by SweetBabyCheezits 56 Replies latest jw friends
I don't see why atheists couldn't. They are very adept at integrating all the good ideas and using all the good things a judeochristian culture has produced while simultaneously undermining it. Yet when the host organism dies, so do the parasites.
BTS
We're planning a very Merry Christmas! I've also got tickets for a Manheim Steamroller Christmas concert.
Agnodeists like me, will celebrate anything if drinks are served.
Yet when the host organism dies, so do the parasites.
Tis true, the people need their opium, so let them have it!
Tis true, the people need their opium, so let them have it!
But seriously, philosopher Miguel de Unamuno compared the typical modern atheist to an intestinal parasite who denies the existence of sight or hearing because it gets along without them. Atheists enjoy the ideals of human freedom and dignity while elaborating theories to explain the foundation for them away. Christmas (Christ's Mass) celebration is just a very tiny (and obvious) example of this feeding on the host.
We have remarked before that the parasites which live in the intestines of higher animals, feeding upon the nutritive juices which these animals supply, do not need either to see or hear, and therefore for them the visible and audible world does not exist. And if they possessed a certain degree of consciousness and took account of the fact that the animal at whose expense they live believed in a world of sight and hearing, they would perhaps deem such belief to be due merely to the extravagance of its imagination. And similarly there are social parasites, as Mr. A.J. Balfour admirably observes,[10] who, receiving from the society in which they live the motives of their moral conduct, deny that belief in God and the other life is a necessary foundation for good conduct and for a tolerable life, society having prepared for them the spiritual nutriment by which they live. An isolated individual can endure life and live it well and even heroically without in any sort believing either in the immortality of the soul or in God, but he lives the life of a spiritual parasite.
http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/4/6/3/14636/14636.htm
BTS
typical modern atheist
If you'd like to hear me say that (objectively) "Liberal" Christianity is a "good thing" in our present society, I'm fine with that.
Did Thomas Jefferson comment on whether or not any particular religious faith is the "foundation" for the ideals of human freedom and dignity?
They [atheists] are very adept at integrating all the good ideas and using all the good things a judeochristian culture has produced while simultaneously undermining it. Yet when the host organism dies, so do the parasites.
Good point. I think I'll celebrate Saturnalia this year instead. Oh, wait....
My six year old is begging me to put up a tree this year.
We've done gifts for a couple of years now, but never decorated.
When I suggested it to my wife she didn't really object, (wife still wants to stay in the apostate closet for family). I'll let you know in a few weeks if she gives in.
SweetBabyCheezits
I'm not celebrating anything to do with any Christian Christmas. As a JW this was off-limits. However, since realizing I was a natural born Humanist, I'm sending friends and family a card to celebrate the arrival of the Winter solstice as our ancestors observed thousands of years ago (long before the Jesus character).
I look forward to enjoying some fantastic meals, enjoying quality wines and fantastic whiskies along with some great conversation around the table - with non-JW family and friends. As I'll be cooking all the meals, I'll need to be on top form to deliver! I've already started ordering in some of the expensive, quality ingredients.
I find this both stimulating and logical, given our long history on planet earth. To me, celebrating Humanism is a natural place to be at a crazy, confused time of year - and not just for JW's!
lifelong humanist
