Religionthread: Mass at 5am so we can have breakfast earlier

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Religionthread: Mass at 5am so we can have breakfast earlier

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Pick: Jul 19, 2009; Nap Ghost

Merry Christmas!

# ? Dec 25, 2020 04:17

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# ? May 9, 2024 11:15

WrenP-Complete: Jul 27, 2012

Bilirubin posted:

I've always wondered how commonly taught kabbalah is within Judaism. Is it the sort of thing gone over with all kids or is it something reserved only for dedicated more orthodox yeshiva students?

I regret that Christianity is relatively purged of mystical traditions (especially the evangelical brand I was brought up in).

My fiance and I actually met 5 years ago at a Zohar class he was teaching at a Reform synagogue. (I was visiting my grandfather and I tagged along to the class he was taking.) :3:

Kabbalah used to be more esoteric and there's been a recent popularization, both in Orthodox and heterodox denominations.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night? Did I get that right?

# ? Dec 25, 2020 05:28

Worthleast: Nov 25, 2012; Possibly the only speedboat jumps I've planned

Puer natus est!

Merry Christmas ya goons!

# ? Dec 25, 2020 05:59

Thirteen Orphans: Dec 2, 2012; I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.

In His birth we have Christ Emmanuel, God with us. During a global pandemic that is Good News.

Merry Christmas, God be with you all.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 06:07

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Merry Christmas religion goons.

Orthodox goons I�ll see you in two weeks.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 06:37

ProperGanderPusher: Jan 13, 2012

Gaudete gaudete Christus est natus.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 07:12

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Keromaru5 posted:

If it's Christian mysticism you want, might I interest you in some Hesychasm?

Thirteen Orphans posted:

And may I recommend the work and thought of Sts. John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila?

I will look into these things more fully, thanks.

I'm atheist now (and as much as I chuckled my way through Dawkin's book for the audacity of what he put into print I'm not in the anti religion camp at all, seeing a great value in having a community with which to mark the landmarks of life), but being able to think about theology with more distance than the received ultra dispensationalism I was raised in I skew much more orthodoxly now. I'm also a sucker for old ceremony and tradition. However I'm still very ignorant of a lot. Keeps life interesting knowing there is more to learn and consider.

Merry Christmas goons

# ? Dec 25, 2020 07:18

ThePopeOfFun: Feb 15, 2010

I hate the holidays for reasons. Even so, y'all have been a good to me this year.

Merry Christmas and other appropriate greetings. May you find as you seek.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 09:04

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I am sad I could not do midnight mass this year, but such is life. And a surprise snow here in Detroit certainly helps with Christmas cheer.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 14:18

Pershing: Feb 21, 2010; John "Black Jack" Pershing
Hard Fucking Core

Merry Christmas, hopefully we can get back to Mass next year... internet Mass just sucks.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 14:59

Oberndorf: Oct 20, 2010

For unto us a Child is born.
For unto us a Son is given.

Merry Christmas.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 16:16

HopperUK: Apr 29, 2007; Why would an ambulance be leaving the hospital?

Merry Christmas, friends!

re: Zohar - a colleague and I were clearing out the work storeroom and we found a big hardback copy of a book called Zohar that seems to be all in Hebrew or Aramaic, I *did* find out which and I forget now. It's gorgeous quality. I emailed the address in the copyright notice to see if it was inappropriate for me to keep it or anything but they didn't come back to me, so now I just have this thing I guess.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 19:47

Slimy Hog: Apr 22, 2008

Christ is born!

Cyrano4747 posted:

Merry Christmas religion goons.

Orthodox goons I’ll see you in two weeks.

I wonder what percentage of the English speaking Orthodox world is old calendar. I'm in the OCA which is new calendar (so today is Christmas for us)

# ? Dec 25, 2020 21:08

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Slimy Hog posted:

Christ is born!

I wonder what percentage of the English speaking Orthodox world is old calendar. I'm in the OCA which is new calendar (so today is Christmas for us)

Hah, merry christmas to you then.

All I know is that when I googled to double check I found out that Armenians celebrate Orthodox Christmas a day before the rest of the Orthodox church, so there's that too.

I just flat out assumed we didn't have any Armenian Orthodox in here but I'd be pleased to be wrong.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 21:29

Thirteen Orphans: Dec 2, 2012; I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.

