Politically (in)correct 11

[Trevoke]

Well, we can discuss this for hours, months, years, eons on end, but let's limit this to the current event : christmas.

Why on earth are people trying to take christmas away from the christians? December 25th *IS* christmas, and sorry to break it to you all, PC-people, but all these countries, built on christian roots, have a christian tradition.
I don't want to see "Winter break" or "winter holidays" or "whatever".
If you really, really want it to be done properly, remove the holidays altogether, because I really can't see why christians and jews would have off around that time of the year and other people wouldn't, or why people would have off when they don't even believe in the stupid happenings.
Establish a real calendar with all the holidays in the world, make people prove their religious affiliation, and then give off to people specifically for those holidays.
Now the madness is complete.

-Haben sie fosforos?
-No tiengo caballero, but I have un briquet.

 

[Trevoke]

I don't have a solid argument against that, beyond the fact that... Er... Well, I agree with what you're saying, but I think the Bible can easily be both what you describe AND what I describe. It's certainly big enough
Even then, it's more likely that you are correct than me on this one, so I'll add that to my box of "thoughts about which to think". Have a star from me, too.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[tgreer]

Cool.

Enoch Root is in my "favorite literary characters" collection (reference to Trevoke's signature).

Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

 

[CRilliterate]

Roses are Redish,
Violets are Blueish.
If it wasn't for Christmas,
We'd all be Jewish.

 

[strongm]

>the Bible is a coherent "whole", with a definite theme

Sure - but given that the Bible consists of a subset of books selected from a larger pool, and that the subset was deliberately chosen to present a cohesive doctrine this is hardly surprising ...

 

[tgreer]

I could go on and on about canoncity vs. Apocrypha... but won't. I'll just say that for 40 men to collaborate over centuries, in several different languages, to pull together such a complex, interwoven theme... now THAT would be a miracle, wouldn't it?

Even if such a conspiracy were possible, with the goal of presenting a cohesive "doctrine", well, the effort would have been wasted, since mainstream Christianity doesn't base its doctrine on the Bible, not anymore.

If you look at the core shared doctrines (shared across denominations), such as hellfire, Trinity, immortality of the soul, infant baptism - all of these are imports from pagan religions, or are a fusion of Christian principles with Greek philosophy. They aren't found in the Bible.

Throughout history, the story of Christianity is of small groups breaking away from the mainstream religion of the day, based on re-discovering these very same inconsistencies.

This shouldn't be surprising; all the major world's religions have factions and schisms. Judaism as practiced today is more about Rabbinical tradition than the Hebrew scriptures, and Christianity is no longer based on the Greek scriptures, but is what I call an "a la carte" religion: pick and choose what you want to believe, or makes you comfortable.

I know I'm speaking in generalities, and I have no wish to offend any who are truly devout in their beliefs, scholarly in their approach to scripture, and sincere in harmonizing their lives with what they learn. I think such individuals are found in every faith (and indeed with those not officially affiliated with any one faith), but believe them to be in the minority.



Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think this thread has run its course and it's time to move on.

Thank you.

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[CajunCenturion]

I urge anyone who wishes to explore some of these topics further to do so in new threads, but in the appropriate forum.

Please keep in mind that this forum is about language, and there are opportunities for discussions about semantics; however, our sister forum, Squaring The Circle -- Forum1229 -- is more suited to discussions of religious concepts. It is equally imperative in STC that all who participate do so in a civil manner, staying focused on the topic and refrain from sarcasm and other incidentary provocations.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein