Easter?

[King Tech Quadafi]

lol @ u easter bunnies catchin feelins

[Sikotic™]

happy easter

[M Dogg™]

Easter is the most widely celebrated, oldest and most important event in Christian history. In most every Christian country, Easter is more important than Christmas. This is the day Yeshua Ben Yosef resurrected, and was witnessed by his disiples and then other people. Of course they didn't celebrat it in the Bible, the Bible, every Christian was still Jewish, "Jesus" was a rabbi, and the Christian Church was still finding its self. Now, 2000 years later, of course we have traditional celebrations, the church has evolved for better or for worst, English speaking people know Yeshua Ben Yosef as Jesus Christ (which is Greek), and instead of being dark Middle Eastern man with feet of bronze and hair of wool, his a white guy who could be mistaken for French. But it does not change the message, it does not change the spirital meaning of who he is, and what happened 2000 years ago, and it does not change the fact that he is the son of God to many people, including myself. Easter is not a hoex, it's a celebration for one of the greatest events, if not the greatest event in Christian history. Most of the New Testiment is dedicated to this day, this is the day that brought hope to the people of that era, because it proved to them that the son of God walked with them, and it proved to many that God does indeed exist.

Now from the true meaning of Easter, to the American meaning of Easter... Happy Easter ya'all

[africas seed]

Easter is the most widely celebrated, oldest and most important event in Christian history. In most every Christian country, Easter is more important than Christmas. This is the day Yeshua Ben Yosef resurrected, and was witnessed by his disiples and then other people. Of course they didn't celebrat it in the Bible, the Bible, every Christian was still Jewish, "Jesus" was a rabbi, and the Christian Church was still finding its self. Now, 2000 years later, of course we have traditional celebrations, the church has evolved for better or for worst, English speaking people know Yeshua Ben Yosef as Jesus Christ (which is Greek), and instead of being dark Middle Eastern man with feet of bronze and hair of wool, his a white guy who could be mistaken for French. But it does not change the message, it does not change the spirital meaning of who he is, and what happened 2000 years ago, and it does not change the fact that he is the son of God to many people, including myself. Easter is not a hoex, it's a celebration for one of the greatest events, if not the greatest event in Christian history. Most of the New Testiment is dedicated to this day, this is the day that brought hope to the people of that era, because it proved to them that the son of God walked with them, and it proved to many that God does indeed exist.

Now from the true meaning of Easter, to the American meaning of Easter... Happy Easter ya'all

word

[Real American]

Happy Easter everyone.

[jeromechickenbone]

Why does it bother you if Christians celebrate Easter?  I'm agnostic but it doesn't bother me in the least bit if people celebrate easter, hanukkah (i'm sure i butchered the spelling), ramadan, whatever.  This day doesn't hold significance to me at all, but it does to others.  So on a day that some people do find happiness, why does that bother you? 

If you're so secure in your religion, why are you always worried about what the next man is doing?  Ever heard of live and let live?  I'm sure on your holy days, you feel really good or whatever.  So who gives a fuck?  If you're so all knowing and really at peace as you repeatedly claim, you wouldn't be tortured by these things as you are.

I honestly think you are one of the more deeply confused individuals on these boards.

[nibs]

Why does it bother you if Christians celebrate Easter?  I'm agnostic but it doesn't bother me in the least bit if people celebrate easter, hanukkah (i'm sure i butchered the spelling), ramadan, whatever.  This day doesn't hold significance to me at all, but it does to others.  So on a day that some people do find happiness, why does that bother you?

most christian holidays do have pagan origins, so asking people their opinions on these holidays isn't necessarily an intolerant question.  the catholic church hijacked and redefined many pagan holidays as a way of attracting christian converts.
there are several christian sects that do not support these holidays.  jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate easter.  seventh day adventists (i attended this church as a youth) acknowledge the pagan origins, but see no real harm in celebrating christmas or easter...etc.  even if it is a pagan holiday that has adapted pagan symbolism; it's not like they start worshipping the pagan gods.
i don't see the harm in questioning the holiday, or asking people why they celebrate it.  down in mexico they took the week off and were going to church everyday.  that can't be a bad thing.

why isn't the effect to which the catholic church shaped the current direction of christianity, and the motivation behind those actions a valid question?  the catholic influence represents an interesing shift in focus, as many of the early christians largely focused on understanding and following christ's teachings; yet the catholic church shifted that focus to a celebration of christ, and to a lesser extent mary.  the easter holiday is a direct reflection of this.

i don't see this as an issue of intolerance.