HopperUK posted:

I emailed the address in the copyright notice to see if it was inappropriate for me to keep it or anything but they didn't come back to me

I�m very sorry, forum friend, but it is forbidden to keep. I live next door to a gorgeous-Zohar rehabilitation facility so it would be in your best interest to send it along to me.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 22:07

TOOT BOOT: May 25, 2010

Merry Christmas / Happy holidays you all

# ? Dec 25, 2020 22:47

Jupiter Jazz: Jan 13, 2007; by sebmojo

Merry Christmas to my Christian friends. Bless all of you.

I took shahaddah today of all days. I guess I'm a formally Muslim.

Jupiter Jazz fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Dec 25, 2020

# ? Dec 25, 2020 23:39

Thirteen Orphans: Dec 2, 2012; I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.

Jupiter Jazz posted:

Merry Christmas to my christian friends. Bless all of you.

I took shahaddah today of all days. I guess I'm a formally Muslim.

As-salamu alaykum!

# ? Dec 25, 2020 23:48

Jupiter Jazz: Jan 13, 2007; by sebmojo

Wa alikum salam!

I contacted lots of masjids a few weeks back. Lady called me today and we talked for an hour and a half. She said I had a place in Islam as a trans woman, called me my name, even sister. I really felt loved and accepted.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 23:53

HopperUK: Apr 29, 2007; Why would an ambulance be leaving the hospital?

Thirteen Orphans posted:

I�m very sorry, forum friend, but it is forbidden to keep. I live next door to a gorgeous-Zohar rehabilitation facility so it would be in your best interest to send it along to me.

Haha. If you seriously want it remind me in the New Year and I'll see what I can do.

# ? Dec 25, 2020 23:59

HopperUK: Apr 29, 2007; Why would an ambulance be leaving the hospital?

Jupiter Jazz posted:

Wa alikum salam!

I contacted lots of masjids a few weeks back. Lady called me today and we talked for an hour and a half. She said I had a place in Islam as a trans woman, called me my name, even sister. I really felt loved and accepted.

That's really lovely! I'm so glad!

# ? Dec 26, 2020 00:00

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Hope you all are having a joyous and safe Christmas and assorted winter solstice / New Year celebrations!

# ? Dec 26, 2020 00:07

Thirteen Orphans: Dec 2, 2012; I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.

HopperUK posted:

Haha. If you seriously want it remind me in the New Year and I'll see what I can do.

It was meant purely for laughs but that�s actually very generous of you! That won�t be necessary, though. Bless you!

# ? Dec 26, 2020 00:08

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

happy christian mawlid

# ? Dec 26, 2020 01:11

BigglesSWE: Dec 2, 2014; How 'bout them hawks news huh!

Merry Christmas y'all.

I'm not religious but I am very fascinated by the early christian and jewish history. As such I've read a lot by the scholar of early christianity Bart Ehrman. He posted a text for Christmas on his blog I would like to share with you all:

https://ehrmanblog.org/christmas-2020/

quote:

As we are all saying, this is by far the strangest holiday season we have had in living memory. Well, at least in my living memory, which goes back six decades. Some people are throwing themselves into it, trying to find a place for joy in the midst of either relative or severe hardship. The effort to restore normal joy is evidenced in strange ways. Just now, where I am, in a county in Western North Carolina, Christmas trees are literally sold out. Not a tree to be found anywhere. I tried on December 18. Nope. I�ve never heard of such a thing. A local told me they think that it�s because of Covid. So many people are fed up with being isolated they�ve decided to go big on the Christmas celebration. Good on em!

Others (well, lots of the big celebrators too, I supposed) are just depressed. Others are suffering serious financial hardship. No one I know is really much enjoying it they way they would like. Many of you, too, I suppose. I�ll admit I�m having trouble generating seasonal joy.

I�ve been doing my best. Played the carols. Put up the decorations. Wrapped the presents. Family is here (we have had a tiny bubble since this thing began, but went into quarantine so we could have my son, daughter-in-law, two and a half year old marvel of a grandson, and the seven-week-old-finest-human-ever-to-appear on the planet granddaughter with us for a few days. There is joy in the midst of sorrow � less sorrow for myself (I�m doing well, personally), than for the state of the world.

And, as is my wont, I�ve been thinking about the Christmas message, this year more than ever precisely in light of the state of the world. Even as an agnostic, I find the message moving, even if I don�t believe it. The coming of Christ in the Christian gospel is all about the world receiving the greatest gift, a divine child who is the Prince of Peace. We continue to live in a world that desperately needs a Prince of Peace.

