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Vigoureux

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Post: 100555551_16 created on Sat, 06 Aug 2016 22:37:35 +0000
Posted: Sat, 06 Aug 2016 22:37:35 +0000

sosalty

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daarken

What the ******** is going on anyway with these cute cumballs?

Many years climate change and free-access porn have finally caught up with humanity Gaians...

Aejus

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Post: 100555551_18 created on Sun, 07 Aug 2016 01:44:52 +0000
Posted: Sun, 07 Aug 2016 01:44:52 +0000

The Bunit

daarken

HAHAHA. Cumballs. Best description ever.

One Witchy Woman

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Post: 100555551_20 created on Sun, 07 Aug 2016 06:29:23 +0000
Posted: Sun, 07 Aug 2016 06:29:23 +0000

MintTales

Maybe the distress call from before is not from the blob? Maybe they're the attacker? *gasp* D:

They can't be the baddies, they are just too cute.

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Post: 100555551_22 created on Sun, 07 Aug 2016 07:06:11 +0000
Posted: Sun, 07 Aug 2016 07:06:11 +0000

MintTales

One Witchy Woman

MintTales

Maybe the distress call from before is not from the blob? Maybe they're the attacker? *gasp* D:

They can't be the baddies, they are just too cute.

So did the gremlins emotion_donotwant

OMG! I love the Gremlins. My dog is named Gizmo. They weren't bad, they were mischievious.

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Post: 100555551_24 created on Sun, 07 Aug 2016 20:05:30 +0000
Posted: Sun, 07 Aug 2016 20:05:30 +0000

llirbwerdnadivad

cristobela

sosalty

cristobela

I sat here wondering, "just how ethical is this event? what exactly does the convert-o-matic do?"—and then saw your thread. Similar thoughts. Has anyone studied the slimes? or tried communicating with them? Maybe they are here to help us? and if mindless, then maybe they are beneficial to us in some way by keeping them alive? training them as domestic animals or something? Has there been one news report of them actually destroying a good thing? (I don't consider the cancellation of an event that causes a spirit of divisiveness throughout Gaia a "crime"). Have the slimes killed innocent Gaians? destroyed a habitat? impaired someone's bodily organ? anything? and if so, why? The fact that Sam and some kitten want us to kill (??? seriously, what does the convert-o-matic do?) without any careful investigation is unjust. Where is Cindy Donovinh (the news reporter)? Maybe the citizens of Gaia deserve to destroyed if this is the kind of careless behavior being accepted in this world. But Gaia's destruction doesn't seem to be a likely result of this invasion. The slimes are just calmly sitting in my inventory.

Have many Gaia events been all that ethical? Not that I'm complaining too much, but think about it. Like seriously, other than being slightly annoying, what have they done? We haven't figured out why they're doing whatever it is either. The other events usually had reasons. Good ones. But we'll figure out what's going on EVENTUALLY.

Oh, I have thought about it. gonk That's why I usually avoid the events.

You may have noticed from my sig that I'm a Christian (and for the past few years my existence on Gaia has been predominantly dedicated to Christian guilds; I've ventured out, every once in a while, to the rest of the forum to give an encouraging word to someone going through a rough time. But otherwise, I'm in my Christian bubble). Consequently, I don't participate in events that have me showing approval of pagan religions anymore (Santa Claus/Odin, Easter Bunny, Halloween/Samhain, elves and fairies, witches, greek gods/roman gods [cupid/eros], etc); they are not something I seek to entertain myself with. I use to participate in them before, back when I was irreligious, but not anymore because it displeases the God I follow and would be a poor representation, on my part, of what He commands us to do (to solely reflect Him, His nature, His Commands).

That being said, I enjoyed "What the Fluff" because the event was about nurturing a fluffy pet and caring for them. Ever since coming to Christ, however, I do assess the ethical nature of an event before participating in it, which means I don't participate in much at all anymore. But that's okay. I enjoy the fellowship of Christ more. The event is just a momentary thrill. And, if what the event stands for is something I'm against / is something my God is against, then it's not a loss. I want to stand for what He stands for and gladly give up participating in it. (Plus, I don't need a badge reminding me I participated in an idea I do not like, nor do I want to profit from an act I disapprove of). That would just torture my conscience.

