Why I Do Not Celebrate Christmas Anymore

...is because nowhere in the bible, new testament or old and generally believed to be the Word of God (emphasis, mine), is it mentioned in terms of being a religious festival or occasion that was required to be observed or celebrated in any special way or in any other context whatsoever.

So, how did it come about, in any case? Well, here are some historical snippets of interest, courtesy of Google Search, Wikipedia and History.com, to name a few.

i) Christmas literally means 'mass for the Christ', the day on
    which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. The date is     
    quite arbitrary. It was chosen by Pope Leo I to coincide
    with the pagan festival of Saturnalia in which the Romans
    worshipped Saturn, the sun god.

ii) The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on
     December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman
     emperor Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor.
    A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the
    birth of Jesus would be celebrated on 25th December.
 
iii) The 'History Of Religions' hypothesis suggest that the
      Church selected December 25th so as to appropriate
      festivities held by the Romans in honor of the sun god Sol
      Invictus. This feast was established by the Roman
      emperor Aurelian in 274. An explicit expression of this
      theory appears in an annotation of uncertain date added
      to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop
     Jacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe who added it wrote: "It was a
     custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25th
     December the birthday of the Sun, during which they
     kindled lights as a token of festivity. In these solemnities
     and revelries Christians also took part. Accordingly, when
     the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians
     had a leaning towards this festival, they took counsel and
     resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnized on
     that day."

iv) The English term Christmas ('mass on Christ's day') is of
      fairly recent origin. The earlier term Yule may have been
     derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl
     which referred to the feast of the winter solstice.

v) In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main
     holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the
     fourth century, church officials decided to institute the
     birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the bible does
     not mention a date for his birth. Although some evidence
     suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring
     (after all, why would shepherds be herding in the middle
     of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25th. It is
     commonly believed the church chose this date in an effort
     to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia
     festival. By holding Christmas at the same time as
     traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders
     increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly
     embraced.

Messy origins it appears to have had, if the information available on the Internet was to be believed, but one common thread appears to link it to a pagan festival celebrating the birth or rebirth of the sun god and the winter solstice, a mid-winter event marking the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days, or the return of longer days and shorter nights following a period of shorter days and longer nights in other words.

On second thoughts, perhaps I should resume celebrating Christmas once again. After all, the more than two billion people doing it can't be wrong, can they?





    

The Devil's Many Faces

It's been written,"Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming,'I am the Messiah', and will deceive many."

No one knows what Jesus really looked like. Everyone in agreement? Good. Let's proceed.

The popular visual representation of Jesus as being a fair-skinned, blue-eyed, long-flowing-haired, bearded Caucasian male is actually based on a 4th Century Byzantine artistic representation of a god-like, enthroned emperor modelled on a younger version of Zeus, the Greek god of gods, to symbolize his divine persona as exemplified below.

For all we know, according to a reverse-engineered reconstruction of a Galilean man by forensic anthropologist Richard Neave in 2001 for a BBC documentary based on an actual skull found in the region, this is what he may have actually looked like.

Worlds apart, if you ask me. In any case, we all know how great  a deceiver the devil, Satan, is, and the devil, with his legions of angels, demons more likely, to do his bidding, evil work more likely, wears as many hats as he has disguises.

And since nothing is sacred to him, this deceiver of deceivers and, quote, 'the father of lies', unquote, it is believed this Evil One on occasion assumes the popular visual image of Jesus everyone is accustomed to in order to lead the whole world astray, which incidentally is what he does best, what he was meant to do.

We all know of someone or have heard of someone saying he or she, quote, 'saw Jesus', or ' heard Jesus speak;' unquote, at some stage of that person's life. We may also know of or have heard of people claiming they saw or were visited by popular visual representations of other religious deities somewhat lesser in rank, but that's another story.

So, be warned, for, quote, 'Many will come in my name, claiming, "I am the Messiah," and will deceive many,' unquote.