I don�t need to remind you of our dire situation. But I think I will remind myself. Every day � nearly every day now � we are losing more people to Covid than we lost at Pearl Harbor. Every day. And it�s going to get worse before it gets better. Apart from that, our country is massively divided on political lines and the divisions are getting deeper and the distrust and hatred growing stronger, with no hope of healing, and certainly almost no political will for it. Both sides want to nuke the other, sometimes literally. Meanwhile people suffer. Job losses, unexpected want, lines at food banks, evictions � not to mention overflowing hospitals, horrible illness, the loss of loved ones, day in day out, so that now 3000 is just a number to us (was it more or less yesterday?). How does one not despair?

In light of that, I reflect on the Christmas message. As that message is normally heard, Christianity has always claimed that God is there and concerned and willing to help, if not to solve the problem with the snap of his divine fingers, then at least to provide comfort and hope for those in desperate straits, and even for those mourning others who are. People do find solace, that is certain; whether other help arrives from above is a matter of some dispute, between sincere believers and sincere unbelievers.

But here is the one thing I don�t understand. The Prince of Peace entered into this world in abject poverty. Born to peasants in awful conditions. The crib was a foul cattle trough. First visitors were societal low-dregs (shepherds). He was not well received by those with money and status. Soon after his birth the local ruler murdered all the babies in order to dispatch him. He and his family were forced by local conditions to emigrate and then resettle, just to survive. Moreover, when this Prince of Peace became an adult he had a clear message, and it was decidedly not that he had raised himself by his own bootstraps to become rich and powerful and wanted to show others how they too could do so.

He opposed those in power; he did not support them in their power. The high and mighty were going to get their due when God was done with them, and it was the humble would be exalted. God was interested in the poor. The rich had to give away their wealth if they wanted to enter the kingdom. God was not interested in national boundaries � not even those of his chosen people. Belonging to the right nation had no bearing on anything in relation to God. Neither did outward religiosity, piety, insisting that others follow the divine law, priding oneself in one�s own remarkable success in doing so. These were not the people on the side of God. On the side of God were the outcasts, the marginalized, the foreigners, the powerless, the impoverished.

So this is what I don�t understand: why so many of the alleged followers of the Prince of Peace not only refuse to accept his teaching but by and large preach *against* it, standing precisely for what he stood against. It�s as if they haven�t read their Bibles. It�s all there � in Jesus� teachings, in the Old Testament prophets he based his message on, in the gospel proclaimed by his earliest followers. God is not on the side of the rich and powerful and eager to make it so all his people will be rich and powerful. God is on the side of the poor and powerless and anyone who wants to follow God needs to be on their side as well.

Most people rejected this message in Jesus� day as well. And how did they react to his message? They crucified him. That�s what you do to the Prince of Peace when he preaches what you don�t want to hear. You torture him to death.

We need a Prince of Peace today. And those who claim to follow him should seriously think about actually heeding his message. It was about helping those less fortunate than yourself. Not exploiting them to your own ends, not pretending they don�t matter if they are poor, outcast, desperate, foreign, black, brown, of a different gender identity, or ideological persuasion, or political view, or from a different country.

Of course we all want joy, happiness, and peace in our lives. We will not get there by promoting hatred and disdain for others who are not like us and ignoring those all around us who are in need.

I hope you can find some joy and peace in this holiday season. When these various crises are over, and new ones arise, and yet others after that, we will need continually to reflect on what it means to live well and right. If we call ourselves Christian, do we choose to follow Jesus� message or some other message and claim that *that* is what he really meant? If we are not Christian, how do we live to make ourselves the best people we can be both in relation to ourselves and to those around us � not just those literally around us but those in our spheres of knowledge? In either case, it certainly would help, in this Christmas season, to consider thoughtfully the message of the season and of the Prince of Peace.

# ? Dec 26, 2020 02:56

BattyKiara: Mar 17, 2009

Jupiter Jazz posted:

Merry Christmas to my Christian friends. Bless all of you.

I took shahaddah today of all days. I guess I'm a formally Muslim.

Congratulations, JJ. I am very happy you found the right path for you

# ? Dec 26, 2020 11:59

Tias: May 25, 2008; Pictured: the patron saint of internet political arguments (probably)

This avatar made possible by a gift from the Religionthread Posters Relief Fund

Gledilek J�L to all righteous heathen peoples, spirits and goblins!

E: There were totally angels on our christmas tree and we sung "Yule has brought blessed tidings", but that's the deal when the rest of the family is protestant :argh:

# ? Dec 26, 2020 12:28

Bilirubin: Feb 16, 2014; The sanctioned action is to CHUG

Tias posted:

Gledilek J�L to all righteous heathen peoples, spirits and goblins!

