education time
heres some stuff on jesus,christmas,and Saturnalia
Classical humanism is not the secular humanism of the 20th century. Unfortunately (for the Church Fathers) the Bible didn't say what they wanted to hear when read as written. (Jesus was too Jewish) Because terms such as Original Sin and Trinity don't even exist and were never mentioned by Jesus, many would declare reason must be rejected and their self-revelations (spiritualism) must overrule reason. But by rejecting all humanism and reason, they rejected not only all learning, science, and freedom, but Jesus message of love and His humanity as well. The end result was the Dark Ages and the murder of millions.
The appeal of Christianity was related to a corresponding shift in cultural emphasis-a movement from reason to emotion and revelation. Offering comforting and simplistic solutions to the existential problems of life and death, revealed religion and mysticism demonstrated a greater capacity to stir human hearts than reason did. Hellenism had invented the tools of rational thought, science, and democracy, but the power of mythical (Eastern religion) was never entirely subdued. By the Late Roman Empire, science and philosophy were unable to compete with mysticism and myth.
The West today seems to be going through a similar cycle. New Age religion, the occult, and other pseudo-religious systems such as environmentalism (closet paganism) along with the usual Eastern religion has gained ground while Christian conservatives and 20th secular humanists battle it out for control. The delicate balance of classical humanism and Judeo-Christian thought, the basis of civilized society in the West, is under assault. Christianity and classical humanism must balance or we are threatened by the very irrational forces the plunged the West into Dark Ages.
The biblical tradition places Jesus' birth in Palestine at the town of Nazareth "in the days of Herod, king of Judea" (Lk. 1:5). We do know that Herod reigned from 40 BCE to his death in 4 BCE, so Jesus was born no later than 4 BCE and possibly earlier. Under Emperor Justinian, in 354 CE, the Church set the birth of Christ at December 25; however, this was most certainly not Jesus' real birth date. In ancient Rome December 25 was the last day of the pagan Saturnalia midwinter festival (called the "birthday of the unconquered") which celebrated the sun's new birth from its solstice.
During his life, Jesus taught primarily in Galilee, a small agricultural region north of Jerusalem. Jesus lived in a peasant society during a time of great social turmoil between the colonialization of Palestine in 63 BCE by Rome to the devastation of the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 CE). Violent revolts, banditry, uprisings, and Roman colonial oppression were the norm and many popular religious movements sprung up during this time in response to the social crises. Jesus was one such figure who gained a reputation during his life as both a miracle-worker and a wisdom teacher. By being declared a king by others (or declaring himself a king) Jesus was found guilty of treason against the Emperor under the Lex Juliana. Thus, Jesus was crucified by the fifth Roman procurator of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, who reigned from 26-36 CE before being dismissed by Syrian governor Vitellius for a bloody encounter with a Samaritan prophet and his followers. From this information we know that Jesus was probably born no later than 4 BCE and must have died no later than 36 CE. Like Socrates, Jesus left no writings behind. Everything that Jesus taught had to be preserved orally by those who knew him when he was alive. This body of teaching was transmitted among those early adherents of the Jesus movement by oral tradition.
A Palestinian Jew named Jesus was executed by the Roman authorities during the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), who was Augustus’ successor. At the time, few people paid much attention to what proved to be one of the most pivotal events in world history. In the quest for the historical Jesus, scholars have stressed the importance of both his Jewishness and the religious ferment that prevailed in Palestine in the first century B.C. Jesus’ ethical teachings are rooted in the moral outlook of Old Testament prophets and, says Andrew M. Greeley, a student of religion, must be viewed as a logical extension of the Hebrew Scriptures . .a product of the whole religious environment of which Jesus was a part. Jesus defined himself as a Jew, was highly conscious of the Jewishness of his message and would have found it impossible to conceive of himself as anything but Jewish.1
The teachings of Jesus, then, must be placed squarely in the Jewish religious context of the time.
In the first century B.C., four principal social, religious parties or sects existed among the Palestinian Jews: Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots. Composed of the upper stratum of Jewish society-influential landed gentry and hereditary priests who controlled the temple in Jerusalem-the Sadducees insisted on a strict interpretation of Mosaic Law and the perpetuation of temple ceremonies. Challenging the Sadducees, the Pharisees adopted a more flexible attitude toward Mosaic Law; the Pharisees allowed for discussion and varying interpretations of the Law and granted authority to oral tradition as well as to written Scripture.
