The Sage Nabooru Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 1. It's named after a pagan goddess. Yes. It. Is. Oh yeah! Isn't that the best? Now we get payback for all that "DON'T CROSS OUT CHRIST WITH 'XMAS'!" garbage. Easter: the pagan goddess of dawn/spring, there isn't a single damned Christian reference in that name. You'll have better luck with Halloween having a more Christian name. Where's your Christ now, fundies? You'll have a hard time talking out of that one. Fundies - 0; Me - 1. 2. Now this is a personal issue. But ya know in Western society, we got all this emphasis on youth and how terribly awful it is to see time go by. Christmas comes, the summer comes, another year comes.....and we act like this is the worst thing that could ever happen, watching another holiday go by because it means we're - gasp! - one year older than we were the last time we celebrated it. But pagan celebrations all are about the passage of time, and ya know what - it's cool. The fact that spring turns into summer, which turns into fall, which turns into winter, and another year has passed, is not to be dreaded but actually enjoyed and wondered at. Now aging is not such a pitiful process but a beautiful development of nature. So this Easter I'm going to celebrate and love the fact that I'm one year older than I was the last time, and that spring has come around yet again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 That is one good thing I got out of Old Order Mennonite culture. They value the wisdom of old age and life experience. Twenty-year-olds in mainstream society like we have here don't like to hear this. All the same, it is the case that you cannot learn in twenty years what you learn in forty. Just think about it. We insist that a child spend so many years in school before he or she qualifies for college. Also look at psychological development in adults. A sixty-year-old is not a forty-year-old. An eighty-year-old has been places the sixty-year-old has not. That is one of the things I've learned from half a century wandering this planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Well-said, Sage Easter is a Pagan holiday, and like all Pagan holidays, it celebrates life. Xians can only celebrate their zombie-god; nothing in their ridiculous cult encourages them to celebrate life, living, or the world on which we live. Pagans understand how to view life, how to enjoy it, and how to properly see the world - not as some sick crucible for deciding who gets sent to Hell or not, but the place where we all practice the one true religion - life itself. Keep Ostara in Easter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurari Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Easter = chocolate! Come to think of it, I can't think of a lot of major holidays that AREN'T associated with chocolate. *snerk* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 1. It's named after a pagan goddess. Yes. It. Is. Oh yeah! Isn't that the best?Well, *I* think so. (smiles cryptically as she pets Killer Rabbit and scarfs down more Mini-Eggs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I do so enjoy rubbing Christian noses in the fact that Easter is named after a pagan godess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 So this Easter I'm going to celebrate and love the fact that I'm one year older than I was the last time, and that spring has come around yet again. Don't forget to properly celebrate Beltane (May 1st) while you're at it... "Hail hail the queen of the May Now is her season now is her day Time to laugh, time to play Hail hail the queen of the May" (Inkubus Sukkubus) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrisonjj Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 1. It's named after a pagan goddess. Yes. Jezuschrist! As an excatholic, I now eat meat on fridays,I do not pray,I celebrate spring, and i don't focus on death and useless religious rituals any longer and I'm better for it! Awakening after 40 years of fuckin lent guilt! Happy spring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Yes, it's named after Eostre, goddess of the dawn, actually. Rabbits are associated with it because they were an ancient fertility symbol, hence the expression, "to breed like rabbits". The christians stole it for the supposed anniversary of Jebus' resurrection. They had to because the common people insisted on celebrating it, church or no church. It was the same with the other festivals like christmas and Samhain (Sowan's Nicht) which they turned into Halloween. Perhaps because christianity had first taken hold in Roman cities, the word "pagan" was developed. "Pagan" comes from the late Latin Paganus meaning literally, "a hick from the sticks". It was a word the supposedly sophisticated christians used to describe people, most of them country folk, who clung to the old ways and beliefs. First they started calling them names like that then later they started persecuting them. Sound familiar? Casey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Xians can only celebrate their zombie-god; nothing in their ridiculous cult encourages them to celebrate life, living, or the world on which we live. I think you can find whatever in you are looking for in pretty much any religion or ideology. Personally, I find that in the right situation and with the right people, a lot of goodness and beauty can be brought out of the Christian religion, or any other for that matter. Which is why I'm going Catholic this Easter. Although probably not back to my old parish, as the chances are I'll be cornered by elderly Irish women who haven't seen me in a year or so and are worrying about my soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsmoke Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Don't forget to properly celebrate Beltane (May 1st) while you're at it... "Hail hail the queen of the May Now is her season now is her day Time to laugh, time to play Hail hail the queen of the May" (Inkubus Sukkubus) Boo yah. I recognized the chorus with the first line (actually heard the song in my head as I read