[Shallow]

Why does it bother you if Christians celebrate Easter?  I'm agnostic but it doesn't bother me in the least bit if people celebrate easter, hanukkah (i'm sure i butchered the spelling), ramadan, whatever.  This day doesn't hold significance to me at all, but it does to others.  So on a day that some people do find happiness, why does that bother you?

most christian holidays do have pagan origins, so asking people their opinions on these holidays isn't necessarily an intolerant question.  the catholic church hijacked and redefined many pagan holidays as a way of attracting christian converts.
there are several christian sects that do not support these holidays.  jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate easter.  seventh day adventists (i attended this church as a youth) acknowledge the pagan origins, but see no real harm in celebrating christmas or easter...etc.  even if it is a pagan holiday that has adapted pagan symbolism; it's not like they start worshipping the pagan gods.
i don't see the harm in questioning the holiday, or asking people why they celebrate it.  down in mexico they took the week off and were going to church everyday.  that can't be a bad thing.

why isn't the effect to which the catholic church shaped the current direction of christianity, and the motivation behind those actions a valid question?  the catholic influence represents an interesing shift in focus, as many of the early christians largely focused on understanding and following christ's teachings; yet the catholic church shifted that focus to a celebration of christ, and to a lesser extent mary.  the easter holiday is a direct reflection of this.

i don't see this as an issue of intolerance.

You were raised an adventist? When did you coonvert and why? (just wondering)

[nibs]

You were raised an adventist? When did you convert and why? (just wondering)

i was never baptised into the adventist church, so technically i never left the adventist church, i simply stopped attending.

i had never found the bible satisfying, at the time the old testament represented laws of a god that seemed too personified and too whimsical with his wishes.   if god created everyone, why then does he have a chosen people; and chooses to destroy others?  why does he nitpick and punish his prophets (moses) for seemingly trivial reasons?

i was also dissatisfied with the new testaments portrayal of christ.  why is it that the apostles and early disciples that interacted with christ directly, had family members raised directly, enjoyed christ's direct presence and miracles; yet his later followers have nothing but faith in the older stories to go on.  that dichotomy disturbed me.  if christ were god; how could anyone in his direct presence deny him?  witnessing miracles directly is far greater evidence than having faith in a story.  there is a significant difference between the original apostles and disciples, and his current followers, with the advantage being to the former

 the old testament does little more than scare people with the ill-tempered whimsical god.  the new testament provides the perfect arguments to subjugate people to oppressive governments as all the world is evil, is controlled by evil, and the world is falling apart as evil nations will rise up to dominate and persecute the true believers.  but this bleak outlook doesn't matter as the physical world is meaningless.

both messages seemed unsatisfactory to me.

in contrast, studying the qu'ran has caused me to have a greater appreciation for both the old and new testament.   
in terms of the old testament:
the nature of god is not whimsical, and his desire is not to force man to obey laws robotically.  rather, the nature of god is unappreciable, "god's will" or the natural order of things is one that favors peace, harmony, and for man to recognize it's true nature and worship his creator.
god does not have a chosen people; god's people are actually those people that recognize that there is one creator and worship that creator.  prophets and messengers have visited different people throught time with the sole intention of disseminating knowledge and restoring that natural order. 
in terms of the new testament:
this life is important for more than simply preparing for the afterlife.  this life should be enjoyed, and as this life is a test; part of that test is acting to preserve the natural order of things by standing up to oppression and injustice.  in this sense, islam is empowering for the oppressed.  as christ (in the qu'ran) is a prophet; and not a god to be worshipped: one need not obsess over whether or not miracles of christ can be proven.  that is largely irrelevant.  rather, pay attention to what christ taught and what he said.  even if all the miracles attributed to christ were false, his message and the example of his life are still true.

