The Christmas Tree...

Would a Christian participate in a Pagan ritual? What the Hell IS a "Yule Log"? Can an atheist have a "Christmas Tree"? The answers will surprise you!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• king
• heathen
• bible
• christmas
• tree
• pagan
• ritual
• yule
• tide
• log
• dionysus

[itbevee]

Well this gives me a lot of ammunition when someone gives me flack for celebrating "christmas" but not being a "believer".

[KingHeathen]

glad to have been of help.

[xXRoBeRtXHaYdNXx]

it's pronounced 'die-on-eye-sis'

[KingHeathen]

E-sis, I-sis, po tay to, po tot o...who cares, you know what I meant.

I'm from the South...you're luck I didn't drawl it out and and a few extra syllables in it....lol.

[TLSlayer]

christmas to me is only a time to put aside family dysfunction,i cant say good will toward men anymore because im a misntthrope but i do have family.

its also a time to be drunk.

[MartinJWillett]

Since when are atheists either pagans or heathens? I don't go about cavorting on heaths or worshiping the earth or making a big thing about solstices. I don't care about the solstice, it's going to happen whether I mark it or not.

I like Christmas, it is virtually devoid of Christianity anyway so let's just have a happy Christmas and enjoy ourselves. The word contains the name of a mythical deity but so does Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, January, jovial, saturnine, mercurial and aphrodisiac.

[infernalone666]

@MartinJWillett

so does venereal (of Venus) and the month June (Juno - Roman equivalent of Hera)

[infernalone666]

@infernalone666

the point is his own did MUCH worse to trees than put them on a pedestal and decorate them to bring out some sort of splendor

PS: I left out painting the wood

[infernalone666]

@KingHeathen

Hey KH. i got a good slam against chrisitans with this

so god says not to use the old pagan tree as a sybol becuase they cut it down and deck it lavishly and put it on a pedestal

now, how do I say this:

joseph was a carpenter, and thus was jesus (hebrew children worked in their father's business). THEY cut down trees, skinned them, chopped them into pieces, nailed them together and had people live in them - probably even claimed god wanted it that way

god's gotta shut up

[BibleThumpingAtheist]

I thought trees as symbols of christmas started when christians conquerers invaded pagan lands and cut down Thor's tree. Decorating started in the 1500s. So, I thought this bible passage was about making idols by cutting trees, carving them in the image of gods, decorating them, and carrying them to town. That's what it says, so that's how I interpreted it. It didn't occur to me until recently that atheists and some christians (jehovah witnesses) see it as a warning against christmas trees.

[ajrk95]

@MartinJWillett I may have used the wrong word, but I'm sure you get my meaning.

[MartinJWillett]

@ajrk95 Why worship anything? Do you believe in magic? I don't.

[ajrk95]

@MartinJWillett why not worship the earth? It has played host to lifeforms for billions of years without compliant, and even provided a habitat suitable to support sentient life. By sentient life I of course mean dolphins, not humans.

[necrogenesis1981]

I happen to be a pagan, and this was very interesting to me, I actually learned some things I never knew about different sects of my own belief, so I thank you even though you don't agree with the concept of a god. Will you do one about Halloween? I dunno if you have already cuz I haven't gone through your entire list yet.

[andenisa]

Masters serving slaves? Wow, that must've been nice.

[tooth2fang84]

I am a norse heathen not a pagan there is a differents but i wish christians would stop doing christmas and easter they arent the easern kings holidays they belong to us