Half of the people in this country are fucking hypocrites!

This isn't directed towards any specific person or anything, but I have to get this off my chest.

I got into a religious debate with one of my friends, of course, he doesn't believe in God. This is the same person who has a fucking Christmas tree set up in his home. Let me explain to the ignorant real quick. Christmas is our way of celebrating the "birth of Christ." We celebrate Christmas to honor Jesus and the birth of God's son. If you don't believe in God you obviously don't believe in Jesus. If you don't believe in Jesus, you shouldn't be celebrating Christmas. Take your tree down, take your gifts back to the store and pay no attention to December 25th. Bottomline!

I don't understand how the same people who disprove the existence of God are the same people celebrating the birth of his son. You grew up on Christmas, thats why half of you celebrate it? Thats bullshit, because half of you grew up on religion and are now atheist. Let me guess, Christmas is fun, you get gifts, you get off from work and its convenient, thats why you celebrate it? If you are really true about the way you feel nothing could get in the way of your beliefs.

Drop your thoughts..

 

CHRISTMAS TREE TRADITION HAS ANCIENT ORIGINS

King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson, Extension Educator, Horticulture with the Springfield Extension Center.

The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the winter solstice arrive, they brought green date palm leaves into their homes to symbolize life's triumph over death.

The Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a fest called Saturnalia in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture. They decorated their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts. They gave coins for prosperity, pastries for happiness, and lamps to light one's journey through life.

Centuries ago in Great Britain, woods priests called Druids used evergreens during mysterious winter solstice rituals. The Druids used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life, and place evergreen branches over doors to keep away evil spirits.

Late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. Modern Christmas tree evolved from these early traditions.

The "Xmas" Tree has NOTHING to do with Jesus.
He (your friend) can have a tree if he wants to

 

there are many ways and reasons to celebrate the passing of midwinter's eve, that have nothing whatsoever to do with one system of organized belief or another.

i fail to see this as in and of itself hypocracy in any sense of it.
i like the smell of pine needles.
i like pretty colored lights.
i like the idea of people not beating each other over the head, whatever excuse they use for not doing so.

i could do without the monetarist feeding freenzy. many theists and nontheists both aggree oddly enough on that one too.

as for a signifigant percentage of the population of the dominant culture being hypicritical, tell me something i don't already know.

the roll of dominant beliefs in that hypocracy is as uncertain as it is in anything else.

so putting up a tree with pretty colored lights on it
or better yet, putting pretty colored lights on a tree WITHOUT chopping it down first,
is pretty cool in and of itself
and i certainly don't see why i should be expected to have to subscribe to ANY particular
belief to think so.

you know, the sacredness is in the forrest, not in the coerciveness of human society.
putting up little guest room houses little forrest spirits can stop and rest in when they come to visit us is pretty cool.

these are called tokanoma when the're a little nook of somekind in your house.
i think that's a really cool idea too.
i don't worship the little house.
i just think being nice to little forrest spirits is a really cool thing to do.

all these kinds of things that remind us to want to avoid causing harm and suffering are.
and i think THAT is the important things.
not all the human coerciveness we use to deceive ourselves into confusing our speculations
with what is objectively observable.

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The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.

To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.

The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).

The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

 

I'm still appalled at how people can boldfacely claim that Christmas is not a Christian holiday. That's why you see Jews and Muslims celebrating it, right? That's why that's the day most Christians go to Church, right? That's why people get mad and rather have people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" because they don't want to offend non-Christians, right?

 

Who said Christmas was not Christian? We are merly saying the tradition of a Xmas tree has no conection to the Birth of Christ.


I don't know of and Muslims or Jews who celebrate Christmas.

 

it is a corporate holiday.
Valentine's Day was once a christian holiday as well

I fail to see the connection between trees with pretty lights and gifts under it "from Santa" and christianity

 

the rest of us are appauled by how 'christians' can claim a patent on something that existed long before THEY were ever thought of or invented. something christianity, in plain language, STOLE from EVERYONE, that belonged TO everyone, before there ever was a christianity or anything like it.

"most christians" are a rightfully small fraction of the population of this planet. as are christians and moslems combined. and this planet is a very very VERY small fraction of the universe that surrounds it.

if fanatics want to coerce themselves into refusing to even immagine the real scale of things, their proportions, and their own place in them, that's THEIR "appauling" problem. NOT anyone else's.