people continue to accuse islam of being intolerant towards other religions; yet studying the qu'ran reveals the exact opposite; as god has sent various messengers to different peoples and several prophets as well; if one were to inspect other religions (beside the major three) for the key principles of monotheism, prayers, charity, final judgement for this life...etc; one would have to respect those principles as true, even if the framing is slightly different.  just as the qu'ran states that islam existed before the qu'ran was delivered to the prophet muhammad; one would have to conclude that other people's across the world have had some enlightened messenger that would have conveyed these principles.

to conclude, the teachings in the adventist church were unsatisfactory for me; and the qu'ran provides me a greater understanding and appreciation for the bible, religion and life.

[Shallow]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So when did all this start happening for you? How old were you and how were you introduced to Islam and the Quran?



P.S. I never felt the Gospel was a way to stay oppressed it just states you shouldn't commit evil to fight evil, but that no one can really be perfect so just make sure you are sorry when you do wrong and try harder to keep from doing it the next time.

[nibs]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So when did all this start happening for you? How old were you and how were you introduced to Islam and the Quran?

infinite sent me a copy of the qu'ran in january, and i began studying it.

P.S. I never felt the Gospel was a way to stay oppressed it just states you shouldn't commit evil to fight evil, but that no one can really be perfect so just make sure you are sorry when you do wrong and try harder to keep from doing it the next time.

i agree that there are other ways to interpret the gospel; but the gospel has been used as a tool of oppression; and the emphasis on the afterlife has been used as a mechanism to subjugate conquered peoples.

i was in monterrey mexico last week (business \w a client based in mexico), i visited a couple local museums and was able to see some of the exhibits on the aztecs and other native cultures.  it's one things to hear the story of how religion was theoretically used to subjugate peoples; it's extremely powerful to be able to see the actual tools that were used.  they artifacts of crosses with an image representing the face of jesus blended along with other symbols of the native religions.  indicating that "our god has dominated your gods"; and also tricking people to embrace and worship jesus along with the native customs.  they also had artifacts of mary with the baby jesus and the back drop of native symbols and images.  the usurping of the symbols of those native religions very closely parallels the catholic churches policy of adopting pagan holidays and reinterpretting them within christianity.

[Shallow]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So when did all this start happening for you? How old were you and how were you introduced to Islam and the Quran?

infinite sent me a copy of the qu'ran in january, and i began studying it.

P.S. I never felt the Gospel was a way to stay oppressed it just states you shouldn't commit evil to fight evil, but that no one can really be perfect so just make sure you are sorry when you do wrong and try harder to keep from doing it the next time.

i agree that there are other ways to interpret the gospel; but the gospel has been used as a tool of oppression; and the emphasis on the afterlife has been used as a mechanism to subjugate conquered peoples.

i was in monterrey mexico last week (business \w a client based in mexico), i visited a couple local museums and was able to see some of the exhibits on the aztecs and other native cultures.  it's one things to hear the story of how religion was theoretically used to subjugate peoples; it's extremely powerful to be able to see the actual tools that were used.  they artifacts of crosses with an image representing the face of jesus blended along with other symbols of the native religions.  indicating that "our god has dominated your gods"; and also tricking people to embrace and worship jesus along with the native customs.  they also had artifacts of mary with the baby jesus and the back drop of native symbols and images.  the usurping of the symbols of those native religions very closely parallels the catholic churches policy of adopting pagan holidays and reinterpretting them within christianity.

So you've only been Muslim since January?


And who cares what people use in the name of a religion and what that has to do with a religion. The Turks used Islam to take over and oppress my ancestors for 400 years, and then used it kill 1.5 million Armenians in a holocaust, and whatever Greek they found, then sent all the Greeks in Turkey into Greece in hopes of there being more people than resources to take care of them. I never held Islam at fault because some jackass in Turkey enslaved my great great great great Grandfather and told him "you know if you were Muslim we couldn't enslave you", a nice little trick I'm sure that got many slaves to convert just to get out of bondage.

