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Atheist Attacks on Christmas
Townhall.com ^ | December 11, 2012 | Phyllis Schlafly

Posted on 12/11/2012 6:45:49 AM PST by Kaslin

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To: lentulusgracchus

Christmas is very ‘religious,’ (pagan) just not anything to do with Christ.

The Son of YHVH was not born on the pagan’s day.


21 posted on 12/11/2012 10:00:28 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor
Christians may have done a little PR by scheduling Christmas so close to the Natalis Invicti Solis and the Saturnalia. So call it syncretism. But the depths of religious feeling provoked by Christmas and its joyful and thankful solemnities down the centuries are genuine -- and that is what our enemies propose to mock, belittle, and vilify.

The "Mattress Mac" ad-screamer down the road who thinks Christmas was invented so he could move more bedroom suites is just as much a Christmas secularizer as the ACLU lawyers and prune-faced atheist complainers they rep for.

22 posted on 12/11/2012 10:03:13 AM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: cameraeye
What? If you know G-d's Name, by all means, enlighten me. Because last I heard, when asked, it was, "I AM THAT I AM."

Or,"אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה"

23 posted on 12/11/2012 10:03:13 AM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: MestaMachine

‘God’s’ name is YHVH. (I was-I am-I shall be)


24 posted on 12/11/2012 10:08:00 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor; cameraeye

And I would not dis you for saying that. But I am Orthodox and Orthodox Jews are forbidden to say or write the Tetragrammaton in full. It is usually replaced by Adonai when reading/reciting Torah out loud. So why would someone who claims to have been IN Israel dis me for respecting my own religious tradition?


25 posted on 12/11/2012 10:33:17 AM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: editor-surveyor

This is directly from Hebrew Holy Scripture. Please note the spelling of G-d. First words in the whole Bible.

BERESHIT
(Book of Genesis)
Chapter 1

1
IN THE beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth.
2
Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.


26 posted on 12/11/2012 10:37:02 AM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: editor-surveyor; lentulusgracchus

O’Reilly is stuck in the pagan past; it is the Christians that are done with the christmas myth. December 25 was the birthdate of Tammuz, Jupiter, Mythra, Osiris, and Constantine.

**************

From what I remember of my seminary education, the December 25 Christmas date was originally instituted because of the (admittedly Greek) belief that great people were born/conceived and died on the same day. The traditional understanding was that Jesus was crucified on March 25, so the idea came up that he must have been conceived that day too. Thus, 9 months later, December 25.

Not exactly accurate, but it wasn’t syncretism, and it wasn’t bowing to pagan festivals. The early Christians wanted to celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord, and this was the best ‘guess’ that they had.

I don’t think it really matters where the Earth was in its orbit around the sun. What matters is that the ancient Church chose this time to celebrate God becoming man for our salvation and eternal life. If you want to choose another day, all power to you, but I’m going to hang onto Christmas, if for no other reason than it’s the best time of year to deliver the Gospel, because people are just a bit more receptive, in my experience.


27 posted on 12/11/2012 10:42:45 AM PST by Luircin (Don't like Romney? Blame the conservative circular firing squad.)
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To: MestaMachine

I believe it’s OK to type out the word God. Nobody here will be insulted. No need to block out any letter of that word.


28 posted on 12/11/2012 11:00:24 AM PST by History Repeats (sic transit gloria mundi)
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To: editor-surveyor
Nobody can know the exact date, but the date isn't really important (although I like the concept of Christ supplanting and replacing the old celebrations with His birth).

What is important is the worship and joy associated with His birth and the thankfulness for what Christ has done for mankind. The day doesn't matter. Focus on WHY Christmas is celebrated, rather than on the date which is in essence form over substance.

29 posted on 12/11/2012 11:21:20 AM PST by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Gone Galt, 11/07/12)
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To: History Repeats

It isn’t what you believe that is important. It’s what I believe. But thanks for the comment anyway. Wouldn’t want to insult anyone in retaliation for bring insulted, now, would I?


30 posted on 12/11/2012 11:29:49 AM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: MestaMachine

Wasn’t my intention to insult you by stating that you can spell out the word God. If you took it that way then I owe you an apology. I’ve seen a few who post here use the G-d spelling because they feel they might get censored for saying God. It’s not like FR is a liberal forum where one would be booted for saying positive things about God.


31 posted on 12/11/2012 11:57:11 AM PST by History Repeats (sic transit gloria mundi)
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To: lentulusgracchus

Well the band played “Good King Wenceslas”, one of the orchestras and another band played “Dreidel” twice, and one of them played a “Kwanzaa Carol”.
Jingle Bells,was on the program, of course.
Since this was a middle school presentation we had three orchestras, three bands and a combined chorus.