Now i have some questions i want everybody who comments to answer to the best of their ability.
1.If jesus died for everyone's sins and not believeing in jesus is a sin...wouldn't a non christian go to heaven(or any other blissful place in the afterlife) anyway?
2.If jesus had a son he'd be jewish...and when your jewish you dont take jesus into your heart or believe in him as your savior...so would jesus's son go to hell?
3.from the information above and from what you know...why is christmas on dec 25 if its supposed to celebrate jesus's birthday and jesus was born either in fall or march?
4.why did the anglo-saxon church of england depict jesus as a white man when historically he was either olive skinned or black(some historians even say his hair was curly rather than straight)?
heres a funny story...i asked a preacher of christianity this question....
If there was a non-christian man who helped everybody,came up with a cure for cancer and aids,donated all of his money to various charities, and made world peace....and then there was Adolf Hitler...who killed 11,000,000 people(INCLUDING CHRISTIANS!) who later changed his views and began to worship jesus...which one would go to heaven and which one would go to hell?
so the woman says the following...
Hitler would go to heaven and the good man would go to hell
I AM SORRY TO ALL THE HARDCORE CHRISTIANS OUT THERE...BUT THAT PHILOSOPHY IS BULLSHIT IN MY VIEW!
when one commits genocide and goes to heaven i can't help but feel irritated...but hey...thats just me...maybe god or whoever is in charge wanted 11,000,000 people to die and be tortured...noone knows for sure...but i can't stress enough how pissed i would be if i saw hitler in heaven...or for that matter...osama bin laden,sadam hussein,fadel castro,ganghas kahn,Stallin,or any other tyrannical figures...call me crazy but i don't believe one who causes woe or suffering should be rewarded...but hey...yah never know.
well plans over break include
seeing "Darkness"
band practice(finally have all the equipment...i think?)
Going to the bowling lockin at finnegins from sunday to monday
growny's project
research paper crap
if you want to hang out give me a holla holla...
MERRY CHRISTMAS
MERRY SATURNALIA
HAPPY KWANZAA(which i believe starts tomorrow)
well leave a comment and answer my 4 questions pleasee...pace niggas.
Classical humanism is not the secular humanism of the 20th century. Unfortunately (for the Church Fathers) the Bible didn't say what they wanted to hear when read as written. (Jesus was too Jewish) Because terms such as Original Sin and Trinity don't even exist and were never mentioned by Jesus, many would declare reason must be rejected and their self-revelations (spiritualism) must overrule reason. But by rejecting all humanism and reason, they rejected not only all learning, science, and freedom, but Jesus message of love and His humanity as well. The end result was the Dark Ages and the murder of millions.
The appeal of Christianity was related to a corresponding shift in cultural emphasis-a movement from reason to emotion and revelation. Offering comforting and simplistic solutions to the existential problems of life and death, revealed religion and mysticism demonstrated a greater capacity to stir human hearts than reason did. Hellenism had invented the tools of rational thought, science, and democracy, but the power of mythical (Eastern religion) was never entirely subdued. By the Late Roman Empire, science and philosophy were unable to compete with mysticism and myth.
The West today seems to be going through a similar cycle. New Age religion, the occult, and other pseudo-religious systems such as environmentalism (closet paganism) along with the usual Eastern religion has gained ground while Christian conservatives and 20th secular humanists battle it out for control. The delicate balance of classical humanism and Judeo-Christian thought, the basis of civilized society in the West, is under assault. Christianity and classical humanism must balance or we are threatened by the very irrational forces the plunged the West into Dark Ages.
The biblical tradition places Jesus' birth in Palestine at the town of Nazareth "in the days of Herod, king of Judea" (Lk. 1:5). We do know that Herod reigned from 40 BCE to his death in 4 BCE, so Jesus was born no later than 4 BCE and possibly earlier. Under Emperor Justinian, in 354 CE, the Church set the birth of Christ at December 25; however, this was most certainly not Jesus' real birth date. In ancient Rome December 25 was the last day of the pagan Saturnalia midwinter festival (called the "birthday of the unconquered") which celebrated the sun's new birth from its solstice.
