Thank the Lord that's all over for another year!

As I have indicated elsewhere, I am not a lover of Christmas.  I don't mind the religious aspect of it, if Christians wish to celebrate the alleged birth of their iconic leader then good luck to them so long as they don't go bonkers on the bell-ringing given that the nearest church to me is about a hundred yards away!  No, it's the commercial part of it that I detest not least because over the years it has more or less engulfed the serious side of it.  Most Europeans, I believe, simply concentrate on the religious aspects and the rest of what we Brits call 'Christmas' is over and done with in a day.  Very civilised and infinitely less tacky!

All of that, of course, leads me to the 'man' himself, Jesus Christ, and the central question - did he ever exist?  Every year I ask myself that question and promise that I will undertake a serious enquiry into the truth or rumour of it all.  Alas, I never get round to it.  The few pathetic attempts I have made always lead me into a maze of 'maybes', 'possiblys', 'he said', 'she said' and so on, ad infinitum!  Not that it matters, to me at any rate, because it is not the man himself that really matters but the message and there can be no doubt that the message is supremely intelligent. 

You can take all the other philosophical meanderings from the, er, 'greatest minds in the history of the world', and stick 'em where the sun don't shine because the essential message (allegedly) preached by Jesus Christ is both superb and sublime as a guide in how to conduct your all too brief life on this earth.  Alas, the words themselves were not considered enough by the creeps and crooks who quickly decided to enfold them into a corporate body.  Needless to say, as with most 'corporations', it was not long before they split and divided and then determined to put the other lot out of business!

And yet … and yet … the message lives on.  Like most good advice it is mostly ignored but there it stands as a constant reminder.  I don't know if you ever existed, Jesus, me old mate, but if you did then I owe you one!

 

 

Comments

[Whitewall]

The Message has lived for two thousand years and will do so for another two thousand years. It has been the source of strife and comfort each and every day. A comfort to masses of people and a threat to governments, potentates, dictators and those who aspire to rule others.

The central question: Did God lower himself to enter the world "inter faeces et urinam" like the rest of us? Human pride struggles with that.

[Bob]

You're not interested for good reason, David, but a bit of Bible verse anyway:

"If any man come to me, and HATE NOT his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:26.

"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." - Matt 10:37.

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." - Luke 12:47.

"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them." (Matt 21:1-3).

Not only was Jesus not big on 'family values', he supported beating servants and "liberating" personal property.

Christmas was grafted on to the Roman holiday Saturnalia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia ) after Christianity was made the state religion. It also evolved in other ways in other parts of the world ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas ). Since the earliest recorded times civilizations north of the equator have celebrated during the time we now call the end of December. The simple reason is that days begin growing longer.

[Bob]

Since you got me on the subject, David, I found more interesting history, thank you. You might enjoy it since it includes some insight to the Roman military:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html

And from the quixotic group Boycott Christmas:

"You know holiday shopping is offensive and wasteful. You know Christmas 'wish lists' and 'gift exchanges' degrade the concept of giving. You know Christmas marketing is a scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You know this annual consumer frenzy wreaks havoc on the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts. Yet, every year, you cave in and go shopping."

And a jolly 'bah, humbug' to you.

[David Duff]

So, Bob, am I to assume that you swallow whole the words of any official or semi-official spokesman or press officer?

Thanks for the Roman link which I will read later.

[Bob]

"So, Bob, am I to assume that you swallow whole the words of any official or semi-official spokesman or press officer?"

No. If you have an alternative source please clue me in.

[JK]

David, perhaps this little cast off may be of help:

https://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2018/12/how-to-grow-old.html

As for those who tell themselves, everybody else, for everyone's own good, ought emulate themselves ... bullshit.

[Whitewall]

JK, well slop my hogs! Bertrand Ressell, or Lord Russell as it may have been! We are doing a clean out and downsize around here and this past weekend I unearthed a box of old books I had forgotten about. One of them, dog eared and brown paged is Lord Russell's "Education and the Good Life" copyright 1926. I hadn't thought about him in ages. I may read bits of it as time allows. Maybe something by Russell Kirk will appear as well.

