Merry Christmas to all!

Have a safe and Happy Holiday.

Please Santa;
Bring me political leaders who will make life better for Canadians.
At one time we were taught that the goal of our system was Peace, Order and Good Government, or "POG". At present we have neither peace (as we fight George Bush's war against Afghanistan), order (as Canada's economy slips into permanent debt and chaos) nor good government (as Harper's sole aim is a majority and provincial Liberals dismantle services to citizens).

Now we have a new crop of leaders in Ottawa and Victoria with their own version of POG; it is administrations that serve
1) Politicians, their parties and supporters.
2) Owners of money, businesses and corporations.
3) Greedy people of wealth who seek to accumulate ever more assets without having the "burden" of taxes to finance the framework of society.

At this time of the birth of Christ I can't think of a better time to recommend a book I've been listening to on audio book. A book that can be found for free on iTunes....

'The City of God (against the Pagans)' by Saint Augustine of Hippo

Next to the bible itself this is probably the most influential book on Western civilization ever written. Written when Rome was at its weakest point in the last 3000 years after its fall and sack by the Christian Visigoths... this book defined what would become the Holy Roman Empire and the civilization of Christdom. Charlemagne (the founder of Western civilization a few hundred years later) claimed it was the book that gave him his inspiration in creating the Holy Roman Empire. Up until the 18th century it was considered the 'must read' book of any prince or would be contributor to Christian civilization.

A book that is as much a book on the history of the Classical era of Greek and Roman history... fascinating on its insights to all the big characters and moments of that time... a book on how all the great philosophers that predate Christianity relate to Christianity... a book on the Pagan religion, first making sense of what it all meant with its multitude of gods, and then taking it apart to show the superiority of Christs teachings (more than anything this book ended Paganism)... and most important of all a book on the core beliefs and ideas that shaped what became western civilization. A fascinating book that could have been written in modern times for its genius and applicable insight, but at 1500+ years old is a testament to the powder of his arguments most all of which stand to this day.

I recommend this book to anyone that sees our era as the twilight of Christianity, or that feels they are an authority on religion of any faith, or for the historical context... even atheists will find his arguments rational and very near impossible to refute. A huge collection of 22 ancient books (short ones), but essentially its a blue print of the heart of modern Western Civilization all done in the name of justifying Jesus and the message he brought to us.

My Christmas suggestion for a read that will find one having insights of epiphany on every page. A book that was dedicated to the meaning of Christ who's birthday we are celebrating on Christmas.

Cheers, and merry Christmas to everyone this long weekend... and enjoy the read (or listen) if you get the chance. :)

Haven't listened to the book Eagle.... but you might like to know that the Pagan religion is alive and well and stronger today than at any time in history.

Blessings to all.

Peace :-)


V. and R.

On a more serious note, would the lady jogging on Foothills in the traveled portion of the roadway please stop doing that? I'd really like it if you would be safe and healthy for christmas instead of in hospital after getting hit by a vehicle. There are safer places to run.
This time of year everybody's gotta take a deep breath and slow down instead of rushing around trying to get things done.
This time of year is for the joy on a childs face to see what Santa brought.
That's what it's all about. I really hope all the kids are safe this year. Please keep them safe.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all.

Merry Christmas, this is the time of the year to lay down our swords and celebrate Christmas, See you all on the other side.

Later, Crackers....

Cheers to the heroes we pray for you
For peace on earth good will toward men
And we know on this Christmas day
Our freedom lives cause of soldiers Amen

It is my god given right to be an atheist!!! Love Peace & Happiness in the new year!

For me, Christmas Eve is the time to remember the celebration of the coming of the Christ child when I was just a few years old.

Angels would come to set up the Christmas tree while I had my afternoon nap. In preparation and expectation of that time, we had advent calenders in which I opened a "window" every day from Dec.1 onward for the big countdown.

In addition, we had an advent wreath set up on our dining room table with four candles, with the lighting of a new one for every one of the four advent Sundays.

And, of course, there was the feast of St. Nicholas on Dec. 6th when we went around from house to house with lanterns singing carols.

http://www.franziskus-grundschule.de/schulprofil/images/martin.jpg

St. Nicholas, the original Santahttp://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

However you may celebrate Christmas, have a merry one, especially if you still have small children around you!!!

Here's an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. If you look back over the course of human history, the greatest cause of wars and human suffering - religion.


http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/

Pretty ironic isn't it sparrow?

from my family to ours MERRY CHRRISTMAS and all the best to you all in 2011

That being said, I think that the individual has the right to their beliefs. It is organized religious groups that I have a problem with. When you look at say the catholic church or the muslims, they are really just a gang, no different than the game tight soldiers or the hell's angels. They have both fought violent turf wars so they can peddle their wares (drugs or beliefs) Members of the same community join different gangs and instantly become mortal enemies- think Ireland, the Baltics or the Middle East.

An agnostic is a person who says, "I don't know". and is proud of it. God was here before you were, and he will be here after yer gone. Nothing new under the sun except we are a lot smarter and knowledgeable than folks at any time in history.(Theoretically) Live well and prosper. And don't ferget the HST.

pretty good read lonesome sparrow.