E: There were totally angels on our christmas tree and we sung "Yule has brought blessed tidings", but that's the deal when the rest of the family is protestant

God Jul then!

Interesting post

# ? Dec 26, 2020 21:12

Nth Doctor: Sep 7, 2010; Darkrai used Dream Eater!
It's super effective!

BattyKiara posted:

"Be nice to each other!" (Jesus)

# ? Dec 28, 2020 23:23

PrinceRandom: Feb 26, 2013

Hello long time no lurk friends. In one of the old threads someone wrote an overview of liberation theology I want to steal for someone else. Might someone know who or where?

# ? Dec 29, 2020 19:05

MadDogMike: Apr 9, 2008; Cute but fanged

Figure I'd update the thread on my last de-lurk, the family member I was worried about has pretty much completed their medication swap-over, and so far apart from a panic attack once seems to have gotten through it with minimal issues. Still waiting on how the kidneys are doing, and they're looking into potentially reviewing things for neurological issues (the meds they were on previously in addition to kidney trouble caused hand shaking which had been getting worse, not sure if additional treatment or changes required at this point to help with that too), but so far they seem to be doing better than I feared. My thanks again to everyone for their prayers.

# ? Jan 3, 2021 07:38

Thirteen Orphans: Dec 2, 2012; I am a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.

Somefolks� Hebrew needs work. https://twitter.com/GReschenthaler/status/1345866081815187459?s=20

Thirteen Orphans fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jan 4, 2021

# ? Jan 4, 2021 05:19

Lutha Mahtin: Oct 10, 2010; Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

"latin" lmbo

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:35

Captain von Trapp: Jan 23, 2006; I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it.

"Awomen" is a bit of a head-scratcher, but if we're handing out points for unorthodoxy it's about a mile behind the invocation of Brahma.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 04:16

Ed Zeddmore: Dec 12, 2011; love will turn you around

Here's a good denunciation of white evangelical nationalism in light of current events, if anybody needs one right now: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJxHvf4AAmM/

# ? Jan 9, 2021 08:40

Jupiter Jazz: Jan 13, 2007; by sebmojo

Speaking of which, I want to express something here that could be seen as highly offensive. At the same time, I wonder how Christians with legitimate grievance are dealing with the past week. As a preface, I don't want to offend despite the statement likely being deemed offensive. With that being said, I want to say that the past week makes me proud I'm not Christian, which is big talk coming from a Muslim. The American brand of Christianity makes me proud I don't even associate with it this past week. If I'm feeling that way, I can only imagine how Christians with good hearts are feeling with their religion being used as a pawn for such seditious buffoonery. To the Christians here, I want you to know you have my support.

I checked out what Bishop Barron had to say and he posted a video relating to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve071iEHxxI

I had Barron pegged a Trumper so this is refreshing to see from him.

I have never, in my years of watching him, ever seen him close the comments. But here we are. Incredible.

Jupiter Jazz fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Jan 10, 2021

# ? Jan 10, 2021 06:06

Deteriorata: Feb 6, 2005

Your beef is with evangelical Christians, who make up 25% of American Christians.

The other 75% see this as fascism and want nothing to do with it.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 06:14

Nessus: Dec 22, 2003; After a Speaker vote, you may be entitled to a valuable coupon or voucher!

Deteriorata posted:

Your beef is with evangelical Christians, who make up 25% of American Christians.

The other 75% see this as fascism and want nothing to do with it.

It isn't even all evangelical Christians! However, over the course of the last fifty years - so encompassing most of our collective conscious lifetime - they have been allowed to claim the mantle of representing Religion in the grand sense and to roll it around in the mud.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 06:46

TOOT BOOT: May 25, 2010

Yeah it's definitely not all evangelicals. I asked my pastor what he thought about the Capitol riot and he texted me back 'I think our commander-in-chief needs to be put in handcuffs.' I was actually taken aback a little he was so blunt about it because as long as I've known him he's only very indirectly talked about politics.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 07:07

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# ? May 9, 2024 11:15

Slimy Hog: Apr 22, 2008

Deteriorata posted:

Your beef is with evangelical Christians, who make up 25% of American Christians.

The other 75% see this as fascism and want nothing to do with it.

This 100%

The people that condone what happened this week are the same people who either don't KNOW about my kind of Christianity or would out-rightly claim that I'm not Christian.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 07:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Religionthread: Mass at 5am so we can have breakfast earlier

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