32 posted on 12/11/2012 12:05:57 PM PST by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
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To: lentulusgracchus

Piquey, piquey, piquey.
Not necessarily. ;-)


33 posted on 12/11/2012 12:09:27 PM PST by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
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To: Slyfox

I completely agree with you. Every atheist I know is actually pouting, and they all celebrate Christmas.
Atheism is immaturity cloaked with the pretense of intellectual superiority.


34 posted on 12/11/2012 12:12:36 PM PST by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
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To: Wyrd bið ful aræd

God says the day does matter.

The word of God gives us a celebration for his son’s birth, the day he came to Tabernacle with us. It was the 15th day of the Biblical month Tishri, which places his birth in September by our calendar.

YHVH doesn’t tell us things that don’t matter. If we ignore the rehearsals that YHVH prescribed, we will not be ready when it isn’t a rehearsal any more. Sukkot is when he will return, but which Sukkot? This is what the parable of the virgins is all about; those that ignore Sukkot, and pretend that he was born on Tammuz’s birthday are the foolish virgins. Do you wish to be one of them?


35 posted on 12/11/2012 12:47:11 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Wiser now

> “Atheism is immaturity cloaked with the pretense of intellectual superiority.” <<

They deserve an Oscar for that role.


36 posted on 12/11/2012 1:05:36 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: MestaMachine

Where do you get the spelling?

In Torah it is spelled out completely, YHVH, and changing Torah is forbidden.


37 posted on 12/11/2012 1:09:53 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor
It is what I was always taught in Cheder since I was a very young child.

Tetragrammaton

In Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is the ineffable name of God, and is not pronounced. In reading aloud of the scripture or in prayer, it is replaced with "Adonai" ("my Lord").

Tetragrammaton

The term tetragrammaton (from Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "four letters") refers to the Hebrew theonym (Hebrew: יהוה) transliterated to the Latin letters YHWH. It is derived from a verb that means "to be", and is considered in Judaism to be a proper name of the God of Israel used in the Hebrew Bible.

The most widely accepted pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is Yahweh, though Jehovah is used in many Bibles, but in few modern ones. The Samaritans understood the pronunciation for the Tetragrammaton to be Iabe. Some patristic sources give evidence to a Greek pronunciation Iao.

As Jews are forbidden to say or write the Tetragrammaton in full, when reading the Torah they use the term Adonai. Christians do not have any prohibitions on vocalizing the Tetragrammaton; in most Christian translations of the Bible, "LORD" is used in place of the Tetragrammaton after the Hebrew Adonai, and is written with small capitals (or in all caps) to distinguish it from other words translated "Lord".
*****************************************************

The original Torah scrolls were not written in Greek. They were translated into Greek by Egyptians. We have so lost sight of who we are and our heritage. And it is so sad.

38 posted on 12/11/2012 1:54:58 PM PST by MestaMachine (It's the !!!!TREASON!!!!, stupid!)
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To: Wiser now
Well the band played “Good King Wenceslas”, one of the orchestras and another band played “Dreidel” twice, and one of them played a “Kwanzaa Carol”.

Ah, Kwanzaa -- of course. My favorite criminal-inspired totally-derivative, racist/rejectionist/separatist holiday. Don't get me started.

Of course, if I were really misanthropic, I'd be out promoting and popularizing Kwanzaa in Norway, and sending back 6 x 15' posters of smiling, happy, platinum-blonde Norwegians celebrating Kwanzaa by lighting their particolored candlesticks. * * * * * * * * * * The two ACLU lawyers must have been alerted about that one carol by some busybody pot-stirrer who, eagle-eyed, spotted the title on the program. Used to be only Baptist Ministers showing up for a debate about Creationism wore black power-suits. Oh, well.

39 posted on 12/11/2012 6:52:08 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: MestaMachine
Some patristic sources give evidence to a Greek pronunciation Iao.

Greeks couldn't transcribe the w and intervocalic or terminal h. In Classical Greek and New Testament Greek, the characters were lacking and the h sound was lacking except at the beginning of a word (spiritus asper, "rough breathing", denoted by a diacritic mark in Byzantine and later Greek), or in conjunction with the Greek r.

Generally speaking, w and intervocalic or terminal -h => *. Even intervocalic s's tended to disappear in Greek; there's epigraphic evidence from one of the Greek dialects of the name of Poseidon being written Poheidwn, with an "h" character being borrowed from some other language/alphabet.

40 posted on 12/11/2012 7:08:55 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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