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These hipforums members are having a birthday on Dec.25th....I have no idea if you are christian or not, have no idea if u usually celebrate christmas or not....but I hope u all have a great day

peacelovebarefeet, Waiting4the_sun, The Super Bob, too old, sharlamayne05, vaibhav_ec, McConnell (59), DrFeelGood (58), featherfingers (45), ginad1026 (33), nicechrisman (31), Zeus_penn (31), Shamsiel (30), Amster (28), concious creature (28), Lola (25), asmileneverlies (24), reno (24), LandingInLondon (24), infinatenothing (23), KiraBear (22), sanctified (22), Tinano (22), lilylove (22), Bethechange (21), motaytoe (21), Bentenamin (21), opium_eyes (20), hippie_1986 (20), big_ballz (20), fairgreens (20), Ivmord (18), Gemstonebabie88 (18), Dejavuu (18), ganjaluvr (18), anarchopunk17 (17), Mandy Hahn (17), DavieBlaze420 (16)

 

a tree has no relation to the celebration of the christ's child birth. as others have pointed out the celebration pre dates christ.

as an atheist, i do not celebrate xmas. however, i do give those who are close to me who celebrate the holiday, homemade gifts.

many atheists celebrate the winter solstice or go the the motions of xmas (gift giving, tree, etc.) for the benefit of small kids.

 

Say no to "Holiday Wars" and just enjoy the season...

The entire human population celebrates something in the winter, just let it go...

 

I have nothing to really celebrate this year. I was sorta hoping to celebrate Hanukkah with a neighbor(just for something to do) but he's a bigger scrooge then I am and says Hanukkah is just for kids. Seeeing as we both have no kids here Hanukkah, christmas, kwanza and every other winter holiday is just another day.

 

What does a fir tree have to do with the birth of christ?
Santa? (not St.Nick, but Santa, the guy in the red suit)
Stockings?
Rudolph?
Christmas Wreath?
eggnog?

There is a secular xmas and a religious xmas, if your friend wants to celebrate the secular version then why not?

I dont even think jesus was born in december...

And instead of "Peace on earth and Goodwill toward men" you give him shit for having a tree?!?!

100% of everybody is a hypocrite at one point or another, including you...

If i remember correctly, jesus had more important things to do than bitch about something so trivial.

He's probably just happy that families are spending some time together and so should you.

fucking hypocrite.

 

I don't believe in a god or gods, and I'm going to celebrate Christmas.

MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm not going to crucify or set anybody on fire though.

 

well, i too, have every intention of celebrating MIDWINTER'S EVE.
the real hypocracy of christermass is the claim of (post 325 'a.d.') 'christians' for jesus of nazaryth to have been born on midwinters eve. a patent improbability in the context of the details of the biblical description of the event, which places it more logicly sometime arround samhain. the 25th of what is now october being a possible candidate, and the latest time of the year for the even to be plausable.

i just listened to a rasta song about giving midwinter's eve back to everyone it was stolen from. i'm for it. all the more reason to celebrate it if it ever is.

i forget what it was called or who it was by.
of course it was from the aspect of rasta's not wanting to celebrate christermass
BECAUSE neither the date nor much of anything about it has diddly to do with christianity!

which like i say. that's cool with me.
midwinter's eve is a day to celebrate having made it that far through the lean months of the year. actualy the 22nd, the actual solstice is the more logical day to even celebrate that.

why not simply accept that we don't know what we don't know,
(like all that stuff about gods and so on),
and simply celebrate what we do?
(maybe there's a god, maybe there's all kinds of things, but there are also things,
like a sense of spiritness and the turning of the seasons,
that most of us can experience and personaly feel and so on,
and if there is a god, how can any one system of belief, claim exclusive ownership of it?
how can it not be absurd, to expect what, those of us who do, belive to be greater then ourselves, to conform to what any system of belief, book or priesthood, claims to know about it?)

=^^=
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I once hung up a big tinsel sign in the widow of our house that said
"Merry Christmas
Hypocrites" -
just like that
I had some lights flashing on and off in the shape of a hand giving the finger
we lived opposite the church. They threatened to call the police unless we took it down. I told them it was a work in progress and that they should wait till it was finished before they passed judgement at that it would be done in two hours
two hours later the sign read
"Merry Christmas
Hypocrites
will burn in hell"

I changet the lights so they had a fairy above them and it looked like a hand pointing at the fairy - a middle finger point
They never called the police otherwise it would have meant they considered themselves hypocrites - but I wished they had as I planned to start belssing them and claiming that I was setting up a rival religion.

 

I'm celebrating Monday the day. It's just a cooincidence that it happens to fall on this "Christmas" you speak of... Merry Monday!!!

But seriously, christians took traditional holidays and adopted them to Christianity, I'm just taking the Christianity out of a legitimate traditional holiday...

 

yea....Jesus wasn't born on Dec.25......