America’s Stunning Embrace Of Paganism Signals The End Of This Country As We Know It

[Whyayeman]

That as Christians we fail to live up to our calling in Christ, while a tragedy itself, is not the deep concern I think we should have. The reality of sin, that we are ourselves sinners who are always in need of the healing mercy of God's grace is firmly grounded in Scripture and our historic and common Christian confession. Not that we excuse our failure and hypocrisies; but that we acknowledge them, repent of them, and show each other a measure of grace--we are only small, weak, and human after all.

I just want to remind you that while we are in agreement (I think) in rejecting the assumptions of the original post we do not all subscribe to what you have called 'our historic and common Christian confession'. I see no 'stunning embrace of paganism'. Americans are much as they always have been - and so are the rest of us.

If anything, we have become more tolerant and kind towards people a little bit different from ourselves. I think that is an encouraging sign.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I just want to remind you that while we are in agreement (I think) in rejecting the assumptions of the original post we do not all subscribe to what you have called 'our historic and common Christian confession'. I see no 'stunning embrace of paganism'. Americans are much as they always have been - and so are the rest of us.

If anything, we have become more tolerant and kind towards people a little bit different from ourselves. I think that is an encouraging sign.

The "our" here isn't intended to be all-inclusive. I am referring to those who confess Christianity. My intent was to invite someone who shares my religion to a different perspective.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Whyayeman]

The "our" here isn't intended to be all-inclusive. I am referring to those who confess Christianity. My intent was to invite someone who shares my religion to a different perspective.

-CryptoLutheran

OK, I see.

 

[VCR-2000]

I resent that I have to live in this era of time of a dying civilization. It is like suffering a collective cancer.

Got to say that I have a little envy for the older generations that grew up and fought their wars and lived in the heyday, they are glad they are dying and don't have to see the decline. I see that all the time.

 

[BCP1928]

I resent that I have to live in this era of time of a dying civilization. It is like suffering a collective cancer.

Got to say that I have a little envy for the older generations that grew up and fought their wars and lived in the heyday, they are glad they are dying and don't have to see the decline. I see that all the time.

Well, I'm 81 and I don't see anything happening that I would rather die in order to avoid it.

 

[partinobodycular]

I resent that I have to live in this era of time of a dying civilization. It is like suffering a collective cancer.

Got to say that I have a little envy for the older generations that grew up and fought their wars and lived in the heyday, they are glad they are dying and don't have to see the decline. I see that all the time.

A dying civilization... are you nuts? You're blessed to be living in the greatest age in the history of mankind. One where we're standing on the threshold of a prosperity unseen since the garden itself, and you think that it's dying. The only thing dying here is some people's arrogant belief that they're the sole guardians of all things good and right, but they're not. They're simply the latest example of the old establishment fervently resisting the coming of the new one.

Now to you it may feel like civilization's dying, but trust me, it's not... it's just changing.

 

[dlamberth]

When watching a video of the prayer circle speaking in tongues on the floor of Arizona's House of Representatives a couple of days ago, it struck me that Christianity very much does have it's own Paganist like spiritual practices. Though not a Pagan, I have been to Pagan rituals and what I saw in that video was weirder than any Pagan event I've experienced.

 

[Whyayeman]

When watching a video of the prayer circle speaking in tongues on the floor of Arizona's House of Representatives a couple of days ago, it struck me that Christianity very much does have it's own Paganist like spiritual practices. Though not a Pagan, I have been to Pagan rituals and what I saw in that video was weirder than any Pagan event I've experienced.

It is true. The main Christian festivals are based on Pagan celebrations. Christmas is just the winter solstice in fancy dress. Easter Day is calculated on the ancient lunar calendar.

I don't really think it is paganism which is replacing Christianity. There is just a long-term trend away from belief in the supernatural. It may be more pronounced in Western Europe than in America but it is evident there too.

 

[JSRG]

It is true. The main Christian festivals are based on Pagan celebrations. Christmas is just the winter solstice in fancy dress.

This is a popular claim, but is largely lacking support. The first real evidence of any winter solstice celebration among the Romans, as far as I can tell, only comes after we know Christians were celebrating Christmas.

Easter Day is calculated on the ancient lunar calendar.

The Jewish holiday Passover is based on the lunar cycle, as it's supposed to fall under a full moon (it falls in the middle of a Hebrew month, which is where the full moon always happens). The Easter calculation is simply based on the Passover calculation (in Greek, Passover and Easter are actually the same word).

To pre-emptively answer the question of "wait, why is Passover so different from Easter on same years?" the answer is that the Hebrew calendar right now is running fast due to an error--sort of like how the Julian calendar got offtrack and had to be replaced with the Gregorian Calendar--and sometimes puts Passover a month later than it needs to be. Passover is supposed to be after the spring equinox, and the "leap years" in the Hebrew calendar where an extra month is added prevents it from doing so, but due to the calendar error we see some years, like this year, where the "after the spring equinox" requirement would have been fulfilled without the extra month, but the month gets added anyway due to calendar drift and puts Passover markedly away from Easter's time.