Christmas to me

[Larry TN]

Christ
Having
Risen
Incarnate
Secured
Throughout
Mankind
Accessible
Salvation

Christmas is not a lighted tree over monetary rewards for any or no reason. No fat man with a bunch of flying deer that I must have missed with my car. No retail extravaganza. No open bar Christmas party where Christ isn't even invited. That is Christmas to the world. Even followers of Christ take part, for the younguns, or to feel like they belong. Things that cost money are not what Christ had in mind, or he would surely have been explicit; "Render unto Caesar".
Who would be cunning enough to put the name of God on currency?

[MadCow]

Keith, you are correct in that the death of Jesus was way more important than his birth. IMHO I think the reason why Easter is not "celebrated" or "observed" as much as Christmas is, is mostly because "Easter" is a mix of Pagan and Christian themes...it puts a lot of people off. I mean, even calling it Easter *should* be offensive to Christians because it's a reference to the Pagan god Eostre.

Bede (A christian scholar), first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre)...who was the God of Fertility (The Great Mother Goddess).

But why Easter on "Easter Sunday" ?

The word Sunday comes from the word "Sol" or the Roman God of the Sun. And 'Dies Solis' meaning " the day of the sun".
Around 420 CE, The Christian saint Jerome said "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth." Walla, Easter Sunday.

Don't get me started on the Easter Bunny.

[Larry TN]

While St. Jerome is considered a "saint" by a number of denominations, this is about like saying "sir" elton john, or "sir" paul McCartney. They all provided a valuable service to the powers that be, or has been. Jerome translated Jewish sermons into Greek for rich women who did not speak Hebrew. His "patronesse" was Paula, a wealthy woman among many of such that were of Roman senatorial families. Later in life he was tormented by memories of the dancing girls of Rome. He was largely a historian who was reluctantly ordained and then employed by the Catholic Church as a secretary to Pope Damascus 1. He translated parts of the Septuagint and the Greek translation of the New Testament into Latin to form the first version of the Vulgate. Celebrity is not a new invention, yet media is.
I am neither jealous of the appalling lack of protestant saints, nor impressed by the multitude of those of other sects that claim an association to Christ.
Like the nobel prize, knighthood is not what it once was, and sainthood seems to have lost something in the last 2,000 years, as well. Catholics require miracles, the queen requires millions of pounds sterling, or "music"..or a combination.

I see that sir elton recently married...a man,...? God have mercy.

[Larry TN]

"Be on your guard when you begin to mortify your body by abstinence and fasting, lest you imagine yourself to be perfect and a saint; for perfection does not consist in this virtue. It is only a help; a disposition;a means though a fitting one, for the attainment of true perfection." -Eusebuis Sophronius Hieronymous (~347-30 Sept. 420) aka St. Jerome