I don't remember if it was this posted article or another I read...But someone made a reasonable point...
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the Catholic church and Constantine who joined Christianity with Paganism and now most Christians love the Pagan Holiday, Christmas and the Other one, Easter...
It's been said by numerous Catholics here on FR that there's nothing wrong with celebrating these Pagan Holidays as long as they are used for worshipping Jesus...
I have even been in Protestant churches where they have a decorated Christmas tree during the Christman Holdays which is cleary a Pagan practice...
But in view of your 'pope Peter' statement, what do you think of this thought???
Jesus would not start a Church and then allow the gates of hell to conquer it by adopting pagan religious practices. No, Jesus would keep his Church pure and free from all evil and sin.
So, do the Gates of Hell prevail against churchs that celebrate Easter and acknowledge a Pagan Holiday by celebrating Jesus' birthday on that Satanic day knowing Jesus wasn't born on that day??? Do you guys color easter eggs which of course has it's origin connected to a Satanic fertility ritual???
Why when something in the article that YOU posted is challenged don't you address the challenge but introduce some other topic like easter eggs? Is it a fruit of the Spirit to pass on lies and to avoid taking responsibility for doing so?
Or do you agree with the writer of the article that Catholics think you can buy your way (or somebody else's way) out of Hell? If so, can you provide evidence for this assertion?
I'll tell you what it looks like from here. It looks like you make one offensive charge after another. Even charges which might have some merit are phrased so tendentiously that in their entirety they are wrong. When challenged on one charge, instead of backing it up, you make another one.
Jesus had not allowed the gates of hell to conquer the Church. You assume your conclusion and you confuse assault with victory. The Church has in many places and in many hearts conquered various solar and fertility festivals. The dark, inchoate, sleep-disturbing hopes of the pagans are transformed and fulfilled in The Church
For example, look at what John of Damascus wrote:
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought forth Israel into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
’Tis the spring of souls today; Christ has burst His prison,
And from three days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen;
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
From His light, to Whom we give laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection.
Neither might the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal,
Nor the watchers, nor the seal hold Thee as a mortal;
But today amidst the twelve Thou didst stand, bestowing
That Thy peace which evermore passeth human knowing.
“Alleluia!” now we cry to our King immortal,
Who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal;
“Alleluia!” with the Son, God the Father praising,
“Alleluia!” yet again to the Spirit raising.
The hope of a mere natural Spring, lovely as it is, is bogus EXCEPT that it teaches us to long for more. And if that longing brings us to Christ, then the longing itsef was a blessing to us -- the desolate valley turns out to have been full of springs all along.
We know that the Sun which increases in strength (in only our half of the world) starting in late December gives out no real hope, and that 6 months later it will begin to dwindle yet again. But the Son of God goes from strength to strength. His light is not "comprehensible" in any sense of the word, and it illuminates us who find our Light in Him.
And the birth of the Son is a cosmically historic event -- the D-day in God's war against Satan. It is worth celebrating. Why not near the solstice?
You seem to give to the demons whose altars are overthrown power greater than that of the Holy Spirit. You present the mere timing of a feast as not just a threat but a conquering of the Gospel of Christ.
Jesus has overcome the world and taken even captivity captive. What once were perverted by demons, the gift of the waxing of the sun, the aching beauty of Spring, the sword which touches the trees with fire in the autumn, these now glorify God: His hidden entry into His creation, His triumph over death, and the coming conflict when Michael and the angels will fight with us to accomplish Christ's victory against Satan.
Where I see in the tree that never turns brown a reminder of the Hope that triumphs over death, you see that as Satan conquering. Where I see in daffodils, rabbits, and eggs, Christ bursting out of His tomb and bestowing abundant life, you see the victory of Satan. Where I see the final victory of God in the turning and fall of leaves you see a defeat. And yet you say I do not trust God or His Christ!
I think God is strong and mighty to save. Nature and the seasons sing His praise and make His glory known to those to whom He gives His Spirit. I am not afraid of a tree. He has overcome the world.
**Pagan Holiday, Christmas and the Other one, Easter...**
Pagan holiday Easter?
That is the first time I have ever heard it called such. Easter is the climax of the Church Year -- Christ died for our sins and rose again to send his disciples on their way and set His church in motion.
Plus he overcame Satan and a lot of other things that could be a whole thread in itself.