IS DECEMBER 25TH THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS ?
12.24.06 (8:56 pm) [edit]Plz read this info sent to me by me friend. So do u believe that DEC 25th is the Birthday of Jesus, a time period when shepherds are not out of theor houses with their flocks due to snowing in Palistine. Which in anyways has puzzled me since child hood. Do comment.
It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 became associated with Jesus' birth. The New Testament does not give a specific date.[13] Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Jesus was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in AD 221.[13] This date is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25), now celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation.[17] March 25 was also considered to be the date of the vernal equinox and therefore the creation of Adam.[17] Early Christians believed March 25 was also the date Jesus was crucified.[17] The Christian idea that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years.[17]
The identification of the birthdate of Jesus did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. Tertullian does not mention it as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday "as if he were a king pharaoh." He contended that only sinners, not saints, celebrated their birthdays.[7]
The earliest reference to the celebration of Christmas is in the Calendar of Filocalus, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354.[3][18] In the east, meanwhile, Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival focused on the baptism of Jesus.[19]
Christmas was promoted in the east as part of the revival of Catholicism following the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced to Constantinople in 379, to Antioch in about 380, and to Alexandria in about 430. Christmas was especially controversial in 4th century Constantinople, being the "fortress of Arianism," as Edward Gibbon described it. The feast disappeared after Gregory of Nazianzus resigned as bishop in 381, although it was reintroduced by John Chrysostom in about 400.[3]
Thanks All for participation on the debate for Same-Sex Marriages
12.18.06 (9:11 pm) [edit]Well I'm glad that at least 15 tbloggers participated in the debate on the Canadian Law which upheld the law allowing same-sex marriages.
My Opinion
I believe the ultimate reason for marriages is to multiply and all other reasons like being in love, company are important but not the ultimate one. Though I have to agree from personal experience that there are genuine cases where producing kids are second only to true love and some have even gone to the extent of marrying only for sharing and company. Cases are there that such company of a female and a male have survived for more than 80 years as well.
Well considering same-sex marriages I feel the word itself is wrong and I would not support such laws. But I think an alternative way should be found out so that those who want to have only a same-sex partner for company.
I request everyone to not use the word marriage but a different word like “Same-Sex-Fellowshi p” or something like that.
So let me conclude here:
MARRIAGE=1 FEMALE + 1 MALE = ____ MALE, _____FEMALE, ____UNISEX
MARRIAGE ALSO MEANS TO ME AS HAVING MUTUAL LOVE, PEACE, FELLOWSHIP, FAMILY, JOY, SORROWS AND GOD
I THANK SOME OF MY FELLOW TBLOGGERS:
1.PASTOR DAVE
2.WHISPER69
3.BABY4JESUS55
4.DANIELMACDONALD
5.SURROGATE
6.ANDREA AKELSO
7. LADYG
8. SURROGATE
9. CELINE
10. INKSPECTOR
11. SJMCLEAN
12. TIBUS
13. RUINED
14. SEBASTIANJOUSHUA
15. DRFORBUSH
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH
Do same-sex marriage have a good standing?
12.07.06 (8:17 pm) [edit]I want to start my new series of post regarding the same-sex marriages or in a
way homosexuality. I am expecting a a good debate on this hot topic. For this I have collect my first piece of news article from yahoo. I want everyone to have a good look at this matter and comeup with a straightforward "Yes" , "No" and the "Reason for the same". Thanks to you all. 
Seochris
Canada upholds law allowing same-sex marriage
By David Ljunggren and Randall Palmer Thu Dec 7, 4:36 PM ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Parliament upheld a 2005 law allowing same-sex marriage on Thursday when it threw out a bid by the minority Conservative government to revisit the contentious issue.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper put forward the motion after promising his socially conservative backers that he would do so, but most observers had expected it to fail.
The Conservatives are set to fight an election next year and had legislators backed the idea of revisiting the law it would have become a campaign issue.
"We made a promise to hold a free vote and we kept that promise. The result was decisive and we'll accept the democratic result," Harper told reporters.
Legislators voted 175 to 123 to reject a motion by the right-leaning Conservatives to re-examine the law, which some religious groups and critics say undermines society.
The law was passed by the previous Liberal government after a number of courts ruled that banning gay marriage contravened Canada's charter of rights.
Some Liberal legislators shouted "Shame!" as the Conservatives voted.
Harper seemed to reject the idea of looking again at gay marriage, even if he won a majority government.
"I don't see (us) reopening this question ... It's not our plan," he told reporters. Six of his cabinet voted against the motion on Thursday.
Canada was the fourth country, after the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, to legalize homosexual marriage.
Last year's vote was 158-133 in favor of the new law, but the Conservatives said it had not truly reflected the will of Parliament because the Liberals had forced cabinet ministers to vote in favor. Both parties allowed their members to vote according to their consciences on Thursday.
The signs were clear from the beginning that the motion was likely to fail. Even some parliamentarians who voted against the law last year said the matter had been settled and did not need to be reopened.
Asked whether the issue was now resolved once and for all, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion replied: "It will be, especially if we win the next election ... This prime minister tried and he failed."
Groups opposed to the law vowed to continue the fight and warned Harper that the affair would cost him votes.
The Canada Family Action Coalition said the Conservatives who voted against the motion "have just set a tone that could result in a Conservative loss in the next election. When a party abandons the values of its core base, it loses support."
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who backed the idea of reopening the debate, said that when he was attorney general of the province of Ontario he had fought for the civil rights of all Canadians, including same-sex partners.
"I did that proudly. I think it was the right thing to do. But marriage is something different," he told reporters.
The motion called on the government "to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages."
(With additional reporting by Louise Egan in Ottawa)
A nice off from daily schedule
12.03.06 (11:12 pm) [edit]I'm so glad to be back here on tblog. Life has its own ups and downs which teaches us lots of new things. Sometimes we have to reckon with whatever comes on the way.
Basically I'm surprised at the way when life comes back to normal and goes on as if nothing spectacular has happened. I would say that it becomes ridiculous that you really is surprised that you simply exist inspite off all the odds. I feel at times that there has to be some inner heights which has to be reached so as to enjoy the maximum freedom and happiness.
This happiness may depend from person to person and from place to place. Even the great beatles used to come to India to get that inner bliss. There is really something which is inherently vacuum out there in the heart. The heart merely yearns for this bliss to happen anytime so as to get to the absolute heights of life.