garrisonjj Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I cant believe how unaffected most of you are by the impending Easter holiday. Our small nepa town revolves around the church. People used to literally go into hiding for the reverence shown this week. I always hated it,,,so sad and mornful,,,only to be superseded by the ultimate joy of easter.... Prayer was always a disappointment. i never received what I asked for and i never felt all the "grace" I was suppose to receive,,,,Oh yea,,,after confession god gives you the grace and strength not to comitt the same sins again!!!! Well it never worked foir me. 48 years confessing the same sins and then comitting them again only works for so long. I am actually beginning to regret i didn't regard all this as bullshit much earlier inmy life. This was reinforced by barbaric,neurotic sick nuns in fuckin parochial,,,FEAR school. I believe this is the root of my dysfunction with religion. Anyway thanks for letting me Rant again,,,,I always appreciate any help you can offer. thanks, gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evelyn Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 It is amazing that we X-Cers can ignore Easter, or at least try to. It's difficult, as all the stores have Easter sales and the images of rabbits, eggs, and candy are everywhere. It's probably a little bit similar to what Jews go through trying to ignore xmas. I was surprised to see an earlier thread on this forum about what some X-Cers were giving up for Lent. WTF?? Aren't we free of that bullshit?? Sure, it can be a good idea to give up bad habits and/or start good habits but why for 40 days? I've heard, could be wrong here, that 10-14 days is often enough to have a new activity (flossing, exercising, etc) become an automatic habit. I was amazed to read that at least one member was giving up posting on this forum during Lent. I don't get it. I think that being, or pretending to be, mournful during Lent and the week before Easter is weird. I mean, okay, it might be a good thing, as an xian, to take the time to think about the lawd sacrificing his life for you. Still...I dunno. I came across the Lent/Easter thing more in the Episcopal church than in the Protestant fundy churches I was in. The fundy churches emphasized the resurrection and the ones I was in never mentioned Lent, though they usually did have Good Friday services. The Episcopal church is "Catholic lite" so it has the whole Lent thing of Ash Wednesday services, not saying "alleluia" during mass, and the full schedule of Easter week services and vigils. I didn't go to catholic schools, so I didn't have to deal with the psycho nuns, though I attended a fundy junior and senior high. Other than weekly chapel services and daily Bible courses, it was any other public school, barely tolerable. My husband went to a catholic high school for two years until they expelled him, so I've heard some horror stories. Not sure how much help this is for you, other than to say "I hear ya". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Even in mostly-fundy Indianapolis, the city is big and diverse enough so that at least on college campuses, there is no noticeable difference at all between non-Christians and Christians in the way they act prior to Easter. One of my profs even set up a field trip this Sunday, and forgot it was Easter... he just e-mailed the class a week ago to see if it was okay. The only thing was the Ash Wednesday service the campus ministry group held. Then you see maybe 10% in a whole day who actually went and got the ashes drawn on their foreheards. Heck, but I still went to the Ash Wednesday service two years into my doconversion! Don't ask me why I went. I have no desire to go now. I am assuming one day in the future I'll want to go just to have memories of my younger self, reminscing about the days when I was naive and ignorant, happy yet not whole. That said, personally, I still struggle with it. Easter mornings used to be the highlight of my holidays and faith. Easter always felt magical to me... easter egg hunts, baskets, pretty dresses, beautiful hyms, the beginning of Spring, and the chance to dwell on the Lawd's sacrifice for us. I miss it, but this year isn't nearly as bad as the past three years. I hadn't even though of Easter until I saw your thread, but then the memories came back and it bothers me just a bit right now.... but I think I'll get over it really fast. It'll take time, but you'll get there eventaully, garrison. I don't even understand why anyone is getting uptight over easter. Despite it's religious overtones, it's not NEARLY as religious as Xmas. For example, at Xmas you see nativity scenes practically everyfuckingwhere. and "jesus is the reason for the season" signs, and other such BS. For easter it's not like you see big ole jesus on crosses everywhere or "jesus is the reason for the season" signs. I guess CHristians just don't see the Easter Bunny as a big threat like Santa...cause all he brings is easter baskets, not ten speeds and nintendos. At any rate...Xmas...when you spell it out, has the word CHRIST in it. THe word itself is religious. Easter on the other hand, comes from Ostara, which is a pagan fertility goddess. Everything about Easter that is part of the commercial holiday is pagan. Eggs