"Aaron" <anon@home.net> wrote in message news:q8kgj29b3u4k6ub4p0tuku4v02gglhk7kj@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:22:52 -0500, duke <duckgumbo32@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:47:10 -0400, NOspam@no.spam wrote:
>
> Duke since you keep spouting Catholic lies, I can either assume that
> you are intentionally being dishonest to seduce others into damnation
> or that you have been duped by the Whore of Babylon (Catholic Church).
Duped yes by the Whore of Babylon that leads the whole world
astray as leading sheep to the slaughter.
>
> I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are
> simply brainwashed and not able to read the Bible. No one who has
> honestly read the Bible can be a Catholic.
Rcc do not read the bible;
They read Phillospy and Tradition. or the sands of time.
That is why thier house is called the house built on the sand.
M,
>
> Since I am assuming that you are a victim of Catholicism, here is a
> little article on its origins. There is a lot dealing with Christmas
> since it was written when the neo-nazi were faking a "war or
> Christmas" by saying that if any one said "Happy Holidays" they were
> trying to take Christmas away, despite the fact that Catholicism has
> several holidays in December.
>
> PAGANISM
>
> When we first think of Paganism, we think of clearly defined pantheons
> of gods each unique to the country that invented each false religion.
> However, this is not exactly the case. While the false "gods" of the
> pagan religions were invented in various countries, sometimes they
> were modeled after the myths of their neighbors or several might be
> modeled after an older, extinct mythos. In some cases, with the
> formation of empires, different gods that supposedly ruled the same
> aspect of the world were combined. This last scenario became more
> frequent as time went on. The Babylonian, Persian, and Median cults
> were combined in the time of Darius the Meade, Conqueror of Babylon,
> Emperor of Persia, and father of Achashverosh/Xerxes, the Persian king
> in the book of Ester. Later the Roman Empire assimilated religions
> from the Teutons, the Druids, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the
> Babylonian/Persian Empire. While we might first question how the
> people could accept these changes/additions, we must remember that
> they were taught that all religions were valid to some degree.
> Furthermore, no pagan "god" was invented as being solitary to the
> exclusion of the existence of other "gods."
>
> By the Fourth Century when Catholicism was being invented by Emperor
> Constantine and the Council of Nicea, Rome's Paganism had reached its
> most eclectic state ever. The Babylonian cult of Mithra had actually
> moved it central Temple to Vatican Hill in Rome. Mithraism and its
> more romanized version "Sol Invictus" were the fastest growing pagan
> cults in Rome.
>
> One might now ask, "How did this cult begin?" It began thousands of
> years earlier with the cult of Ninurta, a "sun-god." In the most
> ancient Babylonian/Sumerian culture. The myth of this "god" fathered
> the cults of Tammuz in Babylon, and Mithra in Persia. Other
> derivatives were more distorted as the rumors of the false religion
> were spread by travelers. Tammuz was symbolized by the cross, which
> "miraculously" appeared when the sun was viewed through darkly colored
> silk (they did not have tinted lenses for viewing the sun so, darkly
> colored silk was used to look at their "god"). Mithra provided
> protection of the people. Both cults worshiped on SUNday.
>
> When they were unified with the conquest of Babylon by Darius the
> Meade, Emperor of Persia, the cults of Tammuz and Mithra was combined
> into one religion referred to as "Mithraism." The Persians retained
> the person version of the name, but assimilated and added most of the
> Babylonian worship practices to their own.
>
> Both cults agreed that their god was the son of Easter/Ishtar/Astarte.
> This "goddess" was basically unchanged in all three countries. She
> was supposedly the "star-goddess." She was proclaimed as a "perpetual
> virgin" who gave birth to Mithra on December 25 through an "immaculate
> conception." Additionally, she was supposedly hatched from an egg in
> the spring, hence the holiday of Easter, which has not even changed
> names since then. Her worshipers counted their prayers on a string of
> beads known as a "rosary."
>
> In the combined cult, Mithra was seen as a saviour providing both
> earthly protection and forgiveness of sins. It is unknown how much
> impact the Jewish captive's belief in the coming Messiah influenced
> the development of the myth of Mithra, but this salvific aspect is not
> known to have been present in either of the original cults.
>
> In the combined cult, worshipers of Mithra went to their places of
> worship on Sunday and ate small round pieces of bread which had
> supposedly been "enchanted" by their leader, the "Holy Father" to
> become the body of Mithra. This was known as "Communion." The idea
> was that even if a person was unworthy of Mithra's blessing, Mithra
> would still act to protect the piece of himself inside the worshiper.
> The cult of Mithra also observed an initiation ritual referred to as
> becoming "covered by the blood" in which a bull was sacrificed to
> Mithra on an platform above the new initiate and the animal's blood
> would cover the new cultist.
>
> Mithra's birthday, December 25 was celebrated as an annual festival.