it). Inkubus Sukkubus fuckin' rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-COG Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 I do so enjoy rubbing Christian noses in the fact that Easter is named after a pagan godess. That's why a lot of churches are starting to call it Resurection Sunday, instead. Erasing the evidence, so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 I think you can find whatever in you are looking for in pretty much any religion or ideology. Personally, I find that in the right situation and with the right people, a lot of goodness and beauty can be brought out of the Christian religion, or any other for that matter. Then please enumerate the exact parts of Xian doctrine that genuinely celebrate life and encourage reveling in it. Many Xians recast their religion in a positive light, because it's human nature to do so - most folks don't want to actively celebrate hatred, intolerance, and tout their own fear-based slavery as something good, even though that's precisely what Xians are doing. Babbically, Xians are encouraged only to revel in Jebus, and in being slaves to him. There is nothing about enjoying life to be found in its black pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Sage, I think you have a great idea. Celebrate spring, celebrate life, and forget about the wackiness that is the Christian Easter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 I think you can find whatever in you are looking for in pretty much any religion or ideology. Personally, I find that in the right situation and with the right people, a lot of goodness and beauty can be brought out of the Christian religion, or any other for that matter. Then please enumerate the exact parts of Xian doctrine that genuinely celebrate life and encourage reveling in it. Many Xians recast their religion in a positive light, because it's human nature to do so - most folks don't want to actively celebrate hatred, intolerance, and tout their own fear-based slavery as something good, even though that's precisely what Xians are doing. Babbically, Xians are encouraged only to revel in Jebus, and in being slaves to him. There is nothing about enjoying life to be found in its black pages. Well, if you'll forgive the postmodernism, I think that so much varying interpretation goes into religion, specifically Christianity and the Bible, that what it actually says is not by a long shot the sole determiner in the outcome. It is not only that which is being interpreted, but the one doing the interpreting, that produces the result. I would go so far as to say that Christianity does not exist until after it has been created in part by its supposed adherents. "We don't change the message, the message changes us" is utter bullshit. They're not following a religion, they're making one up. Personally, I find many aspects of the Passion and Resurrection story, and the Gospel in general, to be very life-affirming. That's not to say all of it is, of course, but who are we to say that the more damaging interpretations of Easter are more valid than the more beautiful ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyReligion Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I shall definitely use this bit of information in my speech! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sage Nabooru Posted March 26, 2007 Author Share Posted March 26, 2007 Well, if you'll forgive the postmodernism, I think that so much varying interpretation goes into religion, specifically Christianity and the Bible, that what it actually says is not by a long shot the sole determiner in the outcome. It is not only that which is being interpreted, but the one doing the interpreting, that produces the result. I would go so far as to say that Christianity does not exist until after it has been created in part by its supposed adherents. "We don't change the message, the message changes us" is utter bullshit. They're not following a religion, they're making one up. Personally, I find many aspects of the Passion and Resurrection story, and the Gospel in general, to be very life-affirming. That's not to say all of it is, of course, but who are we to say that the more damaging interpretations of Easter are more valid than the more beautiful ones? In a lot of ways I have to say I agree with you. I don't really buy the Passion/Ressurection thing, simply because I think a story about a man being tortured is a story about a man being tortured, nothing more, nothing less. But I do think more and more now that religion is mostly just a garment or superficial layer of what a person really is and believes. For example, there are outwardly gay Christians and Muslims out there. Technically speaking, being gay and having homosexual sex is, in those religions, a sin, and an "abomination", and there's really kinda no way around it. And yet people have invented one. They simply say that it's not a sin in their line of religious thinking and leave it at that. Their interpretation could be said to go directly against what the Bible/Koran teaches, but they take it nonetheless. A person who is condemning, demanding and hurtful by nature will cut their religion to suit their goals. A person who is warm, accepting, and loving by nature will do the same. That's why both great evil and great good have been done by the same religions and non-religions throughout history. On its own, a religion in itself, is neither "good" nor "bad" (ultimately speaking) since a religion purely by itself is a non-living entity; it requires humanity in order for it to have any power. Like any other tool it is humanity's decision whether to use it for good or bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lori4443 Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Oh boy, Easter sunrise services loom ahead. Time to get up early with holiness in high gear. Perhaps the holy spirit will rain down. God I'm glad I'm not a Christian any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I wrote this post yesterday but the site was down by the time I tried to post it: Robbie, I don't remember