Bible, Pagan Holidays & Tradition

Originally posted by King Kandy
That's exactly the attitude being condemned in those passages; it WAS "evil and detestable", at the time. So wouldn't you say the catholic church was wrong to have assimilated it? The way it currently is, it has no connection to saints or to paganism. The issue is its origin.

Taking something evil and making it kid friendly? Not very many people today even know the origins of Halloween. I would say that's a win.

I see nothing wrong with taking something bad and transforming it into something good. Nor do I see anything in the passage provided that conflicts with celebrating Halloween. Celebrating the old version of Halloween, sure. But I don't think any Christian actually did.

I know it was not called Christmas and as for the bible time it was change to that date. That does not give any proof however that Christmas was once a pagan hoilday.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I know it was not called Christmas and as for the bible time it was change to that date. That does not give any proof however that Christmas was once a pagan hoilday.

Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I know it was not called Christmas and as for the bible time it was change to that date. That does not give any proof however that Christmas was once a pagan hoilday.

Except that several other preceding myths had nearly identical dates as either birthdays or celebrations for various deity figures, and also incorporated some of the same symbols. Not even Christianity treats it as Jesus' actual birthday (it also doesn't jive with the immaculate conception date), it's only symbolic of his birthday. And the fact that it was co-opted in large part from earlier traditions is a pretty accepted fact in mythological scholarship. Even the most hardcore historical apologists admit to contemporaries to Jesus' story, though of course they only espouse the veracity of Jesus.

Culturally, it also make a lot of sense. To assimilate a smaller cult, sect, or religion, it helped to adopt some similar symbols and holidays...the change was less jarring. By making such things their own, Christianity was able to more easily bolster its ranks in its early history.

I can pull specifics out if I need to, but I'd rather not because A. you can find them easily enough on your own, and B. that's the kind of thing I don't have time for on KMC anymore.

I will look it up but I still think I am right.

If you want a scholarly treatment of this phenomenon, I'd suggest the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell. He's wonderful at deconstructing myths as literal constructs, but retaining their beauty and majesty through more metaphoric interpretation.

Because, frankly, most websites on this have an agenda. They can't be trusted to be unbiased or entirely factual, on either side. The first 5 google links on "jesus horus parallels" for example, are filled with abjectly contradictory claims, almost entirely without citing sources. It's impossible to know who to believe when, for example, one says "Horus was born of a Virgin" and the next says "he was not born of a virgin."

But seriously, Christianity itself recognizes Christmas as a placeholder day, not the actual birth of Jesus. It's not meant to be taken literally.

I will see what you are talking about and I know what you mean.

Virgin" meant young woman...

Very true!

All of our major holidays came from earlier beliefs. Trace em back and you'll see.

I shall and I will let you know but I am still in doubt.