For the record I'm Orthodox Christian and the Cathloic Churches decision don't have much affect on me or how I believe. Even the Easter Eggs stem from a story that Mary Magdelene turned white eggs into red eggs infront of Caesar. I can read up on how Islam was created from the paganism in the area. The moon God Al ilah of the old Pagan arabs seems to some little connections to to aspects of Islamic beliefs.

[africas seed]

many muslims nowadays use their religion as an excuse to commit horrific crimes just like some blinded Christians misused the name of Christ as an excuse for other crimes like the Crusades. there r always a few castaways that have no real knowledge or understanding of their religion and just use it as an excuse to pursue thier individual desire.

[Kassem]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So when did all this start happening for you? How old were you and how were you introduced to Islam and the Quran?

infinite sent me a copy of the qu'ran in january, and i began studying it.

P.S. I never felt the Gospel was a way to stay oppressed it just states you shouldn't commit evil to fight evil, but that no one can really be perfect so just make sure you are sorry when you do wrong and try harder to keep from doing it the next time.

i agree that there are other ways to interpret the gospel; but the gospel has been used as a tool of oppression; and the emphasis on the afterlife has been used as a mechanism to subjugate conquered peoples.

i was in monterrey mexico last week (business \w a client based in mexico), i visited a couple local museums and was able to see some of the exhibits on the aztecs and other native cultures.  it's one things to hear the story of how religion was theoretically used to subjugate peoples; it's extremely powerful to be able to see the actual tools that were used.  they artifacts of crosses with an image representing the face of jesus blended along with other symbols of the native religions.  indicating that "our god has dominated your gods"; and also tricking people to embrace and worship jesus along with the native customs.  they also had artifacts of mary with the baby jesus and the back drop of native symbols and images.  the usurping of the symbols of those native religions very closely parallels the catholic churches policy of adopting pagan holidays and reinterpretting them within christianity.

So you've only been Muslim since January?


And who cares what people use in the name of a religion and what that has to do with a religion. The Turks used Islam to take over and oppress my ancestors for 400 years, and then used it kill 1.5 million Armenians in a holocaust, and whatever Greek they found, then sent all the Greeks in Turkey into Greece in hopes of there being more people than resources to take care of them. I never held Islam at fault because some jackass in Turkey enslaved my great great great great Grandfather and told him "you know if you were Muslim we couldn't enslave you", a nice little trick I'm sure that got many slaves to convert just to get out of bondage.

For the record I'm Orthodox Christian and the Cathloic Churches decision don't have much affect on me or how I believe. Even the Easter Eggs stem from a story that Mary Magdelene turned white eggs into red eggs infront of Caesar. I can read up on how Islam was created from the paganism in the area. The moon God Al ilah of the old Pagan arabs seems to some little connections to to aspects of Islamic beliefs.

your wrong here ,the moon god was called hubal .but in arabic when we say gods we say illah so ,before islam there was more the one god so hubal was called illah hubal and he was the moon god. islam doesn't have to do anything with the moon ,then when the ottamon khalifa started they took their one emblem and put it in every mosque ,to show their control over the region. so in arabic illah means one of the gods .allah means the god .thats like in english you call the hindu deties gods ,but call jesus god. so illah----gods  allah----the god(one--no partner)

[nibs]

So you've only been Muslim since January?

february.

And who cares what people use in the name of a religion and what that has to do with a religion.

i agree with you.  you could see the hypocrisy in the actions of cortez who was espousing the teachings of christ and at the same time obsessed with the gold and wealth of the aztecs.  his actions had no real correlation to the teachings of christ.
the point that i was making was that one reason i had interpretted the message of the new testament as one that subjugated was because of how it had been used to subjugate.  how it had been interpretted as a message to accept oppression and look towards the afterlife.