More Christmas Synchronicity

Cidu Bill on Dec 29th 2009

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Filed in Bill Bickel, Calamities of Nature, Christmas, David Willis, Shortpacked, comic strips, comics, humor, synchronicity | 17 responses so far

17 Responses to “More Christmas Synchronicity”

  1. Ooten Aboot Dec 29th 2009 at 12:49 pm 1

    I knew a Christian protestant pastor who got upset when a group of parishioners wanted to hold a Hallowe’en (Canadian spelling ’cause it happened in Canada) dance: how dare they celebrate a pagan holiday in “his” church? Considering that, the “Merry Christmas” versus “Season’s Greetings” controversy and, to toss in a monkey wrench, same-sex marriage, I wonder whether might be some sort of epidemic in North America. It’s not quite schadenfreude, it’s intense displeasure at seeing anyone else enjoy anything.

  2. Tim Dec 29th 2009 at 01:09 pm 2

    Jeremiah 10 has nothing to do with “Christmas” (if read in context), but as a preacher, I have people coming to me all the time arguing that this is a condemnation of Christmas. I just chuckle to myself, and do my best to avoid them until January.

  3. S.P. Charles Dec 29th 2009 at 01:28 pm 3

    Ooten Aboot, when you relate the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays business with “displeasure at seeing anyone else enjoy something,” are you saying people who prefer “Happy Holidays” are trying to deprive Christians of their enjoyment of Christmas, or that that the “War on Christmas” people are trying to deprive non-Christians of their enjoyment of their holidays (or lack thereof)?

  4. John Small Berries Dec 29th 2009 at 02:17 pm 4

    Agreed, Tim - Jeremiah 10 doesn’t condemn Christmas.

    However, I’m sure you would agree that it does explicitly hold up the cutting down and decoration of a tree as a vain custom, and as “the way of the heathen” which should not be learned, yes?

  5. David A. Rooney Dec 29th 2009 at 04:09 pm 5

    You can get a nice cheap altar for ’sacrificing’ the virgins at the local Christmas Tree Shop. Don’t go to Ikea, though - it takes too long to put together and there’s always a missing piece of hardware.

  6. Christian Dec 29th 2009 at 05:48 pm 6

    Re: “displeasure at seeing anyone else enjoy something,”

    From Wikipedia: “The transposed variant “Freudenschade” seems to have been multiply invented to mean sorrow at another person’s success”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude#Antonyms

  7. mitch4 Dec 29th 2009 at 06:28 pm 7

    Say, CIDU Bill, have you seen the shout-out to you at http://arloandjanis.com/ ?

  8. Mark in Boston Dec 29th 2009 at 06:53 pm 8

    “They fasten it with nails and with hammers” — could that refer to making something out of the tree?

    Like for instance a cross?

    And fastening it to the top of your church?

    Does Jeremiah 10 predict and condemn Christians?

  9. Taigan Dec 29th 2009 at 10:48 pm 9

    On the Jeremiah 10 comic, in the artist’s blog (http://shortpacked.livejournal.com/577472.html) he admits he’s taking the quote out of context. Read the whole thing and it’s clearly about making false (carved) gods: idolatry.

    Still doesn’t change the fact that ancient Christians appropriated the mid-winter’s festival wholesale, including changing Jesus’s birthday to match.

  10. Tom T. Dec 30th 2009 at 06:21 am 10

    Remember too that the New Testament does away with many of the strictures of the Old.

  11. Ooten Aboot Dec 30th 2009 at 06:38 am 11

    S. P Charles, please see Retail for 12/23/09:

    http://www.thestar.com/comics?feature_id=Retail&feature_date=2009-12-23

    Christian, it’s not quite “freudenschade” either, because the emotion involved is not sorrow.

  12. Nicole Dec 30th 2009 at 07:38 am 12

    Matthew 5:17 - 18 - “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

    Tim — at the risk of turning this into a religous discussion — If as you say the NT did away with the strictures of the OT, then why do so many preachers turn to OT when condemning homosexuality ? Yes, I do know there are NT passages that are interpeted to refer to homosexaulity as well, but we almost never hear them quoted.

  13. mkilby Dec 30th 2009 at 08:47 am 13

    @ Mark in Boston (8) - A well known (German) comedian recently directed an excellent line against both excessive commericalism and religious ignorance. A rough translation: “No, Santa Claus was NOT nailed to the Christmas tree…”

  14. RaleighRob Dec 30th 2009 at 09:24 am 14

    @Oosten (#11)– I LOVE that comic. So true…so true.

  15. thwgt Dec 30th 2009 at 09:54 am 15

    @ Tom T. (10) - So true. Get’s a little confusing, though. Can’t quite figure out how some folks can use Leviticus to abominate homosexuality whilst stuffing their mouths with ham and shrimp.

  16. Mark in Boston Dec 30th 2009 at 05:54 pm 16

    Protestants used to claim that Catholics were idolators with their crucifixes and statues.

    Whether they still make a big deal of it or not I don’t know, but I have never seen an image of Jesus or any saint in a Methodist, Congregationalist, or Baptist church, except maybe for an illustration in the Bible in the pew.

  17. Nicole Dec 30th 2009 at 09:47 pm 17

    Mark — I don’t know about Protestants in general, but there are certainly Christians who do not think kindly on the church of Rome … I seem to remember one preacher recently referring to the Catholic Church as the whore of Babylon

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