Oh cool. I read Josephus in college. That and Eusebius' history of the church, which is really interesting when you read it at the same time as you're reading Augustine and the Venerable Bede for another class.

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Demonic yoga?

Here you go:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-yoga.html
And the more .. um ... intense version:
http://www.macgregorministries.org/c...oups/yoga.html
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Thanks Photochick. I had never heard that before...demonic yoga. Who knew?

Hey Recidivist, I like you too. For the sake of true honesty, I should have said that I WAS a civil rights and anti-discrimination attorney. A couple of years ago, I gave up lawyering to become the executive director of a non-profit that helps children with disabilities expand their educational opportunities and helps guarantee their legal rights.

I read Eusebius four or five years ago - I think it took me a whole winter to get through (LCL version - tried to learn some of the Greek, but without a teacher... Yikes!)! I have never actually read Bede - every time I remember to look for a copy of the Ecclesiastical History, I can't find one!

I love my copy of Josephus - it's a 150 year old William Whiston translation and is really hard to get through with the 300 year old usage! I keep thinking I should get the newer translation, but then it wouldn't be my beautiful old book... My brother gave it to me for my birthday several years ago, so I have an attachment to it anyway, and I couldn't really replace it.

All this reminds me - it's time for a pilgramage to the local used bookstore. They specialize in buying and selling the university students literature and history books, and it should be packed full now since the fall term is over. Maybe I will finally both remember to look for Bede and find it!

BP

Wow - demonic yoga. I would laugh if it wasn't serious.

There is a perfect example of some people really not paying attention to their history. How could something that originated before the Christian era be 'blatantly anti-Christian' in it's philosophy?

So I guess tai chi is out too

BP

BP, the whole Atheism thing is all well and good, but I went back and read that you're...*gasp*...Canadian! And I offered to DIE for you? What was I thinking?

Thanks JasonsLea I have been enjoying the history lessons myself. I never linked the Orthodox symbol, which I had seen before, to the Greek letter "chi". I learned something new today. Love that!

I am not a christian. I do however resect everyone's beliefs. I consider myself to be a mixture of Athiest/Agnostic/Pagan/Buddist all rolled into one. But I would like to ask all you Christians why you celebrate the birth of Christ in December instead of March which is technically when he would have been born?

Christmas has been celebrated on December 25 since at least the year 336, when Emporer Constantine converted to Christianity (January 6, Epiphany, was the other popular date). The reasons for that date are not 100% clear, but the most widely accepted one is that several popular Roman holidays fell on or around that day.

And as to the 'real' date of Christ's birth. Well, that is a very hotly debated subject! The March date comes from the linking of Jesus' birth to the birth of John the Baptist, and that puts it at either September or March. The historian Josephus' linked the date of Christ's birth to the death of King Herod and an eclipse, putting it in late December. Clement of Alexandria states that the the death of Commodus (a Roman emperor) falls some exact number of years and days after the birth of Christ, also making it December 25th. Several other historians accounts of the timing put it at either December 25th or January 6th.

BP

Yup - I'm an evil Canadian Atheist We hold nothing sacred, except maybe hockey and poutine.

BP

Poutine...on 3FC? Have you no shame?

Here a short articles on why the date of Dec 25th:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/...000/dec08.html

Also as Bopeep said, there are a bunch of events that have been used to try to pinpoint the exact date. But also keep in mind that different religions use different calendars. The Jewish calendar bears no resemblance to the Western/Christian calendar. Add to that the switch between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The Gregorian calendar wasn't adopted worldwide. I think it was first proposed in the 300s, not officially adopted by the Church until the 1500s and I seem to recall that the US and Britain didn't adopt it until the mid 1700s. Russia was the last to adopt it in the mid 1800s, I think. I could look up the exact dates, I'm sure.

So really the church took a "best guess" ... added in the local religious celebrations ... and the Pope just declared one particular day for consistency.

But then we've done the same with Lincoln and Washington's birthdays, Labor Day, etc., that we've moved by government decree over the years - solely for hte purpose of making them more convenient for people to have 3 or 4-day weekends and so forth.

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Poutine is probably why I gained those 10 lb so quickly! I'm Canadian, but just discovered poutine about six weeks ago (hmmm, after gaining 10 lb in six weeks, coincidence? )

~CGH~