I too had a lot of religion when I was growing up. I saw a lot of people that didn't really seem to believe in religion but rather went along with it because it would be unpopular to say anything otherwise.

A common comment that I hear these days is "I go to church every week". Like this attendance once a week makes this person better because of this weekly attendance. I like the comment in the blog where it says that what's important is being a good person. That makes a lot more sense if you ask me.

Merry Christmas to everyone.....except the gangs of PG. To those people, turn yourselves in to the cops so we can have a nice city again.

"Members of the same community join different gangs and instantly become mortal enemies- think Ireland, the Baltics or the Middle East."

You forgot to add, the citizens of BC and the Liberal gov't. ;-)

So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

"Man made God in his own image. The eternal, the infinite and the unnameable reduced to a mental idol that you had to believe in and worship as my God or your God." (by Eckhart Tolle)

The beauty of this quote rests with the fact that it does not deny the existence of a "God". It is a sincere reflection that speaks deep and directly to your consciousness, and it dissolves all the mental noise and dust that has accumulated through the millennia on the subject of "God".

Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
Priest: "No, not if you did not know."
Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"

"Gods always behave like the people who created them"
-- Zora Neale Hurston

"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
--[from Usenet]

"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?"

If "God" created man in his image...
Is "God" a drug-addicted, bisexual, crossdressing, homicidal maniac who rapes, tortures, robs and kills the innocent?

After all, if man is in his image, where does man's capacity for evil come from? Where do man's flaws come from? Would "God" have created such imperfection unless it was in "him" as well?

By that matter, is "god" a man, woman or hermaphrodite? Is "god" Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, Tao, Buddhist, or Animist?

Or is the "in his image" a load of BS?


Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-philosophy/571343-if-god-created-man-his-image.html#ixzz193bPOQTQ

Merry Christmas everyone, have a safe and happy holiday, remeber to toast good friends and loved ones that couldn't be here this year, and thank God for looking after them as well.

Bye for now.

If God created Man in his own image, yet
Man is also supposed to be descended from the apes, then was God an ape?

Enough philosophical questions. Merry Christmas everyone!

Supporting our troops this Christmas Eve, thank you for safe warm homes, thank you for freedom! Thank you for sacrificing your time away from your families! We cannot thank you enough!

Merry Christmas to everyone and Best of the holiday season to those who pray to alternate beings...

Harbinger wrote: "God was here before you were, and he will be here after yer gone:

But the real question is, "Did God exist before humans, the earth, the universe, the balck holes and all that mess, and, if so, will he continue to exist after humans are gone .... and after all the other stuff she made is gone ...... when will she stop to exist?"

What does it mean to "exist"? Is it just in our minds and in the minds of other sentient beings?

And when you indicate your answer, please include the explanation of why your answer is the only possible answer ..... :-)

This is an essay question ... you have 10 minutes .... LOL ...

Oh .... and if your answer is different than mine, I will torture you until you get it right ..... ;-)

Remember, the Brothers Grimm got the idea of writing their own fairy tales when they read the Bible ..... :-)

Merry Christmas

People can believe in a superior being if they like, but I think that the world would be a far better place if all organized religion were to disappear. Have the bible,the koran, the book of mormon,etc on the shelf at the library or bookstore and people can take them home and get as much or as little from them as they like.Just so long as they do not get together and listen to other people interpretation cause that's when things get screwed up.

I have not read the koran, but think I would have a hard time finding in there where it says that if I blow up this airplane that 72 virgins will be waiting for me in heaven.
Think of how much better the lives of thousands of people would be had they not been abused by priests.

Here's hoping all our troops overseas are safe. Over there fighting a group with a different interpretation of Mohammad's teachings than most Afghans.

How about all you dog owners give the rest of us a Merry christmas and pick up the poopy instead of just burying it in the snow. With this thaw the pathways are just gross. Makes me wonder about the personal hygiene of those people, toilet paper or not.

I hate the Big Needle Van driving around the area where I live. Why are we stupid enough to be paying for a van to be delivering hypodermic needles , crack pipes, and condoms. I demand Nothern Health to have this dirty Van also driving around all over the City including College Hights. To label one area less-desirable is not fair to the people stuck living in the area as the City and Nothern Health continue to distroy the area. Neighbours we have to try to fight back the best we can. The City has no respect for the people and the children living in the area. I guess they consider us less -desirable and can keep walking all over us as a neighbourhood.I would like to have my neighbourhood SAFE. GET RID OF THIS NEEDLE VAN. We have a needle exchange , or is the plan to get rid of it and dump this problem in our area with the rest of the City's problems they have dumped on us?

The van should target areas of which it's services are most needed. Why send the van to College Heights? Just so you can sleep better knowing that every child has been put at as much risk as yours? (The risk is probably in reality very low). How l considerate of you, regardless.

In the Citizen Dec.24th ,The article under special report about the needle van driving around delivering Hypodermic needles,crack pipes, condoms to to drug addicts, prostitutes , street people. The article said that the area they drive around in is in the less - desirable part of the City. I should be feeling happy it's Christmas but when I read that article I felt like crying. I live in the less -desirable part of the City and so do lots of other good people and CHILDREN. How can we clean up or neighbourhood when the City keeps dumping more of its problems into it. We do not want this van driving around our area drawing in more of the City's unwanted, and causeing more problems.

