Hey! Unto You A Child Is Born
But as far as I'm concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman - sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham. When we came out of the church that night it was cold and clear, with crunchy snow underfoot and bright, bright stars overhead. And I thought about the Angel of the Lord - Gladys, with her skinny legs and her dirty sneakers sticking out from under her robe, yelling at all of us everywhere: 'Hey! Unto you a child is born!'
"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" - Barbara Robinson
Here is how this book begins: "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down toolhouse." These truly nasty kids bully their way into the lead roles in a church Christmas pageant to get free hot chocolate and cookies, but by the end of the book, their unexpected Christmas spirit has us in tears.
What can I say? I'm such a sucker for a redemption story. Whether it's Scrooge, the Herdmans, George Bailey, the Grinch, little Susan Walker - or me, I just can't resist the story of someone who once was blind, but now they see.
This is what I wish for all of you this Christmas: To see, to fly above the despair. To understand why Christmas resonates throughout the world, even in places where they don't especially care (or even believe) that Jesus was born in a manger.
Christmas is that Spirit which transforms and you don't have to be a Christian to let it work its magic. It might have been a different day designated by so many of the human race as the time to transcend our pain and fear, to reach out to each other in a way we don't allow ourselves to do the other 364 days of the year, but this seems to be the one. So let's celebrate it.
Some people manage to tap into that Spirit the rest of the year, while the rest of us keep our hearts "safe" behind concrete and razor wire. Silly, really - because a heart not used regularly shrivels up, becomes hard and small. (Like the Grinch.) Even a broken heart is better than one that's never used.
That Spirit is in all of us. Think of the very worst person you know (yes, worse than the Herdmans - or Dick Cheney), and even they have that Spirit inside. It's up to them whether they'll ever let it out, but it's there.
Every other day of the year, I focus on what's wrong with the world. Today, I'm writing about the thing that's so very, very right - the human impulse to shine a light in darkness. To help, to shelter people in need. To love.
We all have lives that are far from perfect. Sometimes we go through hard times that seem to never end, and people we trusted let us down, again and again. And yet.
And yet, there's hope. Every single year, Ebenezer Scrooge opens his heart. Every year, George Bailey gets a glimmer of understanding about what a very large part is played in very small ways, and Clarence gets his wings. A wounded little girl who didn't dare let herself believe in Santa Claus learns faith isn't rational, and Linus helps us see the spiritual yearning at the real heart of Christmas.
We're here. We're alive. Love each other, if you dare. Be brave with your hearts. Merry, merry Christmas.
Hey! Unto you a child is born!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJEmvoaDjCo
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I have to vent - don't know where else to go... my family and I just got into a heated argument regarding christianity - they're all hardcore southern baptist republicans... I basically pwned their asses and their beliefs, but it really is like talking to chair legs... they're so deeply indoctrinated in these beliefs, nothing I say or do (facts be damned) can sway them. It ended with them telling me I'm possessed by satan - nice. In any case, happy solisitice and well being to all of you. Remember to eat your veggies, cuz the raptures coming soon... geez.
:)
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Try this one. Church Lady.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I like being encased in satin.
Tell your parents that Satan, Lucifer, the devil the demon, is all from Paganism. Satan appears to come from the name Setah, and Egyptian demon of lust, Lucifer was a Roman solar god (outside of the Apollo devotees, which started out a Greek cult anyway), devil and divine seems to have at it's root Devi from Hinduism (shades of Deus Inversus Diabolus), demon from the Greek Daemonum who were like the Aeons of the Gnostics, and the angels of the Paulists, there is also present the eschatology with the extreme dichotomous struggle between the Armies of Light of Ahura Mazda v the Army of Darkness of Aryman which came from Zoroastrianism, which predates all the Abrahamic Faiths.
And of course Christmas is primarily the Saturnalia and the Dies Natalis Solus Invictus of Mithra (but common with other sun gods, along with the spring time death and rebirth), and Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, which means the annointed one, in the Mysteries. Since it is often taken to be a Bacchanalian term the more vulgar among us conceive that the chrism was jism.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I should also mention while I'm on a jag, that the Gospels themselves seem to take themselves from the dramaturgical thespianism of the Dionysian rites. Their tragedies follow this formula:
Agon: The Contest, usually between a younger and an older challenger
Pathos: The Passion of the hero's death
Threnos: The ritual lament
Anagnorisis: The discovery that he lives again, usually by women
Apotheosis: Becoming one with a God, or a God in his own right.
In the Old Testament, it refers to the foolish women who wail outside the temple, an indirect reference to the Caananite Cybele and Attis cult in Jerusalem, much like the solar cults described above here.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The sheitan is actually a character from the Hebrew religion. But he isn't a "devil" or anything like it. Sheitan isn't even a name. It's a title denoting the adversary, meaning the other guy you're in an argument with. He's the guy who takes the other side. The name first cropped up in the story of Job, when God got into an argument with one of the angels, called the sheitan in the story because he was arguing against Job's being able to withstand misfortune. In Christianity, this figure became conflated with Lucifer (the fallen angel), Beelzebub (the lord of flies, basically a god of misfortune and disease), Baal (a Babylonian deity), and several other figures, into what we now think of as "the devil". Devil is itself a word derived from deva or devi, Sanskrit for demi-god, just as daemon, Greek for inhabiting spirit, became demon. Christianity has a long history of taking other people's sacred things and twisting them around to turn them into evil, and thus convince people that what was once good is now bad. Underhanded and unoriginal, but there it is.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
There's an Egyptian influence on the Jewish religion.