So far, it seems like I'm sitting this one out too. Why do they want me to kill these slimes? What is their actual threat? As you said, the reason they're giving us is "annoyance". So, I'll pass. razz

Isn't Santa Claus a more Christian subject? Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, if I'm not mistaken.

I was under the same impression until I started delving into the Scriptures and saw the Commands being at odds with the history surrounding Christmas—things that even Christian encyclopedias openly admit (and I'll include the information below in a spoiler tag). Christians have given the festivity a Christian name, but once you analyze what is being done in light of the Commands, none of the rituals are genuinely Biblical nor obedient to the Commands, but actually nullifies what is written, even nullifying details about the night of His birth; so there's nothing saving it.

Allow me to show you:

The Commands

First of all, I'll provide the Commands, and a passage demonstrating a general principle, that we're not suppose to adopt the spiritual practices of the pagans—even if we make YHWH the reason behind our doing so—because there should be a clear distinction about Who we worship, no traces to other gods/idols whatsoever (note: the first two passages are about Israel inheriting territory as a nation, but in spirit, this would apply to whatever domain comes under our ownership: our house, our room, our profile page, our heart—it is to be devoid of pagan ways of worship).

Deuteronomy 12:2-4 (NIV)

2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 (NIV)

30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
Jeremiah 10:2 (NIV)

2 This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
though the nations are terrified by them.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)

26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Where there is a disconnect in people's minds is what "worshiping a god" looked like: it's as simple as taking part in the cultural practices that honors the god/goddess/idol. Thus why YHWH forbade us even from taking the practice, stripping it of idol names, and doing it in His Name / Honor. This not only applies to the outright detrimental practices, like burning your child alive in fire to worship Him, or cutting yourself to get His attention, but even the nothing-but-useless ones [like repeating a prayer 100 times in mantra-like fashion; it's a waste of time, He heard you the first time, even in un-uttered prayer said in your heart, because He sees the thoughts of your innermost being).

Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Genesis 6:5 (NIV)

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

So, it's useless to pray in their ways (thus why YHWH Commanded against it). He's not a God of uselessness, but by adopting their ways, that's exactly what we communicate. We're not actually giving honor to YHWH by taking a spiritually-pagan practice that is foreign to Him, and making Him the focus, because the idea came from the idolatrous practice, not Him, thus it does not honor Him the Way He said He wanted to be worshiped. It gives validation to the idolatrous thought, not to YHWH's truth. Plus it makes Him seem like the other spirits and/or idols (false notions of God) that mislead people into detrimental, if not useless, practices. We would be honoring the idol by partaking in the religious custom inspired by the idol, even if the names—object of worship—have been changed.

That established:

The Extra-Biblical History:

Christian encyclopedias and dictionaries documenting that Christians have done this anyway (ergo, in disobedience to the Commands):

“Gradually a number of prevailing practices of the nations into which Christianity came were assimilated and were combined with the religious ceremonies surrounding Christmas. The assimilation of such practices generally represented efforts by Christians to transform or absorb otherwise pagan practices. The Feast of Saturnalia in early Rome, for example, was celebrated for 7 days from the 17th to the 24th of December and was marked by a spirit of merriment, gift giving to children and other forms of entertainment. Gradually, early Christians replaced the pagan feast with the celebration of Christmas; but many of the traditions of this observance were assimilated and remain to this day a part of the observance of Christmas. Other NATIONS, the Scandinavians, Germans, French, English and others, have left their mark . . . as well (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) (pp. 804, 805).

Various symbolic elements of the pagan celebration, such as the lighting of candles, evergreen decorations, and the giving of gifts, were adapted to Christian signification. Later as Christianity spread into northern Europe, the Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavic winter festivals contributed holly mistletoe, the Christmas tree, bonfires, and similar items. (The Christian Encyclopedia)

The giving of presents was a Roman custom; while the Yule tree and Yule log are remnants of old Teutonic nature worship. Gradually the festival sank into mere revelry . . . . The custom was forbidden by an act of parliament in 1555; And the reformation brought in a refinement in the celebration of Christmas by emphasizing it Christian elements. (Unger's Bible Dictionary)

Many of the customs associated with Christmas also took their origins from the heathen observances. The exchanging of gifts, extravagant merriment, and lighting of candles all have previous counterparts in the Roman Saturnalia. The use of trees harkens back to the pagan Scandinavian festival of Yule. ~James Taylor, "Christmas," in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (J. D. Douglas, ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), p. 223.