A Disillusioned Atheist's Guide To Choosing The Right Religion

Ask yourself:

1) Does this religion's God teach you right from wrong?
    (a) Yes   (b) No

2) Does this religion's God show you the way to salvation in
     the next life by good deeds in this life?
     (a) Yes   (b) No

3) Does what this religion's God say will happen come to     
     pass?
     (a) Yes   (b) No

4) Does this religion's God speak to people through prophets
     with God-like abilities such as parting the waters of a sea
     for people to cross over on dry land for example and
     speaking in their God's name as opposed to mere mortals
     whatever their exalted positions in society might be?
     (a) Yes   (b) No

If you have answered 'No' to all of the above, this religion is definitely not the right one for you.

If, however, you have answered 'Yes' to all of the above, this religion is indeed the right one for you, regardless of whether you intend to honor or fulfill its obligations or requirements or otherwise, as that is what salvation is all about -- free will. 

The Reason Adult Male Cats Leave Home Explained

The reason male cats leave home upon reaching adulthood is because they were designed to, so that they don't end up mating with their own mothers come mating season. -- Book Of Knowledge

A Hypothetical Letter From The People Of Gaza To The People Of Israel

18th May 2018

Dear People Of Israel;

It was believed by certain quarters twenty years ago that Gaza had the potential to become the Singapore Of The Middle East.

This is what we want.

We are tired of fighting Hamas' war and are willing to vote them out of office in favor of an administration, the Palestinian Authority for example, whose objectives are peace and economic prosperity, similar to that of Singapore's as was believed possible by certain quarters twenty years ago.

Will you help us achieve such a goal?

Sincerely,

The Long-Suffering People Of Gaza

c.c. The People Of Egypt

Muhammad - Islam's First Caliph & His Legacy

The establishment of an Islamic caliphate as actively sought by Daesh, Boko Haram, the Taliban and Abu Sayaf today is nothing new as its first caliph was Muhammad, a.k.a. the Prophet,  who sanctioned warfare as part of the struggle undertaken by himself and his disciples to propagate Islam by conquest and conversion, a struggle he called jihad, or holy war, which he succeeded in doing in Medina, his capital, and the Arabian peninsula.

The rise and fall, by means of warfare and conquests, of several caliphates followed Muhammad's death in 632 A.D., most notably the Rashidun Caliphate, 632 to 661 A.D,, capital Medina and later Kufa, stretching from Tunisia in the west to Pakistan in the east, followed by the Umayyad Caliphate, 661 to 750 A.D., capital Damascus, stretching from Spain in the west to Iran in the east, followed by the Abbasid Caliphate, 750 to 1258 A.D., capital Baghdad, stretching from Tunisia and Libya in the west to Iran and Kuwait in the east, followed by the Ottoman Caliphate, 1517 to 1924 A.D., capital Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), stretching from Serbia in the west to Iraq in the east.

Interestingly, each caliphate was ruled by a string of successive caliphs, many of whom were assassinated and subsequently replaced.

[source of information: Wikipedia]

The Effects Of Cold Weather/Cold Room Temperatures On Stroke Patients

(A Thesis I Never Wrote For A Doctorate I Never Studied For)

Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot or heart stoppage, resulting in brain tissue damage and resultant stroke.

Blood, being thick as opposed to watery, coagulates, or becomes thicker in viscosity when body temperature drops in tandem with room temperature, thus hindering blood flow to the brain which controls everything from reflexes and sensation to motor function and muscle tone.

In normal people, such cold conditions neither restrict nor hinder physical movement. In stroke patients, however, hindered blood flow to a brain consisting of damaged brain tissue only worsens the stroke patient's condition.

And On The Seventh Day He Rested

Not all humans were, as popularly believed, moulded from clay, for at some point, clay deposits had been all but depleted following the creation of billions upon billions of people, animals and so on, whereupon manure found in abundance on grazing grounds was used as a substitute, as evidenced by the shitty people one comes across every now and then. -- Book Of Knowledge

Categorizing Offspring

There are two types of children as derived from their conduct. One is of noble birth, the other is from the gutter, of which, as in both cases, there are two types. One is the result of upbringing, and hence salvageable, the other is the result of genes, and hence unsalvageable. Blessed are the salvageable ones, for they are not eternally lost. -- Book Of Knowledge