honest question

[honeychile]

While I've visited & attended 23 different sects of Christianity, I am mostly non-denominational or a blend of full gospel Baptist. We believe in infant dedication & adult immersion, also.

I've never heard a Protestant sect refer to a "christening" - I think that's mostly a Roman Catholic phrase.

[AchtungBaby80]

Here are my questions, and I have been wondering about these for a while...

1). What exactly is the Christian denomination called in which the women are not allowed to cut their hair or wear pants? (I went to school with a few of these girls, but I was afraid to ask because I didn't want to offend them.)

2). Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate Halloween, birthdays, etc.?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by AGDee
Also, Catholics repeat the ritual with water each time they enter the church. There are fountains or bowls of Holy Water and we "cross ourselves" with the water each time to remind us of our Baptisms. There are also other times during the year, particularly at Easter where the Priest dips a broom type thing into Holy Water and shakes it over each row in the church to remind us of our Baptism.

There were several people in my RCIA (Ritual for Christian Initiation of Adults.. the Catholic conversion process) who were baptized into other faiths and the Catholic church recognizes those Baptisms. The reason that others cannot take Communion in the Catholic church is because most other denominations (all?) take Communion as symbolic whereas Catholics believe that the bread and wine are transfigured into the body and blood of Christ during the mass. They feel it is important that the recipient of the Eucharist understands and believes this.

Dee

Firstly, I can't believe I forgot about the holy water. D'oh!

And secondly, that's also why Catholics are discouraged from taking communion in other churches - because it doesn't mean the same thing to them as it does to us.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by rainbowbrightCS
Ok so here is my question.
Which is the correct term:
Jew, Jewish, Hebrew, Isrealites (sp) ?

and I heard the the Jewish church believes that there was Jesus bar Joseph aka Jesus Christ. Is this true, and if it is what does the church believe?

Christia

Jew is a noun. (ie. Hi I am a Jew)
Jewish is an adjective. (ie. Hi I am Jewish)
Hebrew is used in the modern world to refer to a language, but in the bible Hebrew is used for Jews. (ie. Hi I speak Hebrew)
Israelite...well I've never heard that term outside of really old texts so nobody ever would probably use it.

And there is no Jewish church. It is referred to as a synogauge, temple, or shul.

Jesus bar Joseph means Jesus son of Joseph. Jews have never claimed Jesus did not exist but merely that we do not believe he is the messiah. That is your sunday school lesson on Tuesday night.

-Rudey

[GPhiLlama]

Originally posted by AchtungBaby80
Here are my questions, and I have been wondering about these for a while...

1). What exactly is the Christian denomination called in which the women are not allowed to cut their hair or wear pants? (I went to school with a few of these girls, but I was afraid to ask because I didn't want to offend them.)

2). Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate Halloween, birthdays, etc.?

1) I think that they are Pentecostal. There were a few girls who identified themselves as Pentecostal and didn't cut their hair or wear pants at my high school.

2) According to my mom who did a paper on it, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons don't celebrate holidays because they believe that every day is a celebration and that one day isn't any more special than the next because they're all coming from the same place.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by AchtungBaby80
Here are my questions, and I have been wondering about these for a while...

1). What exactly is the Christian denomination called in which the women are not allowed to cut their hair or wear pants? (I went to school with a few of these girls, but I was afraid to ask because I didn't want to offend them.)

2). Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate Halloween, birthdays, etc.?

1) There's a few, but most of them are on the Pentacostal/Fundamentalist line of thinking. I think it's in Corinthians about women needing to look like women and men needing to look like men.

2) I understand the Halloween bit, since I don't celebrate it either, but I'm not sure about birthdays. Halloween is a pagan holiday, and that's why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate it. Actually, that's their reasoning for Christmas, too, since Jesus was more probably born in September/October than in December. When pagans were being "Christianized", many of the missionaries thought it better to let them retain their old holidays & give them Christian names, rather than try to deter them. That's the short version!

[Optimist Prime]

Israelite=some one from what of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Israel here means a person. In the nation called Israel in the old Test. there were Ten tribes, and two in the land of Judea in the south. I think they should use that map to settle differences about palenstine today, since there is a place called that, and its positioned south of Israel and west of Judeah. (going from memory).

Question for Christians: which explination of the trinity is older?

[AXJules]

Here's a q-
I am Episcopal, although I went to a Catholic school for 8 years.

My parents (Episcopal) genuflect whenever the cross passes us as it's moving down the aisle- no one in the Catholic church does this.

Is this an Episcopal thing?? Why am I bowing and kneeling like 80 times in one mass??

[AGDee]

Originally posted by honeychile
2) I understand the Halloween bit, since I don't celebrate it either, but I'm not sure about birthdays. Halloween is a pagan holiday, and that's why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate it. Actually, that's their reasoning for Christmas, too, since Jesus was more probably born in September/October than in December. When pagans were being "Christianized", many of the missionaries thought it better to let them retain their old holidays & give them Christian names, rather than try to deter them. That's the short version!

http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm

That gives a history of Halloween but here is some of the info ...

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
(lots more interesting info and then...)
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.

JWs use two Scriptural events to justify not celebrating birthdays: Pharaoh's Birthday (Gen. 40:20-22) and Herod's (Matt. 14:6-10).
They say that all other holidays have pagan roots and therefore do not celebrate them.

Dee

[FeeFee]

Originally posted by AGDee
JWs use two Scriptural events to justify not celebrating birthdays: Pharaoh's Birthday (Gen. 40:20-22) and Herod's (Matt. 14:6-10).
They say that all other holidays have pagan roots and therefore do not celebrate them.

Dee

That's the explanation that I alway get.

GPhiLlama, I attend a Pentecostal church and we women do wear pants and cut our hair. I guess it all depends on what church organization you belong to though.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally posted by FeeFee
That's the explanation that I alway get.

GPhiLlama, I attend a Pentecostal church and we women do wear pants and cut our hair. I guess it all depends on what church organization you belong to though.

Yes. I know of some Baptist churches at home that have these practices, but they're not affiliated with the 'official' Southern Baptist Convention. A lot of times things come down to nomenclature and affiliation. I'm not sure if there's one national mainstream demonination that has these practices.

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

DIVINE 9 QUESTION!

Okay, this has bugged me for a looooooooong tim because I've never found a "true" answer, so here it is:

Let's say a Caucasian rushes Divine 9 GLO, can they be extended a bid and actually pledge?

[ZTAngel]

In Judaism, it is believed that children should follow the religion of their mother. So, let's say dad is Catholic and mom is Jewish, the children are technically Jewish.

Is this the same in Catholism, Christianity, and Islam? Do these 3 religions also hold the same belief that children are whatever religion their mother is?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by TKE209Sweethrt
DIVINE 9 QUESTION!

Okay, this has bugged me for a looooooooong tim because I've never found a "true" answer, so here it is:

Let's say a Caucasian rushes Divine 9 GLO, can they be extended a bid and actually pledge?

Yes. I don't think it happens too often, but it happens.

[decadence]

Originally posted by TKE209Sweethrt: DIVINE 9 QUESTION! Okay, this has bugged me for a looooooooong tim because I've never found a "true" answer, so here it is:
Let's say a Caucasian rushes Divine 9 GLO, can they be extended a bid and actually pledge?

As here: link