Quotes from Christian dictionaries and encyclopedias taken from this video series who put in the research: [Sunburned - Part 1]. They also included secular sources of information that agree.

What the above means is that somewhere down the line, some Christian(s) one day decided: "we know that this pagan tradition honors ______ , but no, let's make it about our Heavenly Father and Jesus" thus breaking that Command of our Father to not adopt their ways nor make Him the focus of their ways.

Night of His Birth
Biblical Information

The gospels themselves rule out the winter season as the date of Christ's birth because:

(1) according to Luke's gospel, on the night of His birth, the shepherds were out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks at night Luke 2:8-12 (it snows, if not rains heavily, during these months in Israel [shepherds wouldn't be out at night with their flocks during winter]); so, His birth cannot be ascribed to a December 25th date, let alone the winter season, and

(2) the reason Mary gave birth in a manger in Bethlehem (and not her house in Nazareth) was because Caesar Augustus decreed a census be conducted of the entire Roman world (the areas under their Roman rule, of which Israel was under at the time), so everyone had to travel back to their home town for this census (thus Joseph going back to Bethlehem with his wife, Mary); no one is going to conduct a census in the middle of winter, and yet Jesus was born during this census.

Both of these details are described in [Luke 2].

Extra-Biblical Information

The December 25th date has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity from an extra-Biblical perspective as well; it was Mithra's birthday, not the Biblical Jesus' birth date:

The Bible as History

So, what happened? Why is Christmas associated with Christ? Because Christian individuals syncretised themselves with the pagan, religious and nature-worshipping practices of the nations. The December 25th festivity was adopted by Christians as an alternative celebration to what was going in pagan circles during this time, to make it easier for converting pagans to leave their pagan religions behind. But in doing so, Christians are speaking against the very gospel they're trying to promote by choosing such a date. And they're speaking against the concept and practice of "holy living" (set-apart from the nation's spiritual practices) by adopting the very same pagan practices we're actually telling the pagans to leave (we can't be set-apart by borrowing/taking inspiration from them—it's prohibited. Instead of making it obvious that YHWH is distinctly different from the entities and idols that the nations worship, we would make it seem like we're all worshiping the same thing. And that's dishonest because the God described in the Bible has Commands that the pagan religions do not, and whose lifestyles, thoughts, attitudes, lusts, and behaviors the Biblical God condemns).

That said, as you can see, it's only by name that "Christmas" has anything to do with Christ because when you analyze it for what actually goes on, from the date of the celebration down to the rituals and decorations, they reflect pagan religion and has nothing to do with Jesus (we're not allowed to make images of God in the first place because we haven't seen him, i.e. Deut 4:15-18; that's what the pagans do of their gods, not us i.e. Psalm 115:2-4),

Deuteronomy 4:15-18 (NIV)

15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
Psalm 115:2-4 (NIV)

2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.

Biblically, the Israelites would have no images of God to show when pagans asked to see their God (in contrast, the pagans would fabricate images of the one they claimed to worship). We're not suppose to be like the pagans.

Santa Claus

Now, Santa Claus himself: he is not Jesus Christ. Santa Claus is based on Odin—the norse God, who is depicted as an old man with a long white beard. He rides an 8-legged horse named Sleipnir (which is where Santa's 8 reindeer came from; Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, was added in later).

source: [link]

Wiki Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir

Santa Claus is based on a norse God, Odin [and even if he were based on Jesus, we're not suppose to make images of Jesus anyway, so the image of Santa Claus has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity whatsoever), Nor does December 25th have anything to do with Christ's birth in light of the history documented in the Bible. What Christmas comes from is Saturnalia and Yule. And that red cap Santa wears? It's a Phrygian cap: from Mithra worship (from whom we get the December 25th date from in the first place).

source: [link]

User Image

source: [link]

Clearly, just because cultural practices associate with Christianity doesn't necessarily mean they legtimately are; Christians have strayed from Scripture to say the least. Living holy, what holiness is—living set-apart from the spiritual customs of the pagans—is not something that is often taught (because many a church [and the Christians within it] commits this sin of mixing with the ways of the nations and delights in it); we have to read about it in Scripture for ourselves to finally expose this behavior.