and Bunnies, both signs of fertility. The whole thing is fucking pagan. Xmas has a lot of pagan things as well. Nativity scenes actually came from an earlier pagan tradition, as well as giftgiving, the colors green and red, and the tree. songs, and the log, and practically EVERY tradition of Xmas is pagan, but still it ends up feeling more Christian than pagan overall, but not by much. Easter on the other hand, just feels throroughly pagan to me, with a little Jesus painted over the surface. That's a good point. I still thoroughly enjoy the season because it's Spring, my favorite season. It's great to be out in nature this time of year. It is amazing that we X-Cers can ignore Easter, or at least try to. It's difficult, as all the stores have Easter sales and the images of rabbits, eggs, and candy are everywhere. It's probably a little bit similar to what Jews go through trying to ignore xmas. I was surprised to see an earlier thread on this forum about what some X-Cers were giving up for Lent. WTF?? Aren't we free of that bullshit?? Sure, it can be a good idea to give up bad habits and/or start good habits but why for 40 days? I've heard, could be wrong here, that 10-14 days is often enough to have a new activity (flossing, exercising, etc) become an automatic habit. I was amazed to read that at least one member was giving up posting on this forum during Lent. I don't get it. Maybe it's like a meditational thing for them. I could easily see that, once I am more secure in my deconversion. It's like a "kiss my ass" to Christianity to be able to celebrate your own thing and focus on improving yourself for the sake of others on the week that was formerly most holy to you. It's like a less extreme version of Ghandi going without food until social injustices were rectified. At least that is what it was for me... and that can still be a very secular activity--- self-denial for the opportunity to focus on how we can better ourselves, and thus help others more effectively too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Easter-schmeaster. Was never a big holiday for my family. After us kids outgrew easter egg hunts and jelly beans, it was pretty much forgotten. My family is wonderfully secular. At xmas, it's all Nat King Cole & Santa Claus, Thanksgiving is all about turkey & football - religious holidays are just an excuse to eat and goof off. Funny that xtians don't make a bigger deal about easter in the U.S. The resurrection of Jebus is the linchpin of their faith - guess there's not enough political importance there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 For me, Easter has always been about rabbits and chocolate and watching tulips poke their heads up in the garden. But what the heck, I'll try anything once. (presses button at top of screen, and minimizes Easter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Carrion Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Ah Easter, named after Eostre; pagan Goddess of spring, renewal, and, errr, "copulation". Easter was initially established as a "Christian" holiday when invaders first started their theological sublimation of my own merry old England. It was an attempt to assimilate certain "pagan" holidays into Christian tradition and thereby draw in all those dirty old pagans who wouldn't come at the point of a sword. What it essentially means in Britain now is that some of the local churches get to re-decorate and those of us without any particular faith are allowed to eat chocolate until something ruptures. Yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 It doesn't affect me much, but this year one of my co-workers gave me a handmade bunny thing for Easter (she said it was for Easter). It's cute but fairly useless, I can't wear it as a pin and there's no magnet on it to stick up anywhere. I politely accepted it, but it's like, why all the evangelizing? I think it wouldn't have annoyed me as much if I hadn't gotten that letter from my cousin asking for money, because normally things like that don't bother me so much as outright preaching. Can't we live in a world where people are accepted for who they are? Can't we live in a world where people aren't treated differently for not having a religion? I'm really tired of feeling like I'm surrounded by people who want me to be exactly like them. Can't I just be myself? This year I will be attending a local science fiction convention on Easter weekend. I might make it an annual event to have an excuse to get out of church and family time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyby Stardancer Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 For me, Easter has always been about rabbits and chocolate and watching tulips poke their heads up in the garden. But what the heck, I'll try anything once. (presses button at top of screen, and minimizes Easter) Heh. That's similar for me. When we the kids were little (or not so little, in my case... I tend to go through the motions of childhood beliefs for the fun of it, though I know Santa Claus and the Easter bunny aren't real) we'd always hunt for Easter eggs, both at home and at the big city-wide hunt at the park, where kids are sectioned off by race, and you mostly get a bunch of candy. Then we go to my grandma's house and have a big early dinner, the same dinner we eat for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Heck, we even complain about the lack of parking space from those who're parking to go to the Catholic church just down the road, even though that's still technically the family church! (Not that anyone's gone to service there since the one time after my grandfather died, when they were honoring him...) So all this 'religious' and 'patriotic' holidays (namely: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) were always just extra-special family get-togethers where we spent the day trying not to annoy each other. