@Shrek
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you. I had accidently you on the ignore list (I didn't even know I could do that) and could find your post.
Do you have any Biblical support for saying Christmas is a Christian holiday?
tricky, how am I going to prove that Christ's mass is Christian.. are you having a laugh?
Actually I'm not having a laugh. So, do you REALLY think because a LIE is repetedly told it is true regardless of the proof? But really you have changed it up here just a bit. Is Christ's mass the same event as Christmas? And do either of those events have anything to do with the Christ Jesus in the Bible? I have no need of links that you haven't read and that don't answer the questions I'm asking. Either you have some opinion and knowledge of the subject or you don't.
So, if this is the case and the symbol refers to the historical period 4300 B.C.E. to 2150 B.C.E. what does it mean?
Now that's the $64000 question, my guess is a hidden group who keep alive a belief system that was probably started in the Sumerian era and is still alive and well
Not likely a $64,000 question, not likely a hidden group. That is unless you'll pay that much for what is hidden is plain sight.
Could you please give the exact verse in Matthew (or any canon gospel) where the number 3 is mentioned as the exact number of Wise men that came visiting Jesus.Some stuff about the magi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_MagiYes the number is not given in the bible as to how many magi there are but the idea here is that the information is encoded, so:
Matthew 2
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
2 and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.
Now if there where some blokes living in the east and then they followed a star they saw in the east which way would they be going?
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Gold incense and myrrh - that's 3 gifts from 3 king
So, you are going to assume that because there were three gift's there were three kings (magi/wise men/ astrologers). I'm sure this is faulty reasoning. Please check out fallacy thread for just which one it is. One king could not have brought three gifts? Kings are rich sometimes they even sent caravans of gifts. There is not one logical reason to ASSUME there were three or one or five or ten except non Biblical tradition. the fact is the Bible leaves them unnumbered. Even the Wikipedia article
you posted the link to said as much. See;
Although the account does not tell how many they were, the three gifts led to a widespread assumption that they were three as well.
And while we're at it, since you brought it up, have you ever taken a moment to wonder why Matthew 2:11 says "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary"? Wait, Jesus wasn't an infant when the Astrologers came to see him? Jesus was with his Mother at a house? Not a temporary residency? Then why are the Astrologers (kings/magi/wise men) in the nativity at all. But wait if the Astrologers didn't get there until Jesus was a child the the star wasn't there on the night of his birth either! Oh no?!
Get my point, Shrek. I've taken some time to look at the event. Something are not as they may at first appear to be.
Is this idea of a paid clergy/priesthood supported by the BibleThe idea that the priesthood get paid is probably from the second set of 10 commandments that god had to make for Moses (after he broke the first set)
Exodus 34:26 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.
but as for tithing, you might try here
http://www.gotquestions.org/tithing-Christian.html Didn't actually address my question here. RECALL
I saidIs this idea of a paid clergy/priesthood supported by the Bible. In the ancient nation of Israel becuase it was also a physical nation there were taxes and supports paid. There was a reasonable fairness if carried out correctly, this however is more on a different subject (for another time?) I am more speaking about references in the Christian Greek Scriptures that would support your claim that this paid priesthood is really a Christian establishment. Do you have any?There was a reason I preferred to not include the ancient nation of Israel in the same topic as the congregation of true Christians because the circumstances of two situations are very different.
None the less like I said the
question was about paid clergy. If the people should tith or not is not by necessity followed by the clergy getting paid or not.
Jesus gave this illustration to make his point. Perhaps pondering it will help you understand what I'm asking.
John 10:11 I am the fine shepherd; the fine shepherd surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep. 12 The hired man, who is no shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong as his own, beholds the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them— 13 because he is a hired man and does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the fine shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I surrender my soul in behalf of the sheep.
Interesing pile of information to what end did you post it. At first I thought just for the Ten Commandments. To which I thought, "humm...So, they part of greater body of laws and the way they are listed it hard to tell just what you mean." But, then I realized there was a lot of stuff other there. Some perhaps useful, some a display of a little knowledge is dangerous, some worth looking into.
Topic: Christmas and all that