Edit: and to their credit, I don't think most Christians do this on purpose. After a few generations of having mixed, the new generation growing up wouldn't detect that this thing being done in Jesus' Name actually violated the Commands ("I just grew up doing it in the Name of Jesus; it's culture, it's what we've always done." Oh, it might seem that way, but it isn't).

Digging into the Biblical history and extra-Biblical history is always fun 3nodding

Just A Coffee Stain

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Post: 100555551_26 created on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 00:08:32 +0000
Posted: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 00:08:32 +0000

sosalty

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EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE

llirbwerdnadivad

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Post: 100555551_28 created on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 03:41:08 +0000
Posted: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 03:41:08 +0000

cristobela

llirbwerdnadivad

cristobela

sosalty

cristobela

I sat here wondering, "just how ethical is this event? what exactly does the convert-o-matic do?"—and then saw your thread. Similar thoughts. Has anyone studied the slimes? or tried communicating with them? Maybe they are here to help us? and if mindless, then maybe they are beneficial to us in some way by keeping them alive? training them as domestic animals or something? Has there been one news report of them actually destroying a good thing? (I don't consider the cancellation of an event that causes a spirit of divisiveness throughout Gaia a "crime"). Have the slimes killed innocent Gaians? destroyed a habitat? impaired someone's bodily organ? anything? and if so, why? The fact that Sam and some kitten want us to kill (??? seriously, what does the convert-o-matic do?) without any careful investigation is unjust. Where is Cindy Donovinh (the news reporter)? Maybe the citizens of Gaia deserve to destroyed if this is the kind of careless behavior being accepted in this world. But Gaia's destruction doesn't seem to be a likely result of this invasion. The slimes are just calmly sitting in my inventory.

Have many Gaia events been all that ethical? Not that I'm complaining too much, but think about it. Like seriously, other than being slightly annoying, what have they done? We haven't figured out why they're doing whatever it is either. The other events usually had reasons. Good ones. But we'll figure out what's going on EVENTUALLY.

Oh, I have thought about it. gonk That's why I usually avoid the events.

You may have noticed from my sig that I'm a Christian (and for the past few years my existence on Gaia has been predominantly dedicated to Christian guilds; I've ventured out, every once in a while, to the rest of the forum to give an encouraging word to someone going through a rough time. But otherwise, I'm in my Christian bubble). Consequently, I don't participate in events that have me showing approval of pagan religions anymore (Santa Claus/Odin, Easter Bunny, Halloween/Samhain, elves and fairies, witches, greek gods/roman gods [cupid/eros], etc); they are not something I seek to entertain myself with. I use to participate in them before, back when I was irreligious, but not anymore because it displeases the God I follow and would be a poor representation, on my part, of what He commands us to do (to solely reflect Him, His nature, His Commands).

That being said, I enjoyed "What the Fluff" because the event was about nurturing a fluffy pet and caring for them. Ever since coming to Christ, however, I do assess the ethical nature of an event before participating in it, which means I don't participate in much at all anymore. But that's okay. I enjoy the fellowship of Christ more. The event is just a momentary thrill. And, if what the event stands for is something I'm against / is something my God is against, then it's not a loss. I want to stand for what He stands for and gladly give up participating in it. (Plus, I don't need a badge reminding me I participated in an idea I do not like, nor do I want to profit from an act I disapprove of). That would just torture my conscience.

So far, it seems like I'm sitting this one out too. Why do they want me to kill these slimes? What is their actual threat? As you said, the reason they're giving us is "annoyance". So, I'll pass. razz

Isn't Santa Claus a more Christian subject? Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, if I'm not mistaken.

I was under the same impression until I started delving into the Scriptures and saw the Commands being at odds with the history surrounding Christmas—things that even Christian encyclopedias openly admit (and I'll include the information below in a spoiler tag). Christians have given the festivity a Christian name, but once you analyze what is being done in light of the Commands, none of the rituals are genuinely Biblical nor obedient to the Commands, but actually nullifies what is written, even nullifying details about the night of His birth; so there's nothing saving it.