During his life, Jesus taught primarily in Galilee, a small agricultural region north of Jerusalem. Jesus lived in a peasant society during a time of great social turmoil between the colonialization of Palestine in 63 BCE by Rome to the devastation of the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 CE). Violent revolts, banditry, uprisings, and Roman colonial oppression were the norm and many popular religious movements sprung up during this time in response to the social crises. Jesus was one such figure who gained a reputation during his life as both a miracle-worker and a wisdom teacher. By being declared a king by others (or declaring himself a king) Jesus was found guilty of treason against the Emperor under the Lex Juliana. Thus, Jesus was crucified by the fifth Roman procurator of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, who reigned from 26-36 CE before being dismissed by Syrian governor Vitellius for a bloody encounter with a Samaritan prophet and his followers. From this information we know that Jesus was probably born no later than 4 BCE and must have died no later than 36 CE. Like Socrates, Jesus left no writings behind. Everything that Jesus taught had to be preserved orally by those who knew him when he was alive. This body of teaching was transmitted among those early adherents of the Jesus movement by oral tradition.
A Palestinian Jew named Jesus was executed by the Roman authorities during the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), who was Augustus’ successor. At the time, few people paid much attention to what proved to be one of the most pivotal events in world history. In the quest for the historical Jesus, scholars have stressed the importance of both his Jewishness and the religious ferment that prevailed in Palestine in the first century B.C. Jesus’ ethical teachings are rooted in the moral outlook of Old Testament prophets and, says Andrew M. Greeley, a student of religion, must be viewed as a logical extension of the Hebrew Scriptures . .a product of the whole religious environment of which Jesus was a part. Jesus defined himself as a Jew, was highly conscious of the Jewishness of his message and would have found it impossible to conceive of himself as anything but Jewish.1
The teachings of Jesus, then, must be placed squarely in the Jewish religious context of the time.
In the first century B.C., four principal social, religious parties or sects existed among the Palestinian Jews: Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots. Composed of the upper stratum of Jewish society-influential landed gentry and hereditary priests who controlled the temple in Jerusalem-the Sadducees insisted on a strict interpretation of Mosaic Law and the perpetuation of temple ceremonies. Challenging the Sadducees, the Pharisees adopted a more flexible attitude toward Mosaic Law; the Pharisees allowed for discussion and varying interpretations of the Law and granted authority to oral tradition as well as to written Scripture.
Now i have some questions i want everybody who comments to answer to the best of their ability.
1.If jesus died for everyone's sins and not believeing in jesus is a sin...wouldn't a non christian go to heaven(or any other blissful place in the afterlife) anyway?
2.If jesus had a son he'd be jewish...and when your jewish you dont take jesus into your heart or believe in him as your savior...so would jesus's son go to hell?
3.from the information above and from what you know...why is christmas on dec 25 if its supposed to celebrate jesus's birthday and jesus was born either in fall or march?
4.why did the anglo-saxon church of england depict jesus as a white man when historically he was either olive skinned or black(some historians even say his hair was curly rather than straight)?
heres a funny story...i asked a preacher of christianity this question....
If there was a non-christian man who helped everybody,came up with a cure for cancer and aids,donated all of his money to various charities, and made world peace....and then there was Adolf Hitler...who killed 11,000,000 people(INCLUDING CHRISTIANS!) who later changed his views and began to worship jesus...which one would go to heaven and which one would go to hell?
so the woman says the following...
Hitler would go to heaven and the good man would go to hell
I AM SORRY TO ALL THE HARDCORE CHRISTIANS OUT THERE...BUT THAT PHILOSOPHY IS BULLSHIT IN MY VIEW!
when one commits genocide and goes to heaven i can't help but feel irritated...but hey...thats just me...maybe god or whoever is in charge wanted 11,000,000 people to die and be tortured...noone knows for sure...but i can't stress enough how pissed i would be if i saw hitler in heaven...or for that matter...osama bin laden,sadam hussein,fadel castro,ganghas kahn,Stallin,or any other tyrannical figures...call me crazy but i don't believe one who causes woe or suffering should be rewarded...but hey...yah never know.
well plans over break include
seeing "Darkness"
band practice(finally have all the equipment...i think?)
Going to the bowling lockin at finnegins from sunday to monday
growny's project
research paper crap
if you want to hang out give me a holla holla...
MERRY CHRISTMAS
MERRY SATURNALIA
HAPPY KWANZAA(which i believe starts tomorrow)
well leave a comment and answer my 4 questions pleasee...pace niggas.