[JK]

May time allow Whitewall, there's bread and some salt in Lord's words.

And as, it seems recently as the subject usually comes up, usually roundabout a holiday of the observance sort, I'll stick to my what's become a tradition of sorts:

http://malcolmpollack.com/2016/03/04/live-and-learn/

[Whitewall]

JK, I know what you mean. Time, age, sickness and newborns tend to work in their ways.

[Loz]

BBC radio 4 about 30 seconds ago ...

"Climate change is a man made problem that requires a feminist solution".

Praise the Lord - and pass the ammunition.

SoD

[AussieD]

Sort of "on topic". Did you know that a King James version of the Bible was kept on the bridge of most of Her Majesty's ships of war and used to send messages. I certainly had one.

JK [and Duffers] you may be interested in books called "Make a Signal" and "Make another Signal" by Jack Broome.

In answer to SoD's post about climate change the appropriate hoist or transmission would be "John 11:35"

[Loz]

Problem with Bertrand Russell is he was proved wrong about everything important he ever thought of ...

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/kurt-godel-and-the-romance-of-logic

Don't listen to 'em, Gaffer. Your consciousness will never end.

When you close your eyes for the last time in this run the next thing that'll happen is you'll be opening them again in the next.

Several big bang's may pass in the material world in between, but you'll not notice. Just like one of your afternoon snoozes: after dropping off the next thing that happens is you wake up.

Shame Bertrand Russell wasn't around to see Godel's proof of God's existence ...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel%27s_ontological_proof

Being a logician I think he would've been impressed.

SoD

[JK]

David you and the Missus are, I trust, knitting jumpers appropriately?

It suffices without further AussieD.

[Whitewall]

I trust Boxing Day went well for those who participated?

[Bob]

SoD,

Right now I can't think of anything greater than a tap dancing unicorn. Therefore one must exist.

The theory that in an infinite universe with infinite time all things exist in infinite repetition is easier to swallow. Since statistical outcomes are 'lumpy', however, there could someday, somewhere be a universe inhabited only by grumpy old English bloggers. Imagine that.

[Loz]

You'll have to do better than a tap dancing unicorn, Bob, if you're trying to think of something that can't exist.

Some rhino genes, spliced with a horse's genes, and born and bred in a circus - job done.

For really difficult imagined stuff wait until after the next big-bang when the gravitational laws are all different.

Then you'd have flying, tap dancing unicorn - tiny little wings like the fairies at the bottom of your garden.

There ain't nothing the human mind can conceive of that can't exist. In this cycle of the big-bang you might have to contrive it with a lot of hard work - gene splicing, drone technology for wings, etc.

But in the next big-bang cycle, or some big-bang cycle, the material world might just be built with all that stuff - and the scientific laws to go with it - hard baked in there already.

SoD

[Loz]

Also, I honestly didn't know that Jesus was a tea-leaf.

Well, what can I say?

Christianity 1, Islam 5, in the "Organised religion sucks" stakes, maybe? ...

Jesus - thief.

Muhammed - murderer, rapist, paedophile, thief, and corpse desecrator.

SoD

[Bob]

SoD,

I couldn't prove there's no tap dancing unicorn or anything else in this universe. That would require checking everyplace in the cosmos one could exist, and I just don't have the time.

The "Organised religion sucks" stakes is closer. For example:

"Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’"

Matthew 15:3-4

(Jesus demands putting disrespectful children to death)

"But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."

Luke 19:27

Jesus instructs others to do his killing for him, but if Jesus is another aspect of Yahweh, as some claim, he previously drown almost everyone in the world in the great flood. Actually, ancient gods are a lot alike.

[Loz]

"Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death."

That's me done for then!

Can't we just have a naughty step?

SoD