Dodging God.

[Nearly Sane]

NS,

"Toddlerism" - I like that. The god of the literalist Christians does seem to be an awful petulant one doesn't he.

Petulant and inaccurate with natural disasters. Honestly, one place allows gay marriage, and the toys just get thrown out of the pram.

[Dicky Underpants]

Yes, that part of it is scary. Also a creationist, thinks evolution is 'just a theory'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikax0Y0NJsY

Aaaaaargh!!

[Owlswing]

As the emergent  proto-orthodox Christianity began to be consolidated, it soon started to attack pagan belief systems as part of its campaign to assert that it alone possessed the truth. This continued throughout history in its notorious 'witch-hunts'. The reason for this, I suggest, was in part because it recognised that so much of its own belief system was so similar to these pagan beliefs - so much so in fact that it had to suggest that these similarites were the deceptions of the Devil, prepared well in advance of the advent of Jesus..

Hmmm!

Attack - I'm not sure that attack is quite the right word to cover all eventualities.

The veneration of the Virgin is seen by some as ploy to cover the pagan beliefs that held that it was necessary for there to both male and female deities just as it was necessary to have male and female humans and animals, one without the other was  sterile non-reproducing system.

As to the

deceptions of the Devil, prepared well in advance of the advent of Jesus..

part of my early lessons in pagan belief did contain comments on the subject of other, pagan, deities whose lives bore a similarity to Christ's, were instances of reverse plagiariism by the Devil. More than a few pagans believe that the reverse is true, that it was the Christins who committed the plagiarism.

I am not going to comment on the matter of the connection with the 'witch-hunts' as there are more theories and explanations for those incidents than you can poke a stick at and discussions on the period and its causes have seen more academic research and non-academic bollocks than enough - but it would appear that religion was only part of the cause, economics, weather, politics and social structure were all involved.     

   

[Jack Knave]

Hmmm!

Attack - I'm not sure that attack is quite the right word to cover all eventualities.

The veneration of the Virgin is seen by some as ploy to cover the pagan beliefs that held that it was necessary for there to both male and female deities just as it was necessary to have male and female humans and animals, one without the other was  sterile non-reproducing system.

As to the  part of my early lessons in pagan belief did contain comments on the subject of other, pagan, deities whose lives bore a similarity to Christ's, were instances of reverse plagiariism by the Devil. More than a few pagans believe that the reverse is true, that it was the Christins who committed the plagiarism.

I am not going to comment on the matter of the connection with the 'witch-hunts' as there are more theories and explanations for those incidents than you can poke a stick at and discussions on the period and its causes have seen more academic research and non-academic bollocks than enough - but it would appear that religion was only part of the cause, economics, weather, politics and social structure were all involved.     

 

Hmmm?

Not too sure that you actually refute what Dicky says in all that. What I gather that he is saying is that essentially, except for some veneer, Christianity is pagan at its root and so any pagan groups would hit a nerve with them, even if it was only intuitively felt, causing them to react against it.

As for the Virgin Mary, if Christianity is pagan in nature then, yes, eventually the feminine side of Christianity would stain through and show its face.

[Owlswing]

Hmmm?

Not too sure that you actually refute what Dicky says in all that. What I gather that he is saying is that essentially, except for some veneer, Christianity is pagan at its root and so any pagan groups would hit a nerve with them, even if it was only intuitively felt, causing them to react against it.

As for the Virgin Mary, if Christianity is pagan in nature then, yes, eventually the feminine side of Christianity would stain through and show its face.

I was not trying to refute anything.

Just a comment.

I have spent fr too much time trying to defend my beliefs on this forum nd being slagged off as stupid, ignorant, ill-read, anti-Christian (I am not anti-Christian the religion - I AM antiChristian people who . . . )  - - -  Oh f**k it, I reall cannot be bothered to keep defending my beliefs against those who insist that there is no defence . . .


A BLESSED YULE TO ALL who are prepared to acknowledge that Yule pre-dates Chriistmas the fake birthdate of Jesus!

[floo]

I doubt many Christians actually believe Jesus was born on December 25th.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

A BLESSED YULE TO ALL who are prepared to acknowledge that Yule pre-dates Chriistmas the fake birthdate of Jesus!

.........And long may your axe grind.

[Gordon]

.........And long may your axe grind.

......and lum reek.

[Dicky Underpants]

I was not trying to refute anything.

Just a comment.

I have spent fr too much time trying to defend my beliefs on this forum nd being slagged off as stupid, ignorant, ill-read, anti-Christian (I am not anti-Christian the religion - I AM antiChristian people who . . . )  - - -  Oh f**k it, I reall cannot be bothered to keep defending my beliefs against those who insist that there is no defence . . .


A BLESSED YULE TO ALL who are prepared to acknowledge that Yule pre-dates Chriistmas the fake birthdate of Jesus!

A blessed Yule to you, Owlswing.

[Dicky Underpants]

I was not trying to refute anything.

Just a comment.

I have spent fr too much time trying to defend my beliefs on this forum nd being slagged off as stupid, ignorant, ill-read, anti-Christian (I am not anti-Christian the religion - I AM antiChristian people who . . . )  - - -  Oh f**k it, I reall cannot be bothered to keep defending my beliefs against those who insist that there is no defence . . .

Hasn't the worst offender been banned? You know, the one who was a fan of the Archbish of Canterbury, but liked to denigrate pagans for wearing robes and pointy hats? The irony of it.

[Dicky Underpants]

As to the  part of my early lessons in pagan belief did contain comments on the subject of other, pagan, deities whose lives bore a similarity to Christ's, were instances of reverse plagiariism by the Devil. More than a few pagans believe that the reverse is true, that it was the Christins who committed the plagiarism.

Which was largely what I was saying - or more specifically, that one strong theme (the Pauline one) in Christianity had common roots with 'paganism'.

I am not going to comment on the matter of the connection with the 'witch-hunts' as there are more theories and explanations for those incidents than you can poke a stick at
 

The presence of horrific witch-hunts is well attested in certain instances. The more controversial matter is the question of the number of 'witches' who were actually burned (rather few, I'd say). Other punishments were available....

Opposite me in Portishead library at this moment is a worthy-looking tome entitled "The British Witch - the biography". I feel paranormal vibrations drawing me to it.

[Owlswing]

The presence of horrific witch-hunts is well attested in certain instances. The more controversial matter is the question of the number of 'witches' who were actually burned (rather few, I'd say). Other punishments were available....

Opposite me in Portishead library at this moment is a worthy-looking tome entitled "The British Witch - the biography". I feel paranormal vibrations drawing me to it.

Take care Friend D U!

The generally accepted figure, by legitimate historians, and not pagan axe-grinders (like Gerald Gardner), for the number of executed witches between 1430 and 1630 peaks at around 90,000 worldwide, but this is a movable feast as more and more records of the trials and their upshot come into the public domain from such places as the Vatican and the more remote parts of Catholic (during the relevant period) Europe and legal archives are opened for the scrutiny of historians and those already available are re-examined.

The vast majority of these were burned. Kramer and Spengler, inquisitors in Germany, convinced the Pope to allow witches to be charged with heresy where they were proved to, or admitted to, having made a pact with the Devil to receive their powers and thus attracting the sentence of burning at the stake.

As far as I have been able to ascertain only one witch was burned in England, and she post-mortem, because, as above, burning was the Catholic punishment and England at the time was Protestant and had no crime of heresy.