Scully said "It's common knowledge that Jesus' date of birth is unknown. DUH."
It is NOT common knowledge that Jesus' date of birth is unknown.
If you were to do a survey of the "common" man in the street and
asked them "What day Jesus was born" what do you suppose would be
the answer? On AOL I asked 10 randomly selected people what the
date of Jesus' birth was. 2 told me to get lost. The other 8 all
said December 25. Not a scientific sampling but I think you get
the point. This wide-spread belief is erroneous and it is
perpetuated by the celebration of Christmas.
Furthermore, of all the dates that might be considered a candidate
for Jesus' birthdate December 25 is certainly not the right date.
It's not even the correct season.
By your statement you seem to be trying to deny important counter
evidence. The evidence suggests that Christmas violates the ideal
of an anniversary - namely that it be celebrated on the date of the
original occurrence of the event. The erroneous date selected for
Jesus birth is evidence against the basic premise of Christmas. By
ignoring this simple fact you are really saying that you are
willingly perpetuating a lie. By ignoring this evidence you are
showing that you are not really interested in the truth or in
following standard procedures of inquiry.
Scully said "However, it has been customary for many centuries to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25."
This is the fallacy of the appeal to common opinion. You are
urging the acceptance of your position on the grounds that most, or
at least great numbers of people celebrate the birth of Christ on
December 25.
Scully said "Nobody has to believe he was born on THAT day in order to be grateful for his birth."
Likewise nobody has to celebrate his birthday in order to be
grateful for his birth. Therefore such a celebration is
superfluous.
Scully said: "So what's the problem with celebrating the event, regardless of what day one arbitrarily chooses to do so??
Nothing. You are "free" to declare your liberation from JWism and
join the rank and file of Christendom who like the activities of
this piss-poor excuse to brighten up the dark days of winter.
Office Christmas parties have become synonymous with - lots of fun
- booze and sex. Or you can play the game of "my house has more
lights than anyone else on the block". If you are a store owner
Christmas occupies a very significant spot in your heart. "Thank
You Jesus. You are indeed the greatest "profit"!!!!"
Scully said "I'm sure you will acknowledge, that humans do need the ransom of Jesus. "
No I don't believe in the ransom. I believe in the example of
Jesus' love. Remember I don't follow the Watchtower or the Bible.
Scully said "Jesus observed Jewish Law by observing Jewish festivals, including Chanukah."
Jesus WAS at the temple during the festival of dedication which was
probably Hanukkah. That celebration was not a requirement under
the law. Jesus was no doubt taking advantage of the crowds for a
little PR work. JW's celebrate Christmas by going from door to
door?
Scully said "Incidentally, there has been research that links the choice of December 25 with the Jewish celebration of Chanukah, in direct opposition to the Mithraic festival of the Birth of the Invincible Sun (Saturnalia), rather than using the date as a ploy to
assimilate pagans into an apostate Christian church."
Please present this "research". In the meantime, as an ignorant
lay person, I will rely on the old experts.
MacMillan Compact Encyclopedia says:
"In the West it [Christmas] has been celebrated on 25 Dec since 336
AD, partly in order to replace the non-Christian sun worship on the
same date."
The New Encyclop‘dia Britannica, states:
"December 25, the birthday of Mithra, the Iranian god of light and
. . . the day devoted to the invincible sun, as well as the day
after Saturnalia, was adopted by the [Roman Catholic] church as
Christmas, the nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of
these festivals."
Sculy said "By the way, Jesus also taught his followers to "Love your neighbors as yourself." I don't see too much genuine love among JWs; because as soon as somebody misses a meeting, they start gossiping about that person and making claims that the person is spiritually weak. When you can follow that SECOND law of Christ, then you can start nitpicking the details of everything else."
Huh? Where does this come from? And until you put your lip stick
on right I'm not going to listen to you! Nyah. Nyah.
Whether I have love or not isn't the main argument. This is again
an avoidance technique.
Scully said "Who decided that YOU had the right or obligation to judge anyone's guilt or innocence on any matter?? That's God's job, not yours, you pompous arrogant presumptuous blowhard.
Since I don't believe in God it is now my job. Am I blowing hard
enough for you. Don't you understand that it doesn't matter if I'm
the Devil you still have to present a rational defense for your
position. So far your only defense is that you like Christmas. And
I am still entitled to feel nauseated at x-jw's embracing such a
poor exhibition of the traditional ignorance of Christendom.
Scully said "Then it should also nauseate you to think that the WTS picked October 1, 1975 as the date marking the completion of 6000 years of human existence. Would you like some dramamine?
There is a lot about the WTS that nauseates me. I am not defending
the WTS. I am accusing those who leave the WTS and defend the
celebrating of Christmas to the point of waving it as some
declaration of liberation as being hopelessly stupid. Yes consider
that an AD HOMINEM,abusive.
Scully said "Most of us here do not recognize the claim on authority that the WTS makes for itself."
AMEN!!
You go on and on repeating yourself. I agree with some of your
Anti-Watchtower stuff. I don't agree with your defense of
Christmas.