Merry Christmas, everyone, whatever you believe! I hope you and your families are all safe and happy, and have a great 2011!

Have a Wonder filled Christmas everyone and let love and Goodwill reign in your hearts towards everyone. Merry Christmas.

Re: the needle van. If I stopped the van on my street and asked the lady inside fer a handful of free needles because my spouse is a taxpaying diabetic, do ya suppose she would give me a handful of free needles and then say Merry Christmas? Maybe when pigs fly. The one on The Simpsons doesn't count.

If there is a fire in the so-called less desirable parts of the city, sending a fire truck to College Heights is not going to help the problem. The van is just a visible sign of the problem in the area and having it there does make the area safer for children by getting rid of used needles that would otherwise be on the street.
Maybe the area would be better served by having a small cop shop or an increased police presence in some form.
Setting up a block watch or calling the police when suspicious is noticed could also help

Does anyone know if there is a final report out on what caused the stopping problems with that chip truck at the bottom of Peden Hill? Just wondering.

I think some of the less desirable should be living in College Heights,so we can send the Van out there, we need to share after all its Christmas.

Sorry but the folks aren't following the van, the van follows the folks.

I'm sorry you were offended by the Citizen but simply not mentioning that the area is undesirable isn't going to make it not so.

Working to make things better is the only thing that will work, no matter what anyone says.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. Its turkey time. Catch everyone in a few days hopefully 2011 will prove to be a better year for lots of people
Take care and best wishes!!!

WARNING:: issued today,That child molester Cory b. Hart is in town !!
Must be going to Fatso 99's fer dinner and all!!puke.
Best xmas present for this piece of crap is a good tune-up..or a loaded chip truck...

Loki, St Augustine argued the biggest mistake man ever made was to claim that god can be summed up in an image. He says no matter how well intentioned it perverts the idea of god and transposes the guilt of the image to that of god.

The Romans believed in Jupiter as one of their gods, the chief among them all. The essence of Jupiter was that he was the collective genius of the world, so without a world he would disappear for he relies on the collective genius of the world in order to exist as a soul. Nobody can deny that our soul is separate from our body, and in the same way that our soul animates our body so to does the belief go that god animates the creation of the world. So to quantify this in an image is the first step to deceiving oneself about the essence of god or of the gods. The purest god of good and happiness and hope in the Roman world was the god of Felicity, which ironically was never symbolized in an image unlike her close sister fortune (fortune worked for the good and bad).

For St Augustine he was highly influenced by the fact that when Aleric and the Visagoths sacked Rome... they came as Christians sacking a city that had made a mockery of god by worshiping false idols that carried as many vices and human qualities as there were crimes in this world. The only safe harbor for the Romans was the safety of the church of Christ for all that gathered in the churches were spared from all violence to body and property, and those that forsake the church were not spared by the barbarian hords. St Augustine began his journey by wondering what god would motivate a barbaric people to show respect to those that sheltered defenseless under the name of that god in in a time of war... it had never happened before not in Troy could Apollo protect his followers, nor Athena in Athens... this was a new concept where innocent people could be protected from ravages of war through their common faith in a one universal god. This is what got St Augustine started on investigating the gods and the role they play in man and mans concept of peace and war and the protection of the innocent.

Its a long book though an I'm only a quarter of the way into it. I'm just making loose interpretations though and you would have to read it for yourself. Fascinating insights though on all the questions you could think of regarding religion, and straight up ways of analyzing those many questions for good or bad.

This is NOT a good time of the year to be a Turkey.

I tried to find the end of the Universe but it went on forever, so I looked for the beginning, but it went on forever also.

After much thought and consideration I came to the conclusion that I do not exist, however I am here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
—Marcus Aurelius

`Theres no such thing as an athiest. The exact meaning of 'atheist' varies between thinkers, and caution must always be shown to make sure that discussions of atheism are not working at cross purposes. Michael Martin, a leading atheist philosopher, defines atheism entirely in terms of belief.[1] For him, negative atheism is simply the lack of theistic belief, positive atheism is the asserted disbelief in God, and agnosticism is the lack of either belief or disbelief in God. This suggests that negative atheism, the minimal position that all atheists share, divides neatly into agnosticism and positive atheism. It is worth noting that the 'positive atheist' need not have certainty that God doesn't exist: it is a matter of belief, not knowledge.

SO; you`re probably agnostic rather than athiest. It`s pretty obvious by this definition that you don`t know what you are if you call yourself `athiest`. Agnostic is probably the term you are searching for but just before your eyes close for the last time, you will be positive.

Why would a self proclaimed agnostic celebrate a Christian holiday Namely; the birth of Christ. If you don`t believe in the Christian faith, why would you accept the paid holiday or the festivities associated with it. I think you should go to work and work for your regular pay during Chrismas, due to freedom of religion in this country. If you are agnostic and don`t believe, you should not participate in the `paid holiday`. Just my opinion. Have a merry Christmas the rest of you.