In Egypt there's a town called Yah (much like Yahweh), but the town was named after an Egyptian moon god much like Thoth.
The name sheitan seems to have been taken from Setah.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I had relatives in MS who are the same way. I haven't been back down there since I was in college in the 1980s. I have nothing in common with those rednecks, my father's parents among them, so I just wrote them off, no letters, no phone calls no visits. Life is too short to have to argue with unenlightened,uneducated, bigoted buybull thumpers. Create a family of your own of people who think as you do and perservere through logic, reason, and knowledge.
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A8U6aUPW48
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Pope Knocked Down By Woman At Christmas Mass (VIDEO)
Pow!
Some stuff you can't make up!
Christmas Eve is the 3,000th day of the Afghanistan War
and the 30th Anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Some stuff you can't make up!
That could send a shiver up my spine.:/
What is your conceptual, continuity?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTS_wxFzKok
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I sure hope he/she doesn't have any pre-existing conditions.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
he/she can stay on their parents plan until the age of 26, which will be helpful since there won't be any jobs.
Some stuff you can't make up!
Go hang around with 12 other unemployed guys and a prostitute, perform magic tricks, and finally bum enough money off people for a rather large sit down dinner until the police come and get him?
The Catholics unofficially made Mary Magdalene a prostitute, because of the Gnostic Gospel According to Mary, was apparently a challenge to the Paulists.
When people were referring to Jesus as Yeshua ben Pandera they posited that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the Magdalene were one in the same, and that she was a hierodule, a sacred prostitute, and this fed into the story that Jesus's father was a Roman centurion named Pandera, as told by Josephus.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
So she was a holy ho?
My father was a centurion in the Jerusalem garrison.
His name was........Naughtius Maximas.
The Monty Python guys are so educated, I've wondered if they drew from Yeshua Ben Pandera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiCgR_m1JIw&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Jesus of Montreal? Excellent film, and these issues are explored in it. One of the best dramatizations of the Jesus story. Look it up, you'll be glad you did. :)
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
The Magdalene was conflated with the repentant sinner and the woman caught in adultery. They were combined into one figure, the better to bash women over the head with their own sexuality.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
One parent JUST lost a job entirely and the other is on disability. Sibling can't work for the next few weeks and this jerkoff, me, can't even get an interview. Unemployment? WTH is that? I have never had such a thing as money for not working.
Yay.
the victim of rape.
21 DEC 17:47 UT [12:47 PM EST]
The Winter Solstice
The Return of The Light
The New Sun
The Beginning of the New Solar Year
Burning Dance
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
A Pagan celebration hijacked by Christianity and Coca cola.
Happy tree decoration day y'all. :)
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
"Er, well, um, if you're dropping by again, do pop in. Heh. And thanks a lot for the gold and frankincense, er, but don't worry too much about the myrrh next time. All right? Heh. Thank you. Good-bye."
Myrrh is a dangerous animal.....or did I dream it?
It's a balm.
A BOMB?? You can't give a bomb to a baby! That's a very dangerous animal!!!
No, not a bomb, a BALM. An ointment!
Oh, why didn't you say so, then? There is an animal called a bomb. Or did I dream it?...
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Jesus had a very untraditional family. Mom was a virgin. Stepdad in the picture. Biological dad was just a sperm donor.
If a guy brought up in that environment is good enough to worship, it must be a good situation.
I was in agreement right until the "little girl learns faith isn't rational" part. Especially ironic since the entry right below thiss one is of the terrible life lessons of Christmas movies.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true."
- Mark Twain
Professor Van Helsing quoted that line in Dracula, using it to justify faith.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
It's just faith is NOT rational. If it works for you, great. But it's not rational.
By the way, how much snow are you getting there?
It's solid white, but not real thick.
Hell has frozen over when Texas has a White Christmas that doesn't involve pointy hoods.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I went down to the beach this morning at 7am. It's a ritual.
Water temp 54. Air temp 37. Wind Chill made the air temp feel like 23.
The surf wasn't all That Good.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"
My favorite Mark Twain quote.
I so fail to live by it. :p
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
Actually depending on which city-state you were in you could live in relative freedom in ancient Greece, and they had multiple religions and priests.
But it was very unstable, since the city-states fought among themselves.
The early days of the Roman Republic had the split between being fairly peaceful at home but warlike in the rest of the world, despite their high tolerance for most religions. That was the "morality" the Romans lost according to some historians.
I think the distinction is that no one priesthood ever became a powerful rival to the States in these examples, although strife could occur when a religious ruler tried to impose his own by force.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Replied in the wrong place, sorry.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
this reply got plugged into the wrong place
spending today with my darling wife and precious child (Hooray for Abigail!), one day away from my regular 80hrs a week in a formerly quite successful small business now staggered by brutal economic facts
I say, F* the love, F* 'comity'
I say come out swinging in the new year and tell the progressive caucus, hold this legislative body hostage and the American people will follow
anything else, no matter how draped in "its all about the love" it is, I find naive, whimpy and pathetic
JMHO
your name's Lebowski, Lebowski... and your wife is Bunny
Ms. Madrak. Thank you. I think you have helped me remember why time after time I don't give up on the things and people which rationality tells me I should. I needed that.
By the last paragraph I was in tears and my faith was given a boost.
I kind of get tired of hearing that faith is a bad thing.
Thanks for reminding me to stick it out no matter who or what lets me down.
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