Allow me to show you:

The Commands

First of all, I'll provide the Commands, and a passage demonstrating a general principle, that we're not suppose to adopt the spiritual practices of the pagans—even if we make YHWH the reason behind our doing so—because there should be a clear distinction about Who we worship, no traces to other gods/idols whatsoever (note: the first two passages are about Israel inheriting territory as a nation, but in spirit, this would apply to whatever domain comes under our ownership: our house, our room, our profile page, our heart—it is to be devoid of pagan ways of worship).

Deuteronomy 12:2-4 (NIV)

2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.
Deuteronomy 12:30-31 (NIV)

30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
Jeremiah 10:2 (NIV)

2 This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the heavens,
though the nations are terrified by them.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)

26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Where there is a disconnect in people's minds is what "worshiping a god" looked like: it's as simple as taking part in the cultural practices that honors the god/goddess/idol. Thus why YHWH forbade us even from taking the practice, stripping it of idol names, and doing it in His Name / Honor. This not only applies to the outright detrimental practices, like burning your child alive in fire to worship Him, or cutting yourself to get His attention, but even the nothing-but-useless ones [like repeating a prayer 100 times in mantra-like fashion; it's a waste of time, He heard you the first time, even in un-uttered prayer said in your heart, because He sees the thoughts of your innermost being).

Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Genesis 6:5 (NIV)

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

So, it's useless to pray in their ways (thus why YHWH Commanded against it). He's not a God of uselessness, but by adopting their ways, that's exactly what we communicate. We're not actually giving honor to YHWH by taking a spiritually-pagan practice that is foreign to Him, and making Him the focus, because the idea came from the idolatrous practice, not Him, thus it does not honor Him the Way He said He wanted to be worshiped. It gives validation to the idolatrous thought, not to YHWH's truth. Plus it makes Him seem like the other spirits and/or idols (false notions of God) that mislead people into detrimental, if not useless, practices. We would be honoring the idol by partaking in the religious custom inspired by the idol, even if the names—object of worship—have been changed.

That established:

The Extra-Biblical History:

Christian encyclopedias and dictionaries documenting that Christians have done this anyway (ergo, in disobedience to the Commands):

“Gradually a number of prevailing practices of the nations into which Christianity came were assimilated and were combined with the religious ceremonies surrounding Christmas. The assimilation of such practices generally represented efforts by Christians to transform or absorb otherwise pagan practices. The Feast of Saturnalia in early Rome, for example, was celebrated for 7 days from the 17th to the 24th of December and was marked by a spirit of merriment, gift giving to children and other forms of entertainment. Gradually, early Christians replaced the pagan feast with the celebration of Christmas; but many of the traditions of this observance were assimilated and remain to this day a part of the observance of Christmas. Other NATIONS, the Scandinavians, Germans, French, English and others, have left their mark . . . as well (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) (pp. 804, 805).

Various symbolic elements of the pagan celebration, such as the lighting of candles, evergreen decorations, and the giving of gifts, were adapted to Christian signification. Later as Christianity spread into northern Europe, the Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavic winter festivals contributed holly mistletoe, the Christmas tree, bonfires, and similar items. (The Christian Encyclopedia)

The giving of presents was a Roman custom; while the Yule tree and Yule log are remnants of old Teutonic nature worship. Gradually the festival sank into mere revelry . . . . The custom was forbidden by an act of parliament in 1555; And the reformation brought in a refinement in the celebration of Christmas by emphasizing it Christian elements. (Unger's Bible Dictionary)

Many of the customs associated with Christmas also took their origins from the heathen observances. The exchanging of gifts, extravagant merriment, and lighting of candles all have previous counterparts in the Roman Saturnalia. The use of trees harkens back to the pagan Scandinavian festival of Yule. ~James Taylor, "Christmas," in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (J. D. Douglas, ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), p. 223.

Quotes from Christian dictionaries and encyclopedias taken from this video series who put in the research: [Sunburned - Part 1]. They also included secular sources of information that agree.

What the above means is that somewhere down the line, some Christian(s) one day decided: "we know that this pagan tradition honors ______ , but no, let's make it about our Heavenly Father and Jesus" thus breaking that Command of our Father to not adopt their ways nor make Him the focus of their ways.