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Is she United Church of Christ or Church of Christ? The United ones are usually really liberal and are technically not "organized" religion. The only denom more liberal than them are the Unitarians, AFAIK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 Can't we live in a world where people are accepted for who they are? Can't we live in a world where people aren't treated differently for not having a religion? I'm really tired of feeling like I'm surrounded by people who want me to be exactly like them. Can't I just be myself? One of these days, maybe atheists will get up the nerve to deman our rights as a repressed minority. If xtians have the nerve to claim that they are oppressed while maintaining a stranglehold on the country, why can't we at least quietly admit that we don't want to be part of the whole thing? As for Easter, it's a rip-off as a holiday - you already had that day off work anyhow. Well it never worked foir me. 48 years confessing the same sins and then comitting them again only works for so long. I am actually beginning to regret i didn't regard all this as bullshit much earlier inmy life. Welcome to the club! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poonis Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 When is easter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua Kitty Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 I still like Easter. Because IMO it's a purely pagan spring celebration. The earth is starting to come back to life, and the flowers are beginning to bloom, and it's a beautiful time of year. Bunnies figure prominently in the holiday - and I love bunnies. And then there's the whole easter candy thing. Cadbury's mini eggs. Need I say more? As for Easter, it's a rip-off as a holiday - you already had that day off work anyhow. We get Good Friday off too! Yea Easter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gobbler Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Well, as I say around the office, "Happy crucify your saviour on a stick week!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 When is easter? This coming weekend. If you need an excuse to escape family activities, there's a sci-fi con in the Twin Cities area. Google Minicon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 easter dont really mean that much too me. just a day off and reeses penut butter eggs thats the ongly thing it means. if i had some kids im sure theyd beg my to hide colored eggs somewere itd probally be fun to watch. i find it interesting most kids iv heard talking about easter talks about candy, the bunny laying eggs and being out of school. all it is for most people is a day off to have fun, eat candy and play games with boiled eggs. thats the way i see it anyway and the way i see any other holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyby Stardancer Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Cadbury's mini eggs. Need I say more? Nonononono, it's the full-sized eggs that are the VERY best! Cadbury creme eggs are my favorite candy in the whole world, and so I stock them up, and only allow myself one a day, if that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evelyn Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Oooh, Cadbury eggs, mmm... It's easy for me to skip church on Easter, as I haven't been to Easter church services in years. The Episcopal church we attended is always very crowded at Easter so, years ago, my husband and I decided it was best we not go so that two more people can fit inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnosis of Disbelief Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Doesn't mean that much to me these days. I don't even get excited about the surplus of overly sweet candy, since I've outgrown my taste for it over the years. I'll probably just go out for a long walk somewhere.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Mmm... Cadbury Mini-Eggs... We buy them in two-pound bags and are approaching the bottom of Bag #4 for 2006. I figure that I've eaten at least five pounds of the eggs by myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnosis of Disbelief Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Hmmmm....it sounds like the chocolate-worshippers have had a schism, and some of them are now worshipping Cadbury Eggs...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrisonjj Posted April 14, 2006 Author Share Posted April 14, 2006 Would you absolutely believe they manufacture Cadbury eggs 3 miles from my house in local industrial park! No Lie! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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