The gods of Dec.25^th

Many religions claim Winter Solstice as their holyday. The SUN was worshipped by most of the religions especially by Mithraism, Zoroastrianism & religions of Roman origin. That is why Sun- day is still a holi/holy day. We owe everything in this Earth to the Sun. The Sun worshipers & Nature religions held days long festivals from the shortest day of the year and from that day on the days get longer as the strength of the Sun increased over the forces of darkness= the Winter Solstice. Sun worshippers made tabernacles with tree branches and at midnight came out with burning torches uttering loud the birth of the Sun and lit fires. Christmas celebration was not associated with Jesus.

  "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian [ 3^rd cent.of CE] omit it from their lists of feasts" -The Catholic Encyclopedia. When Christians adopted 25^th of Dec. for Christmas, there were hundreds of similar festivals on Dec 25^th for Sun god in different parts of the World.  Osiris, RA, Dionysus [Bacchus], Mithra, Krishna [Vishnu], Horus, Hercules, Tammuz, Indra, Buddha, Frigga [ Scandinavian goddess], the feast of Yule, Apollo, Adonis are few among of the several Sun gods. Clement of Alexandria decorated Jesus as -the sun of righteousness.  

 The book -Golden Bough- a book on religion and magic by James Frazer gives several of beautiful narrations of Sun worship. Mithraism celebrated Dec 25^th  the Nativity of the Sun. Constantine- the father of modern Pauline Christianity embraced the Nativity of the SUN god as that of the SON god.

Christians of the first few centuries did not know for certain where Jesus was born, where he died, or where he was buried.  In the beginning Christmas was celebrated  in April and May. Pope Julius I, in the 4th cen. ordered Dec. 25 [Sol Invictus, the invincible sun] as birth of Jesus. The Zodiacal sign of Virgo- Virgin-rose on the horizon during the Winter Solstice; what else more is needed- the new Son god came out of a Virgin.

andrew 

A BIBLE FOR THE SLAVES.

For centuries, the Bible has been used to spread a message of freedom in Christ. But at some point, it was used for much darker purpose.In Washington DC’s Museum of the Bible, a copy of the so-called “Slave Bible” sits on display. This Bible, used by slave masters in the early 1800s, is quite different than the one used in pews today. “The biggest thing is what it’s missing. The typical King James has 66 books, this one contains, in the Old Testament all or the parts of about 14 books,” explains Anthony Schmidt, PhD, Associate Curator of Bible and Religion in America. Bibles like this, along with catechisms, were used to push a specific message to enslaved people.

“It starts off with the creation story…then it jumps to Joseph getting sold into slavery by his brothers and how that ends up being a good thing for him,” “They’re highlighting themes of being submissive,“The whole book of Revelation is left out, so there is no new Kingdom, no new world, nothing to look forward to,” Most slaves were illiterate or prohibited from reading, so what would be the point of such a Bible? One way slave owners could combat pressure from abolitionists was to tell them they were good Christians that taught their slaves about God.

posted by -andrew

‘Utharam muttumbol konjanam kuthukayo?’ It is not appropriate for a person with the name Vidhyadharan. I can understand ‘fool kushmandu’ do that as it agrees with the name. I did not call Vidhyadharan any name but pointed out the weakness in his arguments. If Vidhyadharan will not change your behavior please change your name. If there is any mistake in my reasoning, please calmly point it out. To take two out of the four lines of Ullur to support an idea that the poet did not mean is not appropriate. He must be turning in his grave and as he can’t respond I had to defend him.

If a person believes only what he see with his own eyes, it comes from a simple mind. School children studying well see a better future (not reality yet) seeing that in their mind. Most of the things we believe are not after proving it. Wisdom is the ability to see into future. The more you can see ahead the wiser you are. So people who see beyond this life are wiser than those who see this life only. Many things Vidhyadharan quote here from Hindu scriptures and other sources are not proven things but he just believes it.  It is hope that gives meaning to life. Christmas gives the wonderful hope beyond this life, and to live with that hope in mind. Christmas is the symbol of that wonderful hope. Merry Christmas to All!!

Was there a Jesus?

The bible:-   In the beginning there were several different & opposing ‘groups’ with Jesus as the leader. They all had gospels of their own. Like the different groups among Christians of today, they differed in thoughts and practices. The collision among the groups became a threat to the Roman Empire and so Emperor Constantine summoned all the groups at Nicaea on CE 325 and presided.  An official faith was declared, those who opposed fled and most of the different types of gospels were destroyed. The books of the entire bible as we see now are edited, added, omitted versions and are not facts or true history. All are translated versions to support the political agenda of the groups. Out of several thousands of versions of the bible -New Revised Standard Version- {NRSV} is the one scholarly followed.  The NRSV make appropriate changes periodically when they get more reliable information.  So, -the word of god- keep changing.

Birth story of Jesus: - out of several gospels only Mathew & Luke has birth story and is contradictory. According to Mathew, the birth is in a house; Ch.1 :18-25 & 2:1-12. None of the gospel writers ever saw Jesus, Mathew was written after CE 80 and Luke several years later. Mathew’s gospel is written to prove that Jesus is born to fulfill the prophecy in the Hebrew bible. Mathew quotes several of the prophecies but they have no connection or credibility and the prophecies are about a Judaic Messiah who comes to redeem ONLY the sons of Juda the 4^th son of Jacob and no one else. Mathew gives more stories, the flight to Egypt, return from Egypt even when Herod’s sons were the rulers, a confused angel- it is funny to see with all the big events going around Jesus’s birth only Herod cannot find Jesus. Herod was a king of the Jews for name sake and had no army or killing power as Mathew narrates. The ‘Virgin’ of Mathew is due to a wrong translation of ‘Young woman’ in Hebrew to Greek as virgin. If the author of Mathew had read the original Hebrew version of Isaiah; Mathew could have omitted the mistake. Well what is Christianity without ‘virgin mother of god’. ‘’ Look the young woman is with child….Immanuel- Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah says this to Ahaz as present incident & not future. And Jesus is not named Immanuel. The gospel according Mathew is 100% fiction like the rest of them.

Luke begins his gospel with a statement that all the existing gospels are false and so he/she is trying to say a correct version. Ch.2 of Luke gives a different story of birth. Jesus is laid in a manger because of the Census there was no room. It is a complete fabrication. The Romans were very good in record keeping and there is no such Census done in Judea. Judea was not under the control of Syrian Governor so Judeans are not counted. Census was taken during a long period & was taken where they lived and no one has to travel to their place of birth. Only men were counted {women were counted with livestock}. During the time period Mathew narrates abought the fleeing to Egypt & killing of children; according to Luke; Jesus is presented in the temple.

Birth of Heroes:-  if you look at the birth stories of legendary & Historic Heroes we can see the story of virgin birth, divine inter-course with human women, angels, singing, miracles …all are very common & similar.  Apollonius of Tyana, CE 15-100-, was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. He came to India with his disciple Domas { Thoma}. The story of Jesus is 90 % a replica of Apollonius.

In the process of the myth making of Jesus; the gospel writers combined the teachings of great Hebrew Rabbis, the Judaic & Samaritan Messiah, Egyptian & Mediterranean mythology, Buddhist teachings & Iscariot’s ideology. That is why we can see different types of Jesus in the gospels.

andrew