Night of His Birth
Biblical Information

The gospels themselves rule out the winter season as the date of Christ's birth because:

(1) according to Luke's gospel, on the night of His birth, the shepherds were out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks at night Luke 2:8-12 (it snows, if not rains heavily, during these months in Israel [shepherds wouldn't be out at night with their flocks during winter]); so, His birth cannot be ascribed to a December 25th date, let alone the winter season, and

(2) the reason Mary gave birth in a manger in Bethlehem (and not her house in Nazareth) was because Caesar Augustus decreed a census be conducted of the entire Roman world (the areas under their Roman rule, of which Israel was under at the time), so everyone had to travel back to their home town for this census (thus Joseph going back to Bethlehem with his wife, Mary); no one is going to conduct a census in the middle of winter, and yet Jesus was born during this census.

Both of these details are described in [Luke 2].

Extra-Biblical Information

The December 25th date has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity from an extra-Biblical perspective as well; it was Mithra's birthday, not the Biblical Jesus' birth date:

The Bible as History

So, what happened? Why is Christmas associated with Christ? Because Christian individuals syncretised themselves with the pagan, religious and nature-worshipping practices of the nations. The December 25th festivity was adopted by Christians as an alternative celebration to what was going in pagan circles during this time, to make it easier for converting pagans to leave their pagan religions behind. But in doing so, Christians are speaking against the very gospel they're trying to promote by choosing such a date. And they're speaking against the concept and practice of "holy living" (set-apart from the nation's spiritual practices) by adopting the very same pagan practices we're actually telling the pagans to leave (we can't be set-apart by borrowing/taking inspiration from them—it's prohibited. Instead of making it obvious that YHWH is distinctly different from the entities and idols that the nations worship, we would make it seem like we're all worshiping the same thing. And that's dishonest because the God described in the Bible has Commands that the pagan religions do not, and whose lifestyles, thoughts, attitudes, lusts, and behaviors the Biblical God condemns).

That said, as you can see, it's only by name that "Christmas" has anything to do with Christ because when you analyze it for what actually goes on, from the date of the celebration down to the rituals and decorations, they reflect pagan religion and has nothing to do with Jesus (we're not allowed to make images of God in the first place because we haven't seen him, i.e. Deut 4:15-18; that's what the pagans do of their gods, not us i.e. Psalm 115:2-4),

Deuteronomy 4:15-18 (NIV)

15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
Psalm 115:2-4 (NIV)

2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.

Biblically, the Israelites would have no images of God to show when pagans asked to see their God (in contrast, the pagans would fabricate images of the one they claimed to worship). We're not suppose to be like the pagans.

Santa Claus

Now, Santa Claus himself: he is not Jesus Christ. Santa Claus is based on Odin—the norse God, who is depicted as an old man with a long white beard. He rides an 8-legged horse named Sleipnir (which is where Santa's 8 reindeer came from; Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, was added in later).

source: [link]

Wiki Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir

Santa Claus is based on a norse God, Odin [and even if he were based on Jesus, we're not suppose to make images of Jesus anyway, so the image of Santa Claus has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity whatsoever), Nor does December 25th have anything to do with Christ's birth in light of the history documented in the Bible. What Christmas comes from is Saturnalia and Yule. And that red cap Santa wears? It's a Phrygian cap: from Mithra worship (from whom we get the December 25th date from in the first place).

source: [link]

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source: [link]

Clearly, just because cultural practices associate with Christianity doesn't necessarily mean they legtimately are; Christians have strayed from Scripture to say the least. Living holy, what holiness is—living set-apart from the spiritual customs of the pagans—is not something that is often taught (because many a church [and the Christians within it] commits this sin of mixing with the ways of the nations and delights in it); we have to read about it in Scripture for ourselves to finally expose this behavior.

Edit: and to their credit, I don't think most Christians do this on purpose. After a few generations of having mixed, the new generation growing up wouldn't detect that this thing being done in Jesus' Name actually violated the Commands ("I just grew up doing it in the Name of Jesus; it's culture, it's what we've always done." Oh, it might seem that way, but it isn't).

Digging into the Biblical history and extra-Biblical history is always fun 3nodding

Interesting, but confusing.

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Post: 100555551_30 created on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 16:50:01 +0000
Posted: Mon, 08 Aug 2016 16:50:01 +0000

Everyone If you wish to save the slimes Quote Zero Omega and this thread(We need to make it heated!) to show them that this is unfair treatment!
EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE!
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