> This celebration was added to from many other pagan sources since
> almost all if not all of the Pagan religions had festivals honoring
> gods born on Dec 25 or who were believed to do or have done something
> significant on that day. Some of the mythological "gods" supposedly
> born on Dec 25 include: Krishna, Vishnu, Mithra (Mithras), Osirus,
> Horus, Tammuz, and Indra, as well as these other false gods: Dionysus
> (Bacchus), Herakles (Hercules), and Buddha. Additionally, Freyr
> supposedly revived the dieing sun at this time. The night preceding
> December 25 (Christmas Eve = Mother Night) was also considered holy to
> Frigga and some other "mother/wife goddesses."
>
> In Later Mithraism and in Zoroasterism, Mithra's Father Ahura-Mazda
> was seen as Law maker and Mithra was the source of salvation.
> Astarte/Ishtar/Easter was still the mother of Mithra but her status as
> perpetual virgin was even more strongly emphasized. This non-sexual
> conception was believed to add to the claims of divinity of both
> Mithra and Astarte/Ishtar/Easter. It also put more distance between
> father and son. This showed an almost adversarial relationship
> between Ahura-Mazda, the violation of whose laws resulted in
> damnation, and Mithra, who provided salvation.
>
> A curious note is that the winter solstice is on December 22 in
> regular years and late on December 21 in leap years, not on December
> 25. One might ascribe all of these commonalities among different
> pagan religions to be based on observed astronomical phemonemon, but
> for all these pagan cultures to have festivals that are off from the
> actual day by the same three days seems suspicious. We might expect
> some small errors in calculations among primitive people, but for them
> all to be off by three days in the same direction is highly
> improbable. Is there a real evil of December 25? Is the December 25
> date part of Satan's plan for the Tribulation, the "Time of Jacob's
> Troubles"?
>
> In Druidic mythology December 25 was the most evil time of the year
> with the eve prior to the day being the time when they believed that
> the forces of evil were the most powerful. It was believed to be very
> evil when a winter storm came out of the north or when a strong wind
> blew out of the north on that night or day.
>
> The Christian theologian Origen did a great deal of damage to the
> theology of the early Gentile followers of Jesus. Origen began
> preaching without any formal training at an early age. He castrated
> himself out of a mistaken fanaticism for a non-biblical idea of
> "purity." As a result of his self mutilation, he was denied
> ordination. Apparently at that time many of the Gentile leaders still
> understood the Judaic teachings of the Disciples and knew that God
> forbid castration. Origen developed a large following rivaling that
> of the "official" church in Alexandria and was ordained in 230 CE, to
> keep his followers in the established congregation. However, his own
> bishop found his teachings so anti-Biblical that he ordered Origen
> deposed and banished from Alexandria. Origen founded his own school
> of teaching in 231CE in Caesarea. He wrote many apologetics to the
> pagans attempting to explain belief in the God of Judaism and in Jesus
> the Messiah. Origen used the pagan theosophy of "Middle Platonic
> Philosophy" to explain his belief in Jesus. This mixture of Greek
> paganism and Messianic Jewish beliefs resulted in an influx of new
> converts and effected the beliefs of existing "Believers." Sadly,
> Origen opened the way for full scale paganization of the quickly
> growing Gentile branch of the Messianic movement.
>
> When the Catholic Church was established at the command of Roman
> Emperor Constantine Rex, in 325BCE, many pagan beliefs were codified
> as part of the new religion. Some scholars have made accusation of
> deliberate conspiracy to adopt paganism in order to trick pagans into
> accepting Catholicism as their religion. However, there is no way for
> us to know why evil practices were added into the mix that became
> Catholicism. There simply could have been a great deal of confusion.
>
> As Catholicism spread across Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa,
> the church adopted the assimilation policy of the Roman Empire. The
> false "gods" of the Pagans were relabeled as "saints." These Saints
> were given fictitious histories and their idols were still prayed to
> by the same people who prayed to them as "gods." Additionally, local
> Pagan customs were assimilated. So, the original
> Babylonian/Roman/Jewish bastardization was further corrupted by
> Tuetonic, Druidic, Odinistic, and even Egyptian paganism. In 435CE
> the first "Christmas" was officiated by Pope Sixtus III.
>
> In the Third Century CE, the congregations of Followers of Messiah,
> both those whose membership was completely Jewish and those whose
> membership was predominately Gentiles who had converted, prohibited
> the Pagan custom of decorating their home with evergreen in the
> winter. This "Decking the Halls" was part of the worship Of Saturn
> who was supposedly born on December 25. Saturn has been identified by
> many archaeologists to have been an offshoot of the myth of Ninurta
> which also gave rise to the myths of Tamuz and Mithra. Saturn was a
> polished up version of Sol, a "sun-god" worshiped by the Edomite
> pagans who founded the Roman Empire after fleeing the Middle East most
> probably after their defeat when they attempted to invade Israel.
