Christian belief structure, it rules out all those who didn't adhere to it, and they were many. I'm including them in my opinion.
< Message edited by NakedOnMyChain -- 4/6/2006 10:06:43 PM >
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~The Cure
"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave."
~The Labyrinth
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