Originally Posted By utahjosh Sorry, BlueDevilSF, I'm not going to be preaching to you. But to anyone that is interested, I'm going to be preachin' forever!
Originally Posted By utahjosh You really enjoy trying to antagonize me. Sorry, not going to work. I'm too full of the Christmas spirit.
Originally Posted By danyoung >But many of us believe every person needs saving, and we'll do a lot to help teach people about it.< Ahh, but there's the rub, josh. It's one thing for you to want to share your beliefs with others who are interested. It's quite another for a Christian (not neccessarily you, josh) to force feed their religious beliefs on me whether I want to hear or not. And it doesn't matter that it's all done in love - it's all done from the point of thought of the Christian, and the non-Christian doesn't have a say. And that's wrong.
Originally Posted By utahjosh That's life. I get lots of messages I don't want to hear. If an individual tells me they don't want to talk about it, I'll talk about something else. I'm not pushy. But I'll forever encourage talking about Christ. But not in a pushy way. In a nice way.
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF >>You really enjoy trying to antagonize me. Sorry, not going to work. I'm too full of the Christmas spirit.<< Nope. You're making it sound like I'm trying to discourage you from "spreading the word." I wouldn't dream of doing so. I don't tell Mormons -- or people of any faith, really -- what they can or can't do. Shame they can't extend that same courtesy to me and others.
Originally Posted By danyoung >But I'll forever encourage talking about Christ. But not in a pushy way. In a nice way.< Nothing wrong with that. I'm talking about the people who tell me that I'm going to hell unless I believe what they believe. Not cool.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <Nothing wrong with that. I'm talking about the people who tell me that I'm going to hell unless I believe what they believe. Not cool.> Well, I'd never tell you that. Variations on the theme, if you wanted to talk about it, but I woudlnt' want to be rude!
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I'm going to hell becuase I like the plans for the new Fantasyland at WDW.
Originally Posted By utahjosh The new Fantasyland plans are my vision of heaven! Tonight's "Community" touches this hot little topic: <a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/112994/community-shirley%E2%80%99s-holiday-party" target="_blank">http://www.hulu.com/watch/1129...ay-party</a> Can we all agree this is funny?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<I can't see how he would be pleased that so many reject his offer of Salvation while celebrating the feast that was dedicated to his incarnation. Angry? Probably not. Sad? Possibly.>> Since when was Christmas created as "the feast that was dedicated" to Jesus' birth? If the Roman Catholics truly wanted to celebrate Jesus' birthday, they should have started Christmas in warmer months, when the shepherds who supposedly saw the star would have been attending their flocks in the fields. Christmas was placed on Dec 25 because of the Winter Solstice celebration by the pagans. Just as the Franciscan monks hijacked the Celtic high cross and merged it with their own Latin cross to make assimilation easier for the Irish Celts, they also hijacked their winter solstice celebration dates and traditions for Christmas. Decorating an evergreen tree, hanging garlands, exchanging gifts, kissing under the mistletoe... all of these traditions have pagan origins. So it's perfectly acceptable to celebrate Christmas without Jesus. Other religions had been doing it for centuries before the Pope hijacked Mithras' birthday as Jesus' date of birth, so why can't we? I know I do.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Hm, I think Jesus would hate the way his image (and I use that term loosely) is used to sell products, most of them are embarrassingly tacky products, way more than people enjoying Christmas w/o the religious aspect. As a side note, Josh's church doesn't "force" religion on people. It just baptizes them w/o their permission and lets them refuse it in the AFTERLIFE. Aye yi yi.
Originally Posted By mawnck >> It just baptizes them w/o their permission and lets them refuse it in the AFTERLIFE. << Which, since you don't believe in baptism, has no effect whatsoever other than getting the subject soggy ... and towels are provided. So what's your beef?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Agreed, mele. "My religion is better than your religion" rears its ugly head, once again. The ancient winter solstice celebrations were too popular and the pagans refused to stop participating in them, so the Pope hijacked the holiday for his own church. He desperately needed the pagans to adopt HIS religion, so Mithras was pushed out and Jesus was rolled in. Post-mortem baptism is basically more of the same garbage.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Back from the eye of evil (London), talking sex, drugs and Olympics (man, I love my new commission). >>>Yeah, I have no problem celebrating the secular Christmas at all. In fact, my house looks like a department store window. I love decorating, listening to Christmas music, celebrating with family & friends. I just choose to edit out the religious imagery or stories. Considering many of the current holiday traditions are based on pagan ones<<< Funny, when I said this in community as to what I love about Christmas, I was chastised, even someone created a sock puppet to do it.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>That opinion is fine. Nobody is going to force you to believe differently. But many of us believe every person needs saving, and we'll do a lot to help teach people about it.<<< And some of us non christians do something to make it happen in this lifetime. If more people did, the world would be a better place.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<So what's your beef?>> I can't speak for mele, but for me, it's the whole damned attitude. "My religion is better than your religion. I'm closer to god that you'll ever be. I'm saved and you're not. Since you're not saved, you don't matter. And since you don't matter... I'm taking your land. I'm taking your fields. I'm taking your wives and kindred..." and on and on it goes. The planet can no longer survive with self-centered attitudes such as this. This attitude is at the heart of Social Darwinism, which is also destroying the planet. I'm sick of all of it.