> Later, due to the cultural link provided by Mark Anthony and
> Cleopatra, the Egyptian myth of the mother of Adonis, the "sun-god"
> was mystically said to have been changed into a TREE, and when in that
> state to have brought forth her divine son.
>
> The Scandinavian Pagans and the Druids revered evergreens as
> manifestations of their various deities because they did not become
> dormant in winter but stayed green and visibly alive when other plants
> appeared dead and bare. The trees represented everlasting life and
> hope for the return of spring.
>
> The druids decorated their trees with symbols of prosperity - a
> fruitful harvest, coins for wealth and various charms such as those
> for love or fertility. Scandinavian Pagans are thought to be the
> first to bring their decorated trees indoors as this provided a warm
> and welcoming environment for the "native fairy folk" and dryads
> (tree "elementals") to join in the holiday festivities. The Saxons, a
> Germanic pagan tribe, were the first to place lights on the their
> trees in the form of candles.
>
> The earliest documented Christian use of the evergreen tree being used
> and decorated (but without lights) for Christmas is in 1521 in the
> German region of Alsace. The assimilation of this Pagan custom was
> slow. German born Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, is
> credited with starting the trend in England in 1841 when he brought
> the first Christmas Tree to Windsor Castle.
>
> In the North American Colonies, the most strict Puritans believed that
> December 25 was so steeped in Paganism that they rejected Christmas
> all together. Those of this bent started Thanksgiving as a
> replacement for Christmas, and a Gentile attempt to celebrate Sukkot
> without the benefit of a Hebrew Calendar.
>
> While Europe had already been celebrating Christmas for some time, the
> first recorded sighting of a "Christmas tree" in America came in
> 1830's Pennsylvania. A local church erected the tree as a
> fund-raising effort, not as an actual part of their celebration of
> Christmas. Christmas trees were generally not thought kindly of in
> early America, as many people saw them as Pagan symbols. By the
> 1890's, however, Christmas ornaments were being imported from Germany
> and Christmas trees were in high fashion.
>
> With the advent of electricity, "Holiday Trees" began to appear in
> town squares across America and the traditional "lighting of the tree"
> quickly became the official symbols of the beginning of the "season of
> holidays," including Saint Nicholas' Day (December 6TH), Catholic
> Christmas (December 25TH), Saint Stephen's Day(December 26TH), Saint
> John the Evangelist's Day (December 27TH), Holy Innocents' Day
> (December 28TH), Saint Sylvester's Day (December 31ST), New Years Eve
> (December 31ST) New Years Day (January 1ST), Epiphany (January 6TH),
> Greek Orthodox Christmas (January 7TH). In more enlightened areas,
> Christians welcomed Chanukah as a Jewish part of this holiday season,
> though Judaism never accepted the inclusion of Pagan elements such as
> the "Holiday Tree" into Jewish worship.
>
> It has been speculated that the children of Chronos/Saturn, the
> Greek/Roman "gods" and "goddesses" Zeus/Jupiter, Posideon/Neptune,
> Hades/Pluto, Hera/Juno, Demeter/Ceres, Hestia/Vesta, were honored
> during these other December January days of the season. The Twelve
> days of Saturnalia (Christmas) honored the Twelve Survivors of the war
> against Saturn, the Olympians: Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Poseidon
> (Neptune), Demeter (Ceres), Apollo, Artemis (Diana), Ares (Mars),
> Hephaestus (Vulcan), Aphrodite (Venus),Hermes (Mercury), Athene
> (Minerva), and Hades (Pluto). Bachus who, according to most myths of
> him, joined the Olympians later, was the "god of drunkeness," who was
> supposedly born on December 25TH.
>
> In Deuteronomy 12, God forbid His People from assimilating Pagan
> worship customs in an attempt to worship Him. The faith in the one
> REAL God is commanded to be pure and uncorrupted by Paganism. "His
> People" does not just mean those of Jewish descent, it means all
> people who dedicate themselves to Him and love Him. Those of us who
> love God must be KADOSH. The word "kadosh" is usually translated as
> "holy," but actually means "separated for God's purposes." God
> commands those whop serve Him to be "Kadosh as I am Kadosh." Since he
> is completely separate from all Paganism, we must be also.
>
> A partial list of sources
>
> "The Two Babylons" Rev. Alexander Hislop
> "Religion of the Ancient Babylonians" Rev. A. H. Sayce
> "The Last Days of Greco-Roman Paganism" Johannes Geffcken
> "Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome" Alfoldi
> "Mystery Religions" Josecelyn Godwin
> "Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge" Schaff-Herzog
> "Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity" Legge
> "Religions of the Roman Empire" John Ferguson
> "Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism" Franz Cumont
> "Ancient Pagan Symbols" E. Goldsmith
>
>
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