Religious Fasting.

[floo]

All those events are in the scriptures. The scriptures don't need to tell us to celebrate them, firstly, because we believe them therefore we celebrate them, secondly, because we do not hold to the sola scriptura heresy.

Meaning your lot make it up as they go along!

[ad_orientem]

Zzzzz! Ah, look! Proddy Floo.

[floo]

Zzzzz! Ah, look! Proddy Floo.

You keep banging on about how superior the beliefs of your Church are to those of other Christian denominations, but what good has it done you, your posts are full of hatred and bile?

I certainly don't see things the same way as Alan Burns, and often challenge him, as do others, but he doesn't respond in the unpleasant way you do.

[Robbie]

Seems to me floo to be more a case of being unable to see another point of view,or enter into a discussion. Just firing bullets doesn't add anything.

This thread surely was not started for anything other than people discussing what fasting meant to them in a religious context (any religion).

Does God value one traditional way of fasting over another? He looks into the minds of those who fast.

My view, nothing wrong with doing things at certain times if you can as long as the custom doesn't enslave.

Nothing wrong with people fasting individually at any time in order to focus - or with others.Both have benefits.

As long as a person is reasonably well fasting is good for health.

[floo]

Everyone is entitled to their view of faith always providing they don't claim theirs is superior or true!

[Robbie]

Yes! Oneupmanship not necessary & stifles discussion.

[Nearly Sane]

Everyone is entitled to their view of faith always providing they don't claim theirs is superior or true!

Is that true?

[floo]

Is that true?

I should have added or force it on others in an abusive way.

[Shaker]

What, exactly, is supposed to be this "virtue" in fasting anyway?  I fast for 6 to 7 hours every night; I call it being asleep. Like my hero Mark Twain and smoking, I consider the biological necessity of sleep abstinence enough for my purposes.

Otherwise, I "fasted" for 13.7 billion years before I rocked up here and will do for an unspecified amount of time afterward. While I am here I am here to do, not not do. I suppose there's some creepy love of suffering and doing without and mortification of that traditional Christian enemy (the flesh) at work here for the weirdos. For myself, as I say, I am here to do; the grave supplies all its own opportunities for abstinence.

[floo]

It is good to see you posting again Shaker, I wondered where you were.

[Robbie]

Iunderstand what SHaker said, my belief is fasting should be a voluntary thing & done without making a fuss. It's easy for some to go without food for a while.

Gabriella has talked on one of the Muslim threads about what fasting in Ramadan means to her -not a pleasant thread on the whole but her contribution was interesting & i think would be welcome on this thread.

[ippy]

I have to fast for a blood test next week, at least that blood test has a worthwhile purpose.

ippy 

[jeremyp]

If you think it's all bollocks then may I suggest celebrating the Nativity during the summer.

You mean like Australian Christians do?

[jeremyp]

Piss off, Floo, this is way above your head.

It looks like it's pretty much above yours too. Your claim about synchronising the liturgy and the cosmos is obvious bunk. The only way anybody in the second century would have come up with that ideas is if they didn't know the Southern hemisphere exists, which, of course they didn't, which is a bit odd for people claiming to be in a direct personal relationship with the Universe's creator.

[jeremyp]

You're avoiding your inconsistency. Celebrating all those feasts is entirely scriptual. They're all to be found in the scriptures.

Where is celebrating Christmas mentioned in the Bible and where ids a date given for the birth of Christ?

[jeremyp]

Only because you hold to the heresy of scripture alone, but all those events are in the scriptures. So, if you believe therefore you celebrate. It really is as simple as that. Don't celebrate, don't believe.

It's as simple as believing the stuff that is written down and also some stuff that the church seems to have made up. We look at the earliest records - those in the Bible and we find nothing about when to celebrate Christmas or even whether to celebrate Christmas. Then, some centuries later we have evidence that a tradition has grown up but no evidence as to how it started except that it seems to mysteriously coincide with an old pagan festival.

Sorry Ad O. your argument has no credibility.

[ad_orientem]

It's as simple as believing the stuff that is written down and also some stuff that the church seems to have made up. We look at the earliest records - those in the Bible and we find nothing about when to celebrate Christmas or even whether to celebrate Christmas. Then, some centuries later we have evidence that a tradition has grown up but no evidence as to how it started except that it seems to mysteriously coincide with an old pagan festival.

Sorry Ad O. your argument has no credibility.

It seems you have no understanding. Christ is the light of the world which is why we know he came into it at midwinter when the sun begins to increase, for creation speaks of its creator.

[ippy]

It seems you have no understanding. Christ is the light of the world which is why we know he came into it at midwinter when the sun begins to increase, for creation speaks of its creator.

Exactly where did you get this information from A O?

ippy

[Anchorman]

Exactly where did you get this information from A O?

ippy

I'd like to know that as well.

[ad_orientem]

It comes from a proper understanding of creation and its creator, that although fallen creation is still essentially good and that it points to one one that created it. The sun is an icon of Christ. That is why we the cosmos joins us in our praise, God made it so, wjy our churches are orientated to east and why we a buried so, why we have calendar etc.

[Anchorman]

Eh? What's that goot to do with when Christ was born? You'll find most Christian scholars, be they Catholic, Orthodox or reformed, concede that the midwinter date was purely a religio/political move to 'Christianise' the pre-existant festival. That has been admitted for centuries by Christian thinkers of all denominations.

[ad_orientem]

Eh? What's that goot to do with when Christ was born? You'll find most Christian scholars, be they Catholic, Orthodox or reformed, concede that the midwinter date was purely a religio/political move to 'Christianise' the pre-existant festival. That has been admitted for centuries by Christian thinkers of all denominations.

But that's simply not true. The date for Christnas cones from the date of the Annunciation, an older feast by at least a hundred years. Your claim, therefore, doesn't add up.

[Gordon]

But that's simply not true. The date for Christnas cones from the date of the Annunciation, an older feast by at least a hundred years. Your claim, therefore, doesn't add up.

That can't be right: Christmas was superimposed on pre-Christian midwinter festivals, most notably the Roman one of Saturnalia.

[Anchorman]

But that's simply not true. The date for Christnas cones from the date of the Annunciation, an older feast by at least a hundred years. Your claim, therefore, doesn't add up.

-
But we have no knowledge of when, precuisely, the Annunciation occurred - nor when it was first celebrated. Certainly there is no mention of any celebration, either in Scripture, or in the earliest, most reliable, Christian writings of the first or second centuries.

[ad_orientem]

That can't be right: Christmas was superimposed on pre-Christian midwinter festivals, most notably the Roman one of Saturnalia.

 

Wrong. Which is the older feast? The Annunciation or the Nativity? The Annunciation by over a hundred years. Date of said feast 25th of March. Add nine months and you arrive at the Nativity. It's not just a coincidence.