My 12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, I gave a partridge in a pear tree:
Be true to yourself, know who you are and that you are worthy

On the second day of Christmas, I gave two turtle doves:
Loving another is a gift with no boundries

On the third day of Christmas, I gave three French hens:
Faith in ourselves, hope for the future and charity to others

On the fourth day of Christmas, I gave four calling birds:
Reach out to others, tell your story, listen to theirs

On the fifth day of Christmas, I gave five golden rings:
You are not perfect, others are not perfect, accept imperfection

On the sixth day of Christmas, I gave six geese a-laying:
The universe is awe inspiring, take a look

On the seventh day of Christmas, I gave seven swans a-swimming:
Goals worth striving for: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety.

On the eighth day of Christmas, I gave eight maids a-milking:
There are others less fortunate, one of our purposes to to help them

On the ninth day of Christmas, I gave nine ladies dancing:
When we live life fully, others see: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

On the tenth day of Christmas, I gave ten lords a-leaping:
Respect for yourself and others is earned by doing the right things

On the eleventh day of Christmas, I gave eleven pipers piping:
Good people make good friends make life good

On the twelfth day of Christmas, I gave twelve drummers drumming:
Faith is an acknowledgement that we do not, and can not know it all, there is more to life than what we see


For those of you that take a perverse pride in reading my posts (you are NOT agnostic) you may be surprised by some or all of what you read here...however, I wondered...what do the gifts in the 12 Days of Christmas mean:

A partridge in a pear tree: True Love refers to God

Two turtle doves: refers to the Old and New Testaments

Three French hens: refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

Four calling birds: Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

Five golden rings: refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.

Six geese a-laying: refers to the six days of creation

Seven swans a-swimming: refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

Eight maids a-milking: refers to the eight beatitudes

Nine ladies dancing: refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Ten lords a-leaping: refers to the ten commandments

Eleven pipers piping: refers to the eleven faithful apostles

Twelve drummers drumming: refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed


If you do not know what the Fruits, gifts, beattitudes or the Apostle's Creed are, they are easily googled...

Finally, as I have just formulated the above, I intend to post here during the course of the next year what I did on the Day of Christmas each month to honor that day. I intend to act on the first Tuesday of each month...you may ask why the first Tuesday....simple 1st 2uesday 12....corny I know..

Oh...this years 'cost' for the 12 days of gifts: $18,348.87
source: PNC Christmas Price Index

Let's Pretend...

Let us pretend that religions are true...the things they believe and are written of are true.

Christians (Bible believing ones) have Revelation. During the last days, there is 7 years of 'hell on Earth' during which time non-believers have to suffer many disasters. Believers are spare by being "caught up in a twinkling of an eye"....the Rapture.

Ok, shift focus.

2300 years ago, the Aztecs created their calendar. Without going into all the specifics, a particular event marks the END of their calendar. That event is the crossing of the galatic center by the Earth's axis. That event takes place on December 21, 2012.

Let us say that the end of time (as far as the Aztecs were concerned) is 12/21/12.

Subtract the 7 years of Tribulation....12/21/05.

What are you doing next Thursday?

Design?

Intelligent design = creationism.

I was born of my parents, they of theirs, and theirs of theirs and so forth and so on until:

Intelligent design/creationism - Adam and Eve

Evolution - further and further back in time, lower and lower on the hierarchy of life.

Intelligent design/creationism claims that humans erupted out of the soil fully formed and operational. No trial and error. Why?

A piece in Redstate.org on ID had just a moment of clarity for me...motivation. What was the motivation of the designer? This recalls my own disgust at people that wander around their lives asking "why I am here?". You are here because your parents had sex. Whether their goal was a child or not, ask them, they and only they have that answer. For me, it is enough that they had a child, me. My purpose in life is just that MINE. It is not theirs, though they certainly had hopes for me.

For those supporting ID/Creationism, our purpose, his/her motivation was to have 'partners'? Soul mates? Worshippers?

Would not a child be offended to learn that the goal of the parents was to have a servant, an honored one, but no less a servant? Of their own free will?

And what of Cro-magnan, or Neanderthal? What was their purpose? Were they descendants of Adam and Eve? Or were they evolutions attempt at mimicking God's humanity.

Three questions:
1. What will be the impact of contact with another lifeform from another planet?
2. Why with all the interest in afterlife contact has none of them suggested that religion was right or wrong?
3. Is the fear of death the result of cultural bias or is it inherent? (From an intellectual point of view rather than a survival instinct issue).