Christmas belongs to Christians

In North America - Jewish learners can access the incredible Limmud experience all over the continent... Not only at Limmud NY, but also at Limmuds in Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Colorado, LA, New Orleans, Toronto & Winnipeg!

TTWS(etc.):
“if the New Testament so marvelously completes the Old Testament, these books must really contain what they claim to contain”
So if the sequel honors, stays true to, and confirms characters (marvelously?) of the original, then they must contain what they claim to contain? Excellent!
There were some inconsistencies and a faux pas or two in the film versions of “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy”, but the original books nailed it. Detailed, meticulous, absolutely marvelous.
All three "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King marvelously complete ‘The Hobbit’. These books must really contain what they claim to contain.

“His prophecies His personal character, the nature of His doctrine, the marvelous propagation of His teaching in spite of its running counter to flesh and blood,”

“. . . is not only a tale of enthralling adventures and mythical beings, but it also touches upon some questions of philosophy and morality. Heroic deeds, the unity for the sake of a common cause, true love, the triumph of Good over Evil - all these could be found in the epic. In "The Lord of the Rings" there is no direct indication as to any religion, however, the atmosphere in the book is literally pierced with holiness. Such places are Rivendell and Lorien, which are the strongholds of Good, in contrast Mordor is an abode of Evil. The readers as well as the characters can choose in what to believe, what to worship. It is wrong to say that only fools have gathered under the banner of Evil. The enemy is sly and artful, and only unity, sincerity and kindness can subdue it.” (http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/books.html )

“Marvelous, simply marvelous! “ (Using Billy Crystal’s voice as Fernando Lamas)

BTW, for everyone else, the complete text of TTWS’s surgically edited screed on ‘Faith’ can be found at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faith
If you have a few hours and a yearning for circular, self-justifying, self congratulatory pseudo-logic and theo-babble, I recommend you give it a read. (Or you could just read the entire text accompanying your insurance plans)
Or just accept this summary of the whole Catholic Encyclopedia: ‘Whatever questions you have, about anything, ‘The Church’ is the only acceptable answer.’

Merry happy!

CECILG |
BELIEVE & KNOW
DECEMBER 21, 2010

IRT:
“The truth is that you BELIEVE, but you don't know.”

ANS:
The fruits of her works are a vindication of Her Truths. Not only do we believe, we know.

If one knows can he also believe? "A man would not believe unless he saw the things he had to believe, either by the evidence of miracles or of something similar"

When we speak of the motives of credibility of revealed truth we mean the evidence that the things asserted are revealed truths. In other words, the credibility of the statements made is correlative with and proportionate to the credentials of the authority who makes them. Now the credentials of God are indubitable, for the very idea of God involves that of omniscience and of the Supreme Truth.

Hence, what God says is supremely credible, though not necessarily supremely intelligible for us. Here, however, the real question is not as to the credentials of God or the credibility of what He says, but as to the credibility of the statement that God has spoken. In other words who or what is the authority for this statement, and what credentials does this authority show?

We read of miracles wrought in their favor and as proofs of the truth of the revelation He makes; we find the most sublime teaching and the repeated announcement of God's desire to save the world from sin and its consequences.

When we turn to the New Testament we find that it records the birth, life, and death of One Who, while clearly man, also claimed to be God, and Who proved the truth of His claim by His whole life, miracles, teachings, and death, and finally by His triumphant resurrection.

The history of the Church since New-Testament times thus wonderfully confirms the New Testament itself, and if the New Testament so marvelously completes the Old Testament, these books must really contain what they claim to contain, viz. Divine revelation. And more than all, that Person Whose life and death were so minutely foretold in the Old Testament, and Whose story, as told in the New Testament, so perfectly corresponds with its prophetic delineation in the Old Testament, must be what He claimed to be, viz. the Son of God.

His work, therefore, must be Divine. The Church that He founded must also be Divine and the repository and guardian of His teaching. Indeed, we can truly say that for every truth of Christianity which we believe Christ Himself is our testimony, and we believe in Him because the Divinity He claimed rests upon the concurrent testimony of His miracles, His prophecies His personal character, the nature of His doctrine, the marvelous propagation of His teaching in spite of its running counter to flesh and blood, the united testimony of thousands of martyrs, the stories of countless saints who for His sake have led heroic lives, the history of the Church herself since the Crucifixion, and, perhaps more remarkable than any, the history of the papacy from St. Peter to Benedict XVI.

Christ-ianity has always been completely Christ-less, most Christ-ians oppose almost everything Jesus stood for. And Christ-mas is primarily a commercial holiday; black Friday is black because selling festivity during the Christ-mas season is how most businesses make it to the black for the year after 11 months in the red. Still, I have nothing against anyone celebrating Christmas for any reason. The more reasons to have a good time the merrier. But then again, I'm not a Christ-ian so I don't have to be against anyone.

My aunt by marriage, Aunt Myra, was a person who went all out on Christmas. She gave gifts, accepted gifts and prepared meals, etc. Came for Christmas dinner. She also celebrated Hanukah, which isn't as much of a big deal Jewish Holiday wise as Christmas, in reality.

She didn't believe in Jesus, though. Didn't go to church personally, nor to Shabbat. I attended a Yom Kippur service with her, which happened after her monther died, so she needed to attend a Yizkor service.

Christmas has evolved, and its acceptance in the wider world has lessened the message a bit. The actual date of the holiday itself is arbitrary, having been based on the Old Roman Calendar. The feast of the Annunciation was determined to be the Spring Equinox (March 25 ORC), so 9 months later - ta dah! You have Jesus' birth.

Christmas has overtaken Easter as a Christian holiday.

Christmas belongs to the retailers. If a religious organization can get something out of it, fine for them.

Stateside Washington Post readers who are curious about Limmud have an alternative closer to home - Limmud NY (www.limmudny.org) - though it is held over Martin Luther King Weekend (January 14-17) rather than Christmas Week.