Blending of Christian traditions with Pagan traditions

[Solon]

Where are these Roman records ? Apart from a fleeting reference to Christians in Joshepus, and I think one in the Annals of Tacitus, there are no Roman records which mention Jesus of Nazerath. So, your sources please .

Solon

 

[ChrisP]

Where are these Roman records ? Apart from a fleeting reference to Christians in Joshepus, and I think one in the Annals of Tacitus, there are no Roman records which mention Jesus of Nazerath. So, your sources please .

Solon

Wrong thread Solon. this ones about pagan/christian crossover.

 

[Solon]

ooooh, darn my socks, this week has been rubbish....Help, if somebody can move this to where it was I was posting it, which was.Errr, I don't know now.

 

[Quiddity]

Okay, now for the post that I'm sure will tick off many people. Having seen this discussion in more than just this thread, one thing has kept coming to my mind. Christianity WANTED to take on Pagan traditions. This goes way back. There were people who already had religion, religious traditions, religious holidays. The Church was adament about conversion. Anyone who defied the Church's beliefs were deemed heretics. They were serious about turning everyone not only Christian, but subservient to the power of the Church. What better way to aid conversion of people than to simply take the holidays and traditions they already have and incorporate them into "Christian" things? This makes the changing over from one religion to another easier. You can keep doing the things you are doing...but with another meaning to what you are doing.

Thus you have the basis of today's traditions.

Taking upon pagan religion traditions is nothing new. The Catholic Church did it with Halloween. But what is widely misunderstood by many [Protestants in my experience] is that taking upon pagan traditions is only wrong when it contradicts current Catholic teaching. To say truth ONLY comes from Christianity is absolutely ignorant to say. So it would be unjust for Catholicism not to embrace the truths that exist in other faiths.

~Victor

 

[joeboonda]

Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Romans 14:4-14,22 Who art thou that judgest another...One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind; He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth eateth to the Lord, fore he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therfore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more; but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself...Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

 

[joeboonda]

Very true, NetDoc! If I believed that everything in the bible was the teaching of Christ (or the Father) I would be a Christian. Unfortunately I'm very untrusting of humans, and the Catholic Church (who are the people who decided what went in the New Testament) more than most. Jesus, son of God or not, was a great man that according to Roman records of the time lived in Judea and preached peace and love.

Truly a good man be he Mortal or Deity.

I don't think the catholic church decided what would be in the new testament, they came a little bit later. Don't confuse 'a' church with 'the' church which is all who believe in Jesus. Jesus was great, and did preach peace and love, he was, and taught a little more than that, though. He taught that we must believe in him, that his death was payment enough for all our sins. We must not ignore this part of his teachings, for it was his main reason to come to earth, so that we may live because of his death.

Sincerely,

Joeboonda

 

[Draka]

ooooh, darn my socks, this week has been rubbish....Help, if somebody can move this to where it was I was posting it, which was.Errr, I don't know now.

You meant to post it here. Don't worry about it.
You said:

Where are these Roman records ? Apart from a fleeting reference to Christians in Joshepus, and I think one in the Annals of Tacitus, there are no Roman records which mention Jesus of Nazerath. So, your sources please .

In response to SnaleSpace's:

Jesus, son of God or not, was a great man that according to Roman records of the time lived in Judea and preached peace and love.

So yes, you meant to post that here. But the discussion might be for another thread.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

To say truth ONLY comes from Christianity is absolutely ignorant to say. So it would be unjust for Catholicism not to embrace the truths that exist in other faiths.

An excellent point. I'm wary of any religion that says that truth can be found only within itself. There are so many truths- in Catholicism, in Buddhism, in most religions- that one can learn from and be able to celebrate!

 

[ChrisP]

I don't think the catholic church decided what would be in the new testament, they came a little bit later. Don't confuse 'a' church with 'the' church which is all who believe in Jesus. Jesus was great, and did preach peace and love, he was, and taught a little more than that, though. He taught that we must believe in him, that his death was payment enough for all our sins. We must not ignore this part of his teachings, for it was his main reason to come to earth, so that we may live because of his death.

Sincerely,

Joeboonda

Hey Victor, I'm not the best on canonisation, but when did the Catholic church canonise what was in the bible? I think it was arounbd 400AD or something similar?

Either way, why would you make a record of christ's life and omit documents such as the Gospels of Thomas and Mary, who were both very close to him. Unless omitting them suited your purpose?

 

[Feathers in Hair]

We must not ignore this part of his teachings, for it was his main reason to come to earth, so that we may live because of his death.

As much as I enjoy Jesus and his works, I'm starting to wonder about something. Did he teach that one should try to cooperate with the rules of the place one is in? Specifically rule 19?

 

[Solon]

You meant to post it here. Don't worry about it.
You said:

In response to SnaleSpace's:

So yes, you meant to post that here. But the discussion might be for another thread.

Ah, cool, well yes maybe somwhere else, although many threads start to run off at tangent, where links end up, nobody knows

S

 

[Darkdale]

Is this a fair thing to do? Is this not confusing to the minds of young adults and young children, not to mention adults? I was very confused as a child. I did not even know what I was celebrating at times. So many misconceptions and conflicting stories of the origins of holidays in America. It is confusing to say the least. What are we celebrating during Christmas? The blending of two religions? Paganism and Christianity? I know the obvious answers. I would like to dive deaper into this.

Anything can be blending with various pagan traditions, depending on the worldview. But some pagan worldviews cannot be mixed with Christianity, because their worldviews are contradictory.

 

[joeboonda]

As much as I enjoy Jesus and his works, I'm starting to wonder about something. Did he teach that one should try to cooperate with the rules of the place one is in? Specifically rule 19?

Yes we should cooperate, I am not TRYING to break a rule, I just was saying that Jesus also taught that was why He came, sorry to offend.

Sincerely,

Joeboonda