Quote Originally Posted by rocco View Post
I read that "Easter is "NOT a christian celebration after all!! It was indoctrinated during the rule of Augustus, for fear of a Christian uprising!
Most of the early Christian holy days were timed to coincide with the Roman celebrations of their gods: Christmas around the time of the winter solstice, Easter around the time of the spring equinox, and others. Primarily this allowed them to celebrate their holy days under cover of the Roman celebrations. Later, it helped in the conversion of the Romans to Christianity, letting them celebrate at familiar times of the year, even to the point of incorporating some of their pagan symbols into the Christian celebrations. But denuseri is right, this took place long after Augustus.

Like most readings it is up to interpretation. BUT! I cant understand why people dissect so called holy books, when its written in plain english for anyone to read! If you are a "christian" then should you not believe everything written down in the bible?
Well, the Bible wasn't originally written in English, of course. It has undergone many translations and retranslations, all of which introduced errors. There have also been shown to be some passages which were deliberately changed by those making the copies in order to bring more in line with their dogma at the time. Add to that standard copying errors and you have a serious problem. And when you compound these errors with contradictions and historical fictions, well, it becomes pretty hard to believe EVERYTHING! But the intent of the Bible is not to be taken literally, but to be interpreted by the priesthood, for the betterment of the ruling classes, which included the priests, of course.

People like William Tindell, were burnt at the stake for translating the bible from latin to english! Yet we as a whole rip it to pieces, just because it doesnt fit in with what we want to believe! Strange really!!!
Not so strange, actually. Since I've started reading about it, I've been astonished at the number of people who admit that the primary reason they gave up on religion was that they actually read the Bible! The Church leaders did NOT want the common people to actually read what Jesus said, as that might give them dangerous ideas. It's my understanding (based on anecdotal evidence, I freely admit) than even now most preachers do NOT recommend that their congregations actually read the whole Bible, but only selected portions of it. They would much rather their flocks rely on THEIR interpretations rather than formulating their own.

Funny old thing religion!!!!
I only WISH it were funny. When you look at the idiocy of the Westboro people, the stupidity of that preacher in Florida burning the Quran, the things only now being learned of the atrocities of the Catholic Church, I find it very hard to laugh at any of it.