your story. I'm curious, how long have you been out of Christianity? You talk a lot like me--Christianity is not all bad. I'm getting new impressions every day right now. Yesterday I had a long and intense conversation with one of my sisters who seems to be just a bit more severely brainwashed than most people I know. It occurred to me that she is the typical fundy mindset--black and white robotic thinking. That sounds a lot like people on here describe the churches they left. I would say the church I left was not so "dead" as this. I am thinking possibly you came from a "better" church, too, where there were more positive aspects. On the other hand, I notice that you like the Passion. It focuses exclusively on Jesus' impending death and I cannot figure out why that would appear positive to a deconvert. I'm thinking possibly you are barely out of the church and still operating mostly from its mindset, and in the Catholic mindset, I understand the Passion is perhaps the height of the Church Year--a celebration of Jesus' supposed life-giving death. The other impression I am still digesting is today. I went to church this morning, mainly for the social connection and for the singing. I was not disappointed. But there were a lot of things that "grated." The "groveling in the dirt" in confession before god, life-affirming bible verses mixed in with humility and confession verses. There was a children's service excercise where an adult read a bible passage from Psalms. Thess passages expressed many different feelings. The children had obviously practiced for it. They had to use body posture to express the feelings expressed in the Psalm. Maybe it's just me, but that bothered me. It seemed to me like they are indoctrinating the children about what they "should" feel when reading the Bible. When the thoughts and feelings are dominated by "shoulds" from the bible a person is not free. These were kids in Grade 5. This church is what I would call liberal Christianity. I think they believed they were affirming life. If I had not been away for so many years (maybe 5 years since I regularly attended this church) and if I had not read so much on this forum, I would have thought they were truly affirming life. And I am thinking, Robbie, that perhaps this is the stage where you are at this point. I would say they affirmed life through death. I think, why not just leave out the death altogether and affirm life directly? Vorakhar, is this perhaps what you are getting at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxic Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I remember once this Xtian once admitted to me that Easter was a pagan festival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Ruby, I stopped attending my Catholic church regularly about 18 months ago, I suppose. However, I really spent several months still thinking of myself as Catholic, but just one who did not yet want to practice my faith. The last time I tried to practice Catholicism was last summer, IIRC, when I went on a retreat to a monastery, which I had joined up for while I was still Catholic. I did not make what you would call a particularly serious, and certainly not a long-lasting effort, though. I went on the retreat half wanting to rediscover my faith and half wanting not to. And I came away without anything resembling a definitive answer. Since then, I have not been to church, nor seriously considered rejoining Catholicism or becoming religious at all. I do intend to go back this Easter simply to see what it's like, as it's been so long that I have been completely seperate from any idea of faith or religion. Though I am highly critical of religion, I find my criticism to be purely theoretical, so I want to experience these things for myself. After Easter, I'm planning on visiting different churches just to see what they're like, as I've never been to a service in any denomination or faith other than Catholicism. Most of the negative aspects of Catholicism that I now see much more clearly I find mostly only on the Internet. And I recall that when I was part of the church, there was a lot of beauty and goodness there. My old parish priest in particular, was a great guy who never really exhibited in any way the fundamentalism, close-mindedness and hatred that is all too prevalent among religious people. He was extremely thoughtful, generous and considerate, and it seemed at the time (and I suppose still does) that his faith, though not mine, which was often a faith of suppression, confusion and guilt, was something truly beautiful. The homilies he preached, though I often heard what I now find deeply repelling ones from other priests, were on the whole about humility, generosity, peace and love. So I am probably too inexperienced to say I am completely out of religion, and though I can't see myself joining an organised religion of any sort, Catholicism in particular still holds for me a fascination, a beauty and a depth that draws me towards some of its practices and more mystical, liberal aspects. What draws me to Mass if not to the dogmatic religion itself, is that, when in the church with the people around you, it is not about dealing with a god that allows suffering, nor a god that sends people to hell, nor a god that requires worship as a condition for his help like a greedy, narcissistic dictator. What I found was a normal, loving and fun community. The ones that would devoutly participate in the beautiful rituals, finding in their hearts and actions a god of simple love and virtue, and then go stand out the back door to drink tea, smoke and chat...and then probably on to some party/bbq/pub later in the day or week to get absolutely slaughtered. I suppose what I am drawn to is the spiritual and loving humanism that expresses itself through beautiful and compelling ancient rituals...the 'liberal Catholicism' that, in my former existence as a hateful dogmatic traditionalist, I so abhorred. I guess I am not yet convinced that the evil of delusion is great enough to balance out the beauty of happiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts